From Eroica With Love - Paging Spence Kovak
Today's "You Decide" is From Eroica With Love Volume 1, by Aoike Yasuko (pick courtesy of Althalus), with was released by CMX, DC's Manga line.
From Eroica With Love does something which I do not recall ever seeing in a comic before, but I certainly see every once in awhile on TV series, one memorable one being the TV series Ellen, which is start with one group of characters, drop them and move on with a whole new cast of characters.
Ellen did so successfully when it dropped the supporting cast members of Season 1 and added new characters, including Spence Kovak, played by Jeremy Piven.
Eroica also seems to have made the transition successfully, as the series began in the 70s, and is still running today!
The initial story was about three young friends in Europe who gained supernatural powers years earlier. Leopard Solid, a stunt man with the power of being in peak physical condition, Sugar Plum, a student with precognitive abilities, and Caesar Gabriel, a professor with super intelligence. The main gist of the first volume is that the flamboyant criminal, Dorian Red Gloria, goes around stealing things, and leaving his calling card, "From Eroica With Love" at the scene of the crime. He enjoys stealing beautiful things, and his current target is Caesar Gabriel!! The first volume tells of Dorian trying to kidnap Caeser while the three friends try to both protect Caeser AND bring Dorian to justice (as there is a master-of-disguise police officer who thinks THEY'RE behind the Eroica crimes). At the end, Dorian gets Gabriel to fall in love with him, but Dorian leaves him with his friends, as Gabriel is too fragile to be with a master criminal on the run.
That is the first chapter, and while it has its moments, the characters, save Dorian, aren't all that interesting. So it is lucky that Aoike seems to realize this as well, as the friends angle is dropped with the second chapter, and Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach is introduced, as the man who will battle wits and sexual tension, with Dorian for the rest of the series.
Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach is a great character. He is so repressed, to the point where he probably doesn't even realize that he is attracted to Dorian. He calls him a "pervert" all the time. All Klaus cares about is his work for the German military. But he always ends up getting entangled with Dorian in some scheme or another (and for one chapter, not even on opposite sides!).
The banter between the two leads is really fun, and makes the book enjoyable. The stories, though, are not the deepest in the world. Except for the middle story with the tank and the painting (as Klaus and Dorian learn to appreciate each other's tastes...in odd ways), the stories are dreadfully simple-minded.
And I am not a fan of the art. Each character is a bit TOO exaggerated, I think. It detracts from basic storytelling aspects, when the characters sometimes look like they cannot walk (Some of the men have insanely long legs). And Dorian is bizarre-looking.
However, the humorous dialogue and banter between the two men IS quite good. I can imagine that this was a fruitful combination for future volumes, as these two men seem like they could star in a lot of tales.
From Eroica With Love does something which I do not recall ever seeing in a comic before, but I certainly see every once in awhile on TV series, one memorable one being the TV series Ellen, which is start with one group of characters, drop them and move on with a whole new cast of characters.
Ellen did so successfully when it dropped the supporting cast members of Season 1 and added new characters, including Spence Kovak, played by Jeremy Piven.
Eroica also seems to have made the transition successfully, as the series began in the 70s, and is still running today!
The initial story was about three young friends in Europe who gained supernatural powers years earlier. Leopard Solid, a stunt man with the power of being in peak physical condition, Sugar Plum, a student with precognitive abilities, and Caesar Gabriel, a professor with super intelligence. The main gist of the first volume is that the flamboyant criminal, Dorian Red Gloria, goes around stealing things, and leaving his calling card, "From Eroica With Love" at the scene of the crime. He enjoys stealing beautiful things, and his current target is Caesar Gabriel!! The first volume tells of Dorian trying to kidnap Caeser while the three friends try to both protect Caeser AND bring Dorian to justice (as there is a master-of-disguise police officer who thinks THEY'RE behind the Eroica crimes). At the end, Dorian gets Gabriel to fall in love with him, but Dorian leaves him with his friends, as Gabriel is too fragile to be with a master criminal on the run.
That is the first chapter, and while it has its moments, the characters, save Dorian, aren't all that interesting. So it is lucky that Aoike seems to realize this as well, as the friends angle is dropped with the second chapter, and Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach is introduced, as the man who will battle wits and sexual tension, with Dorian for the rest of the series.
Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach is a great character. He is so repressed, to the point where he probably doesn't even realize that he is attracted to Dorian. He calls him a "pervert" all the time. All Klaus cares about is his work for the German military. But he always ends up getting entangled with Dorian in some scheme or another (and for one chapter, not even on opposite sides!).
The banter between the two leads is really fun, and makes the book enjoyable. The stories, though, are not the deepest in the world. Except for the middle story with the tank and the painting (as Klaus and Dorian learn to appreciate each other's tastes...in odd ways), the stories are dreadfully simple-minded.
And I am not a fan of the art. Each character is a bit TOO exaggerated, I think. It detracts from basic storytelling aspects, when the characters sometimes look like they cannot walk (Some of the men have insanely long legs). And Dorian is bizarre-looking.
However, the humorous dialogue and banter between the two men IS quite good. I can imagine that this was a fruitful combination for future volumes, as these two men seem like they could star in a lot of tales.
posted by Brian Cronin at 9/13/2005 06:48:00 AM
1 Comments:
Did I really say fruitful?
Oh.
Heh...so I did.
I was using it without any connotations!!!
Honest to Betsy!
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