Dramacon Vol. 3
The third volume of Dramacon brings us back to the Yattacon anime convention. Christie is back for her third year, this time with her own comic that is beginning to develop a fan following. Once again Christie has spent a year with little word from Matt, but sparks quickly fly once they arrive at the con.
It was nice to see Christie becoming the aggressive one in the relationship in some places here.
Really, though, the focus of this story is on Christie's artist, Bethany. Bethany's design is on the convention t-shirts, and some of the large publishers are starting to pay attention to her work. But she's got something else to worry about: Her mother, who disapproves of her interest in manga, is coming to visit the convention.
Character development in Dramacon continues to be very strong. Bethany is a great character, Christie has grown in confidence and complexity. Matt can still be a jerk, but he's at least beginning to acknowledge that he's going to have to drop the façade for Christie's sake, at least part of the time.
Chmakova also put a lot of work into developing the supporting cast in this issue, and it pays off. Bethany's aunt proves to be a great surprise, balancing Bethany's singleminded mother. And Bethany also picks up a love interest before things are all said and done.
As with the previous issues, the convention atmosphere is captured with a nice mix of reverence and satire, and I thought the pacing of the interactions between the young people at the con really rang true. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at next year's convention!
Speaking of conventions, I purchased this book at the Anime Boston convention a few weeks back, and got to meet Ms. Chmakova there. Full report on that convention with pictures will be posted here soon.
For purposes of my comic review column, Panel Discussion, Dramacon Vol. 3 gets a rating of 8 out of 10.
This was book #11 in my goal of reading 50 books in 2008.
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