Queenie Chan (writer and illustrator), The Dreaming (Tokyopop, 2005)
Svetlana Chmakova (writer and illustrator) Dramacon (Tokyopop, 2005)

Tokyopop is best known as a publisher of manga in English translation, but it's also becoming well-known as a publisher of original English-language (OEL) manga. What separates OEL manga from American indie comics is a matter of some debate, but usually the art style, pacing, and storytelling of OEL manga are significantly influenced by that of Japanese manga.

Both OEL manga reviewed here are the first volumes of projected trilogies, as Tokyopop commissions original manga in sets of three, and both are shoujo.

The distinction between shoujo (girls') and shounen (boys') manga is partly one of intended audience and partly one of narrative and visual conventions. Typically, the protagonists of shounen manga are male, the panel layout is similar to that of a Western comic, the backgrounds are more or less realistic, and the story is action-oriented. In shoujo manga, the protagonists are usually female (if they're male, they're probably gay), the panels are not laid out in orderly square boxes but in a seeming jumble of odd shapes, full bleeds, and panels merging into each other, the backgrounds may fill with flowers or geometric shapes that represent the characters' state of mind, and though the story may have lots of action in it, the focus is on the characters and their relationships with each other.

Queenie Chan's The Dreaming is set in a spooky boarding school in Australia, in the middle of vast bushlands where several students have, over the years, vanished without a trace. Amber and Jeanie are identical twins whose aunt is the headmistress. Upon their arrival at the school, their aunt informs them that they must claim to be sisters but not twins, because the assistant principal refuses to allow twins into the school -- why, nobody knows, or at any rate no one will say.

Amber and Jeanie have barely settled into the school when they begin having strange dreams about Victorian ladies, and those same ladies are featured in eerie paintings that are hung about the school. For most of the book, nothing much happens but portents abound, from dire warnings to mysterious locked doors to midnight séances. But when one of the students disappears, the twins venture out into the bush to look for her. And just as it looks like the story is about to get interesting, it's the end of book one.

Chan makes good use of a hyper-detailed style in her drawings of elaborate Victorian dresses, and the tilted angles of the school effectively convey an expressionistic atmosphere of claustrophobia and dread. Though her character designs are average, she does a good job of making them distinct from each other -- a necessity when two of them are identical twins. The manga influences are primarily visible in the characters' big eyes and sharp features, and in the shoujo paneling. Otherwise, she dispenses with typical conventions like asides to the audience or varying the level of realism in the depictions of characters and backgrounds to show emotional states.

The setting and the title made me expect a comic more steeped in Australian folklore and atmosphere than it turned out to be. Except for the last chapter, the story could have taken place anywhere with the simple substitution of "forest" for "bush." This may change in later volumes, and the last chapter does suggest that it will. But read by itself, volume one of The Dreaming is a rather ordinary and slow-paced Gothic. The twins are the protagonists, but all the characterization they get is that one is brave and outgoing and one is timid and sensitive. The supporting characters are also more functional than vivid. The dialogue rarely clunks, but, like the characterization, it's there to support the plot rather than to sparkle in its own right.

For the story to keep pace with the quite pretty art, the second volume will need to delve deeper into Australian folklore and myth, and the characters will need to be better developed. The Dreaming gets off to a slow start, but there's enough potential that I'd give it a second chance.

Svetlana Chmakova's Dramacon is not fantasy, but is of associational interest by virtue of being set in an anime convention, with a heroine who wants to be a manga artist. I was initially put off by the premise, as I've suffered through way too many insular and self-referential stories about artists and writers, not to mention convention-set books that are full of smug in-jokes and snide cracks about fat people in badly fitting costumes.

To my relief, Dramacon avoids every single one of those pitfalls. The jokes are not only neither snide nor smug, but are actually funny. The storyline about being an aspiring artist is realistic and -- thank God -- free of both self-pity and sentimental clichés.

The plot is quite simple: Christie, a high school student and aspiring writer, goes to her first anime convention with her boyfriend Derek, an aspiring artist. Derek, the jerk, ignores Christie to fawn over cute girls in skimpy costumes. During the convention weekend, a romance blossoms between Christie and Matt, a mysterious young man in sunglasses who's an experienced con-goer, and Christie learns about being an artist and also how to stand up for herself.

Sometimes a simple plot is good thing. By not overwhelming the reader with incident, Chmakova allows the characters room to grow, and gives each emotional peak its full weight. The delicate balance between humor, drama, and romance is very characteristic of a certain type of shoujo manga, and it's handled beautifully in Dramacon.

The art, though sometimes over-crowded, is frequently funny and always lively. The alternation between frantic con scenes and quiet moments between characters is well-handled, giving the readers time to catch their breath rather than making them feel as overwhelmed as Christie. More than any other OEL manga I've seen, Chmakova's captures both the look and the emotional texture of shoujo. Chibi characters, asides to the reader, fantasy sequences, abstract backgrounds, narration, inventive paneling: it's not only all there, it's all done well.

I wish that Derek had been less of a creep from the get-go, as it drains any element of suspense from her relationship with Matt, and also makes one wonder what Christie saw in Derek to begin with. But that's my only major criticism of a sweet, funny, and very likable book. If you enjoy Fruits Basket, Hana-Kimi, or MARS, give Dramacon a try.