More graphic novels

Swan by Ariyoshi Kyoko seems to be the first in a planned series about a young Japanese ballet dancer. I started reading, got very confused about the progression of the story, realized that the pages were numbered backwards, tried reading the pages from right to left, and then tried starting at the bottom. Finally I found the guide on the front page - you do read from right to left but you start at the top of each page. The book also has footnotes explaining Japanese terms. The story teaches young girls that beauty in ballet is not really about being a star and wowing everyone with perfection. It is found instead in daily lessons, mental discipline, and the entire company working together. It was a nice story, geared toward younger girls - very different in style from the dark, action-oriented books appealing to boys!

I enjoyed The Barefoot Serpent by Scott Morse very much - probably because it is VERY unlike most of the other graphic novels. It is really a picture book with two different stories. The color section is about the famous Japanese filmaker Akira Kurosawa. Akira was independent enough to follow his own vision from the time he was a young boy, yet even his strength and talent did not shield him from trouble and sadness.
The middle of the book is a black and white story about a little girl on a trip to Hawaii. Her family is trying to get over the death of her brother. She meets a local boy who reluctantly shares his magical mask and enables her and her parents to move beyond their sadness. The two stories were not tied together in plot, but they both showed people who grieved and were comforted by the compassion of others. The drawings were quiet and more subtle than most graphic novels, and I liked the colors he used.

["THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN" with Steve McQueen and Yul Brenner was based on Kurosawa's "THE SEVEN SAMUARI", which I saw long ago in school. Despite subtitles, the terrific actors and beautiful photography drew us into the story. The samurai swordfights were filmed like ballet - precise but very fluid. Kurosawa's "RASHOMON" was filmed as "THE OUTRAGE" with Paul Newman, and "YOJIMBO" (below) became "A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS" with Clint Eastwood.]

The forward to The Barefoot Serpent was written by Stan Sakai, who wrote Usagi Yojimbo, a collection of stories about a samurai rabbit (!!) named after the lead in the above movie "YOJIMBO." The stories originally appeared in color, but the book's black and white drawings are very effective. Sakai does not use the dark, hard, aggressive lines of many graphic novels. Instead, the action in his stories has a lighter, more humorous touch. Usagi is resourceful but wise and has a comic sidekick (a rhino). The first story featured a blast from the past - those teenage mutant ninja turtles! It was an enjoyable read.