Answers about the grueling work of a weekly manga artist. Answers about the origins of Chinese animation, and its connections with Japanese anime. And even answers about the importance of erotica in the anime world. Conversely, Clements often provides questions of his own, asking the reader to contemplate the idea of an anime industry where "No Format" is the new media format, where digital distribution takes over our viewing habits. He asks us if placing animation in its own category in the Oscars is an honor, or equivalent to a creative ghetto.

Throughout it all, Clements' writing remains crisp, snappy, and funny, and his essays are made especially entertaining because most of them are short magazine articles, each of which can be read in a mere five minutes tops. His observations about the companies he worked for, the shows he worked on, and the people he met are often surprisingly insightful, with a tone that alternates between bemused cynicism and honest passion.

Unfortunately, much of the book is comprised of articles that Clements has already published in magazines such as Newtype USA or NEO. As such, many former Newtype or NEO readers will find that they have already read a good portion of the book. Luckily, there are a fair number of articles included that have never been published, such as unpublished sleeve notes from DVDs, and two lectures given by Clements at British Universities. These lectures are undoubtedly among the highlights of the book. One describes erotica, and it's place in anime, with an eye to the historical developments of hentai/ecchi and the reasons for said developments. (He also has the best description of moe ever.) The second essay describes the behind-the-scenes work of anime translators and subtitlers, and is a must-read for anybody who has ever tried to debate subs-versus-dubs or fansubs-versus-official subs.

But of course, there's still the question of why the hell Clements would name a book "Schoolgirl Milky Crisis."

The reason is, of course, that he uses that name as a catchall for anime series that he does not want to name, for fear of incriminating staff or companies involved in some of his anecdotes. This practice is used throughout his essays, and while I understand the necessity of it, this constant use of replacement names can occasionally make his stories very confusing.

Schoolgirl Milky Crisis is more than worth its $15 price, especially for anybody who hasn't read very much of Newtype USA or NEO. (Otherwise, it might feel a little redundant) Either way, I encourage any fan with even an inkling of interest in the industry to go ahead and give it a try. The confused stares and awkward questions are well worth it for a book so packed with insightful answers.

[Disclaimer: This review was written based on a free review copy, kindly provided by Titan Books. We would like to remind our readers that Ani-Gamers reviewers do their very best to provide unbiased reviews of all titles.]

great.

Grease Monkey is the story of two mechanics on the military space station "Fist of Earth." Robin Plutnik is a rookie who's not sure what to make of his partner, the head mechanic for their squadron, McGimben "Mac" Gimbensky. The catch? Well, there's two. The Earth was nearly wiped out by an alien army years ago, so to make up for the loss of a human population, gorillas were given human-like intelligence. You guessed it -- Mac is an 800 lb. gorilla with an attitude. Not only that, but Robin and Mac's squadron is none other than Barbarian Squadron, the top-ranked one on the station, which also happens to be completely made up of beautiful women.

Throughout the twenty-four chapters of this book, Mac and Robin go through tons of misadventures in almost sitcom fashion, learning about the ship, it's crew, and each other as they go along.

When I say sitcom fashion, I mean sitcom fashion. The stories in this comic are self-contained snippets of life on the Fist of Earth. They are definitely fun, but this sometimes results in overly wholesome stories that need a little more bite to them. Regardless, there are underlying plot threads (especially in the later chapters) which belie not only Eldred's anime background, but also his subtlety of storytelling.

Sometimes, though, Eldred's seemingly simple storytelling can truly amaze. Robin and Mac fight, make friends, fall in love, and make mistakes with startling honesty. When Eldred isn't busy developing his cast of primates, he is touching briefly on important issues like racism, politics, and even tragedies like September 11th and the Hiroshima bomb.

Some people like to say, "don't judge a book by it's cover," but in this case, forget the cover: "Don't judge this book by the first six chapters." Eldred's art in the early chapters is noticeably unpolished, a criticism which can be solely attributed to time. (8 years passed between the creation of chapters six and seven)

Once the story hits chapter seven, however, the jump in art quality is immediately recognizable. Eldred drops the colored look (which hampers the first six chapters) for a much more sophisticated, high-contrast black-and-white style, cleans up his character designs, and adds a lot more emotion and energy to the scenes.

EDIT: You can find the first six chapters in full color and the first half of Tim's upcoming Book 2 on the official Grease Monkey website.

There are some moments here that simply breathe with life. Mac floating weightlessly into space, staring at the heavens -- Robin storming down the hallway, eyes ablaze, incensed at the world -- Mac and his sweetheart asleep on a park bench.

For its twenty-buck price point, Grease Monkey packs a lot of reading material. In addition to the 24 chapters of story, there are three vignette stories (anywhere between two and eight pages), a heartfelt introduction by Kurt Busiek (author of Astro City) an extensive history of Grease Monkey written by Tim Eldred himself, and Tim's own liner notes for each and every chapter and vignette. Plus, the print size is considerably larger than a manga. All in all, it's a fantastic deal, even if I'm a bit disappointed about the lack of hardcover in this new edition.

Sure, some people might find Grease Monkey too light a story for their tastes. Nevertheless, this is much more than the sum of its relatively tame parts, resulting in a fun, well-written comic for all kinds of readers. This is a fantastic deal that no comic fan (and most manga fans) will want to miss.

(Full disclosure: I have corresponded multiple times with Tim Eldred through email. The reviewing team at Ani-Gamers always does its best to provide unbiased reviews regardless of the circumstances.)

Art:		3.0		Average: (2.833 stars)
Plot:		2.5
Overall:		3.0