Love as a Foreign Language Book 2
- Posted by Johanna on January 13, 2006 at 11:25 pm
- Category: Graphic Novel Reviews
- CREDITS: written by J. Torres; art by Eric Kim
- PUBLISHER: Oni Press; $6.95 US
As with Volume 1, the pacing here is slower than I’d like.
The first chapter is a dream sequence, with a series of jokes played on Joel, our protagonist, that express his insecurities about whether Hana, his crush, will ever notice him. He’s quickly become obsessed with her, perhaps as a way of distracting himself from remembering how miserable he is.
It’s not until the third of four chapters that we even see him talk to her, and there’s a bit too much retelling of what I remember from book one until we get there. I finally felt the story was moving halfway through the book, so I wish it had started there.
Perhaps that’s my mercenary side talking. It’s a fine, atmospheric way to tell a story… only at $7 a pop (and having to wait months for each new installment), I want more. I enjoy seeing Joel’s world, so I wish a slower, denser read would let me spend more time in it. This goes by too quickly for me to feel it’s a good value.
There are preview pages available at the Oni Press website.
January 14, 2006 at 12:42 PM
t’s a fine, atmospheric way to tell a story… only at $7 a pop (and having to wait months for each new installment), I want more. I enjoy seeing Joel’s world, so I wish a slower, denser read would let me spend more time in it. This goes by too quickly for me to feel it’s a good value.
That’s exactly how I felt. It is a really nice story, but the pacing is such that I just don’t think it worth keeping up with in the current form.
If they do a collection, I’ll be there though.
October 6, 2006 at 1:42 PM
[...] The two are just so likeable, though, that I keep reading about and rooting for them. There are preview pages available at the Oni Press website, and I’ve previously commented on Volume 1 and Volume 2. 1 comment so far [...]