Comic books/Graphic novels/Manga Reading Challenges discussion

Our group read for May is the webcomic Rice Boy, which can be read online here.

"Rice Boy began as a surreal vignette set in a bar on an unknown world, and evolved into a fantasy epic in webcomic format."

Rice Boy is rather odd, but extremely good. It has an incredible atmosphere that helps it transcend some cliche epic quest plot elements. There's a unique, subdued feel, striking and strange characters, and a nice sense of wonder surrounding the colorful world Rice Boy explores. The plot itself becomes quite engaging as we follow our reluctant protagonist as he gets drawn into a mysterious centuries old prophecy.

I first read Rice Boy a couple of years ago and am enjoying it just as much now.

My full review.

The story arc is brilliant and the artwork is like an LSD trip ( in a good way.) I couldn't stop reading.it was thought provoking and intriguing. I had to know the fate of rice boy and his friends. My favorite character was probably T-O-E. The frog ppl and the mechanical men were my favorite races. The ppl who cut their faces off to make rice boys creeped me out the most. So many great characters and locations.

Glad you enjoyed it. :) T-O-E is a favorite of mine too, and I adored how he fit into the story on several levels. He shows up in Dahm's second comic set in Overside (several centuries before Rice Boy) Order of Tales. It's just as good but VERY different. It's black and white so has a completely separate atmosphere and approach. It starts a bit slow but once it gets going it never lets up.

The imaginative races and settings really stood out. Dahm is wonderfully creative. Your description of the artwork is spot on.