Stone Volume 1

In Hiromoto-Sin-ichi's new postapocalyptic manga series, the world has turned into a sea of quicksand (known as the ""Sand Sea""), occasionally broken up by ruined 20th-century aircraft carriers. Heroine Zizi the Red-Haired Witch belongs to a clan of whalers and wields great influence for her ability to ride the carnivorous whales. But when she helps a group of pirates led by the gruff, cigar-chomping Captain Suv inadvertently kill a pregnant whale, she gets exiled from her home to face hostile seafaring enemies and various sadists employed by the Imperial Army. Hiromoto-Sin-ichi's story is a crazy pastiche of several decades' worth of comic books and science fiction, combining visual elements swiped from Moebius, Buffy, the X-Men and Star Wars with a story that reads like someone dropped a copy of Frank Herbert's Dune into a blender with a DVD of Waterworld. The result is far better than one would expect from simply listing source material. The story has the manic, pulpy feel of a Saturday morning serial. The characters, while clear homages, are sharply drawn and consistently written, and inspire sympathy. Hiromoto-Sin-ichi's art is clearly influenced as much by European as by other manga artists, and his characters are nuanced and powerful. SF fans who want to dip into manga will find this a good entry point.