The Elusive Mangaman

Currently: Juri.

However, I’ve had been in phases where certain characters were my favorites here are the previous ones: Yang, Yun, Cody, Ken, Akuma, Ibuki, Makoto, Sean, Guy, Fei Long, Charlie, and Dee Jay (unfortunately).

Well fall quarter is over and though I am still working on my ogn I have some news. I may be moving to Boston in the near future. Not sure exactly when. It’s a definite move but still hazy on time Yeah I know it’s a pretty big change but perhaps my secret project will benefit from it as the NorthWest isn’t really the kind of scene for comic creating, anime watching, manga reading, non videogaming geeks. Someday Ill return but for now I’m getting cracking on all these projects on my table so that when I arrive I’ll be on all four cylinders and hit the ground running.

*Sigh* Winter, snow, ice, cold, burr…. what can I say about you? You’re like my childhood friend always around to remind me of my childhood, but you’re also my enemy you sick bastard! You keep me away from my job, from class, from the grocery store! You trap me in my home like some sort of clingy girlfriend tha-

No. I won’t go there.

*Ahem* So it’s safe to say most of you already know: I both love and hate winter. But for those of you who don’t know: I have fond memories of life in Canada.

Places like this really stick out in my mind.
        

Ok, I give. Maaaaaybe all of Canada wasn’t beautiful or as “disney” like that but every province had at least one place like that. 

Most places tended to look like this.

         
Or maybe that’s just me projecting my romanticized ideas of what Canada was like.(I should visit again sometime soon).

I looked forward to winter all year, not because of Christmas (we never celebrated that holiday) but it’s break! Two weeks of frolic! It was the best. The best. 

The anticipation was always on high, especially when the new school year started! And you would too, take my word for it. It’s the kind of place you didn’t mind that winter began as early as October and could end as late as April. Best part about that was the fact that snow never stopped city life, oh no, cities were prepared for snow well in advance. Not like in the State of Washington where a single snow day could halt revenue for days! That’s because many places of businesses close due to inappropriate preparation.

Winter time means getting things done before snow and having the means of travel well planned in advanced. That way, should it happen to snow (god forbid) the world won’t end, and people (maybe) might actually act like it’s NOT armageddon. It’s one of those things that grinds my gears. Why? Because each and every mayor who has ever entered office has NEVER gotten a snow plow arranged on time.

Yes I’m aware they are quite expensive, but hey! So is maintaining a city that isn’t providing revenue.

Busses are another issue. They are the single most insulting form of transportation here in the NorthWest I have ever had the misfortune to use in my entire life. You could say this is a rant on what other people do wrong, but it isn’t. This is more of a rant on how things could be better. Maybe then I might look at winter like I did as a kid and actually enjoy. But I digress.

My memories as a child running through snowmen, tobaganning downhill, playing King of the Mountain, abrupt Snow Ball fights in the playground and ice skating could never be replaced. Those winters with relatives who no longer live together, with relatives who are no longer alive in a time where the future of the world actually looked brighter in a pre-internet era were something I based my entire childhood on. To this day whenever I see a picture of snow I can’t help but feel the sensation of cold ice melting in my hands as I clutched hard and form a powerful snowball sufficient enough to knock someone’s block off. I lived for those moments and I still think of myself as the worldwide champion snowball warrior.

But outdoor activities weren’t my only fond memory. I could name a few other things that evoke the same feeling of nostalgia are the following:

- Watching Any Star Wars Episode (The Original Series, not that crapta- #I’mNotGonnaGoThere)
- Playing Super Mario Bros 3 - Ice World
- Playing Super Mario Galaxy 1 (The Frozen Peak of Baron Burr)
- Playing Super Mario 64 - Snowman’s Land
- Watching Cro Online or on VHS
- Watching Maya the Bee
- Reading Marvel’s Elf Quest*
- Watching… The Busy World of Richard Scary
- And finally to really embarass myself. This show**…. Nothing says 90s like this show….
See a pattern here?

Anyway what are your thoughts? Three ways to post them!:
A. Via the link on the corner. Copy and paste on your browser!
B. You could email me privately via mysteriousmangaman@gmail.com
C. Twitter! @The_Mangaman!

*Note (Elfquest): (you can read it online although I am embarassed to visit the site now they got that WEIRD interactivity. That’s a whole new level of geekery I’m too scared to cross but that’s another topic for another day!)
**Note (Adventures of Alice in Wonderland): I really didn’t see the video up until I actually posted this. ;P

Winter wonderland? Or White Wasteland?

Ok so some of you have been wondering about my progress on the project:

Today I took a daring change of pace by deciding to go the approach of

HP Lovecraft.

NO I don’t mean

Cthulhu!

I mean the ethereal idea of there being a universal design or “other” presence man wasn’t meant to sense with five mere sensations.

Much like the famed horror manga

       
Uzumaki by esteemed creator

Junji Ito I have decided to add an abstract motif that will hopefully create a new layer to the storytelling of this OGN. No more details for now but I assure you it is VERY interesting.

Wolf’s Rain.

Embed for your convenience.

So recently I’ve been looking through my collection of DVDs and realized I didn’t own a specific anime that’s been very influential in my life: Wolf’s Rain. Being the cheapskate that I am I had to youtube it to see if it still held up. So after youtubing for it I came across the theme song. Now I never heard it. Yes guilty as charged, because up until a few years back I was only exposed to anime via Toonami and Adult Swim, and they tended to cut the openings (recently Adult Swim actually INCLUDES the openings, how about that eh?). 

Anyways, after watching the original opening theme I gotta say sometimes theme songs have a way of really grabbing you. And this DEFINETLY did it for me. The rain, the running, the 80s miami vice-ish/Bill Collins style just works. So much so, in fact that the song is actually STUCK in my head.

But don’t take my word for it, check it out yourself on the link below.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoQuu7GPxAI

Type: Creative & Question

Question: OGN: Which direction to take it?

So I’m working on this post apocalyptic desert OGN that’s really inspired by source material like:

Fist of the North Star

Outlaw Star

Preacher

Avatar the last Airbender

s.CRY.ed

Aladdin

and

Mulan

It got me thinking about how I’m so indecisive and picky about the characters I’ve come to create and hold a little too sacred so I never wrote a fully formed chapter, as a result I’ve been frustrated at my own indecisiveness and have been trying out solutions one of which was a “choose your own adventure style” much like Dark Savior or Old Choose your own Adventure books back in the 90s.

So I ask you my twitter community: Since this is my first publishing, should I experiment and go for this? Do maybe a good 4 solid but maybe shorter stories instead of one great epic that tie in to the same beginning but have different endings? And if so what kind of decisions would be interesting to put characters in?

If you have other creative ideas, they are always welcomed, I like a forum of thoughts.

If you have something to submit type: www.themangaman.tumblr.com/submit or www.tinyurl.com/submit2mangaman

Or if you’re an email kind of person email me at: mysteriousmangaman@gmail.com

Robots, erm sorry I meant to say I hate Robots. Yeah… let’s not get into me hating Robots… it’ll become this whole THING, if you know what I mean.

Official TheMangaman Art will be uploaded here from now on, even though I will post one-offs like “daily pic” on my twitter account. For the most part? It’ll all be here on tumblr so always stay tuned for changes.