| Next Exit --> | |
| Multigenre: | y |
| Adventure: | y |
| Fantasy: | y |
| Scifi: | y |
| Author: | Christy Lijewski |
| Publisher: |  Slave Labor Graphics |
| First: | 2004 |
| Last: | 2006 |
| Volumes: | 10 |
| Related: | Rising Stars of Manga 3 |
| Subcat: | Slave Labor Graphics |
| Oel: | Y |
Next Exit is an American manga-influenced comic series created by the comic artist Christy Lijewski. It is her first running series starring the two characters Millicent Retrab (the girl with the map) and Markesh (travelling companion and muito-mysteriouso Alchemist) in their quest to try to escape from the world of Akaline, a plane inhabited by people, figments, shadows, demons, and dolls (all in the most literal sense of the words).
The world involves many SciFi aspects, such as alchemy and organic cyber-kinetic dolls, as well as fantasy, such as dragons, talking animals, and magical apparitions. The world also seems to be multilingual (languages resembling if not being Japanese and Korean appear in art throughout the series).
The series is currently up to issue 10, and volume 1 (a collection of six periodicals) hit bookshelves June 2006.
Retrab lead an abusive childhood in the real world, where she was often the victim of her mother's carelessness and anger. She was very close to her little brother Tony, who she was often left alone to take care of. He died when he fell from the balcony of their apartment while Retrab's mother was out. She blames herself for this, a feeling which was doubled by the blame and punishment of her mother. She became increasingly unstable mentally and was place on an unknown but probably fictional medication for her instability, and eventually attempted suicide by overdosing on them, and it is unknown whether or not this killed her, although it is almost definitely the event that took her to Akaline. Some amount of time after this she met Markesh, and spent most of the past few years with him in Alkaline, although she knows virtually nothing about his past.
Markesh is serious, dignified, and very protective. He has a strong sense of duty, and is perhaps more than anything else, secretive. He is so much more careful and serious than Retrab that it seems nearly impossible that she is 5 years older than he is. He is an excellent fighter and alchemist. He likes spicy food, nature, and sleep, hates sweets, crowds, and bright lights. It is revealed in issue six of the manga that Markesh's face looks almost exactly like his father's, except for two distinguishing scars above and below his left eye.
Race is looking for an exit map himself, which is the whole reason he started exploring the academy ruins in the first place. His reason is that because he has one eye, humans hate him because they think he is a figment; and figments hate him because they know he is not. He wishes to get back home because people didn’t judge him on his appearance.
Race also is wanted by the group Logos for possession of his alchemic weapon. His weapon was created by the academy out of mutated mass so that even people with no innate “alchemic pharmakeia” could transmute them. This ability however comes with a price, and the user must make a bond with and become one with it. Once it stabilizes itself into a solid mass, it apparently lives off the user like a parasite.
Alchemists in Alkaline seem able to transmute out of instinct alone. Also, in Alkaline, matter may only be transmuted once, after that nothing can be done to change the object again. Organic material can be altered with alchemy, including humans, although it does seem to cause some kind of corruption. This corruption is described as "poisoning."
Only certain people can do alchemy, and it is implied that simply having the talent is not enough to do advanced work. That apparently requires study and research. It is sometimes feared by the ignorant as a form of witchcraft.
Doors, although being the basis for the series and having Markesh and Retrab as leads, is not a prequel. It can best be described as an alternate or simpler version of the same story, or a very similar story with the same characters.
Doors is the short one-shot comic story on which the comic Next Exit is based, having been written a few years earlier by Lijewski for the TokyoPop Rising Star of Manga Contest, where it was a runner-up. The basic premise, as well as the two protagonists, are the same. Retrab and Markesh are seeking a "Door" (a term which in the series is replaced by exit) out of the world of Alkaline, a fantastic dreamscape where thoughts mould and change as rapidly as they can while abiding the rules of this reality. They journey through various traps and monsters (called shadows) to try to reach a door. And eventually they do, but it's not exactly what they expected...
Differences include that Markesh's alchemy is less developed (not in terms of his ability but in explanation), motorized vehicles seem more common place, and Retrab is more useful in a fight, though still careless. Also, Exits are called Doors and neither Maps nor the Academy are mentioned. Doors also are apparently easier to find than exits, but they are individualized, only working for certain people, or even, only a certain person.
It ends up that upon reaching the door, the duo cannot reach it as the door is on the other side of a very deep and wide cliff. Retrab, However, notices a pair of foot prints in the ground facing the door, and encourages Markesh to stand on them. He does and nothing happens, although he does remark that it makes him feel "like an idiot". Retrab shrugs and begins to walk away saying that it must not be their door, but Markesh stops, saying that it might be hers.
Convinced that it won't be, Retrab stands nonchalantly on the foot prints and begins to say how nothing is happening just in time for a bridge of blocks to rise out of the gap and fill the space to the door. She looks on in denial as she realizes that this is her door, but not Markesh's. After some cajoling, Markesh is able to convince her to fearfully leave him behind, promising that he will follow her soon. The comic ends by revealing Retrab, waking in a hospital bed next to several others, the nearest being an unconscious Markesh, and a pull out through another door, revealing the area to be the coma center. Alkaline in this early version of the story is the land where all those forced out of the conscious plane must live. It is yet to be seen if this reality is also true in the series.
Although very similar, the differences between the two stories are noticeable. The art differs the least, the only change being slight alterations to Retrab's visor. The characters are less well-developed in Doors. Retrab seems a bit more useful in a fight in Doors. The alchemy is present in Doors, but lacks any major development.
Doors, being a short story, has an ending. The change from doors to exits could mean that the ways out are more abstract in Next Exit (in Doors, it is implied that every door is in fact a household door.) The term "exit" has not been defined; exits are simply ways of leaving Alkaline.
Lijewski is a big fan of Japanese Manga and American Cartoons, and this is shown in the art, story, and dialogue of her comic. Here are some of them: