Off Beat (comics)

Off*Beat is a manga drawn by Jennifer Lee Quick. Although it is published by Tokyopop and the style is recognizeably influenced by Japanese Manga, Off*Beat is American-published and not translated; accordingly, it reads left-to-right, like usual Western material. One volume is currently available, published September 2005. The second volume is expected in fall, 2006.

The story of Off*Beat centers around Christopher "Tory" Blake, a bright and disenfranchised 15-year-old who amuses himself by taking endless notes in a notebook about what he sees and hears each day. Usually a loner, Tory becomes infatuated with the boy who moves in next door in the middle of the night, and even switches schools so that he can follow the new boy, Colin Stephens, and learn what he's hiding.

While Tory generally has an over-active imagination, in this case Colin really does have secrets. He's withdrawn, doing poorly in school, sleeping through classes in the library, and has episodes of sickness characterized by shaking and coughing. There also seems to be some connection between Colin and cats, given the art involved, but it hasn't been directly addressed by any of the characters as of yet.

After bribing the college student who lives upstairs, Paul, into tracking down a license plate number for him, Tory finds out that Colin and his guardian are somehow connected to something called The Gaia Project, but finds little else out about it.

While in its obviously nascent stages, the story is already showing signs of leaning towards BL or shounen ai tendancies, since Tory is hard-pressed to explain the lengths he is going to follow Colin around even to himself, and often blushes furiously when questioned about it by others.

Other characters include Tory's mom, his school friend Mandy, Colin's guardian Dr. Garret, and their Physics teacher Mrs. Keplar.