A Song for EliseBy: Natlia Batista
200 pages, b&w
Language: English
Nattserier, 2009
ISBN: 978-91-633-4429-9
This is a very interesting book, on several accounts. It is the first book-length yaoi ever produced by a Swedish cartoonist (yaoi being the Japanese genre of comics for female readers with stories about male homosexual love), which in itself is interesting. When I first became aware of yaoi, I felt that this was a very Japanese phenomenon, but it has spread like wildfire across the world, and now also to Sweden. It is also interesting since it is the debut of young artist Natalia Batista, and self-published to boot.
But most importantly it features a good story and really competent, sometimes even inspired drawings. Batista is very evidently inspired by manga, but adds her own touch to it. She has worked on this project for quite some time, publishing parts of the story online, and it is obvious that the learning curve has been steep; there is a marked improvement in the drawings when comparing the start and the finish of the book. The story focuses on three friends, two boys and one girl, and doesn’t shy away from the theme of suicide. All-in-all, I find A Song for Elise a very mature debut by an artist I expect will conquer, if not the Swedish (sometimes rather reactionary) comics scene, then the rest of the world.
This is a very interesting book, on several accounts. It is the first book-length yaoi ever produced by a Swedish cartoonist (yaoi being the Japanese genre of comics for female readers with stories about male homosexual love), which in itself is interesting. When I first became aware of yaoi, I felt that this was a very Japanese phenomenon, but it has spread like wildfire across the world, and now also to Sweden. It is also interesting since it is the debut of young artist Natalia Batista, and self-published to boot.
But most importantly it features a good story and really competent, sometimes even inspired drawings. Batista is very evidently inspired by manga, but adds her own touch to it. She has worked on this project for quite some time, publishing parts of the story online, and it is obvious that the learning curve has been steep; there is a marked improvement in the drawings when comparing the start and the finish of the book. The story focuses on three friends, two boys and one girl, and doesn’t shy away from the theme of suicide. All-in-all, I find A Song for Elise a very mature debut by an artist I expect will conquer, if not the Swedish (sometimes rather reactionary) comics scene, then the rest of the world.
