Mazinger

Mazinger

By Go Nagai (First Publishing)
ISBN: 0-915419-46-7

If you’re any sort of manga or anime fan then the Mazinger premise and cartoonist/creator Go Nagai are names you will have heard. For the rest, suffice to say that this unflaggingly creative man (Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, UFO Robo Grandizer, Cutey Honey, Devilman, Kinta the Young Pack Boy, Shameless School and literally hundreds of other comics and TV shows) took Japan and the wider world by storm from the end of the 1960s. Whether with horror (Devilman), comedy (Cutey Honey), satire (Shameless School), historical drama (Kinta, the Young Pack Boy) or many other genres and series ranging from mainstream to underground and alternative, he blazed a trail that made his contemporaries gasp, but with science-fiction, which was considered an unfitting subject for adults when he began, he revolutionised world comics.

Nagai was the man who invented giant robots that heroes could wear as high-tech suits of armour. Mazinger Z — or Majingā Zetto — which first appeared in the magazine Shueisha Shonen Jump in 1972, captivated audiences when adapted as television cartoons. He then invented robots that changed shape (Getta Robo) leading to the Transformers sub-genre. Like his creations this prolific artist never stops.

In 1988 First Comics, one of the earliest American publishers to import translated Japanese comics to the US market, commissioned Go Nagai to return to his roots with an all-new Mazinger graphic novel, in a Western format and full colour (even today the vast majority of manga work is produced in black and white). In a world devastated by permanent warfare Major Kabuto (the name of the original human hero in the old series) spends all his time in frantic combat. But when a cataclysmic explosion catapults him into a parallel universe he meets the beautiful Warrior-Princess Krishna, whose fairy-tale kingdom is on the verge of defeat by the monstrous reptilian Zards.

Love blossoms as the mighty mecha saves the humans but all gods are cruel and the lovers face an insurmountable obstacle. On this Earth Kabuto can only hold Krishna in his arms whilst riding Mazinger. Here all humans are over 100 feet tall…

A simple fantasy, told at breakneck speed and with startling virtuosity, this long out of print item is a wonderful slice of exotica that genre-fans would love to see.

© 1988 Go Nagai. English translation© 1988 First Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.