I read a looooot of comics this summer and almost no Books With Just Words. By far the most powerful story I've read, in either category, is Fumi Yoshinaga's historical spec fic series Ooku.
JUST SO YOU KNOW, IT IS NOT A KIDS' SERIES.
The basic concept is similar to Brian K. Vaughan's (also very good, also not a kids' series) Y: The Last Man: in the late 18th century, a fairly grisly disease striking only men reduces males to 20% of the Japanese population.
This completely upends traditional, firmly male-dominated Japanese society; the Ooku, or Inner Chamber, where the Shogun traditionally kept his concubines, is filled with men instead of women, and the Shoguns themselves are women. Women take over farming and trade; men who can produce children become a valued commodity. The result is a cultural and personal struggle to find balance, enforce rules, and hang onto a sense of normalcy in a terrifying and seemingly incurable situation. It is brutal, but also extraordinarily insightful and sympathetic.
If you know Japanese history, it's a real treat to see how Yoshinaga uses it--e.g., the Redface Pox is the real reason for Japanese isolationism, and keeping out unwanted Christian missionaries was only a front. If you don't know Japanese history, I think the atmosphere and personalities are still perfectly evident. In either case, it's a powerful series, and (loathe I am to say it) in a minority of truly well-written comics.
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Date: 9/10/10 01:35 pm (UTC)JUST SO YOU KNOW, IT IS NOT A KIDS' SERIES.
The basic concept is similar to Brian K. Vaughan's (also very good, also not a kids' series) Y: The Last Man: in the late 18th century, a fairly grisly disease striking only men reduces males to 20% of the Japanese population.
This completely upends traditional, firmly male-dominated Japanese society; the Ooku, or Inner Chamber, where the Shogun traditionally kept his concubines, is filled with men instead of women, and the Shoguns themselves are women. Women take over farming and trade; men who can produce children become a valued commodity. The result is a cultural and personal struggle to find balance, enforce rules, and hang onto a sense of normalcy in a terrifying and seemingly incurable situation. It is brutal, but also extraordinarily insightful and sympathetic.
If you know Japanese history, it's a real treat to see how Yoshinaga uses it--e.g., the Redface Pox is the real reason for Japanese isolationism, and keeping out unwanted Christian missionaries was only a front. If you don't know Japanese history, I think the atmosphere and personalities are still perfectly evident. In either case, it's a powerful series, and (loathe I am to say it) in a minority of truly well-written comics.