About the Mangaka
Terry Brooks shouldn’t need any introduction really, he’s one of the leaders of the fantasy genre. This is his first attempt at making a series for Graphic Novel distribution.
Robert P. Naptom has been writing comics and novels since the 90’s, and currently has titles out in the Battlestar Galactica universe.
Edwin H. David is a comic artist, as well as graphic designer. He’s worked on several other projects in the past for Top Cow.
About the Manga
I have to admit that I was in two minds over this title. On the one hand it’s pure comic book, it doesn’t even make an attempt to be a manga (which is good IMO). However it’s also crippled by being overly wordy and to reliant on the reader knowing the series.
There was also a You Tube video introduction to the release, which I found rather annoying TBH heheheh
While I understand the reasoning behind Brook’s decision to make the first graphic novel an extension of a series already over. I do think that will be it’s downfall.
Everything about this volume screams it’s separation from the OEL/Manga wannabe market. For which I’m grateful. True the basic book format is that of manga, that’s where the similarities end.
The cover is amazing, and truthfully at first glance it’s actually easy to pass this off as an actual novel, rather than a Graphic Novel.
Opening it up we’re given a letter from Brook’s explaining why the story was chosen (more on that a bit later).
Then the prologue of the story, which is basically cramming the entire Wishsong series into a few paragraphs. Finally we get into the story.
The art is pure classic comic book, and if I’m honest there’s no really similarity to manga, even in the more adult seinen line ups. Though if I was to point to any I’d say Berserk is closer (though still misses by a mile).
This is both it’s boon and curse. Firstly, the fact that it’s clearly separate from manga people (myself included) can get into it without comparing it to manga. However this style is also overly dark, doesn’t work well on the small page size of books, and at times feels squished and cramped. Especially on the double page spreads.
The story is insanely fast paced, but works reasonably well. What I find weird is that despite being so fast (and short) a lot of time is spent on describing stuff, which I found pointless given we were looking at the setting. Also if you don’t understand the Shannara universe a lot of what is hinted at and said will seem weird, since they don’t follow the usual setting casts for the characters. The druids especially are confusing, since they’re very similar yet very different.
However I have to admit I did enjoy the story, and while I haven’t read any of the Shannara titles in years, the bits I remember allowed me to follow along fairly easily.
The problem for me though was that the entire thing only took me ten to fifteen minutes to read. It’s seriously short, with over about a quarter of the book been given over to composite sketches and the first chapter of the novel. I would have preferred less extras and more story depth and body.
I would have also preferred that Brooks had either done one of the original series as a GN or choose to start an entire new story. The reason being that anyone could get into either of these styles. Since no knowledge would be needed.
While I understand his desire to want to flesh out the ending of the Wishsong series, I felt it was limiting the number of people that would enjoy it, since only those who had read the series would fully understand all the relationships and friendships.
All of that said though, I did enjoy it and will read others, if they’re ever released.
Quality wise this release was one of the best I’ve ever seen from Del Rey (Note: Although this is a Del Rey release, it was distributed under the Orbit Label). Pure white and high quality paper made for an amazing read. Since this title uses blacks, whites and greys in the art having it set on a pure white background made all of the art sharper and easier to see.
Consequently it does make the art look darker and over toned at times, but I think that’s more the pure white making the black blacker.
While I did enjoy this title, it’s not good enough to get my essential read list.
Where to Buy
