Identity in Soupy Leaves Home, Fangirl, and King of Eden

Hey, what up there? Dan here, aka The Comic Concierge,

and this is one of my graphic thoughts videos.

This is where I talk about three graphic novels,

trades, or collections and share my thoughts

and opinions on them. And I will not get into

any major spoilers, so don't worry about that.

However, if you're concerned at all, check out

the comments below, so I will put some timestamps

there for you. And I'm excited to talk about

the books today. As I do these, I do try to see

if there's any connecting themes or anything

like that with the books I'm talking about. And

one thing that does seem to be a connecting piece

is that these are a lot of books about identity,

as well as they all kind of fit into the YA manga

type feel. So those are books you like to enjoy

and maybe want to stick around for the reviews.

The books I'll be talking about today are Supileaf's

Home. Fangirl and the King of Eden Volume 1.

Starting us off by taking a look at Soupy Leaves

Home and this is a YA graphic novel that's definitely

I think geared towards younger audiences. I would

say anyone above 12 would probably rather enjoy

this and it's about a girl named Pearl. This

takes place around the time of the Great Depression.

Pearl is being abused by her father and she kind

of goes on the run. We first meet her and she's

disheveled, she's upset, and she's walking around

town trying to figure out what to do. She puts

on a hat, she's walking around and she runs into

this hobo, Ramshackle, who's talking to him.

I say that because when their hair in a hat and

kind of in these disheveled clothes, Ramshackle

thinks Pearl is a boy and... Pearl doesn't change

his opinion on that. She kind of goes with it

and she goes on the run with ramshackle who just

seems like a Welcoming presence and they become

really well tight friends as they travel across

the United States You know riding the rails and

it's a great kind of look at that time romanticizes

that time a bit in a sense of not necessarily

getting into the real realism of some things

that happened but it does tie into the actual

history a lot like there's some cool tidbits

about the different languages of the hobos their

rules and regulations and the things like the

signals and symbols they would use and put on

doors and fences to talk to one another so they

would know if this is a house they should stay

away from is this a person that they can go to

for help and that aspect of help i think is a

key thing throughout this to me it's just a book

about the power of kindness in a way as well

as Pearl trying to find her identity. She eventually

gets the nickname Soupy because it's something

she really enjoys doing. And you do see that

life is not easy for them. They do have to scrounge

for food. And there are occasional bad things

that happen to people. People do get murdered

and stabbed. It's very dangerous. They have to

run away from the security that work on the rails

as well. Even though the fact that danger is

not there all the time, you know that this is

necessarily the greatest life in the world. But

for Pearl, it is an escape. or for Supe, it is

certainly an escape, and she is forming a bond

with Ramchackal and the other individuals along

the way. All these individuals are huge caricatures,

you know, other hobos that have kind of lived

this life, and you hear their stories, and there's

other people that are, you know, very happy and

go lucky, where there's some that are a little

bit more notorious with how... downtrodden they

are and how more how standoffish they can be

but maybe they have some secrets as well as one

of those stories where you introduce certain

characters that seem a bit little rude or people

that you won't like but as a story develops you

understand where they're coming from and maybe

there's a little bit twist and turns here and

there nothing I don't think anyone could see

won't see coming but I think Well, excuse its

story. It's there. I really enjoyed this mostly

because I did enjoy these characters I did enjoy

kind of this look at this time if I did have

a complaint Like I said, I do think it it does

over simplify this tale a bit But you do see

there's a lot of tragedy here Like we do learn

about ramshackle and what he's running from and

that idea of can you go home again? when you've

done some bad things like Ramshackle seems like

a very nice guy and he's very helpful and he

does all these wonderful things but then you

learn and what he's done and why he's there and

you realize well yeah like looking at the perspective

of his family and you know the choices that he

made he's made a lot of choices that are hurting

people that will forever hurt people so can you

still forgive him is is is this the right decision

for him because it's just something he has to

do i do like the fact that those ask those questions

but necessarily give you direct answers and that

to me are often the best like ya comics of this

line are those that do ask kind of more complex

questions without direct answers rather than

just trying to spoon feed everything or have

a specific message that is very overly direct

and kind of beat you over the head with it. So

that was pretty good. It told the story. The

most notable aspect of it, I think, was certainly

the coloring that used a lot of color saturation

where a lot of colors would often dominate each

page. And it can be a little bit at times like

actually thinking about this book. I was actually

thinking it was black and white, but actually

it's not. black and white it's just that often

one color would dominate the page where you don't

have a lot of differentiation throughout each

panel. It does happen and when it does happen

you can see the story. Regarding storytelling

I do think the colors do a good job of putting

your eyes where they need to be. It's a lot of

six panel grid, so it's a very fast paced, easy

read. Now this was a read that you can probably

do in one setting, and of course, you know, it

is a YA book. But at the end of the day, I think

the message of the book really resonated with

me, along with just the relationship of these

characters. And by the end of it, and when we

get to the more emotional moments, I felt they

actually hit pretty hard, more harder than I

expected to them. And I do love myself a great.

Road trip story, which this was I don't think

it really utilizes like the locations all that

well So you never really get a sense of space

or time per se you spent most of the time on

the tracks or like in the woods so if you love

this time period and they're interested just

to see like Oh, how does like San Francisco look

during this time? I don't think it necessarily

does that a lot with you are you everything looks

kind of just Generic in that way, but most of

the intentions was placed on the characters and

things of that nature It may not be a book for

everyone because I don't feel like this is a

book that's trying to go out and impress you

with each and every page in the sense of just

letting you stay with these characters. And a

lot of the conflict doesn't really come till

the end. And you have this continuous conflict

of, you know, Pearl, can she go home? But there

are little bits at the end that kind of hit when

the climax does, although the climax, I think,

is not necessarily to the excitement level some

might expect with a book like this. It's not

necessarily the important thing. This is Definitely

an example of where the journey is the story,

not necessarily the destination. Although when

we do get to the destination, I think it's well

earned and it was the rightful end for this story.

Alright, let's get to the next book that I wanted

to talk about, which is Fangirl, and this book

is actually an adaptation of a novel by Rainbow

Oral, who is currently doing the Runaways 1 run,

which is actually why I picked this up and I

wanted to read it, because I've actually been

enjoying that run a good amount, and I will say,

as someone who has not read the novel that this

is adapting from, I do see some consistency in

the way it approaches characters and drama with

Runaways and this, so if you've been enjoying

that run like myself, you may want to check this

out as well, because you know, this is not a

superhero story. These are not people with superpowers,

but it is a very much a human drama, which I

think is the biggest and best part of that Runaways

run currently. And this is written by Sam Maggs

with art by Gammy Dom, and neither are creators

I know a lot about. And when you look at the

art, you can definitely tell there's a manga

influence there. And actually, I'm surprised

this was not, you know, in the manga format.

This reads like a normal Western comic. And this

book is about Cather. Yes, Cather is her name,

and it explains why that is later in the book.

She's just starting college and she's going through

a lot of the trials and tribulations you would

expect, you know, starting college for the first

time. What makes it a little bit different though

is the fact she is an identical twin, although

her identical twin is trying to kind of lead

a different life. She's trying to be her own

person. although Catherine doesn't necessarily

feel the same way. They're going to the same

college, but they're not staying in the same

dorm, which is kind of bugging her a bit. And

she definitely has a certain lifestyle that she

likes to live. She's very much like an introvert

that doesn't necessarily like to go out of her

comfort zone. She finds escape in things like

manga, which is why this is called Fangirl. She's

actually a pretty renowned... writer of fan fiction

of one of her favorite mangas and I mentioned

these books often have a connection to identity

the books I'm talking about today this one has

the strongest aspect of it because what you see

is that her identity up to this point has really

been defined by other things her relationship

to other things whether it be her father whether

it be her sister or her admiration to properties

like the manga that she's about she thinks she

has a better understanding of the world than

she really does so she feels like she's already

kind of been defined as a person But what we

see is that chipped away bit by bit. And she

kind of goes through the motions to a certain

things, for example. Like she isn't in a relationship,

but it's a relationship that has no passion behind

it. They kind of just in a relationship because

they're in a relationship. They're long distance

and they barely talk. And with college being

college, she's grown distant of. her past and

kind of transitioning into a new life. And I

think it's kind of causing conflict within her.

She's not willing to let go. And because of that,

you know, it's been causing a lot of problems.

She's always calling her dad. She's always trying

to check in on him. And I just thought it was

a kind of, again, another relatable story of

just someone trying to find who they are as a

person and kind of not wanting to break out of

their zone or that. Really awkward time of when

you first start college and you're not really

sure how things go and everyone's new and different

some people have kind of established friendships

and you're kind of the only outside it just that

Life of experimentation and learning and kind

of developing new social norms for yourself And

you know as someone who has not been in college

in some time It was kind of nice just to go back

to that time even it was through vicariously

through a book like this like this is like I

wouldn't call like a quaint story in the sense

of the drama here is not high drama in the sense

of not everything is super important it has an

element of realism in that and the fact that

yeah she might break up with her boyfriend or

fight with her boyfriend but it's not the end

of the world things may not go well maybe she'll

fight with her sister but it's not like it is

this devastating fight when now they're never

going to talk to one another again this drama

here is very measured would be the word that

i was using and i've talked about other mangas

where i felt like everything was so super serious

and the melodrama was so deep that it just was

hard to get into because everything was treated

with such an element of seriousness where nothing

felt all that serious, where I thought this was

the exact opposite of that. So maybe it worked

for me, but I do wonder for people that are more

accustomed to that type of storytelling, maybe

it won't work for them. Maybe you like the more

heightened, more melodrama where this, I mean,

could seem almost mundane in a way in the sense

of nothing here is like life threatening. Nothing

here is really going to forever change everything.

that happens. It's very true to life in that

aspect. And this is only the first volume, and

I'm definitely going to pick up the second volume.

Again, this isn't necessarily a book that is

designed for me, but I do enjoy reading books

that aren't designed for me, just to get that

experience outside of my norm and also share

them on channels like this, because there is

such a vast world of comic books out there. And

as I mentioned, often I do this Top 100 List

for Geek Cash Radio. When I do that, I try to...

make that as encompassing of all comics as possible,

which would be a book like this. Again, maybe

a book I wouldn't just grab just because, but

wanting to look at the comic book landscape as

a whole, you know, a book like this kind of comes

on my radar. ended up rather enjoying it. So

we'll certainly check out the second volume.

I'm not going to check out the novel. I'm not

going to go that far. But I did find the first

book pretty enjoyable. Nothing, you know, amazingly

fantastic that's going to blow your mind. But

if you want a nice pleasant read, it's a good

one to catch up with. And like I mentioned, if

you are enjoying the current Runaways run and

I feel like how it approaches relationships and

that is very much similar to this. If though,

this actually might feel a little bit more toned

down because obviously that exists in a superhero

world. So that's maybe a eight or a nine, or

this is at more of a four or five in the way

it approaches its drama. Alright, the last book

I'm going to talk about is officially a manga.

I had a book that is manga influenced and this

is 100 % manga influenced because it was officially

a manga. It is volume one of the Eden and of

all the books I talk about today, this is my

favorite by far and I honestly did not think

that would be the case and because usually with

manga I rather read like the more human drama

like the book I just talked about because I feel

like I get enough supernatural stuff with like

western Marvel and DC comics I just want to read

some human drama for once in a while because

that's so rare with you know regular comics But

this, I just love the approach of it. It's kind

of insane. Taking the world of zombies and werewolves

and putting them into one, which sounds awful,

but it ends up kind of working. I just thought

the concept worked really well and it was well

executed. The characters were fun. This is gonna

be a weird comparison, but there was this movie

back in the day, around the year 2000, Dracula

2000, that kind of went into, had a different

way of approaching. the vampire myth where it

was tied to Judas. And that's why certain things

were those certain way, like why they couldn't

use silver, why the cross, how the infected did,

which was a pretty bad movie. But I thought the

idea like that reasoning behind it was really

clever. This I thought was similar in the sense

of. how it could explain its world work really

well, but also the story itself was good on its

own. And this ties into a lot of like ancient

history. I don't think a lot of it is real. I

didn't necessarily research it, but I did like

how it is kind of approaching this idea of this

universe and where it's this virus that is. being

spread and it's this ancient virus and you have

these competing people going after it like the

way it opens up is that this guy who always shows

up at these towns that end up burned and in kind

of in ashes and the reason being he's trying

to ward off this virus from spreading it's it's

a weird virus in the sense of it makes people

turn into these like naturalistic creatures and

they end up fighting one another so unlike you

know zombies where they Kind of just try to eat

brain this causes all these people to turn into

these creatures creatures fight one person survives

and they go on to the next down and He takes

it as his opportunity to kind of go in there

and stop it from spreading What will you learn

about his history as well and the fact that if

he's not necessarily the supernatural person

lucy wasn't born that way He's just a normal

human but things changed and you have him as

well as other groups trying to follow him, other

people in the government trying to track him

down because they think he's the person causing

this to happen. But of course, we can tell that

that is not the case. The art is really solid.

It's it rides the line of definitely being like

a horror book for sure. This is definitely a

mature reader book because the violence there

is. pretty intense. There's some disturbing images

by the end and the sense of you have literal

little towns being destroyed and demolished by

these creatures. I think the reason why it worked

as well as it did is because when it looked at

its concept. The concept I think slowly evolved

throughout the book rather than it kind of all

coming out at once. You didn't get mountains

of exposition, you got bits here and there and

you got to see things in action and you learn

through osmosis how this stuff works before it

like kind of being overly explained to you and

when you combine just clever ideas with things

that are well executed you end up with a really

solid book. So if you do enjoy books of this

nature like your zombie tales or the stand you

know the other other stories about people fighting

mystical monsters that are with a more serious

tone i think you'll really enjoy this i'm definitely

picking up volume two always with these graphic

thoughts videos the book i'm talking about are

all books i got from the library and i know it'll

probably sound annoying every time i bring this

up but i just every week i hear more people talking

about the the cost when it comes to comics and

i think it's also important to put out that You

can enjoy the medium and not spend any money.

Check out Elucer Library. Of course, if you're

privileged enough to have one. I know a lot of

people don't because of a number of different

factors from COVID or just no financial reasons

where a lot of libraries shut down. Now, if you

do have one, though, they're a great resource

for comics. And if you want to check out new

things, especially because I think if you're

feeling like you're kind of stuck in the same

rut when it comes to reading comics, the way

I kind of get out and get out of it is just by

going to the library, trying everything. And

then, you know, you can read something if you

don't like it, you can. quickly discarded because

it's not like you paid for it and move on to

the next thing. And I'm glad I did that because

I wouldn't maybe a few years ago not have read

a book like this, but I ended up picking it up

and really loving the world, finding it fun and

enjoyable. It never took itself too seriously.

It was a good sense of humor. It never got overly

weird, too, because I do feel like that is another

issue with something that like doesn't necessarily

always click with me because things get a bit

too weird and too wacky and strange for reasons

that are maybe beyond my understanding. This,

I thought, like stayed within itself. much better.

So for manga aficionados who know more about

the medium than myself, I don't know where this

falls with them. But as a person who's so much

a novice to this world, I ended up really enjoying

it. Usually the manga I enjoy are things like,

you know, Downfall that came out last year, which

is about a writer dealing with his past demons.

And then you get a book like, you know, King

of Eden, which is people actually fighting demons.

And that can be fun too. So there you go. Three

books that I mostly enjoyed. Like I said, this

one I enjoyed the most and Supe leaves home.

And then Ferengill is certainly a fun, quaint

little read that I think a good amount of people

will enjoy as well. So I always like doing these

videos when it's about books I like. They're

much more fun to talk about than books I don't.

So there you go. All right, well, that's it for

me for this week. Thank you for checking out

this video. I know there's so many videos out

there that cover comics. I appreciate it if anyone

that's able to take the time to watch mine and

leave any feedback. That's always fantastic.

Well, just remember, comics are for everyone.

The key is finding the right one. Until next

time, keep reading.