Hollow Fields by Madeleine Rosca

Around here, next week is the official beginning of school for most youngsters (what age am I, using the word 'youngsters' as if it doesn't apply to me?). I hope none of them stumble into Miss Weaver's Academy for the Scientifically Gifted and Ethically Unfettered like the protagonist of this comic did, they'd be in for a shock. Maybe a literal one.



Hollow Fields by Madeleine Rosca

Art and story (c) Madeleine Rosca

Genre: Supernatural Shonen
Length: 3 Volumes – 14 Chapters


             The art, I found was a bit plain, even boring. Most of the children had the same faces, and their hairstyles were nothing but generic. The eyes were much the same, the 'human' eyes looked a bit vapid, and the 'monster' eyes which were intentionally blank, were often used for scenes of shock or comedic gags instead of being used exclusively by the bad guys. A lot of mouths hanging open, too, it seemed like the only way expressions could be put across to the reader was as if the mouth showed it, which definitely isn't true and, in fact, often made the face not match the emotion being portrayed. All of the clothes seemed baggy or ill fitting, even the skin tight outfits looked off, as seen below.

I hate super pointy boobs, so unnatural

The backgrounds were well filled though, with plenty of steam punk like details but since this is not a monthly or weekly published comic that is expected. The body proportions are good, once in a while the hands may have seemed too big but nothing too noticeable, though, much like the eye shapes lacking clear class distinctions, often the noses of the 'human' characters are gone just as much as the 'monster' types so that half way through I didn't even realize the monsters had no noses when their smooth faces should have been yet another exclusive trait. Still, it has its own look to it, it just happened to be one I didn't particularly like, in fact, the main character's long bangs and bunny eared ribbon is something I've seen so much it just doesn't appeal anymore.
            Lucy Snow, unable to be accompanied by her busy parents, is making her way in the rain to her new school alone, but when she finds her self lost, she stumbles onto Miss Weaver's Academy for
the Scientifically Gifted and Ethically Unfettered, where, with the temptation of free education and free lodging, she signs the contract to enroll in classes there instead. Little does Lucy know, the subjects at this institution, that also goes by the name Hollow Fields, include grave digging and killer robot construction. Worst of all, when you get bad grades or forget your homework and have to go to detention, you never come back.
           I went for something different this time around by choosing an OEL manga, an Original English Language manga, meaning a comic made in English with a manga format (though it is a little more complicated than that, wiki link for more info). I make this distinction because I like to put everything in it's place, and OEL, just like Korean manhwas and Chinese manhua, aren't exactly the same as manga in my book. OELs vary in form and quality, Hollow Fields happens to be of the type that reads in the 'backwards' format of manga comics, very common in Seven Seas Entertainment's OELs. I'll move on to the review now, though, and continue my thoughts on OELs in a minute. First and foremost, Hollow Fields is amateurish in just about every way, the art, the story, and the way the plot was written. I found it very easy to put down, and it didn't get interesting until the third chapter and that’s only because it started skipping forward here and there after that. Its predictable and the characters just don't connect in a real way, they are supposed to be nine to ten-year-old kids but a couple years advancement would have fit the plot better. Even then, I don't think the stereotypical characters would have been any more likable. Lucy is a clumsy, optimistic girl, and though I appreciate her being a girl over a boy, I don't think she's anything beyond a classic child trope with a classic rival of the 'perfect' girl who is mean and nothing else. The bad guys are bad guys with no redeeming or human characteristics, except for the one Oogie Boogie looking feller. Getting past that, though, is the forced way the plot advances. Lucy is often talking to her stuffed animal just to explain things out loud, and often these dialogues happen when she is supposedly sneaking around after curfew instead of being, you know, quiet because she might be caught? Even the ending is a forced happy scene. There are some interesting bits where you think to yourself that it could have been an amazingly original story, like with the school being for mad scientists-in-training, but its reduced to Harry Potter style classroom shots and dining hall speeches instead of things more specific to the clockwork style of the story. Hollow Fields has gotten some critical acclaim, but I think it must be from people who don't read graphic novels, let alone the manga this comic is trying emulate, because I felt that hollow accurately
described this. Actually, I think I would have liked this better had it simply been published in English format, because I don't hate OELs, but as a manga maniac, I get a bit defensive about OELs that borrow the manga format just to try and rub off on the success that Japanese comics have achieved by fans by being drawn 'backwards' and I feel that Hollow Fields is very much one of those types. Perhaps, if the author keeps honing her craft, I would like something later in her career but Hollow Fields is not something I would recommend to people like myself who enjoy graphic novels of every type, and look deeper than just the way the book was printed.



2/5 Average and predictable.

I think I turned this into a rant,