Fence

This is my first sports themed comic (which seems to be heavily influenced by sports manga) and although watching the matches can be exciting, I can't say I'm terribly impressed with this comic.

I liked the drama and the tension, and I did learn a lot about fencing. I also liked the art style. However, some characters are a bit trope-y (high school manga archetypes), and some (Aiden) are insanely annoying.

The protagonist has some nice qualities to him, but my friends pointed out one thing that doesn't make much sense - why did a kid so poor he has to help his mom pay the bills get into a sport meant for rich people? Okay, they explain how he got his lessons, but how on earth did he afford to get the equipment? It's like the creators wanted him to be ultra-underdog for this one...

On the other hand, I did enjoy reading the first volume (compared to the later ones, which will be reviewed separately), so I can't say it was all that bad. I cared about Nicholas's success, I started liking some of the characters and (before reading volumes 2 and 3) it looked like this story has potential. I mean, it still does. It's just the later issues fell victim to an obvious lack of time on the part of both the writer and the artists, which is most likely not their fault, so I don't want to criticize them too much.