Monster - Naoki Urasawa

Scott Hallett · Post by **Scott Hallett** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 1:51 pm

After reading Kazu mention "Monster" on boltcity.com, I decided to give the first volume a shot. I must say, I blazed through the first one and went out immediately to grab the second. Certainly worth the read! The art is top notch and the story is layered and suspenseful.

Post by **Kazu** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 3:13 pm

Glad you picked up the book! Volume 3 is the strongest I've read so far, so be sure to at least pick that one up as well.

Kean · Post by **Kean** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:18 pm

I have to admit that while (what I've read of) Monster is a good series so far, it doesn't have quite the same appeal to me as much as Urasawa's 20th Century Boys and PLUTO does. Even at the accelerated release schedule of the translated Monster (I think it's 2 per year for all 18 volumes), it's going to take forever for them to get to an official release of 20th Century Boys!

(ps. if you haven't read PLUTO yet, you're seriously missing out. Basically it's Urasawa's retelling of Tezuka's Tetsuwan Atom story, "The World's Strongest Robot", and as it hasn't been licensed for release in N. America yet, it's being made available through fan scanlations here. Worth checking out for sure.)

jdalton · Post by **jdalton** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:23 pm

Kean wrote:(ps. if you haven't read PLUTO yet, you're seriously missing out. Basically it's Urasawa's retelling of Tezuka's Tetsuwan Atom story, "The World's Strongest Robot", and as it hasn't been licensed for release in N. America yet, it's being made available through fan scanlations here. Worth checking out for sure.)

Hey, I've got that book! But... in Japanese so I can't read it. Seriously, I'm starting to think buying up untranslated Japanese comics is a great idea. If it's as great a story as you say (I bought it for the original-looking art), this will be the second time I've "discovered" a great Japanese comic before an English translation came available. And out of only, like, four untranslated Japanese comics I've ever bought.

Joey · Post by **Joey** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 4:41 am

jdalton wrote:
Kean wrote:(ps. if you haven't read PLUTO yet, you're seriously missing out. Basically it's Urasawa's retelling of Tezuka's Tetsuwan Atom story, "The World's Strongest Robot", and as it hasn't been licensed for release in N. America yet, it's being made available through fan scanlations here. Worth checking out for sure.)
Hey, I've got that book! But... in Japanese so I can't read it. Seriously, I'm starting to think buying up untranslated Japanese comics is a great idea. If it's as great a story as you say (I bought it for the original-looking art), this will be the second time I've "discovered" a great Japanese comic before an English translation came available. And out of only, like, four untranslated Japanese comics I've ever bought.

I'll definitely second Kean's reccomendation on Pluto. It's fantastic, and cliffhanger-tastic, which is one of Urasawa's strongest skills...thanks for sharing the link, Kean. I hadn't found chapter 31 yet!

Although, I think if I had to choose, 20th Century Boys is probably my favorite. Yeah, it's going to be a long time before it comes to the US, too....unfortunate....

Kean · Post by **Kean** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:33 pm

Yeah, 20th C. Boys feels so grand and epic. In reading it, I was reminded of those epic Stephen King novels like It or The Stand that I read as a budding teen. How far did the scanlations go up to before they were pulled? I know I didn't get them all before they announced it was being picked up by Viz (I think?).

Jonathon - you can indeed read all of Pluto translated to English! The scanlations that I linked to have all been translated by the fans (and amazingly well, I might add).

Joey · Post by **Joey** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:25 pm

Kean wrote:Yeah, 20th C. Boys feels so grand and epic. In reading it, I was reminded of those epic Stephen King novels like It or The Stand that I read as a budding teen. How far did the scanlations go up to before they were pulled? I know I didn't get them all before they announced it was being picked up by Viz (I think?).

Heh, welllll....I've got through Volume 21, with only one more volume to go! Although, I've heard that next year a "Part 2" will begin....20thCB gets bogged down a little bit every once and a while, since it is so epic, but every time I start to doubt the direction that the series is headed, something happens and I end up loving it!

Scott Hallett · Post by **Scott Hallett** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:18 am

Kean wrote:I have to admit that while (what I've read of) Monster is a good series so far, it doesn't have quite the same appeal to me as much as Urasawa's 20th Century Boys and PLUTO does.

There's better books than Monster?!?

Thanks Kean! I'll definitely have to check these out as well! I'm about halfway through volume 2 right now, and plan on grabbing 3 this week at the comic store. I found myself fighting through sleepiness just to keep reading last night...always a good sign!

thirdeyeh · Post by **thirdeyeh** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 5:33 pm

Kazu's post about Monster peaked my interestl and I went out an picked up the first volume as well. I read the whole first volume in a day and ordered the second and third volumes this past weekend. It was awesome!!!

I also picked up Dragon Head volume 1 which I read the next day and enjoyed it a lot as well. It's a little more bleak than I care for, where characters seems to beall dark just because. But I liked it enough to pick up volume 2.

And with that I order Sorcerers and Secretaries vol. 1 as well!!! Kazu, tell Amy I loved that book. I read it when it was being previewed online, and I have taken far too long to buy it in book form. It's such a great story.

I loved Monster though because it's the kind of stories I can't get enough of. Where there's all of these strange things going on, but it's grounded in believable characters and an intricately told story. It really is something else.

Do any of you guys read "Death Note"? I've been seeing it all over the place and I tried getting into it and I just couldn't the story seemed all jarred and rushed. It looked interesting, but it just fell apart for me.

Scott Hallett · Post by **Scott Hallett** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 5:50 pm

I agree with Sorcerers and Secretaries as well! Good read. Amy did an excellent job on that book. East Coast Rising (by Becky Cloonan) was also an excellent book.

I just finished Monster #2 tonight...man oh man I can't wait until I can get #3 tomorrow! I never would have thought that suspense would work so well in manga format.

I thumbed through Dragon Head at the store...it seemed to go places I wasn't comfortable with. Is it a good read?

thirdeyeh · Post by **thirdeyeh** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 6:08 pm

Man you'r making me jealous for Monster vol. 2! Mine doesn't come in until the end of the week or so.

Dragon Head was agood read. It's very eerie and compelling. Some of the themes get a little twisted. But the art and suspense is really compelling and the concept is pretty intriguing. I say pick up vol 1 if you can find it used somewhere and give it a shot. Or just hang out at the bookstore and read it

Like I said I got vol. 2 on the way, so yeah I think it may be worth your while.

Scott Hallett · Post by **Scott Hallett** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:48 am

I'll have to give Dragon Head a second chance then...I did like aspects of the art, I just didn't like the particular scene I thumbed too. A little too graphic for my tastes.

Kean · Post by **Kean** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 10:56 am

Joey wrote:Heh, welllll....I've got through Volume 21, with only one more volume to go! Although, I've heard that next year a "Part 2" will begin....20thCB gets bogged down a little bit every once and a while, since it is so epic, but every time I start to doubt the direction that the series is headed, something happens and I end up loving it!

Part 2? Colour me fascinated! (I'll have to hit you up sometime for the remainder of the scanlation chapters, though.)

And yes, I'll also second the recommendation for Dragon Head. It's simply a wonderful series. So few books (prose or comics) manage to get psychological terror down so well. That it's disturbing and it makes you feel completely uncomfortable is totally a plus in my book.

Scott Hallett · Post by **Scott Hallett** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 2:07 pm

Color me bummed! No Monster Vol. 3 for me this week! My comic shop was out...and with the Avatar box set and all the great comics this week...it's probably not a good idea anyway.

Joey · Post by **Joey** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:50 am

Kean wrote:
Joey wrote:Heh, welllll....I've got through Volume 21, with only one more volume to go! Although, I've heard that next year a "Part 2" will begin....20thCB gets bogged down a little bit every once and a while, since it is so epic, but every time I start to doubt the direction that the series is headed, something happens and I end up loving it!
Part 2? Colour me fascinated! (I'll have to hit you up sometime for the remainder of the scanlation chapters, though.)

And yes, I'll also second the recommendation for Dragon Head. It's simply a wonderful series. So few books (prose or comics) manage to get psychological terror down so well. That it's disturbing and it makes you feel completely uncomfortable is totally a plus in my book.

Okay, well, after further investigation, I'm a little confused. I may have been wrong about Part 2. Instead, I think, Volume 22 might be the end, but that it isn't coming out until next Spring..? Or something? These cats on the manga forums talk about everything as if everybody already knows what's going on....anyway, I have the rest of it, so yeah, I could hook you up some time

Also, I've been hearing an awful lot about this Dragon Head. I hadn't heard anything about it until Viz's announcement that some of it's titles (including Dragon Head) were going to be sold online only....but that's the one that everyone is up in arms about, so I'm curious....

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Monster - Naoki Urasawa

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