Goofyfoot Gurl Highly recommended

Publisher
Realbuzz
Writer
Realbuzz Studios
Artist
Allison Barrows, Drigz Abrot
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2007

Goofyfoot Gurl Volume 1

By David Rasmussen
7th Oct 07

After a few months of waiting and speculating it has finally come to pass.
Realbuzz Studios has finally launched with it’s new publisher, Thomas Nelson.

Now that we’re heading into the 2007 first gen launch titles of this faith based company let’s see how it’s first launch came up (as of September 2007, the premiere month of second first gen title Goofyfoot Gurl).
Speaking of which that is what we’re reviewing, Goofyfoot Gurl.

Rule #1 - Yes, I still still still still believe the title should have been spaced out
No, not that way (again).
There is just something so… soulless about throwing all your volumes out at once at the same time onto the marketplace. Sure, it might have worked maybe with Serenity (because it’s a 2nd print relaunch of a title that first saw print with Barbour Publishing sometime back) but it just didn’t seem to work well in my opinion when it came to this month’s release of Goofyfoot Gurl. Keep reading, I’ll go into it in abit.

Also the way Thomas Nelson releases the books I don’t expect to see any heartwarming surprises (Christmas specials, anthology magazine, whatever) out anytime soon. For a company seemingly trying to get people to give a damn and become hooked on their new AmeriManga slash OEL Manga line? Well, maybe before you expect other people to give a damn about Realbuzz maybe you should act like you yourselves give a damn about Realbuzz before expecting others to do likewise about said line.
Anyway what’s the hurry? The printers going to turn into pumpkins if you don’t publish quickly?

Rule #2 - Homophobia? Not on their watch.
I guess I have nothing to worry about. If these reviews (in the upper range of scoring) are any indication there is nothing to worry about in this regard.

Rule #3 - Refer to the scores this first gen of reviews got and stick with that.

Rule #4 - Shelf thy preconceptions before judging Realbuzz
Yes, it is a Christian Faith Manga, but if you are willing to shelf your preconceptions about that sort of thing you may find that this isn’t another disappointing disaster like King of Kings. Far from it.
In fact check out Goofyfoot Gurl’s review and get a truly surprising shock… in that the title has zero point zero content in that venue (unlike Serenity) and that makes it perfect (and capable of having far reaching possibility in terms of readership).

Goofyfoot Gurl Volume 1
So what does the ills of parents remarrying young, Home Alone-ism, unemployment and a Bollywood Musical moment have to do with this volume? Nothing except that’s basically the content of the volume and then some. Really.

Set amongst the Orange County surf crowd, Goofyfoot Gurl Volume 1 takes the concept of a down to Earth solid slice of life drama and makes it perfectly readable. Filled with solid lovable characters, fine writing, and nice artwork, the start of Goofyfoot Gurl catches the perfect wave of creation and nails a score befitting said perfect wave. Really.

Volume One’s story is, if you may, something most of us have lots of experience with… the story of two families. One family being the family we are born into. Family we are stuck with for better or worst, by blood and DNA and genetics… sometimes court orders, that family. Then there’s the second family, the one that is the “family” of our best and closest friends, which helps us stay sane in a sometimes insane world.

This is a story about family, and without a single Christian context moment either. Wow.
In Volume 1, “Let There Be Lighten Up!“, the concept of lighten up isn’t about surfers hanging out and zoning while surfing, it’s the thing you have to do with your friends when confronted with impossible family and personal ills that is a requirement to keep your own sanity.

And as the story open we catch star of the book Suki Leiber experiencing a little mis-adventure in yiddish translation over at the local 7-11 clone store. This, by the way, probably makes Suki’s life the most problem free life of the volume as it seems the rest of her posse’ have far worst problems (which is gone over in flashbacks throughout the volume).

The lesser of problematic evils seems to be held by the two male cast. One, Joplin, has two famous parents (father being a basketball player and mom a major talent in the modeling industry) and suffers a lot of Home Alone-ism as his folks are never home (and he ends up eating alone a lot in the giant mansion that is his home). The other, Scott, is the only non-rich person of this gang of surfers and he constantly struggles to make a living working low class jobs… which he is presently not doing now as he is suffering from temporary unemployment.

As for the two female cast who is not Suki? They have their own ill problems which may be worst than the guys problems. One, Chardonnay (Char), has divorced parent problems that just amped up for the worst. Her mom struggles to make a living while her dad (who she stays with during the summer so she can hang out with Suki and the rest of her pals to surf) is getting remarried to a young lady about 20ish named Randi who she is not entirely happy about (very unhappy).

As for the other girl? Her name is Pooja (Pooch) and her problem seems to all stem from her Indian heritage (as in the country India and not Native American Indian)… which all mostly spills forth from her disturbing brother Vikram who is trying to get Pooja married off to an engineer from New Delhi (which brings forth a Bollywood musical moment when Pooja meets him for the first time). If nothing else this is a perfect reason for Goofyfoot Gurl to become an Anime OAV or a Movie if only to bring this Bollywood musical moment to life and musical scoring. Really. That’d be fun.

Throw in an impromptu party for Joplin, a possible line of work for Scott, and introduction of Suki’s dolphin pal Delphine and that wraps up the first volume.

Good news. This is the best I’ve seen out of Realbuzz as of it’s 2007 release.
Everything is perfectly solid here from writing to artwork, with a slice of life story that just rolls perfectly with it’s solid cast and solid writing. Oh, and also the fact that it’s not kinda dipped in the chocolate of religious context (like Serenity) also makes it solid, because it widens it’s appeal and should be picked up by more than the young female audience that Realbuzz is targeting alone in this marketing pitch.

If the title holds up as well as this one did with subsequent Volumes 2 to 4 then we’re looking at the first perfect title run from Realbuzz, which can only help Realbuzz when they launch their 2008 2nd gen of titles (with it’s second original non Serenity title launched then entitled Hits & Misses).

Now the bad news.
This is a wee bit worst than Serenity in the fact they’re charging… what?!? $11 per volume?? Really?!? Damn! Sure, if you buy from places like Barnes & Noble online you should be able to shave a $1 off the top ($10 instead of $11) but still… why wasn’t this $10 like Serenity? Are you trying to trick me to paying more than I should on this? Are you? Sure, most likely this is probably as unchangeable as Serenity’s $10 a volume price… but still, $11... Sigh.

Overall Goofyfoot Gurl is a step above Serenity in all venues, and that step above gives it it’s solidly perfect score that I hope will extend to the whole of the four volume run. But until those reviews come forth let’s give this one it’s well earned solid score. Goofyfoot Gurl Volume 1 is Realbuzz’ first perfect title with a well earned 5 out of 5.

Now for the next time.
Once we’re through this batch we’re going to slowly pick up Serenity and Goofyfoot Gurl volumes for review (with hopes that Goofyfoot Gurl holds onto it‘s solidly perfect score throughout the rest of the volume reviews). This shouldn’t be overtly hard for Serenity (at least) since you can pick up first gen Barbour era volumes of the series for between $2 to $4 a pop from used book sellers on Barnes & Noble (which means even with shipping and handling you’re shaving x amount of dollars off the cover price of each $10 cover for the series).

The next time we gather for a new launch, however, it’ll be 2008 and we’ll be talking Hits & Misses along with the second wave of Serenity volumes (7 to 10). I wrote a separate article previewing Serenity Volume 7 to 10 if you’re wondering, so check that out.
Of course if Realbuzz schedules a second batch of Goofyfoot Gurl volumes (and it maintains it’s solidly perfect score) then you know I’ll be there to review it. Yes I will. See you then.

-- David Rasmussen 7th Oct 07