MattBrady
11-28-2002, 09:07 AM
All right Americans - political hangover gone yet?
No matter what your view of the process that began about three years ago and ended in December, or your opinion on the who ultimately ended up as the "winner" and "loser" of the recent presidential election, you're probably a little more familiar with the process of making a president than you were before. Like most Americans, you now view the "electoral college" not as a vague concept wherein a relatively unknown group of people, mandated by the population, elect a president for you, but rather as a vague, outdated concept wherein a relatively unknown group of people, mandated by the population, elect a president for you.
So what are you going to do with all this new knowledge about how a middle aged, white male goes from being your average, run of the mill American with a net worth in the millions and political connections out the wazoo to being the leader of the free world? Run for president yourself?
Yeah, right.
Now that you know more than you did about the president-making process, it's the perfect time to pick up Viz's Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President. The manga series, written and illustrated by Kaiji Kawaguchi provides a view of American politics unlike anything else you're likely to see come out in the mass media. Unlike the hip, cynical insider viewpoint of Primary Colors, and, most likely, the plethora of accounts (both fictionalized and factual) of Gore vs. Bush that will be hitting the bookstores soon, Eagle is told in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner of the kid yelling to the rest of the crowd that the emperor ain't wearing a stitch.
While Kawaguchi is firstly trying to tell a good story and secondly inform his Japanese audience about the American political system, the deliver comes off a little differently for an American audience. If even half of the shadiness and deal-making depicted in Eagle is mirrored in reality, America has never really ceased being a monarchy. The kings and queens don't wear crowns anymore, but they still exist…at least in the pages of Eagle.
Kawaguchi cites his main influence for Eagle as The War Room, the documentary by Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker that followed Clinton's 1992 campaign. The film mostly followed James Carville, Clinton's campaign consultant who would become a rather bombastic presence on every single morning news show once Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky was revealed and the resultant proceedings really got rolling. "I recall being amazed and feeling sweaty-palmed excitement at The War Room's depiction of a kind of comprehensive and high-quality media strategy which is unheard of in Japanese politics," Kawaguchi said in an interview conducted for the Los Angeles Times.
The American process is so different than the Japanese process that Kawaguchi began to study it in earnest, and shortly thereafter began his series in the bi-weekly Japanese manga anthology Big Comic. Offering its Japanese audience an insider's look at the American political system with a decidedly Japanese flair, Eagle quickly became a hit.
So what's it about?
Eagle follows the presidential campaign of Kenneth Yamaoka, a third-generation Japanese American, whose picture should show up as a definition for the word "idealist" in Webster's. Yamaoka is a square-jawed, broad-shouldered, straight shooter, packed with charisma to spare.
Aside from being an outsider (meaning from the Pacific Northwest), who married into New England money, Yamaoka's story is fairly typical for any presidential candidate - military service (this time in Vietnam), Yale Law, New York legal practice, and finally, a Democratic (what, you were expecting him to be Republican?) senate seat. In Vietnam, Yamaoka had a vision that would shape his destiny - gravely wounded, the young soldier literally refused to die. Holding off death by sheer force of will, Yamaoka muttered over and over, "I'm sorry, I can't come back…I'm going to be President."
His sheer force of will, combined with his intelligence, charisma and good looks was enough to drive him quickly through Yale and eventually into the Senate. From there, he launched his bid against the incumbent Vice-President, Albert Noah, referred to throughout as Al. And yes, the president is named "Bill." Kawaguchi makes no bones about being heavily influenced by the Clinton-Gore White House and how it's actions and activities during its eight years virtually forced some Democrats to make a challenging bid for the Presidency.
The story begins on the day Yamaoka announces his candidacy. Rather than placing the protagonist within the Yamaoka campaign, Kawaguchi chooses to introduce an outsider, Takashi Jo, a small-time Japanese reporter. Jo, whose mother died just prior to the story's beginning, was somewhat of a war orphan. All he knew about his father was that he was a Marine who had a stopover in Okinawa during the Vietnam War. His mother kept a picture of herself and the Marine in her living room, but when Takashi visits to put her affairs in order, the picture is mysteriously absent from its usual place.
Jo travels to America to join the Yamaoka campaign and is given unlimited access to Yamaoka and his staff, with the provision that he cannot publish any of his reports until after the election. The young reporter agrees, and is off for the ride of his life, experiencing the pinnacle of the American political system - and all the good and bad that goes along with it.
The Yamaoka campaign, and family takes Jo in, where he meets Rachel, the candidate's adopted daughter, and Alex, his headstrong son who might just jeopardize his father's entire campaign if it means that he'll get his old man's acceptance.
Kawaguchi tells the backstory of candidate Yamakoda through flashbacks as members of the campaign and family describe both how they met and came to know the man who would be president. Along with the flashbacks, Kawaguchi often shifts his point of view character to Yamakoda himself, although readers never learn what he is thinking, which is a good thing. In Yamakoda, Kawaguchi has applied all that he has learned from observing American politics - publicly, the candidate is charming and an apparent idealist, however, through strategy meetings and one-on-one conversations with Jo, Yamakoda's Machiavellian side is revealed.
Yamakoda's confidence in his eventual election victory comes directly from his surgical manipulation of people and events that will go right up to the point of making the readers' skin crawl. He'll have his campaign delay someone's travel for a few minutes with innocent conversation if it means that he'll be able to scoop them on a speech. He'll play to a politicians' ego with the skill of a psychologist before they realize he's walked them into a trap from which there's no escape - except through him. To know Yamakoda's inner thoughts would be to pull back the curtain on what makes the man tick, and it's the not knowing which makes the story all the more effective.
But while the story is being told from Yamakoda's limited point of view, essentially allowing the reader to see the public face of Yamakoda, you can't help but like him. He says the right things about America, even if they are a little naïve. They're what we, as American's would want our statesmen…statesmen…not politicians to say. Yamakoda doesn't use scare tactics or talk down to his audience - he appeals to the inherent intelligence and reason of the American individual. It's a refreshing change from politics today.
While Kawaguchi makes it easy to come under Yamakoda's spell, the reader finds themselves identifying with Jo more and more as the reporter, despite wanting to destroy the politician for his own reasons, often finds himself a victim of Yamakoda's magic (and no, you're not going to learn why Jo wants to destroy Yamakoda here - read it for yourself).
But while he shows you the best political candidate for President to come along in fiction or reality, save Martin Sheen, Kawaguchi takes you deep inside the campaign to show you what has to be done, no matter how distasteful, in order to make the pieces fall right where a candidate wants them. It's a vacillating combination of light and dark, good and bad that's impossible to look away from once you start. And just when you think things can't be changed or altered…well, as we've all learned from the past election season…they can. Defeats can be pulled from the jaws of victory, and the momentum of entire campaigns can change overnight, given a candidate's performance in a debate.
As Kawaguchi is portraying an America with a hidden monarchy, the dukes and barons of the land must be courted for their support, and the creator goes to great pains to show how Yamakoda will go to nearly any means to gain the support of the Mayor of New York City and the largest land baron in Texas. While we, as Americans, may think of ourselves as rugged individuals, politicians know better - Americans tend to vote as their leaders, be they economic, social, spiritual, or otherwise, tell them. It's a point Kawaguchi drives home again and again with Yamakoda - gain the support of the leaders, and the people are sure to follow.
Artistically, Kawaguchi plays the story very straight, only occasionally having his characters take up half a page to deliver the climactic line of a speech in a rather manga-esque fashion. Now and then, it works well and is quite effective. Occasionally, it comes across as a little silly for the lines delivered, but it's a minor quibble and a stylistic one at that.
Kawaguchi's art is a refreshing change from American comics also, in that he's not afraid to accurately draw characters of different ethnicities accurately. Rather than having his African Americans look like a Caucasian that was colored incorrectly, Kawaguchi's characters have a level of realism that reveals a lifetime of study by the artist. This is also seen in Yamaoka himself - as a third-generation Asian-American, his Japanese features are beginning to blend a little, making him not quite as Japanese-looking as Jo, but different than the other Americans. The artwork merges perfectly with the story, making it a seamless read - there are none of the traditional American speed bumps of characters whose facial features change appearance midstream, or objects, such as a television or car drawn by someone who, while mastering a bodacious female form, has yet to master accurately drawing the world around them.
Part of Kawaguchi's accuracy comes from his extensive photo research - he took 50 albums' worth of pictures on his trips to American while he was constructing the story. It shows, especially in his New York and Texas scenes.
There are a couple of quibbles on subject matter, as well. Despite Yamakoda being a third generation American of Asian descent, so far, racism has yet to show its ugly face. While asides about Yamakoda's real chances at winning the election have been made, real evidence of racism has not been shown. While one could argue that Yamakoda would not experience the same degree of ugliness that say, a fictional African-American candidate for President would, history would suggest that the campaign still would get plenty of hate mail, and at least one racist group would make its voice heard. Hopefully, as Kawaguchi is attempting to give a comprehensive picture of the American political system, this will, along with Yamakoda and Jo's reaction to it, be touched upon.
Also, perhaps given his outsider-looking-in method of telling the story, Yamakoda's platform, or at least his ideas for running the nation…while sounding great in a make-believe world, would be ridiculed by the Vice President's supporters as being hopelessly naïve and bereft of any real substance. They're feel-good statements made to show Yamaoka is an idealist. Assumedly, more substance will be coming if Yamakoda wins the nomination and has to deal with Kawaguchi's version of George W. Bush.
But, again, those are only minor, minor points with the series. Otherwise, it's a masterwork of political fiction, told with the drama, pacing and characters that we all wish had been in the real election. Hell, it would do this country a lot of good if it was a required text in civics classes. You want a comic with all the elements of real life as well as those from the best political films and books? It's right here. Got a parent that you've wanted to get into comics? Give 'em Eagle, and see how they can't put it down. Know someone who loves The West Wing but doesn't read comics? Give 'em Eagle. A fan of The West Wing but not reading Eagle? Shame on you! Still feel sick about how the last election ran? Take two Eagles and call me in the morning.
So where should you get on this ride? While the "issues" (which is to say, 100-page, black and white volumes) are coming out monthly, and we've just passed "Super Tuesday," it's best to go back to the beginning to understand everything that's going on. Making this easier, Viz currently offers two volumes, collecting the first eight volumes for about twenty bucks a pop, and just over 400 pages each. But if you can manage it, buy both volumes at once - you'll fly through the first in about an hour, and be hunting the second one down as soon as you realize that Yamakoda's wife has realized that… No, that'd be telling.
Go now and buy. Read. Enjoy.
No matter what your view of the process that began about three years ago and ended in December, or your opinion on the who ultimately ended up as the "winner" and "loser" of the recent presidential election, you're probably a little more familiar with the process of making a president than you were before. Like most Americans, you now view the "electoral college" not as a vague concept wherein a relatively unknown group of people, mandated by the population, elect a president for you, but rather as a vague, outdated concept wherein a relatively unknown group of people, mandated by the population, elect a president for you.
So what are you going to do with all this new knowledge about how a middle aged, white male goes from being your average, run of the mill American with a net worth in the millions and political connections out the wazoo to being the leader of the free world? Run for president yourself?
Yeah, right.
Now that you know more than you did about the president-making process, it's the perfect time to pick up Viz's Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President. The manga series, written and illustrated by Kaiji Kawaguchi provides a view of American politics unlike anything else you're likely to see come out in the mass media. Unlike the hip, cynical insider viewpoint of Primary Colors, and, most likely, the plethora of accounts (both fictionalized and factual) of Gore vs. Bush that will be hitting the bookstores soon, Eagle is told in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner of the kid yelling to the rest of the crowd that the emperor ain't wearing a stitch.
While Kawaguchi is firstly trying to tell a good story and secondly inform his Japanese audience about the American political system, the deliver comes off a little differently for an American audience. If even half of the shadiness and deal-making depicted in Eagle is mirrored in reality, America has never really ceased being a monarchy. The kings and queens don't wear crowns anymore, but they still exist…at least in the pages of Eagle.
Kawaguchi cites his main influence for Eagle as The War Room, the documentary by Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker that followed Clinton's 1992 campaign. The film mostly followed James Carville, Clinton's campaign consultant who would become a rather bombastic presence on every single morning news show once Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky was revealed and the resultant proceedings really got rolling. "I recall being amazed and feeling sweaty-palmed excitement at The War Room's depiction of a kind of comprehensive and high-quality media strategy which is unheard of in Japanese politics," Kawaguchi said in an interview conducted for the Los Angeles Times.
The American process is so different than the Japanese process that Kawaguchi began to study it in earnest, and shortly thereafter began his series in the bi-weekly Japanese manga anthology Big Comic. Offering its Japanese audience an insider's look at the American political system with a decidedly Japanese flair, Eagle quickly became a hit.
So what's it about?
Eagle follows the presidential campaign of Kenneth Yamaoka, a third-generation Japanese American, whose picture should show up as a definition for the word "idealist" in Webster's. Yamaoka is a square-jawed, broad-shouldered, straight shooter, packed with charisma to spare.
Aside from being an outsider (meaning from the Pacific Northwest), who married into New England money, Yamaoka's story is fairly typical for any presidential candidate - military service (this time in Vietnam), Yale Law, New York legal practice, and finally, a Democratic (what, you were expecting him to be Republican?) senate seat. In Vietnam, Yamaoka had a vision that would shape his destiny - gravely wounded, the young soldier literally refused to die. Holding off death by sheer force of will, Yamaoka muttered over and over, "I'm sorry, I can't come back…I'm going to be President."
His sheer force of will, combined with his intelligence, charisma and good looks was enough to drive him quickly through Yale and eventually into the Senate. From there, he launched his bid against the incumbent Vice-President, Albert Noah, referred to throughout as Al. And yes, the president is named "Bill." Kawaguchi makes no bones about being heavily influenced by the Clinton-Gore White House and how it's actions and activities during its eight years virtually forced some Democrats to make a challenging bid for the Presidency.
The story begins on the day Yamaoka announces his candidacy. Rather than placing the protagonist within the Yamaoka campaign, Kawaguchi chooses to introduce an outsider, Takashi Jo, a small-time Japanese reporter. Jo, whose mother died just prior to the story's beginning, was somewhat of a war orphan. All he knew about his father was that he was a Marine who had a stopover in Okinawa during the Vietnam War. His mother kept a picture of herself and the Marine in her living room, but when Takashi visits to put her affairs in order, the picture is mysteriously absent from its usual place.
Jo travels to America to join the Yamaoka campaign and is given unlimited access to Yamaoka and his staff, with the provision that he cannot publish any of his reports until after the election. The young reporter agrees, and is off for the ride of his life, experiencing the pinnacle of the American political system - and all the good and bad that goes along with it.
The Yamaoka campaign, and family takes Jo in, where he meets Rachel, the candidate's adopted daughter, and Alex, his headstrong son who might just jeopardize his father's entire campaign if it means that he'll get his old man's acceptance.
Kawaguchi tells the backstory of candidate Yamakoda through flashbacks as members of the campaign and family describe both how they met and came to know the man who would be president. Along with the flashbacks, Kawaguchi often shifts his point of view character to Yamakoda himself, although readers never learn what he is thinking, which is a good thing. In Yamakoda, Kawaguchi has applied all that he has learned from observing American politics - publicly, the candidate is charming and an apparent idealist, however, through strategy meetings and one-on-one conversations with Jo, Yamakoda's Machiavellian side is revealed.
Yamakoda's confidence in his eventual election victory comes directly from his surgical manipulation of people and events that will go right up to the point of making the readers' skin crawl. He'll have his campaign delay someone's travel for a few minutes with innocent conversation if it means that he'll be able to scoop them on a speech. He'll play to a politicians' ego with the skill of a psychologist before they realize he's walked them into a trap from which there's no escape - except through him. To know Yamakoda's inner thoughts would be to pull back the curtain on what makes the man tick, and it's the not knowing which makes the story all the more effective.
But while the story is being told from Yamakoda's limited point of view, essentially allowing the reader to see the public face of Yamakoda, you can't help but like him. He says the right things about America, even if they are a little naïve. They're what we, as American's would want our statesmen…statesmen…not politicians to say. Yamakoda doesn't use scare tactics or talk down to his audience - he appeals to the inherent intelligence and reason of the American individual. It's a refreshing change from politics today.
While Kawaguchi makes it easy to come under Yamakoda's spell, the reader finds themselves identifying with Jo more and more as the reporter, despite wanting to destroy the politician for his own reasons, often finds himself a victim of Yamakoda's magic (and no, you're not going to learn why Jo wants to destroy Yamakoda here - read it for yourself).
But while he shows you the best political candidate for President to come along in fiction or reality, save Martin Sheen, Kawaguchi takes you deep inside the campaign to show you what has to be done, no matter how distasteful, in order to make the pieces fall right where a candidate wants them. It's a vacillating combination of light and dark, good and bad that's impossible to look away from once you start. And just when you think things can't be changed or altered…well, as we've all learned from the past election season…they can. Defeats can be pulled from the jaws of victory, and the momentum of entire campaigns can change overnight, given a candidate's performance in a debate.
As Kawaguchi is portraying an America with a hidden monarchy, the dukes and barons of the land must be courted for their support, and the creator goes to great pains to show how Yamakoda will go to nearly any means to gain the support of the Mayor of New York City and the largest land baron in Texas. While we, as Americans, may think of ourselves as rugged individuals, politicians know better - Americans tend to vote as their leaders, be they economic, social, spiritual, or otherwise, tell them. It's a point Kawaguchi drives home again and again with Yamakoda - gain the support of the leaders, and the people are sure to follow.
Artistically, Kawaguchi plays the story very straight, only occasionally having his characters take up half a page to deliver the climactic line of a speech in a rather manga-esque fashion. Now and then, it works well and is quite effective. Occasionally, it comes across as a little silly for the lines delivered, but it's a minor quibble and a stylistic one at that.
Kawaguchi's art is a refreshing change from American comics also, in that he's not afraid to accurately draw characters of different ethnicities accurately. Rather than having his African Americans look like a Caucasian that was colored incorrectly, Kawaguchi's characters have a level of realism that reveals a lifetime of study by the artist. This is also seen in Yamaoka himself - as a third-generation Asian-American, his Japanese features are beginning to blend a little, making him not quite as Japanese-looking as Jo, but different than the other Americans. The artwork merges perfectly with the story, making it a seamless read - there are none of the traditional American speed bumps of characters whose facial features change appearance midstream, or objects, such as a television or car drawn by someone who, while mastering a bodacious female form, has yet to master accurately drawing the world around them.
Part of Kawaguchi's accuracy comes from his extensive photo research - he took 50 albums' worth of pictures on his trips to American while he was constructing the story. It shows, especially in his New York and Texas scenes.
There are a couple of quibbles on subject matter, as well. Despite Yamakoda being a third generation American of Asian descent, so far, racism has yet to show its ugly face. While asides about Yamakoda's real chances at winning the election have been made, real evidence of racism has not been shown. While one could argue that Yamakoda would not experience the same degree of ugliness that say, a fictional African-American candidate for President would, history would suggest that the campaign still would get plenty of hate mail, and at least one racist group would make its voice heard. Hopefully, as Kawaguchi is attempting to give a comprehensive picture of the American political system, this will, along with Yamakoda and Jo's reaction to it, be touched upon.
Also, perhaps given his outsider-looking-in method of telling the story, Yamakoda's platform, or at least his ideas for running the nation…while sounding great in a make-believe world, would be ridiculed by the Vice President's supporters as being hopelessly naïve and bereft of any real substance. They're feel-good statements made to show Yamaoka is an idealist. Assumedly, more substance will be coming if Yamakoda wins the nomination and has to deal with Kawaguchi's version of George W. Bush.
But, again, those are only minor, minor points with the series. Otherwise, it's a masterwork of political fiction, told with the drama, pacing and characters that we all wish had been in the real election. Hell, it would do this country a lot of good if it was a required text in civics classes. You want a comic with all the elements of real life as well as those from the best political films and books? It's right here. Got a parent that you've wanted to get into comics? Give 'em Eagle, and see how they can't put it down. Know someone who loves The West Wing but doesn't read comics? Give 'em Eagle. A fan of The West Wing but not reading Eagle? Shame on you! Still feel sick about how the last election ran? Take two Eagles and call me in the morning.
So where should you get on this ride? While the "issues" (which is to say, 100-page, black and white volumes) are coming out monthly, and we've just passed "Super Tuesday," it's best to go back to the beginning to understand everything that's going on. Making this easier, Viz currently offers two volumes, collecting the first eight volumes for about twenty bucks a pop, and just over 400 pages each. But if you can manage it, buy both volumes at once - you'll fly through the first in about an hour, and be hunting the second one down as soon as you realize that Yamakoda's wife has realized that… No, that'd be telling.
Go now and buy. Read. Enjoy.