Perhaps we were all a little harsh about the new Avril Lavigne manga announced this week by Del Rey. OK, the cover would put most people into insulin shock, but writer Joshua Dysart popped up in several forums this week to ask us not to judge this book by its cover. It’s really a horror story, he says, or more accurately, a tragedy.
Dysart talks at length about the development of the book and his vision of it in this interview with David Doub of Manga Punk. He actually wrote the book for the Asian market, he says; the American release was secondary. And:
I think this Avril piece has the heart and tone of Hakase Mizuki’s work (whom I love, and whose “The Demon Ororon” I did the English adaptation for), but it’s more grounded in reality then her wonderful work. So really what you have is a western tragedy infused with and informed by Eastern elements.
Dysart also reveals how the book was developed: He had worked with artist Camilla D’errico, who told packager House of Parlance that she wanted to work with Dysart. The pair pitched several stories, and Lavigne chose this one. Dysart admits that he hadn’t listened to Lavigne’s music before this project, but he does regard her as a role model. This is a great interview and well worth reading in its entirety.
Earlier this week, Dysart dropped in on comments at The Beat to ask readers not to judge the book by its “candy colored cover.” There’s more at his LiveJournal:
I think when people read it, if they read it, they’ll be very, very surprised by it. Particularly by the second volume. All my standard themes are in place. All the humanist based horror, all the loneliness and, yes, all the tragedy found in my other work can also be found here.
At Tokyopop, editor Tim Beedle thinks it might be worth a look, mainly because he’s impressed by D’errico and Dysart, but he wonders if the story will be watered down. And what if the book really is good, but people dismiss it anyway because of the Avril Lavigne connection?
As one of many editors who has worked on comics and manga that have tried doing something original, fresh and “outside the box,” only to see them meet with less than stellar sales as a result, I would hate to see that happen to ANY well written and drawn graphic novel, no matter who’s name is on the cover and which publisher’s name is on the spine.
EDITED to tone down the rhetoric a bit:
I would have liked to see Dysart get more support from the folks at Del Rey, who usually do a good job of backing their books. I didn’t see them respond in any of the forums linked above, and it seems like he was put in the position of having to defend his work, which is a shame. On the plus side, I’m much more interested in the book now that I’ve heard what he has to say.
UPDATE: Ali Kokmen answers some questions in the comments section
