Pop Manga Coloring Book: Made of Manga & WIN

Holy crapsicles, Batman! Another coloring book!

You guys, I'm so excited! My copy of Pop Manga Coloring Book arrived and I'm thrilled beyond belief! At first I wanted it because it was another coloring book, but now that I've had a chance to experience the artwork— I'm in love. Not bad for having picked this up for free from Blogging For Books (in exchange for an honest and fair review, of course). This is officially my new favorite coloring book! Camilla d'Errico perfectly summarizes the book in her title caption: "A surreal journey through a cute, curious, bizarre, and beautiful world."

So half of this review is done for you!
Not necessarily— I do have other things to say about it! Pop Manga Coloring Book includes a mix of clean-line, inked images and other sketchier, "fancy pencil drawings" images. d'Errico also supplies a little color buddy/blob throughout the book named Ayako to provide commentary and moral support. Mostly it says fun, silly reminders about how you're allowed to color outside of the lines if you want, and that you can use any coloring implement you'd like to color in this book. I think Camilla d'Errico understands that sometimes, when an image is beautiful, people might get anxious about coloring it in and "messing it up." She even goes so far as to say that you're allowed to photocopy the pages and practice beforehand if that's you're kind of thing. I know people who do that, but this is the first time I've seen an artist actually suggest it. All the pages are double-sided, and thick enough that markers might not bleed through to the other side; I haven't been able to test that out yet, though.

The surrealism also varies widely, ranging from an image that looks like a melting blob of would-be colors with a face to illustrations from potential comics, stories, or fairy tales. I say "potential stories" because I don't think they are pulled from any coherent manga, but my imagination certainly supplied a few story ideas for the illustrations. Speaking of "manga," it should be fairly obvious that if you're not into the Japanese comic book illustration style, this book is probably not for you. With a name like "Pop Manga," I hope that didn't come as a surprise.

Overall, this is a beautiful book. If you're into the manga style of art and you like coloring, I highly recommend it! I love it so much, I would happily pay money for it!