My younger brother (David) and I love stories, and we find some of the most entertaining stories in manga and anime. Before leaving for basic training in the Army, David told me about an app he used to read "unpublished" manga - Webtoons. While I never made it to downloading the app, there was one manga which my brother and many others were very interested in. Through the rising popularity of the story on the app, Dark Horse Comics actually snatched it up for official publication! David bought the physical copies immediately, and then sent them to me to read. This series is both written and illustrated by Stephen McCranie. Its simple title: "Space Boy."
As with any manga or comic, the first thing that catches my eye is the art, and McCranie's art is quite unique. The colors are bright and radiant. Aspects of his characters are very detailed and pop, but then he intentionally fades some details (for example, the characters have no feet!). Even during short lulls in the storytelling, the art kept my attention focused. If the story is not interesting to you, then at the very least, you can appreciate the drawing.
But let's get into the part of his graphic novel that interests me personally even more than the art style. The World. The Characters. The Story.
McCranie introduces you in book #1 to a girl named Amy. Amy, like the artwork, is unique. She is a fascinating character with an interesting background and quirky personality traits that make her a fun lead to follow. For example, when she meets people, she associates their personalities with a flavor. She is sweet, kind, and holds an heir of innocence about her.
As much as I like Amy, I LOVE the world and the story that Stephen put together. This series is set far into the future after earth has all but mastered space travel. Humans have discovered how to send humans into the depths of space to mine and develop colonies outside of earth. In order to travel that long distance, humans actually put themselves through cryogenic freezing, which effectively prevents them from aging as they travel through space and time.
Within the first few pages of the novel, the reader is introduced to this fascinating new world. Amy lives on an asteroid space station because her father is a miner. When he loses his job, she and her parents are returned back to earth, forcing her to part ways with her childhood friends and start life all over again on earth. This cryogenic freezing keeps Amy young as she travels 30 years back to earth.
The rest of the novel is a story of how the new girl has to try and fit in and adjust to an unfamiliar planet. She rediscovers earth's gravity, new technological advancements, and has to catch up on earth's history and politics. This is where the manga feel is strongest. The story becomes heavily focused on this high school girl making new friends and simply adjusting to her new life. The story, like Amy herself, is sweet and fun. You find yourself rooting for Amy constantly throughout the work.
Amy has some trouble adjusting, but soon she starts to get the hang of life on earth. She makes new friends, she excels at certain subjects in school. But then a new character is introduced. A boy with silver/white hair. And this character is also peculiar because when Amy first meets him, she realizes that he has no "flavor." There is something off about this mysterious boy who skips classes but loves to paint. Not much more is learned in book #1 about whom I assume is the "Space Boy." The book concludes with Amy spending a night out with a group of friends.
I would give this book a solid 5/5 star rating. From the characters to the world to the storyline itself, McCranie clearly developed every aspect of this work and it shows.
Some of the most interesting parts of the book to me are some of the cultural and/or philosophical implications. For example, when Amy gets to school on earth, every student is using this new technological equipment called "Net Gear." For most people, it is simply a pair of glasses that allows you to do basically anything you can imagine. You can create avatars for yourself, play different video games, set up hologram-like scenarios so that you can study different subjects. Really cool stuff. The catch? Amy notes that everyone seems completely absorbed in the things in their Net Gear that people just don't notice each other as much. As much as the Net Gear advances their knowledge or brings them pleasure, Amy wonders whether real life isn't somehow neglected.
McCranie does an excellent job of posing these difficult questions about the dangers of technology without becoming too philosophical in his content. Technology (even in the future) comes with many benefits and lets humanity do incredible things. Too often, however, the cons of using such tech are overlooked, resulting in a lack of genuine relationships or personal interaction.
One of my favorite things about this story is that Amy comes to Earth for the first time. Although she is a human, she was born on the mining asteroid, which means that she had never experienced the planet that we all take for granted so often. She sees the planet in a completely new light, and she marvels at things like the weather and gravity, beautiful things to which we can easily become numb. Her perspective is refreshing and exciting, and it makes you like her as the protagonist even more.
If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend you go grab a copy and show Stephen McCranie some support! I'll be working through the next few novels as I read them, so stay tuned!
