The strength of some graphic novels, as with the prose kind, is the power to make you think. Such is the case with "Just So Happens" by writer/artist Fumio Obata (Abrams ComicArts, $24.95).
The narrative is fairly straightforward. The book follows Yumiko, a twenty-something Japanese girl who has made a living for herself in the art world of London and is engaged to marry an Englishman. Then comes the news that her father has died, and Yumiko is forced to re-engage the culture she has abandoned in a forceful way, with the rituals and social structures of a funeral.
Yumiko must once again deal with the expectations of her parents, one dead and one alive — the very expectations she avoided once by leaving the country. Given that her father was a traditionalist and her mother a hard-charging feminist, those expectations cover the widest possible range. Her Dad wanted her to return to Japan, her mother wants her to have a career. But what does Yumiko want?
"Will she stay or will she go?" is the narrative structure of the book, explicating the events and emotions leading to a decision on that score, which serves as the story's climax. Rendered in subdued watercolors, "Just So Happens" works beautifully on the surface as a coming-of-age story.
Another book that constantly surprises is "Zombillenium," by French writer/artist Arthur de Pins, whose third volume arrives this month.
The first volume seemed little more than a monster spoof, about vampires, werewolves and other creatures that go bump in the night running a theme park. The second volume took a different path, focusing on the fractured relationships between the creatures of the theme park and their obnoxious human (and oh-so-delicious) neighbors. "Zombillenium 3: Control Freaks" (NBM, $14.99) goes yet a third way, expanding on the concept in a world-building way that sets up conflicts and questions for more volumes to come.
Here we see what the theme park actually does, which is to provide souls for a satanic creature known only as Behemoth. Visitors sign a contract that they think is a liability release but instead gives this devil jurisdiction over their souls while they're in the park. Solo arrivals and others who might not be missed tend to have quiet, fatal accidents, their souls going to hell and their newly monstrous bodies remaining as new park employees.
The art on "Zombillenium 3" is clear and clever, as always. De Pins draws entirely in Adobe Illustrator but never goes overboard on the coloring, as so many artists do
"Michael Midas Champion" (InkLit, $19.95), by writer Jordan B. Gorfinkel ("Batman: No Man's Land") and artist Scott Benefiel ("Transformers"), also has more going on than the surface would indicate.
At first blush, "Michael Midas Champion" is a superhero love story. The titular character is bullied as a lad, has the usual strange accident that gives him superpowers, and grows up to be both a superhero and husband. The story is told by a grandmother to her grandson, and there is little doubt — although it is never expressly stated — that the grandmother is the girl Champion marries, and the courtship is thoroughly covered.
That's enough for a superhero tale, and the art does it fine service. Benefiel is a bit on the cartoony side, and Champion's musculature is a bit over the top, but he's excellent at conveying emotion through facial expressions. In addition to establishing the importance of family, "Champion" also emphasizes healthful eating and exercise. As it happens, Champion's powers are regulated by how healthy he is — the better he eats, and the more he works out, the stronger and more durable he becomes. So we see Champion championing vegetable smoothies, working out a lot, mentioning that he's a vegan and turning down food and drink that isn't healthful.
