We got lucky enough to find these two amazing authors at Sakuracon and had a blast talking to them. We picked up a copy of Two Keys, an manga web comic that was put together as a book. It is one of the better manga books out there, and very easy to find. It is worth hunting down though, or at least reading the web comic over on Manga Magazine.net or on the Two Keys web site. Just in case you really didn’t want to fork over ten dollars and pick up a copy at Amazon or other online venues.
The premise of this story is that there was a war involving humans and occults. And we all know what happens when war between the magical and the non-magical does to everything. This story is no exception as everything is in a very bad shape as people struggle to survive. A surviving magical person Colin Aston just wants to sit back, run his diner Two Keys, and live out his life trying to forget the horrible things that were done by him, and to him. He wants to forget that he was ever a private eye, and he does not want to take any more cases doing things that he does not want to do. You know this could not last; life has a tendency to find you even when you wish life would simply leave you alone to just live with what you have, and not cause any further trauma or pain.
In walks a woman, the standard noir mystery cliché, but different here, and it works, because the missing person is only the son of a high ranking politician, and of course, they don’t want panic in the general population because someone high in societal rankings just happened to get kidnapped. This kind of story line is always delivered by a hot dame, in a cool dress, in a diner, owned by a former magical PI. The twists from here on out are really awesome, Oh yeah, did we say the old lady seer is pretty cool? He is not just kidnapped, but from there I’ll have to drop this because I would hate to spoil the entire story line for you. Honestly this is a story that will have you reading bits of it over a couple of times because you will miss important details.
Chloe and Aliena have done an awesome job of mixing the occult, noir detective stories, manga, very good drawing, into a mystery manga book that simply rocks. It is one of the better manga books out there and well worth considering adding to your graphic novel library. Rated 5 of 5 stars, seriously good read. You can find the authors deviant art web site here which has additional art work that is not in the book, and this is also where we lifted the cover for the book from.
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