Off Beat Kickstarter

[oyceter]

Chromatic Press is running a Kickstarter to republish and finish Off Beat, as the third and final volume never got published. I actually saw this before and ignored it, I think because I had vague memories of checking out Off Beat and not being interested.

I am pretty sure I got it mixed up with another one of TokyoPop's OEL series though, because I got around to checking out a review, and it actually sounds pretty interesting. Gay teens in a story that doesn't sound like BL! (I like BL! I just also like LGBTQ representation outside of BL as well.) Apparently very rooted in Queens! Quirky sense of humor!

Anyone here read it? Impressions?

Comments

[kalloway]

I remember having the first volume and thinking it was okay, but that was about it. I do, however, wish the kickstarter luck. There were so many series that got lost in the mess of TP and they all deserved better.

[oyceter]

Thanks for the info! Also, ugh, yes to the mess of TP. (STILL want my Saiyuki!)

[kalloway]

(I'm still angry they dropped two series I was reading with one volume left each. ONE VOLUME. AUGH.)

[(Anonymous)]

I own the first volume, and possibly the second one as well. I don't remember finding it terribly interesting at the time, but my tastes have changed, so I may have to give it another go.

-LG

[oyceter]

Got it, thanks!

[rachelmanija]

I don't remember it very well, other than that I liked it but didn't fall in love with it. It had much more of a quirky American indie vibe than a BL one. I think I only ever read the first volume.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, it bears a lot more resemblance to a comics-format YA psychological novel (with a protagonist who's apparently so detached from his own non-intellectual feelings that he doesn't even realize his fascination with the mysterious new boy across the street could be construed as a crush until most of the way through the first volume) than it does to the average BL manga. This may well have hurt its reception at the time, since TokyoPop was really pushing it as BL. The editor even made some rather misleading pre-publication comparisons between "Off*Beat" and TokyoPop's then-recent BL release "FAKE," when the two series really had little in common besides a relatively unexplicit m/m element (the characters in "Off*Beat" never even got to the kissing stage by the end of volume two) and being set in New York City. The closest specific comparison I can come up with is that "Off*Beat" is somewhat analogous to a more polished-looking but less humorous (and more mystery/science fiction-oriented) equivalent of the one-high-school-boy-obsesses-about-another webcomic "Always Raining Here" (http://alwaysraininghere.com/). I'd definitely like to read the final volume, but I wouldn't say it's the greatest high school m/m story ever.

Marfisa from Livejournal

[oyceter]

Yeah, I was thinking the description sounded very YA coming of age! Which I've probably seen in comics format before, but they are always nice to read.

[oyceter]

Yeah, the American indie vibe was what I was getting from the description...

[lnhammer]

The similarly named Tpop OEL series, which also cut off after volume 2 of 3, was Steady Beat.

---L.

[oyceter]

Ahhhh okay! That is definitely the one I had confused with this series!

[(Anonymous)]

"Steady Beat" (which was also pretty good) also had LGBTQ elements--although in "Steady Beat" the heroine and the boy who was apparently being set up to be her love interest were straight, but there were major supporting characters who turned out to be gay.

Marfisa from Livejournal

[lnhammer]

Yup -- main character's sister had a girlfriend and the love interest had a gay father with a boyfriend. I liked it, and was disappointed to see the third volume vanish in the Tpop crash. Don't have the volumes any more, though.

---L.

[coffeeandink]

I liked this a lot and have been following the different plans to publish Book 3 for a few years. Jen Lee Quick has a clean, precise art style. The story mixes genres in what feels like a manga-like way (coming-of-age story turned mystery with possible sf elements), but the treatment of sexuality is more contemporary YA than BL.

[oyceter]

The Kickstarter looks like it's going well, so yay for that.