By Gina Biggs
Read: Continuously, reread April ’09
Rating: Squee
Read at http://redstring.strawberrycomics.com/
I’ve been reading Red String for quite a while. The concept piqued my interest right away. Old Japanese myth/folktale says that true lovers are connected by a red string. Miharu wants to believe in true love, but her parents have arranged a marriage for her. When she meets Kazuo, her feelings are much stronger than she expected. What is her destiny, and how much choice does she have about it?
Complicating the situation are Miharu’s cousin, Karen–also forced into an engagement, Kazuo’s strict father, and Miharu’s own disciplinary problems. It’s a great mix of school, growing up, love, and even a bit of business politics.
First, mega kudos to Gina for pulling together so many elements, and doing so successfully. As you can tell by her name, Ms. Biggs is American, but her art style is “manga style.” As she says in the FAQs, manga has influenced her, but she chose to set the story there because the story interested her. I consider this perfectly valid, as the idea at the root of the story is Japanese. (I’m also a little biased, since I did the same thing for my senior work.) Red String does not come off as fanwork, and Miharu certainly isn’t a Mary Sue. This is a well-researched work that respects its source culture without exploiting it. At the same time, you never feel like that research is hitting you over the head (I consider this one of the advantages of a visual medium like comics). On top of that, the characters feel real, and the plot makes sense.
Oh, and the art? The art r0xx0rs. Check out her DeviantArt page: http://strawberrygina.deviantart.com/
Red String is one of those webcomic success stories–Dark Horse picked up the first three volumes and you can purchase them on Amazon. Of course, if you don’t have much loose change, you can always read for free at StrawberryComics.com–and check out their own comics. Strawberry Comics is a collective of female comic artists looking to promote women in comicing. A cause I wholly support.
Check it out. Buy or donate if you can. Or just spread the love.
