the seeds of ghettoManga were laid back when Wu-Tang Clan first dropped Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)circa 1993,with it's heady mix of radio-unfriendly beats, grimy street life stories, and massive roster of emcees who clearly consumed more cartoons, comics and kung-fu flicks than the recommended daily allowance! my first exposure to the Wu was the video for M.E.T.H.O.D. Man,which starts out by naming the Clan members one by one. i immediately said to myself, "These guys need to be in comics!"
When Wu-Tang was at the height of their popularity, heads were clamoring for a Wu-Tang comic, which they did with the 1999 Image effort The Nine Rings of Wu-Tang. only problem being, it was wack... Nine Rings took place in a fantasy setting, not the Staten Island hood their music grew out of, and the characters bore little resembblance to the Clan we knew and loved... i mean, why didn't they just take these guys as-is and throw them into supernatural circumstances, creating a comic firmly grounded in their ghetto appeal? well that's exactly what they did in the new 96 page OGN Method Man, from Grand Central Publishing. like that video that turned me on to Wu-Tang so long ago, this book takes advantage of the grimy, hood texture of the Ticalion Stallion. Method hooked up with David Atchison (Occult Crimes Taskforce) and Sanford Greene (ArtXilla Tasty Treats, Army of Darkness)to create a a tale that mostly satisfies where previous Wu comics let me down. the new joint casts Method as a disgraced and exiled member of an order of killer priests who uses his arcane skills to keep the hood safe from things that go bump in the night. while the book is far from perfect, i feel safe saying that if this kinda book had come out back when Wu held hip hop in their hand, it would'a been a home run! as it is, the Method Man creative team turned out a book that would make a great movie... you can't ask more from a graphic novel than that! COP IT on amazon.com holla!
From your assessment, I'm figuring that I likes 9 rings a little more than u did. I bought the 1st issue & thought; hmm, this is different. I liked the fact that it wasn't what I or most ppl exspected from them Clayton Henry's art reminded me of a cross between Brian Stellfreeze & Cully Hamner, although his artwork wasn't as polished as either of theirs. If I had a gripe with the comic it would be that there was nothing compelling enough 2 make wanna pick up a 2nd issue.
"there was nothing compelling enough 2 make wanna pick up a 2nd issue"
Yeah, that's a problem. I can appreciate fantasy comics, and especially injecting people of color into fantasy settings, but I found no connection between the Wu-tang Clan's appeal and the comic. I looked at it in the store, but didn't find it interesting enough to buy it. It felt generic.
The Method Man OGN isn't a brilliant comic either, but it makes better use of Method's image... I would definitely check for another volume of that one!
the seeds of ghettoManga were laid back when Wu-Tang Clan first dropped Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
When Wu-Tang was at the height of their popularity, heads were clamoring for a Wu-Tang comic, which they did with the 1999 Image effort The Nine Rings of Wu-Tang
well that's exactly what they did in the new 96 page OGN Method Man, from Grand Central Publishing. like that video that turned me on to Wu-Tang so long ago, this book takes advantage of the grimy, hood texture of the Ticalion Stallion. Method hooked up with David Atchison (Occult Crimes Taskforce
From your assessment, I'm figuring that I likes 9 rings a little more than u did. I bought the 1st issue & thought; hmm, this is different. I liked the fact that it wasn't what I or most ppl exspected from them
ReplyDeleteClayton Henry's art reminded me of a cross between Brian Stellfreeze & Cully Hamner, although his artwork wasn't as polished as either of theirs.
If I had a gripe with the comic it would be that there was nothing compelling enough 2 make wanna pick up a 2nd issue.
"there was nothing compelling enough 2 make wanna pick up a 2nd issue"
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's a problem. I can appreciate fantasy comics, and especially injecting people of color into fantasy settings, but I found no connection between the Wu-tang Clan's appeal and the comic. I looked at it in the store, but didn't find it interesting enough to buy it. It felt generic.
The Method Man OGN isn't a brilliant comic either, but it makes better use of Method's image... I would definitely check for another volume of that one!