Some of the older cats may remember the Appleseed premiere edition issues from one of the indie publishers back in the 1980s (I'm pretty sure it was Eclipse; I know Dark Horse took over in/around the late '80s to early '90s, but I am pretty sure I mean the Eclipse run) - the ones with the Art Adams covers. I have one of them somewhere around here, but I don't feel like digging it out.
While a manga classic, this was very early-on in bringing manga to American audiences and it wasn't as well-received as the company had hoped. Honestly, Appleseed was very true to the manga form, and as an American comics fan, it was hard to know how to react to it. Much like Xenon (another early Eclipse manga import), the art and story was gritty and complex one frame, then childishly goofy and crudely simplistic the next. We simply were not ready for the flagrant Impressionism inherent to the manga form.
However, Appleseed led to an incredible movie (the sudden leap from cartoonish photorealism to childlike Impressionism simply works better in animation than on the page) which intrigued enough viewers that the comic gained an American cult-following. The series has since been printed here many times.
Appleseed is a Cyberpunk epic which takes place largely within the Dreamland of Olympus, a perfect society run by the corporations. Deunan and her cyborg boyfriend work to change things from the inside. Dark Horse is releasing a new version of the Prometheus Unbound chapter, printed from right-to-left. This is the first edition printed from left-to-right. Why!?
If you are going to translate it into English, part of that translation is reversing the reading order and I just hate books that do these "special editions - as they were meant to be read!" No! If you want to read them in their "original" state, you need to learn Japanese; if you are translating it into English, put the effing panels in order! It makes it impossible to enjoy foreign comics because you never know if you are reading them in the right order. But honestly, most foreign comics are so dependent on Impressionism that they are almost impossible to follow in any direction if you don't know the language.
Dark Horse is releasing Appleseed Vol. 2: Prometheus Unbound, 3rd-Ed. (b&w, 192 pgs., $14.95, in that small format I hate so much -- what is that stupid My First Big Little Book format anyway?) on May 21st. Further, there is a new movie on the way from Warner Video and they have a trailer online.
© C Harris Lynn, 2008
A rambling melange of pop-culture.
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