February 26, 2008
HarperTeen
Illustrated by Rainbow Buddy
Paperback shown at left
ISBN-10: 0061362999
ISBN-13: 9780061362996
Hi! It’s me Rachel Buchanan, kicking butt manga style. Mr. Kim is sending me and my friends on their next mission—to Japan. But it’s going to be tough juggling all of these assignments:
1. Tracking down Sir Dork-a-lot Blankenship and his band of ninja assassins.
2. Finding the best deals at all of Tokyo’s better shopping venues.
3. Keep repeating the phrase “I do not have a crush on my best friend’s boyfriend!”
You see, I’m sure that ‘tension’ between me and Alex is nothing
that Pilar should be worried about. Nothing at all. I’m almost completely
certain.
Read the first nine
pages online! Simply click on the big image below and
a new window will open. Follow the next buttons or click on thumbnails to
get into The Chase for the Chalice!
like
it? get it!
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"In
this third tale of teen spies versus Simon Blankenship, aka the reincarnated
god Mithros, Rachel Buchanan, the reincarnated goddess Etherea, and her friends
travel to Japan to retrieve a stolen Mithrian artifact. Rachel faces
dangerous foes, critical trench coats, and a budding attraction for her best
friend’s boyfriend. Spradlin
began this series several years ago with two novels that mention Japan as
one of the locations of a Mithrian temple, thus allowing him to play on manga
readers’ love
for all things Japanese. Teens are able to travel vicariously to Japan, enjoying
a traditional bathhouse, shopping for souvenirs, and visiting Akihabara...
Overall, the story and characters lend themselves well to the visual format
with its nicely Americanized manga style. The novels
were fun, and this volume follows suit."
Rating: 8.3 out of 10
"A little Dawson's
Creek mixed with some James Bond, with just a splash or two of mysticism thrown
in for good measure, and you have a pretty engaging series for any manga or spy
fan."
·· Read
the full review
"...does a nice job of turning an American
novel into an American manga, complete with spunky heroines,
cute boys, and cool grown-ups."
"...if you have a younger sister who's
into the social scene, she'll love it."
"..a snazzy, breezy read, deftly
juggling introducing the Spy Goddess characters and concepts with building
the danger and intrigue. Rainbow Buddy’s art looks as if it could have
been taken directly from cel art produced for anime. This manga looks like
it was produced for young readers. With its clear, clean, and soft visual presentation,
it won’t intimidate readers new to comics. In fact, it might capture
their interest."
The switch of Spy Goddess from regular novels to manga for the series was really just a case of being in the right place at the right time. HarperCollins, the publisher of the first two Spy Goddess novels, entered into a co-publication arrangement with TokyoPop, the premier Manga publisher in the United States. They were looking at HarperCollins titles that they thought might make the transition to this new format and Spy Goddess was deemed to be a perfect fit.
They approached me and it took me about three seconds to say yes. Manga is a Japanese word for ‘comics’ and this style of publishing is the comic book of the new millennium. Growing up I loved comic books and used to read them for hours and hours. Knowing how popular manga is with readers, especially girls, I realized this was a great way for me to reach a lot more readers.
But I also want my loyal fans of the novels to understand that everything you
loved about the books is in the manga. It has all the same characters. The story
picks up right where book two left off. It has all the action, excitement and
humor of the novels only in a visual format.
Let’s think of the manga as a step between Spy Goddess the book and what
Spy Goddess might look like on the movie screen. And if it becomes as successful
as we all hope, all of the Hollywood producers that have been calling me lately
might jump in and we’ll all get to see Rachel Buchanan at the Cineplex
some day!
It’s up to you! Embrace the new vision!