Marc Hempel

Piranha Press was putting out some very unusual comic books during the 80s and 90s, and none of them was more unusual than Gregory. Minimalism at its finest, Gregory is about a little kid - with a big head - in a small padded cell. All we know is what Gregory knows, and that isn't much. Gregory isn't talkative, and seems blissfully unaware of... well, anything. Gregory's existence is a solitary one, with the exception of the occasional visit by orderlies, psychiatrists, or the talking rat show more named Herman Vermin. Gregory hovers in the bizarre boundaries between dark humor and existential quandary, and it manages to be funny, compelling, disturbing, sad, and just a little bit (okay, more than that) silly. You get the feeling while reading Gregory that writer/artist Marc Hempel just doodled the character on a cocktail napkin one night and thought to himself, "Hey, that's not bad." No, it definitely isn't. Just ask Gregory. show less

Plot: Jen Dik Seong is studying the ancient martial art of hapkido. She's awesome at the sport. In fact, her parents and friends want her to participate in the 25th National Hapkido Championship because they think that she stands an excellent chance of winning. She saves up the money for the ticket to participate in the championship, but then she spends the money on buying a birthday gift for her crush Adam. He not only doesn't like her back (argh!), he re-gifts her present to a girl that he show more likes. In the end, Adam and Jen have to fight each other in the championship. He even asks her to throw the fight, but Jen stays true to herself and kicks his butt in the championship. She realizes that she doesn't like him and that she likes another boy, Dillinger, instead.

Evaluation: This graphic novel is beautiful in design and the illustrations are wonderful as well. The front cover features Jen and in the background there's a pink present wrapped with a light pink bow. Both Liew and Hempel give the illustrations a sense of humor, especially in the fight scenes. In the pictures, where Jen is fighting Adam, it looks like she's going to fly right of off the page. The shocked look on Adam's face made me smile. Actually the look on most of Jen's opponents, whenever she was about to kick butt, made me laugh.

The author and illustrators do a good job at showing what a dweeb Adam is...I mean, to re-gift a present from someone that has a crush on you and then give it to a girl that you're after is just bad karma. It definitely comes back to bite him in the butt and the sad part is that he's still a jerk even at the end of the novel. He tries to get Jen to throw the fight because he wants to win and he's willing to use her affections for him in order to get what he wants. Yuk. I was happy when Jen realized that Adam was not worth it, especially when she finds out that he re-gifted her present. Dillinger was obviously a much better choice as a boyfriend because he admires Jen's talent, but also likes her instead of pretending to.

My favorite character in the novel is Megan Schofield because of the way she disses Adam. Once she finds out that the present that he has given her was Jen's gift to him, she decides to dump Adam. The best part is that she does it to him at the championship and tells him that she doesn't under the sport or the violence of it. She literally ripes his self esteem apart and he deserved it. show less

Oh, so much fun. I love Sonny Liew's art style, all fluid line work and unusual shapes. The story follows Dixie Seong through, oh, about a month of her life in LA's Koreatown and involves "rebellion, romance, and recycled gifts." It's also about the relative merits of wanting and getting, and how appearances can be deceiving, to use a few cliches. A lovely story all in all. Oh, also: One thing I like about Liew/Hempel/Carey's work is that, for stories written and illustrated by men, they're show more filled with engaging, kickass, interesting women and girls. Everyone regardless of gender is three-dimensional, complicated and silly and unique and imperfect and depicted with realistic body shapes (well, stylized, sure, but nobody looks like Barbie or Ken, or Pamela Anderson or the men from 300 - the movie version). In the comics industry, that is something that can be hard to find - humor and caricature without being derogatory, respect without it being some kind of statement. These are good storytellers, good artists. show less

re-gift –verb
1. to give an unwanted gift to someone else; to give as a gift something one previously received as a gift; also written regift

Dik Seong Jen (Dixie) has a spiky exterior–her spikiness is a defense mechanism guarding against her powerful emotions–as she puts it, “I don’t show it, but deep down I’m really a passionate person”.

For many years, she has loved hapkido because she is proud of her Korean heritage and because she needs the physical outlet for what she cannot show more express in words. More recently, she has discovered that she loves (or at least has a huge crush on) Adam Heller. This crush is so powerful that it’s throwing off her ki (”the universal energy that some call spirit”), and, subsequently, her ability to fight her best in hapkido. She has been ending up swept off her feet (in more ways than one) in sparring sessions with Adam.

Paralleling Dixie and Adam’s storyline is Dixie’s run-ins with Dillinger and his crew. Dillinger’s spiky exterior as the tough Hispanic kid is countered by his actions–he defends Dixie against his gang who have derided her heritage by telling her to “walk on the Korean side of the street” and he helps her practice for the hapkido tournament. Most importantly (at least for the sake of the book’s title), he plays a role in the re-gifting–the Hwarang warrior figure really makes its way around to sundry recipients throughout the book. By doing so, Dillinger helps Dixie to reboot her Korean American pride in who she is and to re-discover her ki.

Dixie’s crush on Adam causes her to misplace her passion for a time and to muddle her decision-making so that she stands in danger of losing her spot in the National Tournament and in danger of losing control. She also risks losing everything else she holds dear–her ki, her self-respect, her best friend, her pride in her heritage, and her family’s trust.

In the end, Dixie sees clearly what she has to do, “No confusion. No hormones. No need to think twice.” The story really moves–the illustrators’ masterful use of line makes the hapkido sequences look real and the apt character facial expressions and body positions say a lot without the text having to say anything. When the character’s are speaking, their voices are consistent with their personalities and depictions. Re-gifters is a fun story that speaks to family and cultural expectations, unrequited love, friendship, perseverance, and competition all wrapped up in a complete package to give to the graphic novel fans out there as well as to those who like sports and/or multicultural stories. Re-gifters is not likely to be re-gifted, although it is likely to be loaned out its fair share. show less