Planetes

[Caramuru]

I just finished Planetes Vol 4. Vol. 5 is already out, but I haven't bought it yet. I think Vols. 3 & 4 are much better than Vols. 1 & 2, which were pretty good.

Planetes, for those who don't know, is a sci-fi drama by Makoto Yukimura about space exploration in the year 2075. The main characters are the crew of a debri collecting spaceship. In late 21st Century, the amount of space junk orbiting around Earth (from old space stations, forgotten satellites, and lost space ships) becomes a threat to space travel and the crew of the DS-12 "Toy Box" is one of many in charge of "cleaning space."

Yukimura's style of art and storytelling is beautiful and realistic. Vols 1 & 2 seem like a mix between the realistic and the cartoony, but in the writing, not so much in the art. The future Earth and space he creates is very believable. The stories are mostly about the astronauts, what it means for them to be in space away from their families, how sometimes they feel out of place when they return to Earth on leave, the politics of space environmentalism and even the spiritual and existencial experiences they have in outer space.

Anyone else reading this?

http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/2004/01/feature/02-02.jpg

[Jason Seaver]

Is there a Volume 5 or have they just relabeled Volume 4/1 and 4/2 differently? Or is Volume 5 just out in Japan?

Anyway, Planetes is easily the best manga/comic I've read in the past year or two. Fantastic hard sci-fi with great characterization. I'm also really enjoying the anime, which does a nice job expanding the characters. Works like a really good TV series.

[Caramuru]

Originally posted by Jason Seaver
Is there a Volume 5 or have they just relabeled Volume 4/1 and 4/2 differently? Or is Volume 5 just out in Japan?

Anyway, Planetes is easily the best manga/comic I've read in the past year or two. Fantastic hard sci-fi with great characterization. I'm also really enjoying the anime, which does a nice job expanding the characters. Works like a really good TV series.

A friend of mine told me Vol 5 is already out, but I haven't seen it yet.

I was initially disappointed in the anime. It's pretty to look at, but I thought all characters were a little too hyperactive in comparison with the tone and slow pace of the manga. I only saw one episode though. I'll give it another shot.

[Planetary]

Planetes was one of the best recommendations I've received about manga this year. I'm currently reading volume 4/2, which I was under the impression would be the last volume. Here's hoping it continues.

Hey, Caramuru, if you appreciate the steady pace and and clean story-telling of Planetes the you shlould get a copy of Drawn and Quarterly's new "The Pushman and other stories", created by Yoshihiro Tatsumi.

These stories are haunting and reflect the darker parts of life most people would rather disregard. Undoubtedly one of my favorite books of the year. Amazon has a sweet price on it, I believe, and it will make the wait for the next volume of Planaetes much easier.

I wouldn't mind a Makoto Yukimura sketch book in the future. He is one hell of an artist. There's a drawing in volume 4/1 of Fee on her motorcycle that made me shake my head in awe. I

[Royal Nonesuch]

I've read the first two volumes so far, and I thought they were excellent. Great drama, tension, artwork, everything. I can't wait to get my hands on the remaining books.

So, there's a volume 5 after 4/2?

[Severance]

I'm loving Planetes at the moment, only received the first three volumes over here so far though. If only more companies were releasing intelligent hard SF titles like this - I've been hoping someone would release some more Yukinobu Hoshino for years now. Viz did '2001 Nights' and 'Saber Tiger' about 15 years ago, Dark Horse released his 'Two Faces of Tomorrow' about a decade ago, and no-one's released anything of his since. Maybe if we all buy Planetes, Tokyopop will want to release something similar, crosses fingers.

[Caramuru]

Originally posted by Planetary
Hey, Caramuru, if you appreciate the steady pace and and clean story-telling of Planetes the you shlould get a copy of Drawn and Quarterly's new "The Pushman and other stories", created by Yoshihiro Tatsumi.

I'll look it up. Thanks for the recommendation.

I just did. I couldn't find much about it on the net. It's not listed on the Midtown Comics Website.

[Planetary]

Originally posted by Caramuru
I'll look it up. Thanks for the recommendation.

I just did. I couldn't find much about it on the net. It's not listed on the Midtown Comics Website.

Go to Amazon and under graphic novel publishers click Drawn & Quarterly. "The Pushman..." should be the third or fourth book on the list.

Here ya go...


THE PUSH MAN reviewed in Newsday

Updated September 6, 2005


THE PUSH MAN, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Drawn & Quarterly, 209 pp., $19.95.

September 4, 2005

'The Push Man" concerns relationships. But that really seems an overly polite word to characterize the desperate gropings and violent consequences depicted in these 16 short stories written and drawn by Japanese artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi in 1969. Edited, designed and lettered by Brooklyn cartoonist Adrian Tomine, "The Push Man" evokes the dead-end fury of Hubert Selby's downbeat classic "Last Exit to Brooklyn." This comes as no surprise, since Tatsumi admits that police and news reports of working-class life are his main inspiration.

Tatsumi relates quick, grim tales of a naked city crowded with anonymous salary men, factory workers, sewer cleaners, murderers, pimps, cocktail waitresses and call girls. "To survive in the crowd, you have to struggle alone," declares the less than despondent killer of his pregnant wife in "The Burden." In "Piranha," a miserable husband sacrifices his left hand so that his unfaithful wife can buy a nightclub and give him the heave-ho. And the title tale's push man, whose job consists of forcing passengers into already crowded subway cars, finds a strange sort of serenity after he's violated by a trio of molestation victims in a rather sexy fantasy.

The book's last and longest story, "My Hitler," is a 24-page, upside-down nature tale fraught with urban anxiety. A loner sacrifices his cocktail-hostess girlfriend for an oversized, almost heroically rendered pregnant sewer rat, preferring the rodent's desperate yet more honorable company to that of a species capable of producing a mass murderer. Is Tatsumi suggesting that his cast of alienated souls has a pestilent nature? "I myself am a very normal person," he reassures us in an interview with Tomine. "Please do not interpret these stories as representative of the author's personality."

BY RICHARD GEHR
Richard Gehr is a writer in Brooklyn.

[David Bird]

The fifth volume is volume 4.2. I read through it all as they came out and I am sure thats the last one.

I recently picked up the first DVD of the anime. Have to say, I don't think it measured up to the book.

[The_Adventurer]

Read the manga, loved it. Watched the Anime, loved it.

There arn't enough Hard Sci-Fi comics out there.

Is the series still going on in Japan? We need a volume 5(aka: book 6)

[Royal Nonesuch]

Originally posted by Planetary
Go to Amazon and under graphic novel publishers click Drawn & Quarterly. "The Pushman..." should be the third or fourth book on the list.

Here ya go...


THE PUSH MAN reviewed in Newsday

SNIP



That sounds incredible. I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for that. Thanks for the heads up, Planetary.

[Alex Scott]

I'm pretty sure that Planetes is done. V4/2 provided a pretty good wrap-up, so any more (besides the anime) would probably be redundant. Makoto Yukimura's currently working on a new series called "Vinland Saga," which is about vikings.

[The_Adventurer]

Done? Please.

They still have to get to Jupiter and then come home to the ramifications of being away from your wife of 7 years.