by Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima ; First Comics
Martin Skidmore — 10-Oct-11
Lone Wolf and Cub, or Kozure Okami in Japanese, is one of the big success stories of manga. I intend to try to explain why I think this is one of the finest few comic series I’ve ever seen.
Tags: Dark Horse Comics, First Comics, goseki kojima, kazuo koike, Lone Wolf, lone wolf & cub, Manga, Martin Skidmore
by Junji Ito ;
Martin Skidmore — 27-Mar-11
Junji Ito is the creator of the best, scariest, most memorable horror tales I have seen in any medium.
by Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima ;
Martin Skidmore — 19-Mar-11
I think it’s worth discussing, if only because there seems to be an assumption that Koike & Kojima’s other works are inevitably inferior to their most famous epic, and I honestly think there is far less to choose between them than is generally thought.
Tags: goseki kojima, kazuo koike, lone wolf & cub, Manga, Samurai Executioner
by Osamu Tezuka ;
Martin Skidmore — 06-Mar-11
Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix is the greatest unfinished work in comics (and a real contender for comics’ greatest work of any kind). Don’t let the lack of a conclusion put you off – each volume is self-contained, though there are gains to be had from reading them all, in that characters recur, as do the central themes of reincarnation and questing for immortality, all centred on the mythical bird of the title, whose blood allegedly confers immortality.
Tags: Manga, Osamu Tezuka, Phoenix
by Ai Yazawa ;
Martin Skidmore — 13-Feb-11
I’ve already written about this title in this manga series, but I really wanted to talk more about one short sequence, covering two-thirds of page 81 of volume 5 of Ai Yazawa’s Nana. Obviously there are huge problems in talking about four panels over 1,000 pages into a long story, but I love this sequence so much that I can’t resist taking a shot at it.
by ;
Martin Skidmore — 09-Feb-11
New sales records set by One Piece in Japan.
by Tohru Fujisawa ;
Martin Skidmore — 30-Jan-11
Tohru Fujisawa’s series is some of the best entertainment to be had in comics. The story is about a tough but dumb young punk becoming a teacher, sure he will be a great teacher, despite his ignorance and stupidity. And the point is, he is, even if his main motivation is schoolgirl pussy.
Tags: Great Teacher Onizuka, GTO, Manga, Tohru Fujisawa
by ;
Martin Skidmore — 25-Jan-11
This mustn’t be confused with the movie series. I saw one episode of this on a Channel Four Japanese night or week many years ago, and I was thrilled when I found out that these were coming out on DVD.
Tags: goseki kojima, kazuo koike, Lone Wolf, Manga, TV
by ;
Martin Skidmore — 18-Dec-10
There are gods of death watching over this world. They each have a notebook, in which, when any name is written, that person will die. One of those gods of death, in search of entertainment, drops a notebook into the human world.
Tags: Death Note, Manga, Takeshi Obata, Tsugumi Ohba
by Osamu Tezuka ; Vertical
Martin Skidmore — 08-Dec-10
In my mind, a big new (well, new in English – this is from 1973) Tezuka graphic novel is a major comics publishing event. I don’t think I’ve been as excited about reading a new comic in many months.
Tags: Manga, Osamu Tezuka, Vertical