This comic was published in the Finnish manga magazine Finnmanga (#5/2008), and a couple of years afterwards I couldn’t figure out why. My drawing style was really immature and my story meandering. But apparently the editors saw some potential in it. According to the reviews the comic had “an interesting and clear plot which is rare from a teenager”. Looking back to it, I don’t feel the comic is embarrassing anymore, like I did for most of my remaining teenage years. Now it seems like a pretty sweet story from a 13-year-old. (And it’s pretty clear anyway, that Finnmanga didn’t always choose just the comics with professional art style.)
Also, this was back when manga was still quite new to Finland. The magazine was one of the first attempts to gather Finnish manga -inspired artists’ work together. In the end Finnmanga quit after volume 12, because artists started to self-publish through cons and internet, so… all in all, I’m actually proud to be in there, to have left my small footprint on the groundwork of the Finnish manga culture, even if I was way too young to be one of the pioneers I looked up to at the time.
I was really into the Middle Ages and the Hundred Years War when I was in middle school, so that’s why this comic is set in that time, but actually, the whole setting is pretty irrelevant for the story. I was never trying to say anything valuable about history through this comic, that was just a scenery that happened to be in my mind at the time I drew it. The story could’ve happened in any imaginary place with an imaginary war, because it’s just a fantasy story in the end.
So, uh… I just really liked lilies at the time, probably because they were such and integral part of that French Middle Age imagery. I guess I was trying to convey the idea that these girls are precious, even though they’re just random girls from a random village, were not historically significant and no one likely ever knew about their existence except their own friends and families. That individual lives matter, was probably my initial thought behind this whole comic, but, uh, I was very… VERY go-with-the-flow kind of writer, even more back then, than I am now. (Now I at least TRY to do some planning ahead.) I had absolutely no idea what would happen in this story when I drew this title page. (I had absolutely no idea what would happen in the next page the entire time I drew this, until the very end.) I just had an image of these girls in my mind and I knew I wanted to call them Lorraine’s Lilies. So it didn’t turn out to be so much of that “Individual lives matter” -kind of story with a lesson, but rather “A bunch of random girls do a bunch of random stuff ’cause I felt like it” -kind of creative outburst.
And as was really typical of me, I cared more about showing you what the characters are like, and telling you random details about them, than actually moving the story forward, which is why it’s kind of surprising I got compliments on the plot. Well, I guess most 13-year-olds could move a story forward even less.
I still like the feeling of this first page.
For some reason, it was an important detail that Josette never wore shoes.
(Great anatomy with the hands… ^^’)
Now I kind of feel like this hiding from the soldiers thing could’ve done with less explanation, but, oh well.
I liked drawing shiny effects.
I remember thinking that first panel of Josette was really great. Now all I see is shoujo manga influences and super weird anatomy. :’D
I had absolutely no idea how a hair net works, when I drew this…
Also the likelihood of an old woman living alone (instead of three generations living under the same roof) in this day and age is kind of slim… Apparently I hadn’t done my research that well.
Enter Juliet. I really liked her. In my head she and Josette were the kind of friends who are really kind and responsible alone, but always have a way of getting into trouble together.
I still like the middle panel.
I had a habit of drawing these explanatory hand thingies back then, saying completely obvious stuff. My mom pointed it out, but I really didn’t get why it was funny back then. I probably got the habit from Rumiko Takahashi’s Ranma 1/2 series.
So, um… since Marie’s saying that, does that mean Josette just decided on her own that Marie would be going to help that lady earlier? Well… I guess she’s kind of the undeclared boss, but still, seems weird.
Suddenly the part of the story that seems to have a plot, starts. 😀
Also, I had this notion that Elizabetta liked Marie more than anyone else in the group and sometimes was tolerating Josette & Juliet’s mischief just for Marie.
(I have no idea if there should be blueberries.)
Behold my impressive tree-drawing skills. Eh… (Also the nature is totally Finnish.)
I always wanted to draw that kind of panel where there’s only an expression and no actual face. Nailed it. (If nailing it means that it looks just like it’s copied and pasted from Tokyo Mew Mew.)
Also everyone is blushing way too often. (I just wanted to draw it apparently.)
Aveline!! A character who was as much of a surprise to me as she was to the girls. (I had no idea my own name is associated with hers at the time I drew this btw, so she’s not any kind of self-insert.)
Apparently I was self-aware enough to think that a spirit appearing would be too cheesy if she was made out to be mysterious and serious… and apparently I thought making fun of her excused it.
Um. How old is that tree supposed to be??
Yeah, I wonder how the system works, too.
Okay, Josette has some guts. She just expects to have enough natural authority so these goblins she just met will listen to her…
…and it works?? Okay, either she was lucky that the goblins were already feeling guilty, or she really was perceptive enough to notice it. I guess I thought she was perceptive enough. And um… I guess it can still be believable? Maybe? I don’t know. The scene just seems kinda forced to me now.
I definitely should’ve drawn lilies in the first panel instead of these nameless manga flowers.
Wow. What an ideal solution. And Aveline or the goblins never thought of this themselves? (Ohwellshrug.) Maybe… the goblins have been here so long before the war and are so much older than humans that they’ve just sort of got used to scaring the village people for generations, and never though of it twice? I guess that could somehow be possible.
I hope you won’t be telling your parents about this little adventure. Everyone would think you’re possessed by evil spirits or something.
So… this comic turned out to be kind of a mix between my fascination with the Middle Ages, and my own childhood pretend games. When my dad read it, he also pointed out that it’s very idealistic, which I don’t disagree with, and I still don’t hate the fact. I like idealistic stories. I will forever be an idealist. I just hope I’m more nuanced about it by this day.
Let’s review it a bit:
The drawing: Cute for a 13-year-old, even creative sometimes. Mostly very manga influenced, which isn’t a bad thing in itself but I clearly hadn’t developed my own style yet. Even though my drawing is immature and the anatomy is off, I do think I was pretty good with perspectives for my age, and knew how to make a story easily readable with varying angles and stuff like that. Yeah, I guess what was best about my drawing was that it feels comparatively three-dimensional. I’ll give myself that.
The story: Well, since the introductory part takes half of the story, I… could’ve done better. But actually, I don’t really like the plot myself. I like everything else. I like the characters and the little details that tell a lot about their lives. I could’ve drawn a lot more about that, if I hadn’t been trying to sell this story. I liked the jokes too, though they don’t seem that clever anymore. So, I don’t really know what to make of this now. It has a lot of sentimental value, for sure. And I guess it’s not the most convoluted story I could’ve told.
I have soft feelings for this comic because there are some things I didn’t screw up even though I was young, and it’s nice to see that there were some things I was already kinda good at and developed them further later.
Back to: Old (Longer) Comics
Leave a Reply