If you're a Becky Cloonan fan, you've likely been waiting for this moment for quite some time. If you're not familiar with Becky's art, but are a comic book fan and keep tabs on what's hot in the industry, you're probably at least familiar with her. And if you fall in neither of these camps, and this happens to be the first time you've heard Ms. Cloonan's name, well, then you have no idea what you're in for.
Becky Cloonan is the Eisner-nominated illustrator of DEMO and Dracula. She's a regular contributor to the Flight and Meathaus anthologies. She's one half of the team responsible for the controversial American Virgin (the other half would be Steven T. Seagle). She's one of the most exciting artists on the comic scene today, and her work has been praised in Wizard, The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly and Variety. However, she's never done anything like East Coast Rising before.
East Coast Rising was a project Becky pitched to TOKYOPOP before I was hired on. However, I leapt at it as soon as it became available. Telling the rousing tale of Archer, Cannonball Joe and the crew of La Revancha, the fastest ship to sail the shores of Manhattan, East Coast Rising is a swashbuckling nautical adventure taking place in a submerged and stunningly altered New York City. It's a tale inspired by classics like Treasure Island, Jason and the Argonauts and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, rendered in a style that's uniquely Becky's. You'll find no tunics, dive suits or muskets here. Instead, what you'll find are punk rock pirates, giant man-eating turtles and a treasure that takes its name from... Well, I'll leave that for you to discover. Now, tighten the jib and cast off the mainline. It's time to set sail!
~Tim Beedle, Editor
Cannonball Joe:
As Captain of La Revancha, Joe is charismatic, charming, kind, and always quick to help out the underdog (which sometimes gets him into more hot water than he can handle). He knows his ship inside and out, accounting for many narrow escapes.
Archer:
Rescued by Joe as the comic opens, he joins the crew of La Revancha as a cabin boy. He spends his time doing menial tasks such as swabbing the deck, helping Drake in the kitchen and keeping the cargo in order.
Deathsnake:
Deathsnake loves trouble. He was originally from Jersey, sailing with Lee on the Hoboken. However, after rescuing his "niece" El from a shipwreck, he had a change of heart. This didn't sit well with the Jersey crew, and they marooned him and his new companion on a small spit of land. He was soon picked up by La Revancha and became good friends with Joe.
Abby:
Abby comes from a long line of fishermen. She is very by the book, and doesn't like taking risks, so naturally Deathsnake's unpredictable and sometimes rash behavior frustrates her. She finds joy in simple things, such as teaching the crew her secret techniques for catching the juiciest sea creatures.
Lee:
Lee is the dirtiest pirate alive. His crew runs all of New Jersey with an iron fist. He's got a short temper, and his cold expression makes it hard to tell what he is thinking. Vindictive and vengeful, Lee will hold a grudge for life.
About.com
When his ship is attacked by pirates, Archer is left floating adrift in a violent sea. But its not long before he finds himself on the fastest ship in the East Coast, searching for a legendary treasure.
This is East Coast Rising, an exciting new manga from TOKYOPOP. The story begins with our hero Archer, lost and adrift in the middle of the sea. But along comes Cannonball Joe an infamous treasure hunter and captain of the La Revancha, the fastest ship on the East Coast. Climbing aboard, Archer joins Cannonball Joe and his roughneck crew as they search for a stolen treasure across the shores of a submerged New York City. But before they can find the treasure, they must face a nasty hoard of pirates and a giant sea creature called the Suffocating Death.
Created by Becky Cloonan, a reknowned American comic book writer and artist, East Coast Rising offers both adventure and excitement for the die-hard manga fan. Although this is her first manga with TOKYOPO, Becky also worked for DC, Oni Press, AIT/Planet Lar and Image.
Want more East Coast Rising? Volume 1 hit the manga shelves on 4/11/06, but you can find info on the next two issues by visiting TOKYOPOP's website.
~Katherine Luther, About.com
http://anime.about.com/od/manga/a/aa041606.htm
Hobotaku - Manga Reviews For the Disenfranchised!
East Coast Rising is one of those books I have been meaning to pick up for awhile, but for one reason or another, I haven't gotten around to it. Fortunately, I finally picked up the first volume, and am glad I did. Becky Cloonan has created an alternate universe full of punk rock pirates (my favorite kind).
The series follows Archer, a young pirate whose ship is destroyed at the beginning of the first volume. He's rescued by Cannonball Joe, the Captain of La Revancha, and Archer soon joins the ship as a cabin boy. Along with Joe, the La Revancha is home to Deathsnake, a man who loves trouble, Deathsnake's adorable niece El, and Abby (she's crazy good at fishing).
The crew is in search of a legendary treasure, but they have a number of obstacles to overcome. Not least of which is Lee, the reckless and vicious captain of the Hoboken, whose crew runs most of New Jersey. Punk rock may be dead, but it's a pirate's life for me.
The first volume is charming and fun, and the second volume is scheduled to come out in October.
~Nick, Hobotaku - Manga Reviews For the Disenfranchised!
http://hobotaku.blogspot.com/2007/09/east-coast-rising-volume-1.html
Publishers Weekly
You can take the pirate out of the fight, but you can't take the fight out of the pirate.
Forgoing the standard pirate trope of tunics, muskets and the occasional "Arrrr!" Becky Cloonan's East Coast Rising takes a decidedly urban approach to the pirate life with a mixture of punk rock, street gangs and a half-submerged wasteland once known as New York. Published by Tokyopop as part of its ambitious OEL manga line, this graphic novel marks the full-length debut of Eisner-nominated artist Cloonan. For longtime fans, it's a book they've heard about for years; for the newcomer, it's an ideal opportunity to discover a cartoonist praised by Entertainment Weekly and the Village Voice as a talent to watch.
The calamitous future of East Coast Rising centers on the crew of the pirate ship La Revancha, as they fight against competing ships and each other in a breakneck search for a relic some say doesn't even exist. Led by the charismatic Cannonball Joe, the crew includes a reformed criminal named Deathsnake, an unassuming cabin boy named Archer and a fishing girl named Abby with a past that won't let go. "The best way to describe them is a gang of vagrant merchants," Cloonan explains. "They don't always get along, but their quick thinking and resourcefulness get them out of sticky situations... a good thing too, since La Revancha doesn't house any weapons!"
Despite their general lack of weapons on the ship, the Revancha crew have managed to hold their own in the rough Atlantic seas against both man and monster. One of their chief foes and competitors is the pirate ship/tank hybrid Hoboken, commandeered by the villainous Lee. The man Deathsnake once called captain, Lee is known for his quick action and quicker temper as he keeps a tight rein on the New Jersey coast. If that isn't enough, there's someone or something out there called the suffocating death. "Legend has it that it's the ghost of a deceased whaler who was beheaded for high treason," Cloonan reveals. "His disembodied head was thrown laughing into the ocean and to this day it still haunts the waves looking for its body. Of course, most people think of the suffocating death as mythological, like the Loch Ness monster and the Rio yeti, but every few years a ship disappears and gives the legend new life and terror."
Spurred on by scraps of information from the newly arrived cabin boy Archer, Cannonball Joe and the crew of La Revancha hope to fend off those who would stand against them in their hunt for a fabled treasure that was thought lost to the ages. "As far as any of the characters know, it's the forgotten treasure of the last mayor of New York City, who had spent years hoarding stolen tax money from the public," says Cloonan. "There are many rumors as to where it's buried and what it contains; some say wealth beyond all imagination, others say it holds the key to immortality."
While the world of East Coast Rising bears some familiar names, like New Jersey and New York, their condition when this book finds them is far different than what you're used to. From the half-water-covered wastelands of New Jersey to the architectural maze of Manhattan's subway tunnels, the world is less glamour and more grime. Why did Cloonan chose this fate for a place she once called home? " I chose New York because I lived there for a while, and I think having familiar landmarks can be a lot of fun in a story; Staten Island is referred to as Shaolin and New Jersey still smells even after being flooded," Cloonan says slyly. "It's also easy to visualize, rather then make up new names and maps. I just use old subway maps and reworked the shoreline to include all of the water. As fun as it might have been, I didn't want East Coast Rising to sound like a role-playing game.".
Scheduled to run for three volumes, East Coast Rising promises a rousing nautical adventure unlike anything that's come before. Inspired by her love for classics such as Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Cloonan brings her own modern influences to make it as captivating as the stories she remembers. "My favorite movie as a child was Jason & the Argonauts [which featured the amazing stop-motion animation of monster-master Ray Harryhausen], so East Coast Rising in a way is an homage to the epic, treasure-hunting, monster fighting, all-ages teamwork survival genre. I updated the story a bit to a flooded, gang-ridden New York, but that's the general idea. I hope my book gives off some of the same feelings I got as a child from old Harryhausen movies."
~Chris Arrant, Publishers Weekly
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6321564.html
