Sheena McNeil reviews ‘The Clarence Principle’ at SequentialTart and gives it a Grade 9 out of 10. She says:

Each new twist and turn had me fully captivated – I literally could not put it down till I’d read every last page! The art is vibrant and energetic [...] Every detail adds realism to this spectacular world, and each character stands out as important and unique – each with a story to tell. [...] The story is compelling and entertaining with an excellent flow that makes it fun and easy for such heavy topics of death and sadness.
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Thanks Sheena!

Steven Mortiboy from MangaLife.Com reviewed Clarence a little while back, but I was too lazy to post anything up on here. Warning: The full review technically, kinda, possibly, contains spoilers.

Because of the look of “The Clarence Principle” and the trends of this publisher this book is going to be pigeonholed as gothic fairytale. I can see a lot of people describing it as a dark twisted Alice in Wonderland. I don’t see this as an insult or a disservice however I see this book as having many influences ranging from gothic books and films to Jeff Smith’s “Bone”.

I would say that if you like the idea of Donnie Darko meeting Alice in Wonderland and they go for a drink in a Tim Burton Film then give this book the attention that it deserves – you won’t regret it.
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I love that bit in bold text right there. what a great visual.

Thanks Steven!

Clarence got an amazing review by Gemma Cox in the latest issue of NEO Magazine with a 5 Star rating. But that’s not all. She saw fit to award the book with the prestigeous Editors Choice award, that’s only ever given out to one item within the magazine in each issue. You can view the scanned review page from the magazine here. For convinience though, I’ve transcribed the whole thing and pasted it below. Read on!

Clarence wakes up in a bloody bathtub, victim of his own depression. On the mirror is a cryptic message: “Find me”. Discovering himself to be in the strange and twisted world of the afterlife, he must search for meaning in his death. Along the way, he encounters a host of bizarre and compelling characters, all of whom seem to be struggling in a similar way.

Of all the western manga tales we’ve read, this one stands head and shoulders above the rest as an offering which is not only visually outstanding, but is also thematically complex and altogether fascinating.

Reading The Clarence Principle is very much like watching a Tim Burton movie – it’s grotesque, it’s gothic, it’s morbid, and yet it’s gloriously inventive; a window to a peculiar new world which feels worth exploring. That’s not to say that The Clarence Principle feels particularly derivative – in many ways the world created by Said and Chankhamma is deeper and more thought provoking than those presented in, say, The Nightmare Before Christmas or The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The world of The Clarence Principle is as much a part of the plot as the leading characters – a place which is somewhere between hell and purgatory. It is this world that Clarence must explore in order to unlock the secrets behind the mysterious note left for him on his bathroom mirror; and the events surrounding his suicide.

After wandering from his bathroom, Clarence happens upon a multitude of characters who are making what they can of their strange existence in the afterlife. The man in the moon is one of the first characters he happens upon, and it’s here that he finds a sense of purpose – to discover how the dead can die in order to relieve the moon man from his 236 years of suffering. Many of the characters Clarence meets have a sense of dark humour about them, from the argumentative judge in the lift to the tailor who seems to be much friendlier than he turns out to be. The juxtapositioning of this humour and joviality with the gloomy surroundings tinges everything with a disturbing edge and drags you that much deeper into Clarence’s world.

Visually, the story is a breath of fresh air – borrowing much from the world of manga without feeling plagiaristic. The cute round eyed character designs are very Japanese, but Chankhamma has imbibed them with a new lease of life thanks to some stylistic touches around the eyes and ears. The supporting cast are as interesting in design as they are in character; particularly the man in the moon (who brings us right back to Burton’s Jack Skellington) and the macabre tribe of clock worshippers who provide a grisly diversion early on in the story. It’s this originality and detail in the character designs that makes Clarence such a fantastic read, and means that you’ll want to dip back into it time and time again.

With elements of myth, fairy stories, dark humour and age old themes, this compelling and beautiful story is a must for fans of gothic fiction and western manga alike. Like all the best manga and anime, it tackles philosophical, moral and emotional themes, but ultimately leaves the final conclusion down to the individual reader. Deep, dark and striking, this standalone novel deserves huge success – and Said and Chankhamma are a duo to look out for in the future. More of their work can be found in the upcoming Best New Manga anthology from Mammoth.

We thank you NEO for this amazing review. It’s great to read feedback like this, it makes all that hardwork worthwhile.

I’ll be uploading a preview of our short story ‘The Forgotten Incident of San Sabian’ later today. We’ve been told that the new Best New Manga anthology will be out in October. Well worth your time picking that up, it’s even better than the first book!

In other news, we’d like to give a shout out to a fan we’ve stumbled upon while browsing YouTube. She’s made an AMV for our book XD how cool is that? You can watch it below:

The extra books I’d ordered arrived last night. These are for selling at cons here in the UK. First one being JapanEX which is in about 2 weeks time now. I won’t be there, as I’ll be flying out to the US a few days before, but the books will be on sale at the Sweatdrop stand.

Now the question is, how the hell do I get these to Cambridge O_o they’re heavy!!

From the SLG Livejournal:

Michael May (whom I owe a column! eep!) reviews The Clarence Principle by Fehed Said and Shari Chankhamma at the Blog@Newsarama. He has praise for both the story and art:

Chankhamma’s art is as poetic as the story it tells. Her depiction of the afterworld is affecting: dark at times; hauntingly lovely at others. And the people who inhabit it are sometimes funny, sometimes spooky, sometimes beautiful, but always expressive and real. All of which makes visiting The Clarence Principle an engrossing event.
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