Comments on: Nightschool: The Weirn Books Volume 1

By: Ed Went to New York Anime Festival Part 2 » Manga Worth Reading

Ed Went to New York Anime Festival Part 2 » Manga Worth Reading — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:39:46 +0000

[...] the adaptation of James Patterson’s Witch and Wizard. While she is working on this project, Nightschool will be on hiatus. That’s sad news for me since I’m really enjoying [...]

By: Bento Comics Combines Free Online Comics, User Customization » Comics Worth Reading

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:58:57 +0000

[...] nine creators include Svetlana Chmakova (Dramacon, Nightschool), Leisl Adams, and Queenie Chan (The Dreaming, In Odd We Trust). Their mission statement runs like [...]

By: Nightschool: The Weirn Books Volume 2 » Manga Worth Reading

Nightschool: The Weirn Books Volume 2 » Manga Worth Reading — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:50:47 +0000

[...] two of Nightschool is more focused and character-driven than volume one. Thankfully, with all the major world-building out of the way, the story’s pace has slowed. [...]

By: Ed Sizemore

Ed Sizemore — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:21:19 +0000

Animaniac,

Amazon says volume three will be released in April 2010.

By: Animaniac

Animaniac — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:50:19 +0000

Well does anyone know wen volume 3 will b released then plz email me and man she is a great writer/artist I mean seriously! :)

By: Sydnie

Sydnie — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:01:15 +0000

i’ve read the book once and remember all of it :D now i need the second one >:(

By: Velma

Velma — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:05:11 +0000

Thanks for the info! So is Off*Beat and a few other OELs! I have the Japanese versions of Off*Beat and Steady Beat currently.

By: Ed Sizemore

Ed Sizemore — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:10:15 +0000

Velma, I’m not offended by your comment. Just wanted to point out that the flaws you find in OEL are found in Japanese manga too. Shonen can be overshadowed and shojo can be overtoned.

As far as Dramacon’s popularity, I did a little checking and I think you might be suprised. Tokyopop has published it in 12 languages (including Japanese), I’d say it’s very popular.

By: Velma

Velma — Fri, 01 May 2009 00:37:13 +0000

I didn’t know my comment would offend people. :/ While Svetlana doesn’t personally tone Nightschool, I have seen her toning tutorial online, offering advice on how to tone, and to me, it was overdone. I believe she instructed her toner to as to how’d she like the pages to look. And if I’m wrong about that, then oh well. I’m not particularly concerned with proving a point. I, personally, without making assumptions on anyone else’s behalf, dislike Svetlana’s work, and have never been fooled by an OEL. I cannot simply give a reason as to why OEL looks ‘off,’ just that toning, specifically, jumps out at me as a reason. If people could define what throws off OEL, maybe we’d see a growth in the genre, which I actually like, and support. For instance, I highly proclaim my love for Jen Quick’s OEL work, which is often overlooked and under appreciated.

Svetlana just doesn’t do it for me, in any aspect, and that is an opinion, and not to be thought of as offensive. And I hope no one reads into it as insulting. It’s not intended that way.

By: Ed Sizemore

Ed Sizemore — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:19:37 +0000

Emil,

Thanks. As you point out, Ms. Dupuy does beautiful tone work. Her and Svetlana make a great team.

By: Emil

Emil — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:48:29 +0000

There absolutely are heavily toned Japanese manga out there. One has to go no further than opening one of the handful of anthology magazines in English to find them. However, generally speaking, I wouldn’t completely disagree that toning is a crutch some OEL tends to lean on. However, Svetlana’s work is absolutely not one of the guilty ones. There’s a big difference between using the tones to serve the mood of the page and using them to cover one’s blind terror of negative space and people noticing sloppy art in general. Both Dramacon & Nightschool are definitely in the first category.

Besides, the argument is moot, since Svetlana doesn’t tone her pages. Another person does that (J. Dee Dupuy). So any complaints in that regard are really properly not directed at her.

Anyway, well done with the review, Ed.

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » April 28, 2009: Look at the Moon!

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:53:21 +0000

[...] [Review] Nightschool: The Weirn Books Vol. 1 Link: Ed Sizemore [...]

By: Ed Sizemore

Ed Sizemore — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:09:47 +0000

Velma, Obviously I disagree. I’ve seen some overtoned and overshadowed Japanese manga. Svetlana’s work fits perfectly among what I see currently come out in Japan. But I doubt either of us is going to persuade the other to change their opinion. I do appreciate your providing a different perspective.

By: MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Four-panel manga, new Junko Mizuno book

MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Four-panel manga, new Junko Mizuno book — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:29:28 +0000

[...] of Nana (Manga Maniac Cafe) Edward Zacharias on vol. 34 of Naruto (Animanga Nation) Ed Sizemore on vol. 1 of Nightschool (Comics Worth Reading) Connie on vol. 1 of Reading Club (Manga Recon) Danielle Leigh on vols. 2, 3, [...]

By: Velma

Velma — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:50:18 +0000

Personally, I don’t like any of Svetlana’s work, and I disagree with the idea that it’s indistinguishable from Japanese manga. The biggest problem I’ve encountered with OEL is that the art is overtly toned. Too much shadows, shading, tone in general. I was born in Japan, and encounted many, mnay types of manga, from “traditional” manga, like Fruits Basket and shojo, to avant-garde indies stuff. I’ve never been fooled by an OEL artist, if only because of over-toning. And I’ve seen these same artists give out advice/tutorials for toning, when they really need to open a Japanese book and notice the subtlety.

No offense to anyone by this comment, but I still feel that OEL needs a lot of work. Maybe that’s why none of them are very popular, not even this or Dramacon. Maybe for OEL, but not for manga. Not by a long shot.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:14:18 +0000

Maybe I should have read it again, once I was familiar with it.

By: Danielle Leigh

Danielle Leigh — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:51:19 +0000

I think I felt the way Johanna did when I first read this in chapter form in Yen Plus but I ended up liking volume as a whole much better (it was easier for me to keep track of the three different storylines).

this is a very informative review, so glad to see such an in depth look at the volume!

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:01:25 +0000

Great job of analysis, Ed. I wanted to like this more than I did — I wound up feeling too confused about who was who and why they were doing what they were doing. I’m sure Svetlana has worked out all the details, but I’m not sure she’s sharing enough of them with us. Just when I started feeling like I had a handle on the plot, she’d skip to some other cast group with different motivations and powers. I thought there was too much going on at once, and I got lost frequently. (Plus, the hunters gave me way too much of a Buffy-wannabe vibe.) It is very pretty, though.