ign.com
December 5, 2006 - First Tokyopop gave us Chuck Austen's Boys of Summer, a rollicking good-time tale of college, co-ed baseball and a lot of gratuitous fan service. Now we get Pop Mhan's (Spyboy, Batgirl) Blank, a rollicking good-time tale of high-school, espionage and, you guessed it, a lot of gratuitous fan service! Now, before I get lynched by the large body of otaku out there into looking up girl's skirts, let me assure you I like my slice of cheesecake as much as the next guy…but only if there's an actual story involved. I know, I know…what does good fan service have to do with a plot? Well, quite a bit, if Blank Vol. 1 is any indication.

There are a few manga stereotypes in this story. Aki Clark, our protagonist, is a girl who lives on her own because her widowed father is often away on business. Despite the fact that we first see her stepping out of the shower and getting dressed for school, Pop Mhan wastes no time showing us that Aki's also quite capable of taking care of herself, fending off an overly amorous schoolmate with a headbutt and kick to the neck. She's certainly not your standard manga heroine in need of a protector. Nevertheless, she gets one.

Not too far into the story she finds herself saddled with a student/self-styled spy named Blank, who can't remember anything other than he's supposed to protect Aki at all costs. The only thing Blank hasn't forgotten is his libido, so while he's not sure who he is or what he's supposed to be doing, he does recall the significance of 38DD breasts and panty shots.

The scenes where Aki and Blank interact are manga comedy gold, but they alone can't hold this book together. Thank heaven, then, for the subplots, where we find out Aki's father may be more than just a scientific genius, and that Blank may not have originally been assigned to protect Aki at all. In fact, it may well be quite the opposite case. We're given crumbs in this first volume about the underlying war that's occurring behind the scenes, but those crumbs are enough to whet our appetites for more.

Pop Mhan has a pretty good fanbase coming into this book, and his work on various titles for DC and Marvel should bring that fanbase into this book nicely. Still, if you've never experienced his work, you're in for a real treat here. Leaving aside the fan service, Mhan has excellent chops in drawing action scenes and facial expressions, and Blank in particular is a visual joy to read. In the bio at the back of the book (this is an OEL title so it'll read left to right like most Western audiences are accustomed to seeing), Mhan mentions several Japanese manga-ka as influences, and seasoned otaku will enjoy trying to spot those influences as well as others in his work.

When I showed a copy of Blank to one of my fellow comic-reading brethren, his first words were "Holy crap! Look at the **** on that girl!" From that, I pretty much figured what I was in for, and I got it, make no mistake. However, I also got a really compelling story that takes some things we're accustomed to seeing in manga and attempts to jazz them up a bit. Whether it succeeds or not, time will only tell, but I know I'm planning on checking out volume two when it comes out. Chances are I won't be alone on that one.

~A. E. Sparrow, ign.com
http://comics.ign.com/articles/749/749270p1.html

Anime News Network
Although classified as manga and sold in the same racks, Blank is actually yet another “manga-style” OEL (Original English Language) release Tokyopop is trying to sneak in with its legitimate manga releases. It is the creation of Pop Mhan, whom American comic fans might be familiar with from his work on a variety of different titles from Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Image. His bio blurb credits several prominent manga-ka as influences on his work, and that influence is obvious in what is seen on the pages. It could almost pass as a flipped legitimate manga if it wasn't for the obvious fact that that the creator's name isn't Japanese, nor are most of the character names.

Quibbles about its origins aside, Blank is a fun read well worth a look by anyone who appreciates action-comedies flavored liberally with fan service and, ultimately, perhaps a little romance, too. It balances all of these elements quite well, never going too far overboard in any direction or losing step with its pacing. Some of its gags are very standard fare – characters getting bloodily bashed for behaving improperly, then looking fine a few panels later, for instance, and Blank is seemingly indestructible – but it also incorporates in some nice new gimmicks. Especially amusing is the way both Aki and the reader see most of Blank's actions as being clearly inept, yet he seems to be able to utterly flummox almost everyone else. Also entertaining is the fact that, for all of Blank's grandiose and seemingly bizarre claims, most of them are actually true, but that doesn't prevent him from behaving like a hormonally out-of-control teenage boy.

Fun and interesting core characters also helps. Blank, who takes his name from leaving the “Name” line on a school application blank, tries to be slick, cool, and a badass but his hormones too often get the better of him. Female characters who can go nuclear on someone who offends them are a staple of anime and manga, but Aki's abilities are actually justified by years of martial arts training and she does actually have personality beyond that. Big-chested new brunette Missy Streiber fills the obligatory bitch role, but she also has a little more substance, as does Aki boyfriend wannabe Keviin, who may or may not ultimately be a bad guy. Add in some supposed anti-terrorists and a couple of secret organizations and you've got a fine brew that may not be the most original taste but never fails to be satisfying.

Pop Mahn's efforts to emulate manga styles are most evident in his art. While his character designs strongly indicate that this is not true manga (it's most obvious in the way he draws eyes), the way he frames scenes, employs chibi elements, and uses other typical manga visual gimmicks shows the love, as does his widespread use of the kind of panty and bra-flashing one would expect in true manga of the same nature. The quality and consistency of the artwork varies over the course of the volume, and Pop overemphasizes the numerous blood-splattering effects, but when he's in top form it's good enough for a reader to easily understand why he has seen such extensive comic book work. His best efforts can be seen in the widely-varied use of facial expressions, the nudity-free but still racy fan service shots, and the easy-to-follow action scenes. Backgrounds are occasionally detailed but usually empty.

Being an OEL production, Tokyopop has naturally presented Blank in standard American left-to-right format. The well-drawn and beautifully-colored cover art is a real eye-catcher, although it doesn't imply the heavily humorous side to the content. As one might expect, the sound effects are all in English but not heavily or prominently used. Closing out the content are a next volume preview, a page of illustrated author notes, a five-page deleted sequence, and some concept art shots of key characters done by other artists, with a brief bio file on the inside of the back cover.

Blank may not be true manga, and certainly won't make you think much, but it never fails to be entertaining.

~Theron Martin, Anime News Network
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/blank/vol-1