Introduction

Issue 1

Life's not like the story books, you never know where the inspiration comes from... so it says at the back of the zine. Although this story is set in the present day UK, from the moment you first open this chapter of once upon a time you are thrust striate into a fantasy world, in which an Elfin princess is dying in the arms of her protector Sir Thorvalyn.

This is in fact a book, which the main character Briony Rose Johnson is reading during her break time. This will have greater significance later on in this chapter, but for now lets concentrate on this story and its influences.

Throughout the zine, experienced manga readers will notice many things that are similar to certain Clamp stories they've read, most notably CCS. You can see familiar scenes, and one or two of the characters seem to resemble them either in physical looks, or just by their interests and behavior. Take the second character we are introduced to: Mercedes Whiting, she reminds me of Tomoyo from CCS not least because of her physical resemblance, but also because she is an ace student just the same. This girl only plays a minor role here but she becomes more significant in the next chapter.

Through this first chapter we see how the girl, Briony deals with her feelings for Lucien, another character introduced to us here, and how she gains her inspiration and courage to finally talk to him. Indeed I think the whole idea of this story is to inspire the reader to achieve their goals in life, whether it be love, academic success or anything; even I think the act of comic creation itself. Take this quote for instance, "If you do not dare to start... how can you ever expect to finish?" Nothing could be truer than that - whoever you are or whatever you want, if you don't go for it you won't ever get it unless you start - and that has to be the most potent message the creator wants to get across.

Issue 2

Unfortunately young Mercedes has other ideas; she wants to be an artist instead and rather than disappoint everyone she just keeps it to herself. However an events force her to express her feelings and she cannot predict how those around her will react!

Art wise this chapter is just as good, if not better than the last one, and the layouts just as good. You can see that Sonia Leong is an accomplished artist taking great pride and putting thought in her work - as with the first chapter the shoujo style artwork is spot on. This helps greatly with the portrayal of emotions, and makes areas of this story quite moving.

As stated earlier there are plenty of morals and messages in these chapters, which are meant to inspire those who read them. All of them are quite true and I think they apply to most people, including myself. Indeed it would seem the experiences of the creator herself are portrayed in some form in the story.

Overall I enjoyed this story greatly, if I were to chose a category for it then I would choose 'shoujo' to describe it as there are plenty of life issues and emotion in there. There are even scenes which readers of Card Captor Sakura would instantly be familiar with, although these references are quite subtle, most familiar readers would recognise them. So to sum up; great art, good story, references to Japanese culture, inspiring messages, and lots of feeling are all to be found in Once up on a time, and although life is not like a storybook, they can serve to inspire us all!

Issue 3

This issue is all about the tough streetwise lass known as Teesh. She is quite sporty unlike the more academic girls from the other issues; she hangs with yobs, goes to raves, and is generally irresponsible.

Teesh decides to take her more conservative cousin Alice to one of those raves, and Alice's inexperience gets her into a few compromising situations. Teesh however is fairly quick to react and cracks a few heads before things get too out of hand.

Some might argue that despite Teesh's ability to get herself and her cousin out of danger is admirable but not so much so as not being fool enough to put her there to begin with. Is a bad girl reputation worth putting those you love in a bad fix?

This issue covers many of those themes such as keeping up reputations, and responsibility. Things however turn out for the best in the end, and Teesh learns her lesson well.

Art and Design

Line art is dynamic and varied, backgrounds and characters alike are drawn to a very good standard, the style itself is very interesting, as it changes depending on the character. Teesh looks very bold, with strong sometimes angular lines, where as Alice her cousin is much softer and rounder overall.

The backgrounds themselves are very detailed, whether portraying a particular setting or an emotion and a wide variety of screentones have been used to create these effects. As you would expect the frame layouts are very well put together and the story just flows along. To help this there are a great many angles from which the action happens, even with everyday living scenes like school or home, there are still many viewpoints to keep a reader interested in what's happening.

The rave scenes have the most action, and are quite exiting to look at. You never know what is going to happen next. Until a full page spread hits you in the face.

The whole thing has been executed to great effect, well worthy of your money!