News and reviews for the discerning manga fan
Back in the 1990s, Matt Thorn labored hard to make Keiko Nishi a household name among American manga readers, translating six of her stories for VIZ. Two appeared in Four Shojo Stories alongside work by Moto Hagio and Shio Sato, and four appeared in a stand-alone volume called Love Song. VIZ made a conscious effort [...]
Most American manga fans know Katsuhiro Otomo as the creator of AKIRA, and perhaps of Domu: A Child’s Dream and Hipira. But did you know that Otomo was also the author of The Legend of Mother Sarah, a criminally under-appreciated sci-fi epic that’s equal parts Mad Max and Terminator II? Set in the not-too-distant future, [...]
Given the speed with which DC Comics shuttered CMX Manga last year, it’s easy to forget that both DC and Marvel actually wanted to publish manga back in the day. Marvel’s manga output paled in comparison with DC’s, but is notable nonetheless, as Marvel helped introduce American readers to one the most influential manga-ka of [...]
Back in 1990, before anyone had hit on the magic formula for selling manga to American readers, VIZ tried a bold experiment. They released a handful of titles in a prestige format with fancy covers, high-quality paper, and a large trim size, and called them “Viz Spectrum Editions.” Only three manga got the Viz Spectrum [...]
What Osamu Tezuka’s New Treasure Island (1946) was to shonen, his Princess Knight (1953-56) was to shojo. Both were long-form adventure stories that employed the kind of camera angles, reaction shots, and action sequences that suggested a movie, rather than an illustrated novel or a comic strip. Neither could be said to be the “first” [...]
It’s hard to remember a time when the only translated manga featured explosions, monsters, and naked women, but for most of the 1980s and 1990s, manly-man manga was the norm; American publishers barely acknowledged that female comic fans existed in or outside Japan. There were licensed manga with female protagonists, to be sure, but The [...]
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, before publishers realized that they could sell manga to teenagers through Borders and Books-A-Million, VIZ and Dark Horse actively courted the comic-store crowd with blood, bullets, and boobs. It was a golden age for manly-man manga — think Crying Freeman and Hotel Harbor View — but it was also [...]
About two years ago, I reached a tipping point in my manga consumption: I’d read enough just enough stories about teen mediums, masterless samurai, yakuza hit men, pirates, ninjas, robots, and magical girls to feel like I’d exhausted just about everything worth reading in English. Then I bought the first volume of Taiyo Matsumoto’s No. [...]
I’m not a big fan of squirm-inducing comedies like The Office; it’s hard to root for a loser who … [Read More...]
Are you an adult reader new to manga? Or a librarian who's looking to add more graphic novels to … [Read More...]
Back in the 1990s, Matt Thorn labored hard to make Keiko Nishi a household name among American manga … [Read More...]
Between the Manga Movable Feast and end-of-the-semester duties, I've fallen hopelessly behind in my … [Read More...]
Below is a list of helpful English-language web resources about manga and manhwa. I update this page on a regular basis, so … [Read More...]
Since joining the Good Comics for Kids team in 2008, I've reviewed a variety of comics, graphic novels, and manga for younger … [Read More...]
Though Vertical has published two series by Keiko Takemiya, the Magnificent 49ers' work remains largely unavailable in … [Read More...]
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