Last Hope

    (Seven Seas, 2005)
™ and © 2005 Seven Seas

Hiroto, new kid at the Maunaloa Institute for International Studies in Hawaii, isn’t just the dark brooding prince type; he’s an actual prince—from another dimension, no less. He’s fleeing from Lord Kumagai, the man who killed his parents, and soon Hiroto and several of his new classmates are accidentally sent aimlessly hurtling through time and space.

I’ve been hard on what I’ve less than lovingly dubbed “mock manga,” mostly because many attempts at working in the Japanese comic-book style come off as unimaginative imitation, empty exercises in style over substance. But this isn’t the case with Last Hope.

For one thing, artist Kriss Sison isn’t just meticulously aping the manga style; he actually knows how to draw. It’s evident in the way he manages to infuse life into a bunch of predictable character types (even making the magical pet Hiccup, a living beanbag with feet and feathers, tolerable). But what makes this variation on the Sliders premise worthwhile is villain Lord Kumagai, who carries with him an air of genuine menace.

— S.A. Bennett
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