An original English-language manga or OEL manga is a comic book or graphic novel originally published in English. The term "international manga", as used by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, encompasses all foreign comics which draw inspiration from the "form of presentation and expression" found in Japanese manga.
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx Entertainment, is an American distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well as original German-language manga. Tokyopop's US publishing division publishes works in English. Tokyopop has its US headquarters near LAX in Los Angeles, California. Its parent company's offices are in Tokyo, Japan and its sister company's office is in Hamburg, Germany.
Rising Stars of Manga (RSoM) was an English-language comic anthology published by TOKYOPOP from 2002 to 2008, and a contest held by the same company. It was originally semi-annual, but switched to annual beginning with the 6th volume.
It details the story of the titular hero, Snow, retreating to the cold, unknown planet of Hub to get away from his past. Meanwhile, the galaxy is being terrorized by giant genocidal aliens called Warmongers that seek to "purify" all worlds with their secret weapon, the Ghost of Destruction.
Plot
There is news that the race of Warmongers have employed a doomsday device called "the Ghost of Destruction" that lays waste to whole planets. The story opens with a small sarcophagus landing in the middle of a city, and a mysterious man with empty eyes emerges and begins to destroy things with powerful telekinesis. The city tries to stop the Ghost, but it proves indestructible, and within minutes, the entire planet is reduced to ash. The Warmongers congratulate the Ghost's efforts, and encourage him to continue.
A doomsday device is a hypothetical construction — usually a weapon or weapons system — which could destroy all life on a planet, particularly Earth, or destroy the planet itself, bringing "doomsday", a term used for the end of planet Earth. Most hypothetical constructions rely on the fact that hydrogen bombs can be made arbitrarily large assuming there are no concerns about delivering them to a target or that they can be "salted" with materials designed to create long-lasting and hazardous fallout.
A sarcophagus is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σάρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγεῖν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarcophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos. Since lithos is Greek for "stone", lithos sarcophagos means "flesh-eating stone". The word also came to refer to a particular kind of limestone that was thought to rapidly facilitate the decomposition of the flesh of corpses contained within it due to the chemical properties of the limestone itself.
A young man with a severely scarred eye is walking across a snowy landscape covered in garbage, when he encounters the gates to Refuse City, a backwater city populated by many strange people and creatures. Once there, he witnesses a semi crash, and stops the driver from escaping. A girl orders her gang to rob the truck. She finds the young man, and asks his name. It starts snowing, so he absent-mindedly replies "Snow". The girl introduces herself as "Kat", and takes Snow in.
A semi-trailer truck is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer attaches to the tractor with a fifth-wheel coupling (hitch), with much of its weight borne by the tractor. The result is that both the tractor and semi-trailer will have a distinctly different design than a rigid truck and trailer.
Kat explains that Refuse City is tangled up in gang warfare, and all the gangs answer to the Space Syndicate of Crooks, Assassins and Bandits (or "SSCAB") except for her gang, "The Crows", which makes headquarters in a diner. They support more charity and good deeds to prevent the greed and authority of SSCAB, and seek to preserve the way of life on the planet, called Hub. She further explains that Hub is one of the few places left in the galaxy that's quiet, tolerant, and not under the gaze of the Warmongers; a good place to get a second chance. Snow decides to join the Crows.
A gang is a group of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in illegal, and possibly violent, behavior. Some criminal gang members are "jumped in", or they have to prove their loyalty and right to belong by committing certain acts, usually theft or violence. A member of a gang may be called a gangster, a gang banger, or, less specifically, a thug.
A diner is a small restaurant found predominantly in the Northeastern United States and Midwestern United States, as well as in other parts of the US, Canada, and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a combination of booths served by a waitstaff and a long sit-down counter with direct service, in the smallest simply by a cook. Many diners have extended hours, and some along highways and areas with significant shift work may stay open 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the Warmongers are discussing a problem they're having with the Ghost, and send two Warmongers to attack planet Hub.
Later, a SSCAB member offers Kat an ultimatum as retribution for their truck robbery. Kat refuses, and the SSCAB threatens to blow up the diner with a small robot bomb that accompanied him, but leaves to give Kat time to think about it. Immediately after this, a large robot shoots up the diner. No one is hurt, but Kat remembers that the rest of the Crows are on patrol, and she and Snow rush out to find them.
An ultimatum is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance. An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series of requests. As such, the time allotted is usually short, and the request is understood not to be open to further negotiation. The threat which backs up the ultimatum can vary depending on the demand in question and on the other circumstances.
A bomb threat or bomb scare is a threat, usually verbal or written, to detonate an explosive or incendiary device to cause property damage, death or injuries, whether or not such a device actually exists.
A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as law enforcement officers, military personnel, or private security contractors that are assigned to monitor a specific geographic area.
They find the Crows engaged in a shootout with another gang, and Kat finds out that several Crows have been taken hostage. Kat asks Snow to come with her to rescue the hostages, but he's traumatized by all the violence, and tells Kat where he came from.
A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a gun battle between armed groups. A shootout often, but not necessarily, pits law enforcement against criminal elements; it could also involve two groups outside of law enforcement, such as rival gangs. A shootout in a war-like context would usually be considered a battle, rather than a shootout. Shootouts are often portrayed in action films and Western films.
Snow came to Hub to hide from his past: he was the Ghost of Destruction. Following his latest devastation, the Ghost found two small children buried under some rubble, one of them wounded and dying. One of the children attacked the Ghost with a knife, causing the scar on Snow's eye. The Ghost was so shocked by seeing the pain he caused that he ran away to Hub, to make sure the Warmongers could never find him and use him again. He's not sure that will work, though; he still has the Ghost's terrible powers, and thinks he shouldn't exist anywhere. Kat convinces him that Snow is not the terrible weapon that the Ghost was, and that Hub will give him a second chance.
Kat and Snow find out that the hostages have been taken away on a train, so they commandeer a train engine called the "White Knight" to catch them. While they're catching up to the train, Kat confesses that she used to be a mercenaryassassin for many years, killing for money. She, too, came to Hub to redeem herself. She asks Snow why he won't use his Ghost powers to stop the train, but he's afraid to try, since he doesn't know what he might do.
Kat and Snow raid the train, but Snow is captured and held at gunpoint by the gang's leader and an unstable goblin. Kat subdues the leader, and the goblin shoots Snow with what just turns out to be a water gun. They find the hostages in the next car, as well as one of the bomb robots from earlier, counting down. Snow uses it to scare off the gang, and Kat gets the other Crows and some SSCABs that don't want to die onto the White Knight. Snow, however, doesn't make it across, and the train explodes.
Snow survives the explosion by changing back into the Ghost of Destruction. Just then, the two Warmongers arrive on Hub, glad to have found their lost Ghost. The Warmongers think that Snow has malfunctioned, and ask him to be recalled. Snow refuses, and fights the Warmongers into submission. This exhausts Snow's Ghost powers, and he thinks they'll never return. Kat asks him to keep that to himself, as a form of insurance.
Following this incident, Snow becomes wanted, with a bounty of "NAME YOUR PRICE" offered for his capture.
Characters
Snow.
Snow - The titular protagonist. He has a certain nervousness about the world around him and is rather soft-spoken, but he has a fierce sense of justice and a strong value of life. He used to be the Ghost of Destruction, a powerful doomsday device designed by the Warmongers to destroy entire planets.
Kat - Short for "Katarina", she took Snow in when he first arrived at Hub. She's the leader of a gang called "The Crows", and strives to keep Refuse City away from oppressive influences. She's a very tough and strong woman, prepared to deal with any problems she faces, but also compassionate and charitable.
The Warmongers - A race of 1,000-foot-tall (300m) aliens that seek to "cleanse" worlds. They treat this task without emotion, and are consistently serious and businesslike. They resemble statues as well, with black, stony flesh and static faces. All this and the way they talk suggests that they are somewhat robotic.
Grom and Krom - The two Warmongers that invade Hub to find Snow. They are the only ones that are named or see any battle.
The Crows - Kat's gang. Their goal is to give back to Refuse City however they can, and get Hub out from under the oppressive control of the SSCAB gang syndicate.
SSCAB - The Space Syndicate of Crooks, Assassins and Bandits. They hold control over all the gangs in Refuse City, with the exception of the Crows. They are very violent, and their greed is insatiable.
Volume 2
The cliffhanger ending of Volume 1 hints at a second volume of Snow and even mentions "Snow: Volume 2", but there has been no news of it. Morgan Luthi, however, has released a preview image from Snow: Volume 2 on his DeviantArt gallery.[1]
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