SLEEPLESS CITY #1
Anh Hoang
Studio Skirmish
146 Leytonstone High Road
Waltham Forest
LONDON E15 1UA
ISSUE #1
32 pages A4, b/w with colour cover, £2.00
The creator specifically describes this work as a comic, and not
a doujinshi or manga, and cites his influences as including Masamune
Shirow and Quentin Tarantino. The ancestry is clear in the setting. The
time is the mid-22nd century in the aftermath of the Third Cold War,
the place Kinoshima, a new autonomous city-state built on an artificial
island somewhere in the Pacific Rim. The background is fairly dark,
crime and corruption are rife and the divisions between rich and poor
have grown greater. From the background data sheets provided, it's
clear that the author has put a fair amount of thought into the
"world-building" underlying the story.
The first installment of the story follows the work of two police
officers, Cynthia Ayako and Amachi Kusumoto, who are investigating a
series of vigilante-style killings. Kusumoto suspects that there may
well be more to the murders than simple retribution, and begins an
"unofficial" investigation...
The standard of artwork is not great, to be honest...it suffers from the
typical fan-artist problem of foreshortened rendering of perspective,
and the artist needs to practice more on human anatomy (particularly of
male characters). However, the artwork is certainly adequate for the
purposes of conveying the atmosphere and action, and is improved by some
competent screentoning in the second half of the issue. The author also
needs to work a little more on his English (grammar and capitalisation
slip occasionally); some proofreading on the script would be
recommended.
All in all, a fair effort, and worth a look by fans of near-future
political thrillers. The storyline has potential to develop very
interestingly.
Oh, and the chemical symbol for carbon monoxide is CO and not
CO1...
ISSUE #2
32 pages A4, b/w with wraparound cover, £2.00? (no price listed)
This issue picks up with the aftermath of issue 1's shootout, where a
band of local thugs operating a protection racket visit Kusamoto and
Ayako. Kusamoto disables the thugs, but their leader is struck and
killed by a sniper round fired by an unknown assailant. The survivor
answers few questions, and much the same can be said of this issue.
The theme of #2 is far more introspective than the first,
focussing more on the two police officers and their backgrounds. Both
of them are more than they appear... Ayako in particular seems to have
some serious "issues". A slower-paced episode which hints, rather than
reveals.
The standard of reproduction on the review copy was generally
excellent, with solid blacks and clear reproduction of mid-tones. The
standard of artwork has generally improved over the first issue, with
more solid and confident line work. There is better handling of
perspective, and the flow of action from frame to frame works better.
Hand-applied screentone is competently and consistently used
throughout, an increasing rarity in western fandom with the growing
popularity of computer-assisted artwork. Hoang deserves credit for his
considerable dedication.
There are still some problems with drawing of anatomy... most notably
with arms held at angles, and faces (especially male) drawn in half-
or three-quarter perspective. Kusamoto's face looks particularly
odd. The shape of the cheekbones should travel more diagonally towards
the ear, rather than vertically as drawn. Sketching the underlying
shape of the skull would be helpful here.
While spelling is generally improved, the dialogue is sometimes
stilted, and there are occasional jarring lapses in proofreading
("would HAVE" _not_ "would OF"! I hate that!). The use of different
fonts for different speakers is a reasonable idea in theory, but can
make pages look cluttered (and some of them are pretty difficult to
read).
The second issue shows significant improvement over the first in most
respects, but is a little slow-paced. Again worth a look.