No Man's Land Vol 1

I'm somebody who likes to buy something for the material content, not necessarily the political backdrop of an item. I spend countless hours buzzing around stores looking for good Mangas and a few random books that strike -my- fancy. As a lover of old Westerns and an abundance of Sci-fi and fantasy it's not hard to find what I want. But a hell of a fight to find any sort of combination. So when I stumbled acrossed this manga I fell in love. Regardless of any technical flaws it might contain I easily related to the characters and storyline. I prefer the story over the art most of the time -- but this was just a splendid manga over all for me. It gave face to some beautiful Western style characters to be backdropped by even a decent 'poser' style manga. Though I say that tongue-in-cheek because ultimately art will be art; done in the country of origin or not. While I understand purists and their gripe over traditional manga verses American-Made-Manga, I can simply say that it personally doesn't matter to me. Why not? Because ultimately pieces of graphic literature like this are appeasing no matter where they came from. Simply put: it's art -- the way we read, the way we view things, and even the styles, in whole or in part, chosen to present them are just forms and modifications of art. And art is one of those quaint expressive things that does not have some set definition, even where we think it might. Now, as for the setting of this manga, the Wild West is an era of our American world, not the world of the East. Thus this manga is only in a Manga style because it's paying homage to the art form. It's not attempting to deface it. It's not trying to copy it either; they state that it IS an American Manga. Nobody's trying to hide anything and ultimately it forges some originality on a level. While purists might see it as abuse, I just see it as new people trying old things with a new face and no harm done doing so since nobody's trying to sneak this under the radar as something it's not. Understanding all this, I have found a personal passion for No Man's Land. To me it gives me what I want -- a Western Manga touched off with the skills of American Manga producers. I couldn't be happier, really. I'm not personally that hard up in how I view something built with associable characters, a setting I tripped head-over-heels for and a storyline I can't wait to see develope. But purists of manga will have an issue with it as always. I just really like the story and art... All-in-all, that's what counts.

Perhaps it has to do with my love for action thrillers that I was enthralled with this from the moment I read chapter one. I think the artistic style is original and fresh and most definitely suits this style of comic. Annette's negative review was repetitive and obviously bias toward Western manga (comics). I found the tones and shades crisp and not distracting from the comic and its storyline at all. It also uses creative frames which do not interrupt the flow of reading. Western manga's are a up-and-coming breed and I'm proud to say that this one is quite a classic. A well written, gun-slinging western comic with gorgeous art. Count on me to be looking forward to new installments!

This is what I have so far, it is a work in progress I will mention more about the artwork shortly, but is this sound okay so far? It is my belief that what some of the other reviewers are forgetting about No Man's Land is the story itself. It is the very story told in No Man's Land that drew me in from the first few pages and now has me eagerly awaiting the next volume's release. It is a story which brings to mind the classic westerns, holding all the hallmarks of those classic western stories that people have watched over again in movies and read over again in novels. However, it does hold a slight twist which for me was a further hook to this story, and what makes it unique within the hallmarks of classic western stories it holds. Many of the classic western elements have been mentioned in the editorial review, a Civil War veteran, a man who has had everything taken from him, a man that as a result has turned into a type of bounty hunter and mercenary, whose tortured by memories of what he lost and whose only true peace comes from hunting some of those that brought such loss to his life. The twist comes through what he is hunting, various demons and monsters. The same ones he was duped into freeing and setting lose upon an un-expecting world. As to the artwork itself, it fits perfectly with a style and flair of the story matching both the story's pacing and the action of the story. It is also reminiscent of the western style movies and covers of old western novels. Never once did I find the artwork to be overwhelming but in fact found it to help further assist in the telling of the story. It brought further to life the words which were being spoken and told, and for me helped to make No Man Land's that much more enjoyable. No Man's Land is one, which I very highly recommend, by encouraging you not to compare it or judge it without first trying it for yourself. Upon trying No Man's Land I think you will find a brand new story that is by far one of the most enjoyable stories with an "Old West" setting to be released in any format recently. Lastly, I do not desire to enter into a debate over what is and is not manga in review, nor is this the place to have such a debate, so I also encourage any future reviews not to try and bring about questions of what is and is not manga at present.