MBQ Volume 1 (MBQ manga) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1591820677 ISBN 13: 9781591820673

Publisher: TOKYOPOP Classics, 2005

Synopsis

Omario is a struggling comic book artist in Los Angeles who is pissed off at the world for dismissing his artistic craft as commercial, super-hero dreck. O'Malley is a rookie cop who is also pissed off-at all the young thugs that are making the streets more dangerous by the day. When Omario and O'Malley cross paths with each other, the whole neighborhood almost goes up in smoke, as the frustrations of getting by in this world start to boil over..... MBQ is fast-food from the 'hood at its spiciest. From the creative mind of up-and-coming comic artist Felipe Smith comes this tragi-comic portrait of the great big, burger-fed underbelly of life in the big city.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. Brian runs a pay-by-the-hour hotel and Korean karaoke bar catering to the musically challenged. Part man, part mountain, Jeff is a well-liked worker at the local McBurger Queen—the MBQ of the title. Hotshot rookie Aidan O'Malley is about to start his first day as a cop, while Dee, a brutal black drug dealer, is making plans to pulverize Richie for stealing from him. Omario, a not-so-secret stand-in for this book's author, just wants to draw completely original comics—comics much like the ones on these very pages. Smith's debut manga shows how these people's lives begin to intersect across the multiethnic urban landscape of Los Angeles. He's created an over-the-top, outrageous, slice-of-L.A. portrait that combines the best of manga—intensely expressive figuration and action, visually rich in emotion and comedy—with a violent and frankly entertaining strand of kick-ass, hip-hop gangsta sensibility. From the image of huge but nimble Jeff serving burgers to a couple of hilarious porn-addicted East Indian clerks, Smith takes the reader on a wild ride through the neighborhoods, nationalities and lowlifes of L.A., pausing only to deliver a talk-to-the-camera manifesto on the existential demands of making great comics. Weirdly thoughtful, thrillingly violent and cheesily sexy, this book is a guilty pleasure and a shameless delight. It's a wonderful glimpse into the future of original English manga. (Aug.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: TOKYOPOP Classics
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1591820677
• ISBN 13: 9781591820673
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224
• Illustrator: Smith Felipe