Review -- LEEK & SUSHI'S MANGA SHOW

Leek & Sushi's Manga Show
Compiled and Edited by Willie Hewes
Art by various
Written by various
Manga is the Japanese style of comic, so it was with great anticipation I awaited the arrival of Leek & Sushi's Manga Show, since it is a book which brings together the manga-style work of several British artists and writers.
The book is compiled and edited by Willie Hewes, with the works drawn from entries in a contest which celebrated 150 years of friendship between Britain and Japan. The contest was rather open-ended in as much as all the creators had to do was work in the number 150, so the idea range from 150 stars in the sky, to spending 150 days in Japan.
The 150 makes an interesting little twist to look for in each of the 15 stories, but really doesn't influence the works in a major way, which is a good thing, since it allows for significant diversity in the pieces collected.
Editor Willie Hewes explained how the contest got its start.
“The contest is run by the Japanese Embassy,” she said. “The embassy set up an exhibition with the winners, but they do not print the entries in any way.
“That's where I thought I could usefully step in and offer to print a book with the entries of everyone who wanted to be part of it.”
Hewes said inclusion in the book was basically by participation.
“I printed almost all the entries that were sent to me, there were a couple that I felt didn't quite fit, mostly with regards to the quality of the artwork,” she said. “I didn't really have a rigid set of criteria, if I liked it and it looked good, it made the grade.”
In my opinion one of the more interesting works is the story 'Photus' by Volker (Samuel Barker), which was tagged with a special award in the contest for having the most impressive entry from an entrant aged 14 to 16.
I personally thought '150 years of opreshun' from writer Gwen Kortsen and artist Angela Wraight was the story with the most poignant message. Very well presented. Interestingly the piece did not finish in the top-10, so my tastes are obviously different from the judges.
'Stars' by Donna Pesani has beautiful art, in a style that may be as traditionally manga as any in the book.
Watch for Karen Yumi Lusted's works too, with three selected for the book, this creator has a knack with manga.
In general terms the pieces here are generally soft in nature, with only a couple of the stories taking on a darker edge, most noticeably the mood of “Shadows of a Changing Face (Prologue) by creators John Blake and Michael Reid
While Hewes collected the entries for the book, she was not the contest judge.
“Well, the judging of the competition was nothing to do with me, you have to understand'” she said.
“The book contains entries for the competition, but came about entirely separately from it, simply because a lot of us felt it would be a good way to extend the entries' lifespan.
“In putting the book together, I was mostly just looking for stuff that looked good, that you could see people had put a lot of time and effort into. The soft, feel good tone is something I hadn't really noticed before, but I guess you're right. I think that's simply the friendly nature of the manga community shining through, rather than anything else.”
To help tie the book together, Hewes has created Leek & Sushi, two cartoon characters representing Britain and Japan. They appear in vignettes between entry pieces as sort of the comical interlude. Personally they didn't do it for me. I would have much preferred a few more entries than the repeated appearance of the cartoony element.
In terms of her own interest in manga, Hewes said it developed over time.
“I first started reading manga years ago. It was visually appealing to me, and it was nice to start reading comics again, which I hadn't done for years since I outgrew Asterix,” she said, adding, “superhero comics don't mean much to me, but I like manga, and being in comic book shops meant I also discovered some interesting indie comics.”
At 200-pages, and 15 stories, this is an excellent value, and if you want a taste of British manga, this is an excellent starting spot.
Hewes said she isn't sure there are more manga fans in Britain than anywhere else, but added there are certainly those artists and writers who work in the form.
“Hmm, I'm not sure manga is bigger in Britain than elsewhere in Europe, or in Canada for instance,” she said.
“We do have a pretty good number of people drawing manga, and drawing quality manga. I think that's partly due to the strength of the community, amateur manga creators are generally very friendly and help each other out, and we have a couple of examples of people who 'made it', and are now making manga professionally. I think that's very inspiring for people and helps them get from 'well, I have this idea....' to actually doing it.”
Hewes is already planning a similar book in the future.
“This year's Manga Jiman competition has just been announced, and Leek and Sushi will return too,” she said.
“I expect the second volume to come out around May next year.
“There are also some smaller projects I'm tinkering with, but I can't really say where that's going to go yet. You can check out the works at www.itchpublishing.com

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra