The Tipping Point

by Boulet, Naoki Urasawa, John Cassaday

Some of the world’s greatest creators have each written and drawn an original story that explores the key moment when a clear-cut split occurs, a mutation, a personal revolt or a large-scale revolution that tips us from one world into another, from one life to an entirely new one: The Tipping Point.

From slice-of-life tales and science-fiction adventures, to amusing asides and fantastical fables, witness these major (and minor) changes and evolution through the eyes of these visionaries from the worlds of manga, bande dessinée, and comics.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Manga, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Bande Dessinée

132 pages, Hardcover

First published December 2, 2015

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short comics. Like many anthologies, a mixed bag - but mostly average with some good artwork here and there.

I wanted to read it because I've become a Frederik Peeters completionist. Perhaps the best artwork in the book is by Paul Pope.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 2 out of 5]

A.I. October 2015 = D.L. December 2015 = eo

Skip the totally misleading intro!
->Humanoïdes' publisher's "Le jour où ça bascule" (tipping point) made sense in it, but besides Lepage's entry, I couldn't identify any others within the stories. Then what about the limitations of the medium and the difficulty for women to be recognized that were supposed to be pointed out? I think he either gave the creators the theme but didn't have an editor capable of "policing it" or was hard-pressed for a title to a mash-up of stuff that was created without the theme directive.

The actual work? It's pretty much fluff with great art. Yeah, some are interesting, but only in their psychedelic and/or bizarre trappings. A few are profound enough to hold literary interest- but end in a few pages. Maybe artists reading these digest them differently?

Follow my layman mind through the best one:
Even the one by Lepage mentioned above, that's clearly a turning point, played out in my mind quite differently than intended.

He's a loner teenager at a lengthy camp that's learning photography to watch instead of interact since there's pseudo and full bullying. Yet he still, at the very end of the month, gets pinned to the ground by a bigger boy, the one to be feared most who aggressively and overzealously tickle~attacks an androgenous boy who's under his "protection" from the other physical aggressors (essentially jail-b__ style) and gives massages constantly to others, but while underneath his attacker, Lepage all of a sudden stops fighting back and accepts being pinned down while going through a very blissful and profound revery that makes him totally comfortable with the attack- and life in general it seems.

So, without the thrill of the fight, the hulking bully (¿with the publisher's last name?) ceases the attack and upon asking why Lepage stopped resisting and getting a response along the lines of 'I just felt great about it' he retorts "a little gay, aren't you" and arranges one of his clandestine massages for later. Lepage is excited about it and eager for but gets stood up because the boy got a stomach virus and is quarantined. Then he mopes about not even getting to know the aggressor and only ever getting to see him again as pale and separated at the front of the bus- pining from knowing that walk-by will be the last time.

Is that not an 'I realized that I was gay and am comfortable with it' or 'dudes are cool too' type turning point? How else do you read that? What does art have to do with it- besides the aesthetic harmony that he reached "out of body"? If that was the catalyst, why wasn't it expounded upon instead of a bunch of periphery stuff?

[Matty Dub · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a brilliant collection of shorts. It highlights all the pillars of graphic literature with great quality stories. My favorite were the Japanese ones but not one was bad in the lot. Only complaint would be how short it is, at 132 pages, it’s readable in 30 minutes, I want more!

[Laura (ローラ) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a mixed bag for me, but that makes a lot of sense considering how many artists were involved in the creation of the work. I'm not going to go too into detail of each story, just that I enjoyed the art in about 80% of the stories... and I enjoyed the stories (or at least appreciated) the stories in about 40% of the works.

I didn't do any research into this work before I bought it. None. So, I was a bit surprised to find that it wasn't a single work by Naoki Urasawa. Unfortunately, his was not the strongest work in the compilation. So, I guess it's good that there were other creators involved.

By far my favourite titles were:
Hanako's Fart / Taiyo Matsumoto
The Awakening / Emmanuel LePage
The Child / Bastien Vives
Fish / Keiichi Koike

The production though, was very beautiful. Thick glossy pages. Large trim size.

It's strange to me to read Japanese works in the English left to right orientation, but that's the nature of compilations. I'm glad to see a work like this that takes creators from all over the world and puts them next to each other. I don't know too many other publications that have done the same.

[Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matsumoto - charming and thought provoking [5]
Lepage - surprisingly nuanced [5]
Kaneko - poignant [3]
Cassaday - really good [5]
Campbell - seems clever but I don't get it [2]
Urasawa - actually hilarious, neat concept [4]
Fingerman - great satire [3]
Boulet - cool idea, ton of fun [4]
Pope - cool [3.5]
Vivès - haunting [3.5]
Koike - transcendent [5]
Peeters - just okay [2]
Terada - a feast for the eyeballs [5]

[drown_like_its_1999 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick anthology of short stories from a who's who of international comics talent, each loosely centered around the premise of depicting a transformative moment in time.

Given the rather lukewarm reception I've seen for this collection, I had an unexpectedly good time with this. It is fair to say the quality of storytelling doesn't match what you might expect given the names involved, and that the collection can be rather inconsistent, but I enjoyed the majority of stories here and much of the art is simply awesome. My favorite stories were both comedic, one from Boulet about him discovering how every Internet conspiracy is actually real and another one from Fingerman about an atheist refusing to believe he's been sent to the afterlife during a tour of hell. Unsurprisingly, Matsumoto's piece is charming and more poignant than a story stemming from a fart has any right to be. I also thought Lepage's narrative about a sexual awakening at a youth summer camp was emotionally engaging as well.

My favorite stories artistically are definitely from Koike, Terada, Cassaday, and Pope which just jump off the page. The stories are largely forgettable, non-existent, or absurd scaffolding for some awesome compositions but they certainly deliver. Koike's "Fish" being my favorite of the bunch visually, depicting a man experiencing vivid hallucinations where he embodies various marine creatures as they fall victim to the wanton cruelty of humanity and aliens.

[Sorcered · Rating 3 out of 5]

O compilație Metal Hurlant / Heavy Metal, care amestecă manga, comics și BD. 13 povești semnate de maeștri ai genului. Mi-au plăcut Matsumoto, Kaneko, Fingerman, Boulet.

Taiyo Matsumoto - Hanako's Fart (aceeași clipă, alte vieți)
Emmanuel Lepage - The Awakening (summer camp awakening)
Atsushi Kaneko - Screwed! (eu? noi? toată lumea??)
John Cassaday - Huckleberry Friend (Hugh Finn's moral dilemma)
Eddie Campbell - Cul-de-sac (sad soliloquy)
Naoki Urasawa - Solo Mission (glumă strivită)
Bob Fingerman - The Unbeliever (epifanie si indoieli)
Boulet - I Want To Believe (are myths true?)
Paul Pope - Consort To The Destroyer (femeia și marea)
Bastien Vives - The Child (copilul de sub lună)
Keiichi Koke - Fish (open your third eye)
Frederik Peeters - Laika (furioasă)
Katsuya Terada - Tengu (ultimate cockblock)

[The Kekistani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Humanoids masterpiece. It was quite the psychedelic trip, I loved Laika, The Unbeliever and I Want to Believe parts the most.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the list of creators on the cover hasn't convinced you to buy this book, then probably this is not your thing, but it sure convinced me. The Tipping Point is a beautiful collection of short stories by creators from around the world. As with every anthology some stories work better than others. Of the 13 stories I thought 4 stories were better than the rest:

Taiyo Matsumoto - Hanako's Fart
About a chain of reactions and things that happen at the same time as Hanako farts at the school yard. Yes, she really does!

Emmanuel Lepage - The Awakening
An intimate story like we've seen of Lepage before, but not less entertaining at all. Truly amazing art here!!

John Cassaday - Huckleberry Friend
A dilemma is served here. The excellent black and white drawings are very supportive of the story, for the beautiful use of contrast.

Bastien Vives - The Child
We're put on the wrong track by Vives in this rescue mission. The empty drawings gave me a very unheimisch feeling that perfectly connected to the story.

[Koen Claeys · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was underwhelmed by most stories in this collection. Few auteurs really deliver, the best contribution being Lepage's 'The Awakening'.

[Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Variety is the best thing this collection has going for it. Batting the Mendoza line as far as rate of successful stories. Some groaners (The Unbeliever). Art is consistently good.

[Ghostcat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting a little more from this one, I just enjoyed one or two stories, maybe not my style.

[Sebastien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il arrive parfois que sur un coup de tête on ramasse un livre pour sa couverture, pour le résumer en arrière ou parce qu’on en a beaucoup entendu parlé. Pour ma part, j’ai ramassé The Tipping Point parce qu’un de mes auteur préféré avait fait une oeuvre pour un recueille d’histoires. C’était un point risqué car les critiques étaient claires c’est pas égale et plusieurs histoires sont ordinaires. La couverture ne donne pas envie et en plus le résumé ne dit pas grand chose. Alors c’est comme un saut de l’ange que de se procurer ce recueille, par contre je savais un peu à quoi m’attendre et j’ai tout de même décidé d’essayer ce livre.

Il sera difficile de faire une critique complète de cette oeuvre car chaque histoire mériterait d’être lu plusieurs fois pour pouvoir en faire une réelle analyse. Pour la plupart des histoire, même si elles ne durent que quelques pages, elle sont profonde au delà du possible. Pas mal toutes les histoires portent a réfléchir sur un aspect de la vie ou d’un autre. On y traite de la vie, de la guerre, de la mort, de l’amour, etc... Plusieurs sujets sont traité et plusieurs sujets sont subtiles. Certaines histoire ne comportent aucun texte et c’est dans les images que l’on retrouve une profonde histoire. Certaines histoires ont un design impressionnant et d’autre ont un style très original. C’est vraiment un meltingpot d’histoires toutes différentes en style et en originalité.

Il me serait impossible de dire qu’une histoire est meilleure qu’une autre car c’est vraiment une question de goût. En lisant les critiques je mes suis rendu compte que la première histoire faisait l’unanimité. Pour ma part je l’ai trouvé bonne mais si je devais choisir 5 histoires, elle ne ferait pas partie de mes 5 préférées. Certains déploreront les histoires sans textes ou trop courte, pour ma part je les ai apprécié car elles étaient sans textes et courtes. Je crois qu’il faut voir ce livre comme un tout, une oeuvre a part entière crée par plusieurs des plus talentueux auteur du domaine du comic, de la bande dessiné et du manga. Il y en a pour tous les goût et c’est fait de manière a ne pas plaire a tout le monde.

J’aimerais parler d’avantage de ces histoires, mais il est impossible de le faire correctement sans relire chaque histoire au moins 3 fois pour en voir toutes les subtilités, en analyser le but ultime et finalement en donnant un avis concrêt. Je vais donc laissé la chances au gens de se faire une idée et d’apprécier à leur façon ce recueille d’histoire éclectique et au tant différentes.

Je conclu dons en donnant un solide 4 étoiles à ce recueille. Vu que je n’ai pas apprécié toutes les histoires de manières égales et que certaines histoire m’on carrément laissé froid. Ce n’est pas qu’elle ne sont pas de qualité, mais plus que cette oeuvre est imparfaite et elle l’est comme il se doit. Je ne crois pas qu’il existe un recueille d’histoire par plusieurs auteur qui puisse réellement bénéficié d’un note parfaite. On est tous dû a trouvé une histoire meilleure qu’une autre et d’en trouvé une qui gâchera la perfection. C’est comme ça est c’est parfait comme ça. Pour ma part The Tipping Point est une oeuvre pour connaisseur qui aime le oeuvres différentes et lire des petites histoires qui font réfléchir. J’ai apprécié ce que j’ai lu et recommande que vous y jettiez un oeil et si comme moi vous avez un auteur que vous aimez dedans, tentez le coup je crois que vous ne serez jamais entièrement déçu.

[Kirk Mckinlay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of graphic short stories reminded me of the underground comix, & Heavy Metal (magazine & movie) from earlier eras.
The stories are by different creators who both wrote and illustrated their stories. The art and stories are as such quite varied. As short stories they are quite limited in scope and there is a feel of being sort of parachuted into ongoing action. This is quite similar to the earlier stories I mention. Some are more direct narrative where others are more surreal.

[Highland G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a lit of short stories exploring how different writers create tipping points.
Some stories where great, while others I barely understood. Overall a great addition to my growing mix of European comics and something I would definitely reread, even if only for the bits that really wowed me.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of short stories, uneven in art quality but all interesting and unconventional. Funny and daring in their narrative, a few of the stories are truly memorable. Singling out "The Unbeliever" and "Hanako's Fart" as fun little pass times.

[Adam Šilhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Co určitě oceňuji, tak je postavení sbírky. Začíná celkem normálními příběhy a poté pokračuje do čím dál většího bizáru. Po vizuální stránce výborné.

[Katie (readingwithkt) · Rating 2 out of 5]

My favourite in this collection was Naoki Urasawa’s ‘Solo Mission’.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK anthology. That's about the best you can say about it. It does have a nice combination of creators from Europe, Japan and America. Too bad the stories weren't as good as the creators.

[Pietro Bellini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come tutte le antologie: alcune cose molto belle, altre meno. Media alta, però: i nomi coinvolti sono davvero notevoli.

[Cesare Molin · Rating 2 out of 5]

vago e inconcludente come molte antologie di occasione. il racconto di keiichi koike è puro virtuosismo però.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of these were a bit mediocre, but several of the selections in this anthology were quite good and a further few were outstanding. I enjoyed "Fish" in particular, which reminded me a great deal of Ryu Mitsuse's "10 Billion Days & 100 Billion Nights" and had great art to boot, and "Tengu" was fantastically surreal. The theme of the anthology isn't always entirely clear, as it's interpreted rather differently by the various contributors, but it made for an interesting compendium nevertheless.

[Eric Novello]

Você acha no kindle unlimited como The Tipping Point vol.1 e vol.2.
É uma coletânea de histórias curtas em quadrinho, de qualidade variável.
A LGBT+ do Emmanuel Lepage no vol.1 achei lindíssima. E tem duas bem engraçadas no volume 2, uma sobre um ateu que tem seu ateísmo confrontado e uma sobre teorias de conspiração de internet.

[Marc J. Miarnau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solo hay que echarle un vistazo a los nombres de este compendio de micro relatos en cómic para saber que estamos ante canela fina.

[Makis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Collection, Many short stories for easy reading