The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by **Victorian Squid** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 9:54 am

One of the best features of the book is although the writer is very knowledgeable about Japanese culture and some of the challenges of being a foreigner living there, but the book doesn't hit you over the head with exposition to make sure the reader understands. For instance, I don't think "gaijin" is defined in an unnatural or forced way but it's shown through the narrative what it means to be gaijin in Japanese culture to some extent. The information is wound into the narrative and doesn't presume the reader is a dummy and can't figure things out from it.

by **chap22** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 11:37 am

shockingly, my LCS did not get this. no revview from me this week.

by **BlueStreak** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 11:47 am

Okay, here is what we will do for people whose LCSs don't carry the book who are still interested in reviewing the book. Send me a PM with your address and I'll mail out my copy tomorrow. The first person will then send it to the second person and so on and so forth until it makes its way back to me. That way, we can still get some solid reviews from those otherwise unable to read this week's selection.

by **Punchy** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 3:03 pm

I actually have a copy of this, so I'm willing to do the same as BlueStreak for any UK based posters.

by **BlueStreak** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:16 pm

Zero has informed me that he won't be able to review for the next couple of weeks due to holiday commitments. He was curious if someone would be willing to trade him spots in the rotation so that he won't have to wait another 3-4 months to pick. If anyone who has a pick coming up in the next month or so (Hawk, Squid, RU, etc.,) wants to trade for next week's pick, it'd be greatly appreciated.

by **SilverPhoenix** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:27 pm

Speaking of Trades, Greg. I'll fast track my review so you can get a chance to read and review it, yourself. If you can wait till Monday, then you're golden.

by **Greg** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:33 pm

SilverPhoenix wrote:Speaking of Trades, Greg. I'll fast track my review so you can get a chance to read and review it, yourself. If you can wait till Monday, then you're golden.

Sure.

by **Stephen Day** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 7:51 pm

As I feared, there was no copy of Suicide Forest on the shelves at my LCS. I'll hopefully be able to post a review next week.

by **God-Man** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 8:01 pm

I thought The Suicide Forest was pretty good. The story was pretty low key, but there was still a sense of foreboding and dread throughout the book. The dark, sketchy, almost impressionistic art really helped contribute to the tone.

My favorite sequence in The Suicide Forest was the juxtaposition of Alvin's hookup and the suicide of his ex girlfriend. Both scenes were sad and kinda pathetic in their own way, despite the different actions they took. Alvin's ex and the girl he was having sex with even had the same face towards the end of their respective scenes.

I also enjoyed the parallels between the two leads. Both are outsiders in their own way, Alvin being an American living in Japan, and Ryoko having a gift (presumably) others do not. Their respective stories don't intersect here, but I assume that won't be the case for long. Overall, this was a pretty interesting first issue, and it'll probably get me to read the second.

7

by **Victorian Squid** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 9:28 pm

Fieldy snuts, if you want to review this let me know and I will send you my copy--to make up for razzing you last week.

by **Victorian Squid** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 12:56 pm

I'm not going to repost images out of sensitivity for people who've known suicides, and after a certain age unfortunately almost everyone has been affected by at least one, but if you've read the book and do a google image search for the Aokigahara Forest you'll see how well the atmosphere of this certain place was captured by artist Gabriel Hernandez.

by **Greg** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:02 pm

Victorious Squid wrote:I'm not going to repost images out of sensitivity for people who've known suicides, and after a certain age unfortunately almost everyone has been affected by at least one, but if you've read the book and do a google image search for the Aokigahara Forest you'll see how well the atmosphere of this certain place was captured by artist Gabriel Hernandez.

Just looked that up. Good grief.

by **Victorian Squid** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:22 pm

Greg wrote:
Just looked that up. Good grief.

Yeah, there are some very graphic photos. If you read the wiki entry as well I think you'd be interested particularly, in days of old the practice of Ubasute was common there where elderly or ill relatives were taken there by people and left to die there. There is also a cultural lore of Japanese demons residing there. It even mentions the posting of signs which is featured in the book. And there's a low-budget horror film call The Forest due soon from 611 Films.

by **Victorian Squid** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:58 pm

BlueStreak wrote:Zero has informed me that he won't be able to review for the next couple of weeks due to holiday commitments. He was curious if someone would be willing to trade him spots in the rotation so that he won't have to wait another 3-4 months to pick. If anyone who has a pick coming up in the next month or so (Hawk, Squid, RU, etc.,) wants to trade for next week's pick, it'd be greatly appreciated.

I've checked and re-checked but next week is one of those pre-holiday weeks where I don't see anything I'd want to pick, Morning Glories being one of the only things I have any interest in and it's the last issue of the first arc. But then, there's a lot of Marvel & DC books I wouldn't even consider picking. I'm surprised you don't cut him a deal to get the Larfleeze (sp?) Christmas Special in.

by **Eli Katz** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 2:02 pm

Just a quick review: The only flaw in this book is that it's dialogue heavy, at points, and this slows down an otherwise very interesting and original book. The art is amazingly stylized and produces a perfectly creepy atmosphere. This book reminds me why I love comics: cool concepts brought alive by wonderful illustrations.

STORY: 8.5
ART: 10
OVERALL: 9.25