GOLD Manga – A Short Review

First of all, congratulations to my friends and fellow artists, Enjelicious, Jeff Nice, and their authors, Alyloony, Aril Diane, HaveYouSeenThisGirl, and A.B. Castueras! The manga looks very good, and I also found the stories to be quite interesting! I’ll definitely look forward to the second volume!

I promised them that I’d write a review, so… here goes!

Nine Stars | written by: Alyloony | illustrated by: Enjelicious

This might be my favorite story in the anthology. I found Claire to be very cute both in the way she looks and her overall personality. I might actually start counting nine stars for nine straight nights… maybe I will have my wish granted too.

I’m hoping there will be a continuation, since I want to know more about Claire, but the story ended nicely anyway. Alyloony is easily becoming one of my favorite authors.

Superstar | written by: Aril Diane | illustrated by: Jeff Nice

This definitely had a Korean drama / Kpop feel to it (and knowing Aril, it’s no wonder). This story is also short and sweet, and had a good enough ending to give me a bit of closure. I’m not too fond of Chris, who I admit, had all the right intentions, but… argh! He’s just so frustrating! But he did make a great comeback in the very end. I have to commend Jeff for that last page’s illustration because that was really effective!

Waiting for the Train | written by: HaveYouSeenThisGirl | illustrated by: Enjelicious

I’m a bit biased since I’m a fan of HYSTGS and Enjelicious but… REALLY?! DID IT HAVE TO END THAT WAY??? REALLY???!?! I wanted to throw the book for making me feel all these EMOTIONAL KNOTS but… argh…

Putting that aside, this was another good, one-shot story that has unexpected twists. Just one thing: I’m not really sure why Train Girl had to narrate the three things the train did to her before it was shown in the manga itself. It felt a bit redundant, but it’s completely minor, since it did set up the story very nicely.

Once Upon a Time | written by: A.B. Castueras | illustrated by: Jeff Nice

This is the only one that had a “to be continued” at the very end. Looking good so far! I love Skye very much, because if I wasn’t an artist, I’d be a police officer.

No, seriously.

I’m a little confused, though. Why take away the guy’s bed? That’s an absolute no-no in my book! (Unless I’m running after a deadline, well…) He went on a date like his sister asked, so why punish the guy? Also, that trip feels like it came out of no where.

Then again, there was this:

And that really disrupted the pacing.

Overall, the manga was a good buy, and I’ll be eagerly waiting for the second volume.

However, on a side note, the event I went to just to get the first release of this book was… not such a good experience.

I had arrived early (around 10:30 am), but the line for book purchasing was near horrifying by the time. With my ticket number as my queue, I had to wait nearly 5 hours just to buy the books.

Given the popularity of the authors under PSICOM, I don’t understand why they didn’t set up more counters to accommodate more people, quickly as easily. I’m pretty sure there were many who just wanted to buy the books, since the autograph event started much later, but I guess this was a marketing strategy (or they really didn’t think there’d be such a huge turnout).

Plus, the venue was uncomfortably hot.

I think I may be getting old… conventions like these are just too much for me to handle now. Next time? I’m waiting for the store release… Sorry guys… I love you and all, but I’m getting way too old for this. m(_ _)m