Exposing the Independent: Big Blue Jump

Good day, readers! Today I bring you another manga review from another independent source. But before I commence, I apologize for the lack of an update to my own comic. I know its been a while for the storyboard, but I've really been trying to reorganize my life a bit more to optimize my productivity. I have been juggling a lot of things and it really put progress to a snail's pace. I hope to have it soon for you guys to tear apart, and I really do mean it.

That said, on wards to the review. First and foremost, despite being an aspiring manga maker myself, this is a review that comes from the casual reader in me. This is not a "well, if I wrote this *pbbtbtbtbtbt*" spiel. While I will offer my thoughts and recommendations at the end to artificially inflate this post, I will try my hardest to be thorough and objective with my review.

Issue #1

Big Blue Jump is a budding, American digital manga magazine  from publisher Diamond Turtle Studios consisting of writers and artists from both America AND the Philippines. While I may be misinterpreting the origins of the name "Big Blue", I think it is both a fitting and welcoming name for creators all across the globe. That said, let us begin with what I think Big Blue does right with this venture.

For starters, the official website offers free chapters for online reading for those who want to get their feet wet before deciding on purchasing the first issue (two series of which are not in issue #1). This should be a mandatory staple for the digital front as how customers may casually browse through books at bookstores. I have not gone through all of the free chapters, but they offer a fine enough taste of what to expect, but they all seem to be storyboards than actual legitimate chapters. Not too much of a concern considering they are all readable, but it may alienate readers when the sample doesn't taste like the product.

The next thing that I really appreciate about Big Blue is the authentic diversity in stories that have been featured so far. The first issue consists of an ecchi (**genre of manga with slight sexual undertones) comedy (I Heart Genie), a fantasy battle manga (KnightHood), a monster girl manga (What it Means to be a Monster), and what I believe to be a cyber punk thriller (Extremity). All of which were palatable though considering the lack of professional editorial work (well talk about later). As artwork goes, for fledgling artists, not too bad. Everything has been visually understandable so far, but it is pretty evident though which artists has had more experience. Nevertheless, not every flower blossoms at the same pace.

"I Heart Genie"

Moreover, there are several criticisms I have to make with the first issue. I guess it starts with the lack of an age demographic considering two of the stories were pretty NSFW. Especially I Heart Genie which I felt got a little too heavy and almost treads on the H border (lol). I will admit, I am a depraved guy who enjoys this stuff, but for the first story of the issue, it could be a problem considering that the magazine does not specify whether it is for teens, kids, or adults only. A simple T for teens 13+ and up etc. mark on the cover would suffice unless taking a bitching from overly sensitive parents is part of the fun for Big Blue. Nevertheless, it is better to err on the safe side and include a simple, clearly visible watermark.

The next thing I would like to address is that there were some grammatical errors and misspellings throughout the issue. Not everyone has a degree in English, but if Big Blue wants to be treated legitimately, it has to treat itself as such because some businesses would fire people over this, and readers are REALLY good at finding them.

Another issue I kind of had was with the low-res quality of KnightHood and Extremity. It really hits KnightHood the hardest with some of the text being almost unreadable and given that the artwork is pretty impressive, it is a real bummer.

Lastly, the end of the issue kind of ends abruptly after Extremity and it's a bit confusing whether or not pages are missing from the issue or if the chapter ended there. A back cover and "To be continued" following each chapter would remedy this.

In retrospect, the first issue has some hiccups to it, but it really is a lot better than what I criticize it to be. The issues are entirely fixable, but it is critical that Big Blue addresses them subsequently. With that said, here are some non-professional ideas from observations I've made for some time that I think could be helpful:

      1. Take it seriously.

Kinda a no-brainer and pretty blunt as well, but accomplishments are never made if no one is willing to go all the way. I'm guilty of this, but I fervently believe that this is how winners are made.

      2. A re-release of issue #1.

I feel as though this would be in order because of the poor visual quality of KnightHood and Extremity really jeopardizes the issue. This opportunity could be used to edit text and to add a rating watermark on the front cover (as well an inclusion of a back cover). Also, Joomag is a pretty obscure platform. Power to you guys for helping the lesser known sites, but having issue #1 available on popular platforms like Amazon, Google Play Books, Nook, Kobo, etc. could increase the reader base where many others may already have established accounts and don't want to create another.

      3. A competitive price point.

Talking money is my least favorite, but $5 may not exactly be an attractive price point (at least to me) or maybe for anyone casually browsing through when on Amazon a digital 200-page tankoubon can go for as cheap as $2.50 and that a digital issue of Shonen Jump can be just a dollar.

      4. A cleaner approach.

Just a thought, but if you guys can get into contact with someone with more experience in graphic design or web design, I think that the Big Blue Jump website could use a tune-up and be a bit more neater and more professional looking. Right now it's a little simple and could be better organized and more eye-catching.

      5. Social Outreach and a Community Manager

No one needs to be hired for this, but in this age, reaching out to other people through social platforms often is a must, and it may be easier for someone with experience to do the communication and advertisement for the creators because of how hard it is to make manga and to advertise it as well. So that way, the creator can put 100% effort into his/her work alone.

     6. Above all, be a team!

Now I'm not sure how you guys do it, but I suppose that everyone communicates very often since a magazine should be a family :) and decisions should be made among everyone.

To the creators of Big Blue Jump, I hope my review does not come out as scathing as I think it is. As a fellow manga lover and aspiring creator, my only interest is to really see ventures like this grow and flourish in countries like the USA. If anyone has read my review of the publisher GEN, you may notice that I went a little harder on Big Blue and that intentionally was because of how GEN marketed itself of being "underground", meaning being anti-mass market. I don't have that feeling with Big Blue Jump because of its goal of broadening horizons and of being a response to magazines like Shonen Jump.

"Expanding the global manga industry" is a quote of inspiration that carries a lot of latent power and it would be a shame to have this opportunity go, given that this would have been impossible years ago. I ask that Big Blue Jump give amateur manga creators in the West (and in the Philippines as well) something to aspire and hope for that would someday serve as their footprint on Japan's dominance in the global manga market.

Manga is an art form, and I expect it to be no less. With this, good luck to Big Blue Jump, I am expecting one hell of a second issue.