Manga makes light of the macabre

REVIEWS BY BECKY OHLSEN

Trust Japanese-style manga books to squeeze giggles out of even the most morbid topics. The playful style of art in these books, combined with dynamic writing and characteristic goofiness, make it easy to incorporate dark humor without getting too heavy or scaring the pants off younger readers.

Author Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata join forces in Death Note, in which a klutzy Shinigami demon drops his "death notebook" in the human world and has to go fetch it, causing unimaginable chaos. Helping restore the balance (well, eventually) is a bored 17-year-old boy called Light, who picks up the lost notebook and finds himself permanently bound to the demon. It's a highly entertaining, teenage take on the desire to control—or at least understand—life and death.


The goth-influenced manga I Luv Halloween, by Benjamin Roman and Keith Giffen, follows a batch of adorably creepy little moppets as they set out trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Meant for older teens, it serves as a cautionary tale against practically everything, from eating candy apples to trucking with bullies to using a bra as a slingshot.


Another new manga-style book that displays influences by various goth-friendly artists, from Jhonen Vasquez to the Brothers Grimm, is The Tarot Cafe, illustrated by noted Korean manga artist Park Sang Sung. It's the story of Pamela, a tarot card reader, who has the unlikely task of helping supernatural characters make their way in the human world. Not unexpectedly, tackling the problems of all the strange folks who walk through her door—from vampires to alchemists to lovestruck cats—eventually leads Pamela to face her own. The writing and artwork are equally swirly and sensual, making it the perfect choice for that budding Cure fan.


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