By Akira Toriyama
224 pages, black and white
Published by Viz
It’s no secret that Akira Toriyama is easily best-known for his 42-volume Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z epic. Wisely swearing off anything of that length ever again, a couple of years ago Toriyama created Sand Land, a one-volume story about demons, deserts, and tanks. And while Dragon Ball might be the more popular story, I think there’s a lot to recommend Sand Land.
Adapted by Tony Wong
Based on the novel by Rui-An Wen
Art by Andy Seto
128 pages, color
Published by ComicsOne
Every time I turn around these days, there seems to be a new book from ComicsOne illustrated by Andy Seto. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Para Para, Story of the Tao, Shaolin Soccer… the list goes on and on. With the release of The Four Constables Vol. 1, though, I think ComicsOne has found the most attractive book by Seto to date.
By Andy Seto
144 pages, color
Published by ComicsOne
Go to a large-scale arcade and chances are you’ll see them—the dozens of teenagers clustered around the games where you literally dance on top of a series of pads to score points. While Dance Dance Revolution is the most popular brand of these games in the United States, it’s hardly the only one. For instance, there’s Para Para, a variant where sensors also track your hand gestures and award points for style. Even then, who would have guessed that Andy Seto would create a comic about it, revealing it to be the true expression of love? Not me, that’s for sure.
Written by Moebius
Art by Jiro Taniguchi
160 pages, black and white
Published by iBooks, Inc.
If you asked people what superpower they’d want to have, I think flight would be one of the top choices. There’s something liberating about the idea of being able to fly—that you can somehow escape the grasp of the world around you and instantly go wherever you want. French comics legend Moebius certainly understood that when he wrote Icaro, a two-volume collaboration with Japanese artist Jiro Taniguchi where a child is born with the power of flight… but without the power of liberation.
By Takehiko Inoue
Based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
216 pages, black and white
Published by Viz
When Viz first debuted Takehiko Inoue’s new series Vagabond two years ago, it’s safe to say that I loved it. Since then I’ve encountered Inoue’s earlier series Slam Dunk to much enjoyment, and I thought I’d learned what to expect from Inoue. With the new volume of Vagabond, though, Inoue has shown me that I still have much to learn.
Written by Hiroshi Takahashi
Based on the novel by Koji Suzuki
Art by Misao Inagaki
312 pages, black and white
Published by Dark Horse
I’m not entirely sure why I never saw the movie The Ring. Somehow I managed to miss out on both the original Japanese movie as well as the American remake, probably because I kept telling myself that I’d see one of them “soon”. Thanks to Dark Horse, though, people in the same situation as me now have a third option—the manga written by the screenwriter of the original movie.
By Moyoco Anno
216 pages, black and white
Published by Viz
One of the trendiest things to do these days is to fix something or someone up. No, not fixing up as in dates, but in trying to make something better. Shows about sprucing up one’s home and garden are so numerous there are entire cable channels devoted to the genre, and the success of shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy proves that people can be just as interested in getting themselves fixed up. The protagonist of Flowers & Bees could certainly benefit from the cast of Queer Eye, though, because the people helping him certainly aren’t as interested in his well-being…
By Yû Watase
192 pages, black and white
Published by Viz
In the past half-decade or so, it’s been fascinating to watch the rise of Yû Watase in America. Her series Fushigi Yûgi: The Mysterious Play became a huge hit on both print and video, and the follow-up Ceres, Celestial Legend isn’t doing too shabbily either. Now a third series from Watase is hitting stores in the form of Alice 19th—and it just goes to show that Watase keeps getting better with age.
Written by Kidaka Yoshiki
Art by Tsugihara Ryuji
176 pages, black and white
Published by Gutsoon Entertainment
Reading The First President of Japan, it’s hard to believe that this was originally published in Japan five years ago. With a story involving troop movements within North Korea, political unrest between Japan and the United States, and a series of actions that threatens to ignite an all-out war within a small region of the country, the number of events here that mirror what’s happened in the world since then is a little shocking. Then again, if you asked the creators of The First President of Japan what they thought about it, they’d probably just smile knowingly. They certainly did their research in creating this series, and it shows—in a good way.
By Osamu Tezuka
400 pages, black and white
Published by Vertical, Inc.
It’s hard to believe that just a couple of years ago, it was almost impossible to find works by Osamu Tezuka in English. Considered by many to be the father of comics in Japan, his English canon consisted primarily of Adolf and Black Jack. Now, it seems, America is finally catching up with the rest of the world. In the past five years, we’ve seen Tezuka inducted into the Eisner Awards’s Hall of Fame, and translations of Phoenix, Astro Boy, Nextworld, and Metropolis just the tip of the iceberg. Now book publisher Vertical, Inc., already publishing translations of Japanese prose novels, is publishing Tezuka’s eight-volume opus Buddha.
