WE SHADOWS, Volume One by Sonny Strait.
© TOKYOPOP
Mania Grade: B+
Story and art by: Sonny Strait
Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Rating: Teen (13+)
Price: $9.99
Buy it now!
Story and art by: Sonny Strait
Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Rating: Teen (13+)
Price: $9.99
Buy it now!
WE SHADOWS, Volume One
By: Nadia OxfordReview Date: Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Modern literature has made most human beings aware that their greedy love for technology is responsible for the death of faeries and magic. Whimsy cannot compete with a fully-loaded iPod or Xbox360, and we ought to be ashamed of ourselves.
We Shadows by Sonny Strait is set in a similar world where faeries have dropped into a deep sleep since the industrial revolution flushed away magical mushroom patches and knotholes. But unlike most works of its genre, the story focuses on ill-intentioned magical creatures who wish to use the lull to rise into power. What's more, the faeries and sprites are still somehow projecting their powers into the real world, making for some very confused humans along the way. We Shadows takes on multiple plotlines at once, and although the result is sometimes little better than a confused jumble, there's definitely a charming, interesting story available when the clouds clear by the second half of volume one.
The Original English Language manga stars Goat, a "Faerie in Training" who is being tutored by a talking mushroom named, appropriately, Mushroom. Goat has been prophesized as the saviour of the faerie race, though it means she has to face up to the "Glamours"--twisted fae who are taking matters into their own hands while the rest of the faerie race sleeps the years away.The basic plot of We Shadows is threaded with many other characters and sub-plots: There are humans and demigods to keep track of (and said demigods love to jerk around in that now-overdone Neil Gaiman way), as well as a story that runs parallel to Goat's tribulations in the world of faeries.
It's not hard to get lost early in the plot, which is a shame because the writing gets pretty hilarious at times (the self-parody inside the back cover is definitely worth a laugh). Strait has a very strong creative history rooted in voice acting, illustration and comics (including Elfquest), and if you doubt his talent, you can even check out his very competent contribution to Scott Kurtz's "24 Pages in 24 Hours" contest, which is included at the end of the tankobon. Still, We Shadows expects the reader to digest a lot of information in one swallow, and some people will undoubtedly choke and die.
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