Megatokyo Vol. 1
May 3, 2004 | Trades
Megatokyo Vol. 1
Fred Gallagher, Rodney Caston
Dark Horse Books
$9.95 US (Paperback)
*** 1/2 (out of five)
Manga comics aren’t for everyone, but Megatokyo should be.
While Manga, or Japanese comics, can often be a tad obtuse, Megatokyo, created by a pair of American Manga fans, is funny, clever, often over the top and strangely addictive.
This first print collection of the popular webcomic (www.megatoyko.com) is rough in spots, but shows why it has grown to be a huge success in just a few short years.
Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, better known by their illustrated likenesses, Piro and Largo, take their obsessions with video games, love of Japanese life and multiple neuroses and not only turn them into something silly and amusing, but often something sweet.
The first book sees the duo trapped in Japan with no money after an impulsive decision to make a pilgrimage to the video gaming Mecca of Tokyo. Watching them throw away chance after chance to get home by blowing their dough on games (for Piro) and beer (for Largo) is a riot.
It takes very little time to begin to bond with these characters. Piro is so vulnerable and identifiable while everyone has a troublemaking friend like Largo. The supporting cast is diverse and also very likeable.
The best feature of this collection in the Mystery Science Theater 3000-style running commentary by Gallagher, who, as Piro, sits at the bottom of every page and explains what they were thinking during the creation of each strip and often slams their own choices.
A sketchbook featuring Gallagher’s work from the early years of the strip rounds out the packed volume, which shows that even though you can get much of the same material for free online, there is still value in printed matter.
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