Category: Manga

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My Little Monster volume 1


By Robico, translated by Joshua Weeks (Kodansha Comics USA)
ISBN: 978-1-61262-597-3 (Tank?bon PB/Digital edition)

Solidly appealing to lovers of traditional Shoujo (“girls’ comics”) comes a grand and sassy tale of Right Girl, Right Time, Wrong Boy from enigmatic mangaka Robico, dealing with the thorny topic of wasteful distractions at school…

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun or ‘The Monster Sitting Beside Me’ debuted in Dessert Magazine in 2008 with the first of a dozen volumes released a year later. The serial ran until June 2013 and spawned a highly successful anime adaptation.

Shizuku Mizutani is a schoolgirl determined to succeed. Throughout her entire scholastic career only one person has ever gotten higher grades than her – and she’s still obsessively burned up about it – but otherwise she’s solidly, comfortably set her sights on exceptional achievement and a great job. Absolutely nothing’s going to force her off her well-planned, carefully projected course. Her teen travails begin in ‘My Classmate Yoshida-kun’ where she explains how she’s never seen the boy who sits next to her. He got into a fight on his first day and hasn’t come to school since. That was three years ago…

Now, for some incomprehensible reason, the ideal student is stuck delivering printouts to the epic absconder as a “favour” (you can say “bribe”) to teacher Saeko-Sensei. Shizuku finds him in a sleazy games arcade where he regularly hangs out. She wasn’t expecting much, but Haru Yoshida fails to live up to even her lowest expectations.

He’s a veritable wild boy: manic, ill-mannered, actively extremely rude and his associates are little better than thugs and gangsters. He even attacks her, accusing her of spying on him. All those school rumours must be true: how he hospitalised three upperclassmen and was suspended…

Ice satisfactorily broken, Saeko-sensei pushes her star pupil to lure the wayward boy back to school (the suspension being long-expired) but when the rebel starts regularly attending, tongues begin to wag. Haru then arbitrarily decides they’re friends and follows Shizuku everywhere…

She’s never been more angry or frustrated. He’s always there, distracting her, getting in the way of her ideal future. She can’t stop thinking about him…

Following a brace of humorous of mini-strips – ‘I was Running as Fast as I Could!’ and ‘Spot-Billed Duck’ – the School Daze resume with ‘I Don’t Hate You’ as the apparently imprinted malcontent continues appearing everywhere she goes and captivatingly showing his softer, fragile side. Sadly, he’s painfully gullible and falls for many embarrassing pranks from his classmates …which he responds to with devastating violence. Soon Haru has gained an enticing, irresistibly dangerous bad boy reputation…

He also starts noticing other girls, but why should Shizuku care about that? She’s far more upset to learn that he was the mystery student who beat her test scores and that even after three years of lapsed education, he’s (probably!) still smarter than her!! Now for some reason, she’s finding it impossible to bear down and study, the only thing she used to be good at… And then Haru kisses her… but decides they can still be friends anyway…

Micro strips ‘Because She’s a Lady’ and ‘It’s Hard Not to Say It’, precedes the main event which resumes with ‘Weird’, wherein the wild boy displays the attention span of a mayfly. Adopting and then palming off a chicken on his newfound friends or tutoring vacuous Asako Natsune so she can avoid going to Afterschool Classes instead of partying are bad enough, but most significantly Haru utterly ignores this major change in their own relationship, and even that they have one at all…

Two small interludes with ‘Natsume and Haru’ lead into the final chapter as Shizuku is forced to admit to herself how much Haru has changed her life. However, when she finally confesses just how much she likes the annoying, confusing oaf, all he can say in response is that she’s not a ‘Nuisance’…

To Be Continued…

Wrapping things up are two final cartoon vignettes ‘Just as Short’ and ‘That Guy’, plus a Comment from the author and a section of handy Translation notes.

Sweet, cruel and silly by turns, this delightful coming of age comedy brims with those crucial, critical moments that stay with you for decades after high school ends, smartly leavened with charming characters and situations superbly illustrated by a master of her genre. Not everyone’s cup of tea but sheer poetry for we who remember love can – and should – be fun.
© 2009 Robico. English translation © 2014 Robico. All rights reserved.

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The Usagi Yojimbo Saga Book 1


By Stan Sakai (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-671-6(HB) 978-1-61655-609-9(TPB) eISBN: 978-1-63008-081-5

Back in 1955, when Stan Sakai was two years old, the family moved from Kyoto, Japan to Hawaii. Growing up in a cross-cultural paradise, he graduated from the University of Hawaii with a BA in Fine Arts, before leaving to pursue further studies at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design in California. His early forays into comics were as a letterer – most famously for Groo the Wanderer and the Spider-Man newspaper strip – before his nimble pens and brushes found a way to express his passion for Japanese history, legend and Akira Kurosawa films, inspirationally transforming a proposed story about a human historical hero into one of the most enticing and impressive fantasy sagas of all time.

Usagi Yojimbo (“rabbit bodyguard”) first appeared in 1984’s Albedo Anthropomorphics #1: a background character in Stan Sakai’s The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy, and premiering amongst assorted furry ‘n’ fuzzy folk. He soon graduated to a nomadic solo act in Critters, Amazing Heroes, Furrlough and the Munden’s Bar back-up series in Grimjack. Although the expansive period epic stars sentient animals and details the life of a peripatetic Lord-less Samurai eking out as honourable a living as possible as a Yojimbo (bodyguard-for-hire), the milieu and scenarios scrupulously mirror Japan’s Feudal Edo Period (roughly 16th-17th century AD by Western reckoning) whilst simultaneously referencing other cultural icons from sources as varied as Zatoichi to Godzilla.

Miyamoto Usagi is brave, noble, industrious, honest, sentimental, gentle, artistic, empathetic, long-suffering and conscientious: a rabbit devoted to the tenets of Bushido and utterly unable to turn down any request for help or ignore the slightest evidence of injustice. As such, his destiny is to be perpetually drawn into an unending panorama of incredible situations.

Despite changing publishers a few times, the Roaming Rabbit has been in publication since 1987, with nearly 60 assorted collections of comics and at least 5 art books to date. He’s guest-starred in many other series (most notably Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its TV incarnation) and even made it into his own small-screen Netflix show – albeit in a futuristic setting. There are high-end collectibles, art prints, computer games and RPGs, spin-off comics serials and lots of toys. Author Sakai and his creation have won numerous awards both within the Comics community and amongst the greater reading public… And it’s still more educational, informative and authentic than any dozen Samurai sagas you can name…

The title is as much a wanderer as its star, migrating from Fantagraphics to Mirage, Dark Horse, Radio Comix, IDW and Dark Horse again under Sakai’s own Dogu Publishing imprint. None of that matters: what you need to know is that this stuff is superb and no matter which version you see, you will be a better being for reading it…

This guest-star stuffed premiere monochrome masterpiece draws together yarns released by Mirage Publishing as Usagi Yojimbo volume 2 #1-16 and Usagi Yojimbo volume 3 #1-6

Following a fulsome Foreword from former editor Jamie S. Rich, pictorial rundown of dramatis personae in ‘Cast of Characters’ and rousing strip recap ‘Origin Tale’, an evocative Introduction from legendary illustrator and Dean of Dinosauria William Stout leads into the magnificent and ever-unfolding medieval mystery play…

It begins with 3-parter ‘Shades of Green’ wherein Usagi and crusty companion Gennosuke (an irascibly bombastic, money-mad bounty-hunter and conniving thief-taking Indian rhino with a heart of gold) are recruited by Kakera: a ratty shaman in dire need of protection from the dwindling remnants of the once-mighty Neko Ninja clan. The former imperial favourites have fallen upon hard times since they and the Ronin Rabbit crushed the Dragon Bellow plot of rebel Lord Takamuro. Now, bat assassins of the Komori Ninja clan are constantly harrying, harassing and actively seeking to supplant them in Lord Hikiji’s service…

Chunin (deputy leader) Gunji believes the rodent wizard would make a mighty useful slave, and is scheming to overthrow the new – female – clan chief Chizu whilst acquiring him…

With the Neko’s trap closing around them all, the sagacious sensei summons spirits of four fantastic fighters to aid Usagi and Gen. These phantoms promptly possess a quartet of little Kame (tortoises) and are reshaped into adolescent amphibian Ninja Turtles, identifying themselves as Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello. Crucially, Usagi has fought beside one of their number before…

Subsequent battles go badly and eventually Gunji’s forces make off with Kakera-sensei. As Usagi leads the remaining heroes in relentless pursuit, the conniving Chunin makes his move. Gunji’s attempt to assassinate Chizu is bloodily and efficiently ended by late-arriving Usagi who is astounded to be told by the lady he has saved that the Neko’s lethal interest in him is now at an end…

With Kakera rescued and Gunji dead, the adventure closes with the turtle spirits returning to their own place and time, leaving Gen and Usagi to follow their own (temporarily) separate roads before ‘Jizo’ offers a delightfully gripping interlude as a grieving mother dedicates a roadside shrine to her murdered child and ineffable Karma places the killers in the path of a certain justice-dispensing, long-eared wanderer…

Next comes a brace of stories offering elucidating glimpses of the rabbit’s boyhood. Once, Miyamoto Usagi was simply son to a small-town magistrate before being sent to spend his formative years learning the Way of Bushido from gruff and distant leonine hermit Katsuichi. The stern sensei taught not just superior technique and tactics, but also an ironclad creed of justice and restraint which would serve the Ronin well throughout his turbulent life.

In ‘Usagi’s Garden’ the callow pupil rebels against the arduous and undignified task of growing food until the lion delivers a subtle but lifechanging lesson, whilst in ‘Autumn’ a painful fall propels the lad into a nightmare confrontation with a monster who has trapped the changing of the seasons in a bamboo cage…

Two-part tale ‘Shi’ sees Usagi comes to the aid of a valley of poor farmers under constant attack by bullies and brigands seeking to force them from their impoverished homes. The thugs are secretly employed by a local magistrate and his ruthless brother who discovered gold under the peasants’ land and want to extract it without attracting the attention of the local Lord’s tax collectors. When the Ronin’s formidable skills stall the brothers’ scheme they hire a quartet of assassins whose collective name means “death”. However, the killers are far less trouble than the head farmer’s daughter Kimie, who has never seen someone as glamorous or attractive as the soft-spoken defrocked samurai…

Although there are battles aplenty for Usagi, the brothers’ remorseless greed ends them before the Yojimbo can…

Delightful silent comedy follows as ‘The Lizard’s Tale’ pantomimically depicts the ronin playing unwilling Pied Piper and guardian to a wandering flock of tokagé lizards (ubiquitous, omnivorous reptiles populating the anthropomorphic world, replacing scavenger species like rats, cats and dogs in the fictitious ecosystem). The rambunctious trouble-magnets repay the favour when the wanderer is ambushed in snow-drowned mountains by vengeful bandits…

‘Battlefield’ is a 3-chapter fable sharing a key moment and boyhood turning point in the trainee warrior’s life. It begins when a mind-broken, fleeing soldier shatters the boy’s childish dreams of warrior glory. The fugitive is a survivor of the losing side in a mighty battle and his sorry state forces Usagi to rethink his preconceptions of war. Eager to ram home the lesson, Katsuichi takes his pupil to the battlefield where peasants and scavengers busily snatch up whatever they can from the scattered corpses. Usagi is horrified. To take a samurai’s swords is to steal his soul, but even so, a little later he cannot stop himself picking up a fallen hero’s Wakizashi (short sword)…

After concealing the blade in a safe place, the apprentice is haunted by visions of the unquiet corpse and sneaks off to return the stolen steel soul. Caught by soldiers who think him a scavenging looter and about to lose his thieving hands, little Miyamoto is saved by the intervention of victorious Great Lord Mifune. The noble looks into the boy’s face and sees something honest, honourable and – perhaps one day – useful…

Following an Introduction on ‘Classic Storytelling’ from James Robinson, the ronin roaming resumes with ‘The Music of Heaven’ as Miyamoto and a wandering flock of tokagé lizards encounter a gentle, pious priest whose life is dedicated to peace, music and enlightenment. When their paths cross again later, the rabbit narrowly avoids being murdered by a ruthless assassin who has since killed and impersonated holy man Komuso in an attempt to catch Usagi off guard. Evocative and movingly spiritual, this classic of casual tragedy perfectly displays the vast range of storytelling Sakai can pack into the most innocuous of tales.

More menaces from the wanderer’s past reconnect in ‘The Gambler, The Widow and the Ronin’ as a professional conman who fleeces villagers with rigged samurai duels plies his shabby trade in just another little hamlet. Unfortunately, this one is home to his last stooge’s wife, and to make matters worse, whilst his latest hired killer Kedamono is attempting to take over the business, the long-eared nomad who so deftly dispatched his predecessor Shubo strolls into town looking for refreshments…

Again forced into a fight, Miyamoto makes short work of Kedamono, leaving the smug gambler to safely flee with the entire take. Slurping back celebratory servings of sake, the villain has no idea the inn where he relaxes employs a vengeful widow and mother who knows just who really caused her man’s death…

A note of portentous foreboding informs ‘The Nature of the Viper’, opening a year previously when a boisterous, good-hearted fisherman pulled a body out of the river and nursed his amazingly still breathing catch back to health. If he expected gratitude or mercy, the peasant was sadly mistaken, as the fondling explained whilst killing his benefactor as soon as he was able. The ingrate is Jei: a veritable devil in mortal form, who believes himself a “Blade of the Gods” and singled out by the Lords of Heaven to kill the wicked. The maniac makes a convincing case: when he stalked Usagi, the monster was struck by a fortuitous – or possibly divinely sent – lightning bolt but is still going strong and keenly continuing to hunt the Ronin.

‘Slavers’ begins a particularly dark journey for our hero as Usagi stumbles across a boy in chains escaping from a bandit horde. Little Hiro explains how the ragtag rogues of wily “General” Fujii have captured a whole town: making the inhabitants harvest their crops for the scum to steal…

Resolved to save them, the rabbit infiltrates the captive town as a mercenary seeking work, but is soon exposed and taken prisoner. ‘Slavers Part 2’ finds Miyamoto stoically enduring the General’s tortures until the boy he saved bravely returns the favour – after which the Yojimbo’s vengeance is awesome and terrible…

However, even as the villagers rebel and take back their homes and property, chief bandit Fujii escapes, taking Usagi’s daish? (matched long and short swords) with him. To take a samurai’s swords is to steal his soul, and the monster not only has them but continually dishonours them by slaughtering innocents as he flees the ronin’s relentless pursuit.

‘Daish? – Part One’ opens with a hallowed sword-maker undertaking the sacred process of crafting blades and the harder task of selecting the right person to buy them. Three hundred years later, Usagi is on the brink of madness as he follows Fujii’s bloody trail, pitilessly picking off the General’s remaining killers whilst attempting to redeem those soiled dispensers of death. The chase leads to another town pillaged by Fujii where Miyamoto almost refuses to aid a wounded man… until one woman accuses him of being no better than the beast he hunts…

Shocked back to his senses, the yojimbo saves the elder’s life and in gratitude the girl Hanako offers to lead him to where Fujii was heading. ‘Mongrels’ changes tack as erstwhile ally and hard-to-love friend Gennosuke re–enters the picture. The bombastic, money-mad bounty-hunter and conniving thief-taker is on the prowl for suitably profitable prospects when he meets The Stray Dog: his greatest rival in the unpopular profession of cop-for-hire.

After some posturing and double-dealing wherein each tries to edge out the other in the hunt for Fujii, they inevitably come to blows and are only stopped by the fortuitous intervention of the Rabbit Ronin…

‘Daish? – Part Two’ sees the irascible rugged individualists form a shaky truce in their overweening hunger to tackle the General. Mistrustful of each other, they nevertheless cut a swathe of destruction through Fujii’s regrouped band, but even after furious Usagi regains his honour swords there is one last betrayal in store…

Older, wiser and generally unharmed, Gen and Usagi part company again as ‘Runaways’ delves deeper into the wanderer’s past. Stopping in a town he hasn’t visited in decades, the rabbit hears a name called out and his mind retreats to a time when he was a fresh young warrior in the service of Great Lord Mifune.

Young princess Takani Kinuko had been promised as bride to trustworthy ally Lord Hirano and the rabbit was a last-minute replacement as leader of the “babysitting” escort column to her impending nuptials. When an overwhelming ambush eradicated the party, Usagi was forced to flee with the stuck-up brat: both of them masquerading as carefree, unencumbered peasants as he strove to bring her safely to her future husband past an army of ninjas killers.

The poignant reverie concludes in ‘Runaways – Part 2’ as valiant hero and spotless maiden fell in love whilst fleeing from pitiless, unrelenting marauders. Successful at last, their social positions naturally forced them apart once she was safely delivered.

Shaken from his memories, the ronin moves on, tragically unaware he was not the only one recalling those moments and pondering what might have been…

Originally collected as The Brink of Life and Death, an evocatively enticing third tranche of torrid tales opens with ‘Discoveries’ – a heartfelt and enthusiastic Introduction from comics author Kurt Busiek – before more epics of intrigue intermingle with vignettes of more plebeian dramas and even an occasional supernatural thriller, all tantalisingly tinged with astounding martial arts action and drenched in wit, irony, pathos and tragedy…

Far away from our nomadic star a portentous interlude occurs as a simple peasant and his granddaughter are attacked by bandits. The belligerent scum are about to compound extortion and murder with even more heinous crimes when a stranger with a ‘Black Soul’ stops them…

This is Jei and nothing good comes from even innocent association with the Blade of the Gods. Still pursuing his crusade, the monster deals most emphatically with the criminals before “permitting” orphaned granddaughter Keiko to join him…

‘Kaise’ then finds Miyamoto Usagi befriending a seaweed farmer who’s experiencing a spot of bother with his neighbours. At peace with himself amongst hard-toiling peasants, Usagi is soon embroiled in their escalating battle with a village of rival seaweed sellers – previously regarded as helpful and friendly – and quickly realises scurrilous merchant Yamanaka is fomenting discord and unrest between his suppliers to make extra profit…

In a roadside hostelry ‘A Meeting of Strangers’ introduces a formidable female warrior to the ever-expanding cast as the Lepine Legend graciously offers a fellow weary mendicant the price of a drink. A professional informer then sells Usagi out to still-smarting Yamanaka and lethally capable Inazuma has ample opportunity to repay her slight debt to the Rabbit Ronin when he’s ambushed by an army of hired brigands…

Despite – or because – it is usually one of the funniest comics on the market, occasionally Usagi Yojimbo will brilliantly twist readers’ expectations with tales that rip your heart apart. Such is the case with ‘Noodles’, as the ronin meets again street performer, shady entertainer and charismatic pickpocket Kitsune. She was plying all her antisocial trades in a new town just as eternally-wandering Usagi rolls up. The little metropolis is in uproar at a plague of daring robberies and when inept enforcers employed by Yoriki (Assistant Commander) Masuda try – and painfully fail – to arrest the long-eared stranger as a probable accomplice, the ferociously resistant rabbit earns the instant enmity of the pompous official.

Following the confrontation, a hulking, mute soba (buckwheat noodle) vendor begins to pester the still-annoyed ronin and eventually reveals he’s carrying elegant escapologist Kitsune in his baskets. Astounded, the yojimbo renews his acquaintance with her before the affable thieves go on their way, unaware that trouble and tragedy are just around the corner…

The town magistrate is leaning heavily on his Yoriki to end the crimewave but has no conception Masuda is actually in the pay of a vicious gang carrying out most of the thefts. What they all need is a convincing scapegoat to pin the blame on, and poor dumb peasant Noodles is ideal – after all, he can’t even deny his guilt…

With a little sacrificed loot planted, the gentle giant becomes a perfect patsy and before Usagi and Kitsune even know he’s been taken, the simple fool has been tried and horrifically executed. ‘Noodles Part 2’ opens as our aggrieved heroes frantically dash for the public trial and almost immediate crucifixion. Neither pickpocket nor bodyguard can save the innocent stooge: all they can do is swear to secure appropriate vengeance and a kind of justice…

In sober mien the rabbit roves on, stumbling into a house of horror and case of possession. ‘The Wrath of the Tangled Skein’ finds Usagi returning to a region plagued by demon-infested forests. Offered hospitality at a merchant’s house, he subsequently saves the daughter from doom at the claws of a demonic Nue (tiger/fox/pig/snake devil), but is almost too late and only alerted to a double dose of danger when a Bonze (Buddhist Priest) arrives to exorcise the poor child – just like the cleric already praying over the afflicted waif upstairs…

This duel with the forces of hell leads into ‘The Bonze’s Story’ as Usagi befriends the real priest and learns how misfortune and devotion to honour compelled elite samurai Sanshobo to put aside weapons and war in search of greater truths and inner peace…

Political intrigue and explosive espionage return to the fore in ‘Bats, the Cat, & the Rabbit’ as Neko ninja chief Chizu re-enters Usagi’s life, fleeing a flight of rival Komori (bat) ninjas. These winged horrors are determined to possess a scroll containing the secrets of making gunpowder and, after a tremendous, extended struggle, the exhausted she-cat cannot believe her rabbit companion is willing to simply hand it over. She soon shrugs it off, after all the Komori have fallen into her trap and quickly regret testing the purloined formula…

The peripatetic yojimbo then walks into a plot to murder Great Lord Miyagi involving infallible unseen assassin Kuroshi at ‘The Chrysanthemum Pass’. Although the valiant wanderer is simply aiding karma to a just outcome despite overwhelming odds and a most subtle opponent, this act will have appalling repercussions in days ahead…

Hunted woman and deadly adept Inazuma then proves ‘Lightning Strikes Twice’ when found – as always – at the heart of a storm of hired blades trying to kill her. However, during one peaceful moment, she makes time to share with a fellow swordsmaster the instructive tale of a dutiful daughter who married the wrong samurai. By exacting rightful vengeance upon his killer, she won the undying hatred of a powerful lord and set her own feet irredeemably upon the road of doom…

Rounding out in this epic collection are copious ‘Story Notes by Stan Sakai’, a full-colour ‘Gallery’ of the covers from both comic books and their attendant paperback compilations, annotated ‘Cover Sketches’ and designs, plus biographical data ‘About the Author’.

Fast-paced yet lyrical, informative and funny, the saga alternately bristles with tension and thrills and frequently crushes your heart with astounding tales of pride and tragedy, evil and duty. Bursting with veracity and verve, Usagi Yojimbo is the perfect comics epic: a monolithically magical, irresistibly appealing tale to delight devotees and make converts of the most hardened haters of “funny animal” stories.
Text and illustrations © 1993-1998, 2014 Stan Sakai. All rights reserved. Foreword © 2014 Jamie S. Rich. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles © 2014 Viacom International, Inc. All rights reserved. All other material and registered characters are © and TM their respective owners. Usagi Yojimbo and all other prominently featured characters are registered trademarks of Stan Sakai.

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H.P. Lovecraft’s The Hound and Other Stories


Adapted by Gou Tanabe, translated by Zack Davisson (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-50670-312-1 (Tankobon paperback/Digital edition)

If you’re one of those people who’s never read a manga tale, or who’s been tempted but discouraged by the terrifying number of volumes these tales can run to, here’s a delicious feast of fantasy fables complete in one book revealing all that’s best about comics from the East in one darkly digestible big gulp.

Most manga can be characterised by a fast, raucous, even occasionally choppy style and manner of delivery but this volume of emphatically eerie adaptations is atmospheric, suitably scary and marvellously moody: just as you’d hope when recreating classic tales by the undisputed master of supernatural terror…

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was frail, troubled and remarkably ill-starred. Born August 20th 1890, he was truly afflicted with a hunger to write, but only achieved any degree of success after his death in March 1937 – following a life of desperate penury – from complications of intestinal cancer. Once he was gone, his literary star ascended, with posthumous publications making him a household name who changed the face of fiction forever.

His stories have deeply affected generations all over the world. One person particularly moved is international literary specialist Gou Tanabe who has previously adapted the works of Maxim Gorky and Anton Chekov to manga form.

Perfectly capturing the relentlessly oppressive and inescapably sombre sense of approaching fatality permeating most of Lovecraft’s potent prose, ‘The Temple’ was written in 1920 and first published 5 years later in the September issue of Weird Tales. The adaptor’s mildly updated version (migrated from WWI to WWII) originated in esteemed anthology magazine COMIC BEAM in March and April 2009: detailing the depredations of U-Boat U-29 and the doomed fools who man her.

After a particularly rewarding campaign, German Navy Commander Karl Heinrich Graf von Altberg-Ehrenstein and his officers are taking the night air when they notice a dead British mariner gripping the sub’s handrail. Whilst trying to unlock the mariner’s death grip and eject the corpse, one of them salvages an ancient artefact – a small carved head – and pockets it.

From that moment, their voyage is damned…

Soon, madness and mishap grip the vessel. Death decimates the crew and inexorably the survivors drift ever deeper into depths both physical and metaphorical. When only one remains, he finds the U-boat drawn to a fantastic city and magnificent temple sunken beneath the waves. It is filled with statuary like the little head in his pocket…

Just as he raises his pistol to end the horror, the shattered sole survivor sees shining lights in the sunken edifice…

Lovecraft penned ‘The Hound’ in September 1922 and Weird Tales published it in 1924. Gou Tanabe’s chilling interpretation debuted in July 2014 in the online edition of Comic Walker. The tale is grim, grisly, exquisitely decadent and supremely shocking, detailing the extravagant excess of English gentleman grave-robbers and diabolist magical parvenus St. John and our unnamed narrator.

Bored and indolent, they renew their sordid, blasphemous hobby in a Dutch boneyard, exhuming an arcane trinket from a grave sealed for half a millennium and reap a ghastly bounty after liberating a vengeful howling horror…

After its first foray into the material world, the surviving dabbler attempts every stratagem to escape or expiate the beast, and finds some things have no use for apologies or reparations…

Concluding this first (hopefully of many) Lovecraft treasure trove is another export from Comic Walker (August 2014 this time).

‘The Nameless City’ was written in January 1921 and published 10 months later in The Wolverine. Tapping into the contemporary vogue for arcane exploratory adventure as also favoured by the likes of literary horrorist brethren Seabury Quinn, Clark Ashton Smith, and latterly August Derleth and Robert E. Howard, here Lovecraft shares the story of an itinerant western wanderer (think Indiana Jones without no sense of humour or chance in Hell) who survives Arabian deserts only to stumble upon a previously unsuspected deserted conurbation suddenly exposed by the roaring eternal winds.

Genned-up on local legends, the explorer cannot resist entering the vast metropolis. However, as he plunges deeper within, he finds thousands of boxes like a legion of coffins and realises the occupants are far from human. They may not even be dead…

Enthralling, understated and astoundingly effective, these classic tales have been reverently adapted and packaged in an inexpensive, digest-sized monochrome paperback that will delight avowed aficionados and beguile terror-loving newcomers alike.

© 2014 Gou Tanabe. All rights reserved. This English-language edition © 2017 Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

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Wandering Island


By Kenji Tsuruta, translated by Dana Lewis (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-50670-079-3 eISBN: 978-1-63008-771-5

Kenji Tsuruta was born in 1961 and studied optical science, intending to pursue a career in photography, but instead made the jump to narrative storytelling as manga artist, designer, book illustrator and anime creator. A lifelong fan of “hard science” science fiction authors like Robert A. Heinlein and the comic works of Tetsuya Chiba and Yukinobu Hoshino (Saber Tiger), after years producing self-published doujinshi whilst working as an assistant to established manga stars, 25-year-old Tsuruta began selling his own works in 1986. His short fantasy serial Hiroku te suteki na uch? ja nai ka (What a Big Wonderful Universe It Is) was published in Kodansha’s Weekly Morning magazine.

Soon after, he began Sprits of Wonder: a dazzling scientific romance of gently colliding worlds. It ran in both Weekly Morning and monthly magazine Afternoon between 1987 and 1996, before making a smooth transition to animated features and an award-winning TV series. Dark Horse Comics published the first translated episodes as a 5-issue monochrome miniseries in 1995-6.

After that the artist pretty much moved out of the manga business, to focus on science fiction illustration and character design; a field of endeavour where he won many awards.

Then on July 13th 2010 Wandering Island debuted in Kodansha’s anthological Manga Box AMASIA before being serialised in Afternoon. The first collection was released in October 2011 and Dark Horse began English language editions in July 2016.

The slow-moving, elegiac saga was Mr. Tsuruta’s first major narrative work since the century turned: a beguiling and enticing modern-day mystery set against a fascinating geological backdrop in a fascinating cultural backwater…

Like Great Britain, Japan is composed of numerous islands, many located in areas far beyond commercially viable air routes. To cater to those small communities, independent pilots act as postmen, delivery specialists and rapid freight-hauliers. Freewheeling Mikura Amelia flies an old Fairey Swordfish on her rounds, enjoying a pretty idyllic life as she hops from cetacean research station to trading post to fishing village delivering whatever needs moving for whatever fee she can get.

She used to work with her grandfather Brian Amelia in the family Air Service, but now it’s just her and the cat Endeavour. Her parents moved back to civilisation when the old man died but Mikura loves the freedom of the skies and can’t let go of her grandfather’s great obsession…

Amongst his effects was an undelivered package with her name on it for Is. Electriciteit – which she translated as Electric Island. There are some fables about the place, but most people think it’s a myth…

Mikura, armed with a keen mind, decades of detailed logs and a strange yearning, becomes as obsessed as her mentor with the mystery. Old Brian vanished trying to find the island, but his logs have entries written after he seemingly perished.

… And then one day Mikura actually sees the perpetually shifting, cloud-cloaked atoll – complete with small town – but cracks up trying to land there. She’s rescued by a passing freighter but the frustration of being so close is agonising and unbearable…

Slowly healing, she gets back to work and starts to doubt her own memories, but somehow cannot let go. Eventually she puzzles out its secret: Electric Island moves around the Pacific in a complex and convoluted three-year cycle. The answer only points to more puzzles, especially after she learns of a friend of Brian’s who shared his fixation: her old English teacher who was actually a brilliant geophysicist…

Another quick trip and one last revelatory interview and at long last Mikura is flying off to a long-awaited rendezvous with the unknown…

To be Continued…

Accompanied by text feature ‘Notes on Wandering Island’, detailing the specifics of floating islands, the antecedents of the series and Tsuruta’s history, Wandering Island is a superbly welcoming introduction into what promises to be a sublime treat for every lover of untrammelled wonder…
© 2011 Kenji Tsuruta/Kodansha Ltd. All rights reserved.

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No Need For Tenchi!


By Hitoshi Okuda, translated by Fred Burke (Viz Graphic Novel)
ISBN: 978-1-56931-180-6 (tank?bon PB)

The one real problem with manga is that translated past triumphs seldom stay in print. There are dozens of classic collections that demand rediscovery by a casual rather than otaku audience and many minor masterpieces languish lost when they could be appreciated and adored…

This bright and breezy adventure comedy from 1987 is a rare reversal of the usual state of affairs in that a TV anime came first and the manga serial was its spin-off. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki debuted as a 6-part TV show (termed an OVA or Original Video Animation in Japan) that proved so blisteringly popular that even before the original season concluded further specials and episodes were rushed into production. Over the next decade or so two more seasons appeared as well as spin-off shows and features (for a total of 98 episodes all told), plus games, toys, light novels and, of course, a comic book series.

The translation most commonly accepted for the pun-soaked title is No Need For Tenchi, but equally valid interpretations include Useless Tenchi, No Heaven and Earth and This Way Up.

The assorted hi-jinks of the show resulted in three overlapping but non-related continuities, with the Hitoshi Okuda manga serials stemming directly from the first season. Okuda eventually produced two comics sagas in this format: Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-oh-ki which began in 1994 and features here – and follow-up Shin Tenchi Muyo! which I’ll get to one fine day…

The strip debuted in the December 16th 1994 Sh?nen anthology (comics pitched at 10-18 year old males) Comic Dragon Jr. It ran until Jun 9th 2000, generating 12 volumes of classic laughs and thrills. The stories are generally regarded as non-canonical by fans of the various TV versions, but of course we don’t care about that since the printed black and white tales are so much fun and so well illustrated…

This first volume collects the first seven issues of the Viz tome Tales of Tenchi, which did so much to popularise Manga in the English-speaking world, and opens with a thorough and fascinating recap of that first TV season – from which all succeeding manic mirth and mayhem proceeds – before cracking on to bolder and better bewilderments starring the entire copious cast on all new adventures and exploits…

Tenchi Masaki is an ordinary lad living peacefully in the countryside with his father Nobuyuki and grandfather Katsuhito, until one day he breaks opens an ancient shrine and lets a demon out. Hell-fiend Ryoko tries to kill him but a magic “Lightning Eagle Sword” helps him escape. The demon follows though, demanding the sword and things get really crazy when a spaceship arrives, revealing Ryoko is in fact a disgraced alien pirate from the star-spanning Jurai Empire.

Starship Ryo-oh-ki is full of attractive, shameless, immensely powerful warrior-women including Princess Ayeka, her little sister Sasami and supreme scientist Washu. This gaggle of violently disruptive visitors moves in with Tenchi and family, causing nothing but trouble and embarrassment. Soon the boy and his sword are being dragged all over the cosmos in the sentient Ryo-oh-ki (who, when not on duty, prefers the form of a cute rabbit/cat hybrid critter).

Ayeka and Sasami both harbour feelings for hapless Tenchi but things get really complicated when grandfather Katsuhito is revealed to be Yosho, a noble Prince of the Jurai. It appears Tenchi and those darned space girls are all related…

Tales of Tenchi opened with ‘The Genius’ as the star, currently studying Jurai warrior training under his grandfather’s diligent tutelage, falls foul of the princesses’ growing boredom. Ryoko attacks again, precipitating a devastating battle that threatens to burn the entire landscape to ashes, but is the aggressor really the demon pirate?

In ‘Double Trouble’ the other Ryoko tries to take Tenchi’s sword – in actuality a puissant techno-artefact known as the Master Key – before being defeated by the original, but at the cost of shock-induced amnesia. As the refugees all decompress, ‘Under Observation’ depicts outrageous and inadvisable potential cures for the distressed Ryoko but when the defeated doppelganger’s master Yakage arrives, the entire extended family are endangered. The terrifying star-warrior challenges Tenchi to a duel…

Part 4 ‘Plunder’ is one colossal hi-energy clash as the boy valiantly demonstrates all he has learned to drive off the intruder, but only after the villain takes Ayeka hostage, demanding a rematch in 10 days’ time…

Intensifying his training in ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ Tenchi prepares for the upcoming clash whilst Ryoko pursues Yakage into space, unaware that super-scientist Washu has hidden herself aboard the pursing ship…

‘A Good Scolding’ reveals intriguing history regarding the assorted super-girls whilst Tenchi trains for the final confrontation before concluding chapter ‘Relationships’ brings things to a spectacular climax whilst still leaving a cliffhanger to pull you back in for the next addictive instalment…

Blending elements of Star Wars: A New Hope with classic Japanese genre themes (fantasy, action, fighting, embarrassment, loss of conformity and hot chicks inexplicably drawn to nerdy boys), this rousing romp also includes comedy vignettes starring ‘The Cast of No Need For Tenchi’, and fourth-wall-busting asides, to top off a delightfully undemanding fun-fest to satisfy not just manga maniacs but also any lover of fanciful frivolity and sci fi shenanigans.
© 1994 by Hitoshi Okuda/Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co Ltd., Tokyo. NO NEED FOR TENCHI! is a trademark of Viz Communications Inc.

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Last of the Mohicans: Ten-Cent Manga Series volume 1


Freely adapted from the novel by James Fenimore Cooper by Shigeru Sugiura, edited & translated by Ryan Holmberg (PictureBox)
ISBN: 978-0-985195-6-6 (HB)

Those of us in the know tend to believe that Japanese comics began with Osamu Tezuka in the years following the end of World War II – and indeed in most ways that assessment is reasonable.

However, as the superbly informative article bolstering this superb tome attests, a thriving manga business has operated in Japan since the 1930s, and one of its greatest proponents was artist and author Shigeru Sugiura.

This superb monochrome hardback volume (sadly no digital delight yet) re-presents one of his greatest triumphs as the initial volume in a proposed series of “Ten-Cent Manga” collections. Translated and edited by Ryan Holmberg, it highlights lost works displaying not simply indigenous Japanese virtuosity but also the influence of cross-cultural contact and pollination with other countries.

In erudite, lavishly illustrated essay and appreciation ‘Shigeru Sugiura and his Mohicans’ he describes in fascinating and forensic detail the origins of the project, state of play in Japan pre-and-post WWII. The absorbing life and career of an artist who began as a jobbing strip cartoonist only to elevate himself to the status of Psychedelic, Surrealist Pop Art icon is one that is utterly addictive to fans of American movies and comic books.

The treatise is fully supported by documentary excerpts from the 1950s magazines and strips. Sugiura scrupulously “homaged” and swiped from: Jesse Marsh’s Tarzan, Alex Toth’s Johnny Thunder, and particularly Fred Ray’s Tomahawk. These were most commonplace amongst a wealth of graphic treasures synthesised and transformed into something fresh, vibrant and, most crucially, relevant to the entertainment-starved kids of occupied Japan.

Also included is an article by the artist himself, written in 1988 describing his life-long passion for and debt of influence to American cinema – most especially ‘Silent Movies’…

However, although scholarly and revelatory, the text portions of this singular treat pale beside the sheer exuberant energy and B-movie bravura of James Fenimore Cooper’s text…

Shigeru Sugiura (1908-2000) studied painting before becoming an art assistant to comics pioneer Suihō Tagawa (AKA Nakatarō Takamizawa). By 1933, the student was creating his own strips for the gags and Boys’ Own Adventure style comics that proliferated prior to the war.

He returned to the industry when hostilities ended, producing more of the same, but now influenced far more by the ubiquitous comic books of the occupying G.I.s than the silent Westerns and baggy-pants comedies he had voraciously consumed in his youth.

Shigeru Sugiura blended comedy/action stories for children and achieved great success throughout the 1950s, based on well-known characters such as ninja Sasuke Sarutobi or adapted Chinese classics like Journey to the West, furthermore including modern themes like wrestling, science fiction and even movie sensation Gojira/Godzilla to his fun-filled weekly pages in a most prolific and influential career.

…And Westerns; he did lots of rootin’ tootin’ shoot ’em up cowboy stories…

Sugiura (very) loosely adapted Last of the Mohicans in 1953 (when it was already a very familiar tale to Japanese readers) for Omoshiro Manga Bunko – a line of books presenting world classics of literature in comics form – albeit not exactly any form recognisable to literary purists…

He retired in 1958 but returned in 1970, reworking old stories and creating new pieces from the fresh perspective of a fine artist, not a mere mangaka earning a precarious living.

In 1973 he was already refining and releasing his classic tales for paperback reprints when he was approached by publisher Shobunsha to update another. The 1953 Mohicans became their latest re-released tale, slyly reworked as a wry pastiche and kick-starting Sugiura’s second career as a darling of the newborn adult manga market…

One word of warning: This is not your teacher’s Last of the Mohicans, any more than The Shining resembles Stephen King’s actual novel or the way South Pacific could be logically derived from James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific – or how anything Alan Moore wrote could be found in films like From Hell or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen…

Sugiura’s updated 1973-74 iteration forms the majority of this chronicle: a fast-paced riot of non-stop adventure, greed, pride, tragedy and whacky humour wherein both heroic frontiersman Leatherstocking and noble savage Chingachgook are re-imagined as bold young lads in bad times, their desperate quest punctuated with weirdly clashing moments of slapstick, creative anachronism, cross-cultural in-jokes and plain outright peculiarity…

It all works impossibly well, beginning with the introduction of Hawkeye, ‘La Carabine Kid’: a young but doughty colonial scout and spy for the British.

The Empire is at war with the French for possession of the New World, with the Kid and his companions suffering many reverses at the brutal hands of the Mingos – a tribe allied to France. They were also responsible for reducing the mighty Mohicans to two survivors: Chief Chinga and his son Uncas.

The plot thickens when the Mingo Chief and his manic son Magua threaten to abduct Cora and Alice – daughters of British Colonel Munro – in an attempt to force the veteran soldier to surrender his command East Fort to the French. After a savage assault, Hawkeye, the Mohicans and dashing Major Duncan decide to escort the girls to the safety of Fort Henry, with the hostiles close behind…

En route they pick up itinerant preacher Father Gamut, before fighting their way on through wilderness and repeated Mingo attacks, always one step ahead of ‘Magua’s Pursuit’.

The struggle is not one-sided. The wily fugitives contrive to blow up a French fort and even link with a war party of Delas who subsequently reduce the ravening Mingos to scattered remnants – but not before the pursuers carry off ‘The Abducted Sisters’…

The scene is set for the heroes to rescue the girls and end Magua’s threat forever – but the showdown is costly with a high price to pay in ‘The Sad Ending’…

Sheer graphic escapism, spectacular storytelling and a truly different view of a time-honoured masterpiece make this an unmissable treat for all lovers of world comics.

This book is printed in ‘read-from-back-to-front’ manga format.
© 2013 the Estate of Shigeru Sugiura. Translation and essay © 2013 Ryan Holmberg. All rights reserved.

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Wandering Son volume one


By Shimura Takako, translated by Matt Thorn (Fantagraphics Books International)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-416-0 (HB)

Huge fan though I am of the ubiquitous digest-sized monochrome format that makes up the greatest part of translated manga volumes, there’s a subtle enhanced superiority to these hearty and satisfyingly substantial oversized hardback editions from Fantagraphics’ manga line (see also Moto Hagio’s A Drunken Dream and Other Stories) that just adds extra zest to any work of pictorial narrative.

It’s just a shame the story still isn’t accessible digitally or that the remaining volumes (as far as I know, we got to Book 8 before everything paused) still languish untranslated for us who don’t speak Japanese….

Especially effective and affecting, Wandering Son was this second intriguing offering from the good FBI, following two youngsters mutually experiencing the most difficult times of their lives…

Shuichi Nitori is a boy freshly transferred into a new school. He’s starting Fifth Grade and on the cusp of puberty. He’s also in a bit of a quandary. Slim, androgynous and, to be frank, rather pretty, he is constantly thinking about wearing girls’ clothes…

On his first day, he is befriended by Yoshino Takatsuki; a tall, burly tomboy harbouring similar secret yearnings. Her instinctive friendliness towards Shuichi is shared by pretty Saori Chiba, who is happy with her own gender but troubled in almost everything else. Always over-eager to please, she is a ball of inexplicable guilty feelings and – even at her young age – is considering converting to Christianity…

From the start, both girls encourage Shuichi to submit to his urges. Yoshino’s clueless mother keeps buying dresses which the despairing daughter just gives to her confused new pal, whilst Saori, also acutely aware of the Nitori boy’s underlying otherness, actively encourages him to cross-dress. She even buys him an extravagant frock for his birthday, almost killing their budding friendship stone-dead.

It is Saori who successfully suggests the unsuspecting class perform The Rose of Versailles as their end-of-term play, with all the girls playing the male roles and vice versa…

(The Rose of Versailles is a monumentally popular Shoujo manga tale – later, a movie and musical – by Riyoko Ikeda, telling the story of Lady Oscar: a girl whose soldier father raises as a man. She/He eventually becomes a dashing Palace Guard and the darling of Marie Antoinette’s Court.)

Both Shuichi and Yoshino are hard-pressed to deny their overwhelming mutual need: boy wants to be girl and girl, boy. Inevitably, their need proves too great and both succumb. Yoshino has her hair cut and goes out in her brother’s school uniform, only to be chatted up by an older woman in a burger bar. Shuichi’s periodic capitulations are less public, but increasingly important to his happiness and wellbeing – and to be honest he does make an astonishingly pretty girl, more so even than Roger Taylor in that Queen Video – although utterly pure, innocent and raunch-free…

Nevertheless, no matter how much Shiuchi and Yoshino wish they could exchange gender, time and biology inexorably march on and the changes of puberty are causing their treacherous bodies to horrifyingly and inescapably betray them…

From any other culture this type of story would be crammed with angst and agony: gratuitously filled with cruel moments and shame-filled subtext, but instead Takao Shimura (Even Though We’re Adults, Sweet Blue Flowers) crafts a genteel, winningly underplayed and enchantingly compulsive school saga that is filled with as much hope and positivity as drama.

As Hōrō Musuko the tale began in Comic Beam monthly in December 2002, running until 2013 and eventually collected as 15 volumes. It is resplendent in its refined charm and exudes assured contentment, presenting a very personal linked history in an open-minded spirit of childlike inquiry and accepting optimism that make for a genuine feel-good experience.

But of course there is more to come in the unavoidably difficult futures of Shuichi and Yoshino…

This moving, gently enticing tome also includes a helpful watercolour character chart, a pronunciation guide for Japanese speech and ‘Snips and Snails, Sugar and Spice’, a fantastically useful guide to Japanese honorifics by translator Matt Thorn, explaining social, gender and age ranking/positions so ingrained in the nation’s being. Trust me, in as hide-bound and stratified a culture as Japan’s, this background piece is an absolute necessity…

The comics portion of this volume is printed in the traditional back-to-front, right-to-left format.
© 2003 Takako Shimura. All rights reserved.

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Shrine of the Morning Mist volume 1


By Hiroki Ugawa, translated & adapted by Jeremiah Bourque & Hope Donovan (TokyoPop)
ISBN: 978-1-59816-343-8 (Tank?bon TPB)

Much manga may be characterised by a fast, raucous and even occasionally choppy style and manner of delivery but the first volume of Hiroki Ugawa’s atmospheric supernatural thriller -a moody saga of young love – takes its time to get all the elements in play rather than simply steaming in all guns blazing.

Set in Hiroshima Prefecture (noted for shrines and beautiful mist-draped landscapes) and specifically the city of Miyoshi, Asagiri no Miko or Shrine of the Morning Mist first appeared serialised in monthly periodical Young King OURS between Match 2000 and April 2013: running eventually to 9 volumes of eerie mystery, romance comedy and demonic action.

The saga opens in traditionally portentous manner and carefully unfolds the story of young Yuzu Hieda, one of 3 sisters who are hereditary “Miko” (a combination of shaman, spirit medium and priestess attached to Shinto shrines and temples) who attend to local places of worship. The siblings are particularly gifted with special powers to combat all the supernatural threats menacing the region.

Little more than a teenager herself, schoolgirl Yuzu is troubled by the reappearance of childhood sweetheart – and cousin – Tadahiro Amatsu. After 5 years away, he has come home only to be immediately targeted by evil forces. Despite being teased by sisters Tama and Kurako, Yuzu accompanies them to the railway station just in time to save the prodigal from a sinister, sorcerous old man obsessed with the boy’s blood.

Invited to stay with the Miko in their home, the withdrawn youngster is disquieted by the teasing and references to his past relationship with Yuzu, even though the father of the house proves to be a far-more unforgiving prospect…

Mystic forces are gathering round the introspective, solitary kid – with repercussions felt as far away as Tokyo – and over their dad’s objections Tadahiro is pressured into staying at the Hieda home where he can be properly safeguarded. However, next morning when the girls are at school, a monolithic, cyclopean demon attacks the house. The assault is instantly perceived by Yuzu who dashes back to save him, only to find her long-absent mother already there, having driven off the dark “kami”. Well, one of them, at least…

Typically even Mother Miyuki thinks Tadahiro and Yuzu are a perfect, predestined couple…

With questions swirling about him, such as “why is everybody so interested in my blood?” and “whatever happened to my parents?”, shell-shocked Tadahiro is blissfully unaware that the Miko are forming a protective Council around him, but even he knows something is up when dark newcomer Koma introduces herself and reveals she knew his long-departed father. Intimately…

To Be Continued…

This uncharacteristically slow-paced, contemplative and almost elegiac tale mystery was partially inspired by a classical tale recorded on the historic Inu Mononoke scroll and Hiroki Ugawa’s beautiful illustration perfectly captures a sense of brooding ancient powers at war, even during the most juvenile set-piece moments of awkward young romance and generational embarrassment comedy.

A slightly off-beat but intriguing tale for older readers, this monochrome volume is currently unavailable in digital editions but still readily available through online vendors.
© 2001 Hiroki Ugawa. All rights reserved. English text © 2006 TokyoPop inc.

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Leiji Matsumoto’s Queen Emeraldas volume 1


By Leiji Matsumoto, translated by Zack Davisson & lettered by Evan Hayden (Kodansha/Kodansha USA)
ISBN: 978-1-63236-267-4 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68233-370-9

Nobody does comics science fiction like the Japanese – although for sheer tight-lipped underplayed drama I’d still place Sydney Jordan’s Jeff Hawk, Frank Hampson’s Dan Dare and most of Warren Ellis’ SF work ahead of even Manga’s greatest masters…

And, of course, there’s all those European creators too…

Nevertheless, in the tech-obsessed Pacific regions, tough, no-nonsense, nuts-and-bolts mystery and bold imagination of the myriad wonders of star flight have long been blended with fancifully romantic futuristic themes. The theme has captivated every generation since Osamu Tezuka started the ball rolling after WWII, making space commonplace and conceptually comfortable for us all.

One of the most talented and respected proponents of the genre was Akira “Leiji” Matsumoto (25 January 1938 – 13 February 2023) whose epic triumphs in manga and anime ranged from wholly self-created graphic landmarks as Space Battleship Yamato! (AKA Starblazers), Galaxy Express 999 and Space Pirate Captain Harlock to directing music videos and an animated film Interstella 5555, based on Daft Punk’s Discovery album.

Born fourth of seven sons in Korume, Fukuoka, little Akira started drawing early, influenced by American cartoons, prose science fiction stories and, latterly, Tezuka’s comics and anime. Aged 18, Matsumoto moved to Tokyo where his professional career began with Mitsubachi no bōken in anthology magazine Manga Shōnen.

He worked in a variety of genres (student drama Otoko Oidon, comedy western Gun Frontier and WWII stories collective dubbed The Cockpit amongst others) until 1974 when Uchū Senkan Yamato launched. As Cosmoship Yamato or Space Battleship Yamato, the epic saga became a huge hit on paper and on-screen, setting the course of Matsumoto’s entire career…

A further 24 series followed until 2014: many linked via a shared universe and characterised by melancholic musing and a quasi-metaphysical search for heroism and one’s place in the grand scheme of creation. Here we’re focussing on a saga that grew out of Space Pirate Captain Harlock, developed from a one-off story in 1975’s Princess magazine.

Matsumoto expanded the tale into a drama serialised in Weekly Shōnen Magazine between 1978-1979, before it was collected in 4 tankōbon volumes and the usual leap to anime. For us English-readers, two large-format hardback comics volumes were released in 2016 and 2017, both with digital equivalents.

Queen Emeraldas is a haunted quest tale, told in poetic episodes played out across a harsh, positively Darwinian future universe quite reminiscent of the Earth’s wild west. It follows the adventures of scrappy Earth boy Hiroshi Umino who escapes a brutal life of poverty by building his own ramshackle and highly illegal spaceship.

The scruff is afflicted with a relentless desire to escape into “the sea of stars”, and his frequent hairsbreadth escapes are noticed – and clandestinely supported – by the eerily enigmatic, utterly isolated and lethally ruthless Pirate Queen of Space. Dreaded across the universe, Emeraldas hunts for something or someone long lost – but not forgotten – and whenever she makes planetfall, the rich, cruel, callous or simply wicked somehow always perish in her wake…

Her interventions keep Umino alive after crashing on Mars, and again after taking ship for Ganymede, despite the machinations of numerous bent employers and ruthless killers who just don’t like the feisty tyke. As a rule, the few that do also end up dead…

Gradually, competing stories unfold, with his incessant, compulsive striving to get into space mirroring Emeraldas’ lonely relentless search. The cause of her scarred face and origins of her incredible semi-sentient wonder vessel are revealed, as the lad makes his way further and further from despised Earth. Along the way, he learns to be strong and independent… and how to kill…

Singly, bolshy boy and black sky buccaneer encounter wild worlds and deviant, decadent civilisations. Hiroshi secures plans for the universe’s most perfect spaceship as the Queen of Space gradually eliminates the worst scum in creation – from killer androids to corrupt lawmen to a racist supremacist eradicating every imperfect citizen he rules over. Ultimately, their paths converge at the Graveyard of Space where Emeraldas rescues Umino from the lures of predatory space sirens…

To Be Continued…

Closing this exotic, intriguing, inspirational initial volume is a brace of short stories from 1980’s Shōnen Magazine #3 & 4: opening in her chance encounter with a race of slaves who reject her aid, after which ‘Dead or Alive! “Queen Emeraldas”’ finds her eradicating traitor pirate Heimdall, who has become a government stooge hunting down his old comrades…

Mystical, poetic, elegiac and iconic, these stellar sagas are as much mythological fable as rip-roaring adventure, starring one of the most determinedly potent and tragically powerful women in all of science fiction. This above all his other triumphs is a lasting testament to the creative legacy of Leiji Matsumoto.
A Kodansha Comics Original Queen Emeraldas volume 1 © 2009 Leiji Matsumoto. English translation © 2016 Leiji Matsumoto All rights reserved.

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Lone Wolf volume 5: Black Wind


By Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima, translated by Dana Lewis (Dark Horse Manga)
ISBN: 978-1-56971-506-8 (TPB/digital edition)

Best known in the West as Lone Wolf and Cub, the vast Samurai saga created by Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima is without doubt a global classic of comics literature. An example of the popular Chanbara or “sword-fighting” genre of print and screen, Kozure Okami was first serialised in Weekly Manga Action from September 1970 until April 1976. It was an immense and overwhelming Seinen (“Men’s manga”) hit…

The tales prompted thematic companion series Kubikiri Asa (Samurai Executioner) which ran from 1972-1976, but the major draw – at home and, increasingly, abroad – was always the nomadic wanderings of doomed noble Ōgami Ittō and his solemn, silent child.

Revered and influential, Kozure Okami was followed after years of supplication by fans and editors by sequel Shin Lone Wolf & Cub (illustrated by Hideki Mori) and even spawned – through Koike’s indirect participation – science fiction homage Lone Wolf 2100 by Mike Kennedy & Francisco Ruiz Velasco…

The original saga has been successfully adapted to most other media, spawning movies, plays, TV series (plural), games and merchandise. The property is infamously still in Hollywood pre-production…

The several thousand pages of enthralling, exotic, intoxicating narrative art produced by these legendary creators eventually filled 28 collected volumes, beguiling generations of readers in Japan and, inevitably, the world. More importantly, their philosophically nihilistic odyssey – with its timeless themes and iconic visuals – has influenced hordes of other creators. The many manga, comics and movies these stories have inspired around the globe are impossible to count. Frank Miller, who illustrated the cover of this edition, referenced the series in Daredevil, his dystopian opus Ronin, The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City. Max Allan Collins’ Road to Perdition is a proudly unashamed tribute to the masterpiece of vengeance-fiction.

Stan Sakai has superbly spoofed, pastiched and celebrated the wanderer’s path in his own epic Usagi Yojimbo, and even children’s cartoon shows such as Samurai Jack are direct descendants of this astounding achievement of graphic narrative. The material has become part of a shared world culture.

In the West, we first saw the translated tales in 1987, as 45 Prestige Format editions from First Comics. That innovative trailblazer foundered before getting even a third of the way through the vast canon, after which Dark Horse Comics acquired the rights, systematically reprinting and translating the entire epic into 28 tankōbon-style editions of around 300 pages each. Once the entire epic was translated – between September 2000-December 2002 – it was all placed online through the Dark Horse Digital project.

Following cautionary warning ‘A Note to Readers’ – on stylistic interpretation – this moodily morbid monochrome collection truly gets underway, keeping many terms and concepts western readers may find unfamiliar. Therefore this edition offers at the close a Glossary providing detailed context on the term used in the stories…

Set in the era of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the saga concerns a foredoomed wandering killer who was once the Shōgun’s official executioner the Kōgi Kaishakunin: capable of cleaving a man in half with one stroke. An eminent individual of esteemed imperial standing, elevated social position and impeccable honour, Ōgami Ittō lost it all and now roams feudal Japan as a doomed soul hellbent for the dire, demon-haunted underworld of Meifumadō.

When the noble’s wife was murdered and his clan dishonoured thanks to the machinations of the treacherous, politically ambitious Yagyū Clan, the Emperor ordered Ogami to commit suicide. Instead he rebelled, choosing to be a despised Ronin (masterless samurai) assassin, pledged to revenge himself until all his betrayers were dead …or Hell claimed him.

His 3-year-old son, Daigorō, also chose the path of destruction and thus they together tread across the grimly evocative landscapes of Japan, one step ahead of doom, with death behind and before them…

Unflinching formula informs early episodes: the acceptance of a commission to kill an impossible target necessitates forging a cunning plan where relentless determination leads to inevitable success. Throughout each episode plot is underscored with bleak philosophical musings alternately informed by Buddhist teachings in conjunction with or in opposition to the unflinching personal honour code of Bushido…

That tactic is eschewed for a simple commission in opening tale ‘Trail Markers’ as Yagyū leaders plot how to remove the wanderer without incurring the severe penalties built into the social caste system. The disgraced ronin is protected by his own lowly status and a promise of truce unless he returns to Edo but has still found ways to frustrate clan ambitions. The situation has already cost dozens of proud warriors who foolishly sought out the Lone Wolf. And now the Emperor wants to investigate Yagyū activities…

With pressure mounting, schemers Yagyū-Sama and Ozunu agree to orchestrate a duel between Ōgami and infallible swordsman Yagyū Gunbei-Sama…

Using the wolf’s own complex graphic signalling system, the ploy unfolds, luring the assassin to a certain shrine where instead of another commission, he meets the man he supposedly cannot defeat: the one who should have been the Shōgun’s executioner in his stead.

Now as they face off, Gunbei relives the haughty error that cost him the exalted position of Kōgi Kaishakunin and learns to his eternal but brief regret that whilst he might be as good as he ever was, his opponent has grown even better. Moreover, Yagyū spies watching also take note and make more plans…

At this time bounty hunting was commonplace and ‘Executioner’s Hill’ sees the terrifying but currently unemployed Zodiac Gang use their deserved notoriety to terrorise a village whilst looking for fresh prey. Tragically for them, they recognise the “wolf with baby carriage” and overconfidently assume numerical advantage, a strategic geographical position, their own skills and Daigorō as a hostage will be sufficient to bag the biggest prize of their lives…

They were wrong.

When not expediting commissions the father and son vanished into the unnoticed common population invisible to the nobility. A moment of peace and therapeutically hard but honest work is abruptly curtailed when – whilst toiling to plant rice in paddies beside simple but happy villagers – the able-bodied stranger is pressganged by the local lord to build levees in advance of an expected flood…

Like a ‘Black Wind’ (one unexpected and out of season) the act has unforeseen consequences as the aristocrats – incensed by a highborn man demeaning himself (and all nobles) by digging in the dirt beside commoners – deploy warriors to avenge the shameful act and instead fall like harvested crops…

Every role in Japanese society was strictly proscribed and formalised. Certain executed persons were suitable candidates for O-Tomeshi when headless corpses would be used to test and sanctify swords. The swordsmen capable of holding the post were reputed to be as proficient with the sword as the Kōgi Kaishakunin…

As the investigation of the Yagyū’s role in Ōgami Ittō’s disgrace proceeds, the honourable Yamada Asaemon is ordered by shogunate Wakadoshiryori officials to look into the affair. However, ‘Decapitator Asaemon’ is disquieted by the final codicil of his mission: whatever the truth, the shameful behaviour of the Lone Wolf must end with his death…

The court is alive with intrigue and even before he has found his target, Yamada Asaemon is being hunted by Ura-Yagyū assassins…

Their sinister trap catches only one man of honour…

This medieval masterpiece closes with another convoluted tale of duty sullied as ‘The Guns of Sakai’ finds Inoue Geki – commander of Ōsaka castle’s rifle detachment – covertly hiring the nomadic assassin to kill one of the gunsmiths in his employ after discovering Shichirōbei has been making firearms for the rival Western Han.

The job is no simple affair. Somehow the well-set and protected traitor has exposed every spy set on his trail and the dutiful commander is desperate. He’s also not being completely straight with the Lone Wolf, but Ōgami is well aware of the fact and has a plan and ulterior aim of his own: possession of the experimental supergun he knows the master smith and his acolytes have perfected…

Set in a fiercely uncompromising world of tyranny, intrigue, privilege and misogyny, these episodes are unflinching and explicit in their treatment of violence – especially sexual violence – although this collection has the dubious distinction of being rape-free. Still plenty of slaughter though, and an astounding body-count…

Whichever English transliteration you prefer – Wolf and Baby Carriage is what I was first introduced to – Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima’s grandiose, thought-provoking, hell-bent Samurai tragedy is one of those too-rare breakthrough classics of global comics literature. A breathtaking tour de force, these are comics you must not miss.
Art & story © 1995, 2001 Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima. Cover art © 2001 Frank Miller. All other material © 2001 Dark Horse Comics, Inc. All rights reserved.