Juniper Berries, vol. III

I have a childhood memory about our neighbor, a taxi driver, telling me that sometimes you can be "too tired to sleep". Back then, I was usually forced to go to bed well before I felt any need to close my eyes, so I found his words really hard to comprehend.

In this day and age, it is not uncommon at all for me to be "too tired to sleep". That is why yesterday, when I should have headed home to sleep, I decided to find one or two comics at a public library instead. Thank goodness the one in the main post office building is open so late in weekdays.

As it often turns out, it was difficult to find anything new that would have been light enough to consume in that mood. The first thing I picked up was "Kolmen caballeron paluu ja muita Don Rosan parhaita" (ISBN 978-951-32-2694-7), a compilation of Donald Duck stories by Don Rosa. There is an odd feeling of forcedness about Rosa's narratives and drawings that makes it impossible for me to outright love his works as comic art, yet I have every reason to love the best of them as studies into the Donald Duck universe. Because I have never had an opportunity to watch "The Three Caballeros", I have been wondering about the personalities of José Carioca and especially Panchito Pistoles for some twenty-five years. I think Rosa's foreword to the compilation shed even more light to these memorable characters than his first experiment of portraying them.

Eventually I left the Rosa book at the library and borrowed two other comic releases. Today I finished reading one of them: Scott Pilgrim II -- "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" (ISBN 978-0-00-734048-4), by Bryan Lee O'Malley. For background, see "Learning My ABCs", August 2010, and my September 2010 comments in the "Scott Pilgrim VS The World" forum discussion thread.

It is okay that much of the second volume was confusing. How on Earth could the author keep up the spirit and unexpectability of SP after the first volume without being confusing? But with the great readability of his drawing style, O'Malley could have made it more coherent, as in easier to follow from one point of "WTF?" to the next point of "WTF?!?!" to the occasional quiet waters of "I think I am getting this" and so forth.

I do not have the time to list the nice things about SP II. Surprisingly enough, the best surprise was how Knives Chau's personality developed. That girl should so be dating Hinarei.

What really sucks about SP is that it has been too hastily translated into Finnish. I still need to check it out properly, but I am afraid I have encountered another series I will be reading in English only, despite my preferences. Too bad. Had they done a good job, I would totally have bought all volumes to show my support.