I should have made the connection when this book was assigned that the title was a play on Comic-Con. I didn’t figure it out until I got the book home and began to read. It was really fun to read a Manga book about a conference where Manga is celebrated and revered. There are many Comic-Con’s around the country, but I’m assuming this book takes place at the biggest of them all, the Comic-Con in San Diego. I’ve included a link to the site for the 2008 conference-taking place at the end of July. I have friend who have gone for the past couple years and are going again this year. It supposed to be absolutely incredible with Indy comic writer booths to booths promoting the latest Marvel movie. People come dressed in costumes of their favorite characters from comic books, graphic novels, movies, television as well as their own creations. That is just my quick plug for checking out Comic-Con.
Getting back to the book, I just wanted to say I enjoyed it. It took me less than an hour to read the whole thing. The extra “On the Set” comics at the end intrigued me. It was great to see the creative staff having fun with their characters and treating them like celebrities who were not real characters but just actors playing a role. I also thought it was an interesting approach to disconnecting characters like Derek from violent acts like his drunken attempted rape. In the last of the comic series, Revenge of On The Set, Christie says, “My co-stars are so wonderful-even Derek’s a total sweetheart off-camera.” It makes it seem like Derek is just playing an evil jerk. I don’t know how I felt about it. I’m can’t decide if it really does lessen the seriousness of it all or if it doesn’t detract at all.
