Dogby Walks Alone Volume 1 Manga download epub

I would like to open this review by saying I am not an avid reader of manga --I do occasionally read Western-style graphic novels, but my time with Japanese-style manga has been limited to Kazuo Koike/Goseki Kojima landmark samurai works and some of Osamu Tezuka's early work. My review is based on the experience of a relative lay reader.

With that said, I enjoyed Wes Abbott's "Dogby Walks Alone 1", what is placed as the first of a series of adventures starting Dogby: a silent male wearing a giant theme-park costume. The first book is a complete story, surrounding a complicated robbery and murder plot at the Happyplace theme-park where Dogby works.

I don't want to ruin things for readers, but let's say that the plot twists and turns through a complicated who-dun-it of surprises and innumerable pop culture references. Indeed, the book derives much of its humor from references to a broad range of late-20th century icons: from "Star Wars" to "Chinatown", from "Street Fighter 2" to the Beatles. The book rewards readers who can make the connections and see the inherent humor from their juxtapositions.

The artwork is solid for a first effort by a solo artist: the book looks remarkably like Japanese manga, but Wes Abbott retains an unmistakably American feel in the look, plot and themes. The chapter head artwork is superior and quite ingenious. The story itself does a good job of transitioning the reader to a universe that's close to our own, but not quite.

My only issues with the book seem to come from the fact that it's a first effort: Abbott attempts to cram a lot of pop culture references into the story, and sometimes it makes the already complicated plot a little difficult to follow. Because the story begins and remains frantic, some of the characters aren't as well developed as the reader would hope and there are aspects of the back story that aren't clearly explained. With that said: the work as a whole is satisfying, and story wraps up nicely. The story gets better as it goes along and builds momentum.

Wes Abbott demonstrates his promising talent here, and I look forward to seeing what he has in store for us next.

First off, I'll point out that I'm not a huge comic or manga reader. That having been said, I loved reading this comic. It started out a little strange getting used to the main character not talking and whatnot, but it got much easier fairly quickly. I love all the hidden references. There are so many, I know I'll find more next time I read it. This comic isn't your everyday grind all the funniness out of a single joke type of comic. Plot twists and wit all over the place, and alot of re-read value. Great job Wes, I can't wait for the next installment!

It's very well drawn but the plot is choppy. We're dropped into Happyplace with naught but a single paragraph to establish the setting. It felt thrown together. Each chapter seems built around a pop culture reference joke - some of which are probably too old for the target (teen) audience to even get - even considering the book came out in 2006, anybody in their teens at the time would have been toddlers or in some cases not even born yet when the sources our author parodies were trending. The culture refs (if you understand them) are amusing but do not serve the plot, which feels disjointed, rushed, and arbitrary. Characters are mainly based on familiar manga tropes, not well developed.
Nevertheless, as I said, the art is excellent and there's an appealing silliness to the whole production which makes it fun to read. The absurdity of the characters in mascot suits keeping their giant foam heads on and staying "in character" through dramatic and dangerous situations made me chuckle, and there is a mystifying appeal to the main character who never speaks.
I enjoyed it enough to track down volume 2.

I'm a huge fan of film noir, and "noir" in general. My three favorite movies are BladeRunner, Brick, and The Big Sleep. I'm especially impressed when noir is translated well into non-noir settings (as with BladeRunner and Brick), which is part of why I absolutely love Dogby Walks Alone. A direct sequel to Wes Abbott's identically-titled short story in The Rising Stars of Manga 2, Dogby Walks Alone tells the story of Dogby, an amusement park mascot, who solves crimes without saying a word and without ever removing the head from his costume (at least not in any way that the "camera" can see). The actual narrative and dialogue of the story comes primarily through "Snack Girl", Dogby's "Watson" who also has a huge crush on him. While the original short story's plot had Dogby deducing who stole all of the park's hot dogs, this book kicks it up a notch by having Dogby solve a murder, while the rest of the park is on the brink of civil war over the mysterious theft of a week's ticket sales. And whereas most manga end their volumes with hair-raising cliffhangers to seduce readers back for more, this book wraps up the murder mystery nicely at the end, leaving the reader wanting more simply by virtue of the characters and the writing.

Where Dogby really shines is in its pastiches; there were many times in the story that Abbott made such an obvious homage that I was afraid the story was going to derail into a parody of Star Wars, or Metal Gear Solid, or one of a dozen other things, but instead Abbott glances perfectly off the surface of his reference, working it fluidly into the plot of the story and never for a moment wasting time on fancruft. Every single reference to something else is there not as a distraction, but actually to propel the story along; as soon as a character mentions that one of the sections of the park is called "Chinatoon", I KNEW that, at some point, someone was going to get killed fleeing Chinatoon in a go-kart, and another character would remark "Forget about it, Dogby, it's Chinatoon". Again, I presumed that it would be an indulgent distraction, but when the moment finally did arrive, toward the end of the book, I discovered that it worked perfectly, and created one of the most solemnly dramatic moments of the entire book, while simultaneously making a smirking homage.

Which brings us to the drama. Despite the fact that most of the book is comedy, and none of the characters have real names (the main heroes are "Dogby", "Snack Girl", and "New Shift Manager"), there are moments of pure, gripping noir drama, unadulterated by any hint of melodrama or sarcasm. There are even scenes that are both grippingly dramatic AND absolutely hilarious, something I've never seen before in ANY writing, much less a graphic novel, and for which Web Abbott wins my deepest respect.

I know that this book won't sell well; there's no androgynous bishi boy or giant-breasted teenage girl with guns on the cover, and the hero will probably scare away furry-phobes (it's certainly not furry, though -- the reader is aware at all times that Dogby is a man in a dog suit, not any sort of anthropomorphic dog). This is, quite simply, one of the best single-volume graphic novels I've ever read, and one of the best noir works I've ever experienced (on par with the movies listed at the beginning of this review). Both the art and the writing are absolutely top-notch. This book deserves the Eisner Award, and you absolutely owe it to yourself to read it.

(Dogby Walks Alone also gets ALL of the bonus points for using a mocked-up Neo-Geo MVS game for a chapter splash page, complete with cartridge, marquee card, and move list.)