Batman: Death Mask by Yoshinori Natsume YP FIC NATSUME

Is Batman really Bruce Wayne? Or is Bruce Wayne a mask the Batman wears for the public? There's a demon from Japan in Gotham stealing faces and taunting the Dark Knight; a demon straight from Bruce Wayne's time training in Japan before he was Batman.  He'll have to find the answer to who Batman is and face his own dark shadow to stop this deadly new threat.

How can you not love BatManga? It's got Batman and Manga! That's chocolate and peanut butter levels of greater than the sum of its parts! This definitely isn't the best or most original Batman story or the best manga, BUT it is a fun and stylish Batman adventure.  I love the face stealing baddie best of all.  He's a super cool masked assasin with the same silhouette as Batman, but in a traditional Japanese style.  It works really well for the  book, because he is super creepy and a great visual counterpoint to Batman.  The visuals are by far the strongest selling point of the book, as Batman really pops in a manga style.  i also like how the book kept me guessing about whether the villain is REALLY a demon or if there is some sort of scientific explanation behind the mystery.  They have several fun twists with this and I love it when Batman stories are also mysteries.  The only real down sides are that these ideas have been looked at before in loads of other Batman comics and that the dialogue is a little wooden.  I think the language barrier probalby explains the latter, and it's never so bad that it's unreadable.  As for the story covering old ground, many readers won't have read quite as many Batstories as I have and the book will feel fresher to them.  Also, the great visuals more than carry the book to being a can't miss Batbook.  It's Batastic! Batrific! Batstanding! Okay, that's probably enough bats for...ever.  So if you like Batman or manga, definitely give this one a read.  If you like Batman and Manga then you are pretty much legally obligated to love it!  

You can find Batman: Death Mask in our catalog here.

Sunny by Taiyo Matsumoto YP FIC MATSUMOT

The story of an orphanage in a small Japanese town, the kids that live in it, and a broken down Nissan Sunny 1200. Their hopes, dreams, and loves seem are all shown in vivid relief next to the shame and stigma of being cast offs. 

This is not a fighting giant robots, magical girl, comic love romp, or any other of the well-worn genre staples.  This is a completely unique work. It has a striking visual style that mixes manga and European comic art to create something unlike any other comic being published.  it has it's own slow, wan style that feels more like a Japanese art house film than a comic.  It is an at turns sad and funny look at growing up when you're cast off.  There isn't a grand over arching plot, instead there are short vignettes with each chapter looking at either a different character or a different facet at growing up surrounded by people that are all alone.  It's a beautiful look at nostalgia, loneliness, longing, and the ache of hope.  I think it might end up being his finest work when it's completed. Which is saying a great deal because I absolutely LOVED GoGo Monster (reviewed here) and Tekkonkinkreet (reviewed here).  If you enjoy comics as a valuable artistic medium, then you just have to give Sunny a try.

You can find Sunny in our catalog here.

Infinite Kung Fu by Kagan Mcleod YP FIC MCLEOD

The world we know has ended and a new world governed by the mystic arts and kung fu has replaced it.  The balance of life and death is off kilter and the dead rise from the grave because the cycle of reincarnation cannot be completed. Now a Ghost Emperor and his generals seek the armor that can return him to life so he can destroy the world.  Only Lei Kung, a lowly foot soldier, can learn long forgotten secret arts and save all life on Earth.

This book had me with zombie kung fu fighting, but it offers so much more. Disco kung fu masters, using detachable limbs as weapons, martial arts that make people explode, shaolin robot training, and more and more and more awesome ridiculousness.  This perfectly captures the feeling of finding an insane kung fu movie on at 3am and watching it get crazier and crazier and never believing your own eyes.  The storyline has plenty of melodramatic twists and turns, the kung fu is first rate, and the fluid Asian-inspired brushwork makes it a one of a kind visual feast.  This is a must read for any kung fu fan and will likely make kung fu fans of most any one that reads it.    

Check our catalog for Infinite Kung Fu here.

Maoh: Juvenile Remix by Megumi Osuga YP FIC OSUGA

Ando blends in.  He learned at a very young age the Japanese idiom “the hammer that sticks up, gets nailed down first,” was true.  Thus, he relies on his not popular/not unpopular enough for daily beatings status and tries to always have the same exact views and interests as his friends.  Everything changes when the Grasshoppers show up.  A group of young vigilantes pledged to saving the city led by a charismatic leader named Inukai, the Grasshoppers have a dark side that scares Ando.  This fear and admiration lead Ando to start standing up for himself and others and using his long secret gift: the power to make others say whatever he is thinking.  Unfortunately, his new found resolve and long hidden power also put him directly in the sight of the Grasshoppers and in the line of fire!

This is an exciting new series.  It has very dynamic and exciting art (however some of the female designs are gratuitously fan service to a degree that birders on self-parody) and I quite like the character design.  The art is nicely detailed and it feels like a premium title.  The story has a very Deathnote feel, special powers, mysterious deaths, teen violence just under the surface of a normal city, etc., but that’s not a bad thing.  This manga may not be the most unique I’ve read, but it moves fast, has excellent art, and has a truly intriguing mystery. The main character is a very believable coward.  I certainly wouldn’t want to get brutally beaten for sticking up for fellow classmates and I DEFINITELY wouldn’t tell my high school chums that I have Special Secret Powers!  It was one of the better examples of reluctant hero that I’ve seen in manga in a while and I hope the series can keep up the realistic character growth, because it really helps ground the more fantastic elements.  Check it out otaku, it might become your new favorite series!

Mangaman by Barry Lyga Illustrated by Colleen Doran YP FIC LYGA

Ryoko Kiyama is not your typical transfer student.  He isn’t from Japan.  He’s from Japanese comics.  Now he’s stuck in a world that he doesn’t understand, a world that fears and distrusts him: high school.   When he meets Marissa Montaigne he falls in love and has a dilemma: go home or stay with Marissa. 

This is a great concept.  Eastern comics meeting ‘realistic’ Western comics.  Ryoko has all the manga clichés we know and love: speed lines, giant sweat drops, deformed features in response to emotion, etc.  You can see how seeing these things from a person in real life would be very upsetting.  All this would make for a fun examination of some of manga’s sillier tropes, but Lyga does more with this story.  He uses it to examine the fabric of reality and the nature of the comic medium.  This is an absolute must read for manga fans and I think non-manga fans will enjoy it as a parody of manga. 

7 Billion Needles Volumes 2, 3, and 4 by Nobuaki Tadano YP FIC TADANO

Hikaru thought Maelstrom was completely obliterated, but instead something unimaginable has happened.  It has changed.  And now it wants to break the endless cycle of obliterating all life until Horizon destroys it, only to repeat the actions on a new planet.  However, when the cycle is broken it has consequences that could nullify all life on the planet or reduce everything to its original evolutionary form.  Only Hikaru can unite Maelstrom and Horizon fight the new evil threat, and stop the Moderator hitting the big reset button on all life on Earth.

 

Volume 1 was a great start to this 4 part series (you can read my review here), but the rest of the series is even better than I hoped.  The plot manages to enlarge greatly in scope while still keeping focus on the characters it started with.  The stakes are greater, but the action is grounded by a human element at all times.  It really kept me invested in what happened beyond just loving the super cool artwork.  And the artwork is definitely great.  The mutated monsters are gory, grisly, and gruesome and the human characters are all very well designed, too.  You never get that samey look where all the characters look alike except for the hair, which plagues so much manga.  Best of all this is a four volume series with a very satisfying beginning, middle, and end.  A great read for any fans of Sci-Fi looking to get into manga or any manga fan that likes a great story and isn’t squeamish about gore.

Bokurano Ours by Mohiro Kitoh YP FIC KITOH

Want to play a game?  You get to hang out with your friends and use a giant robot to defend the Earth from aliens! Sound fun?  Well, sign on up.  One more thing…it’s a REAL giant robot, real alien, and you and countless innocent civilians can and probably will die. 15 young friends stumble on a scientist in a cave and sign on for the most dangerous  game of their lives.

This is a clever twist on the mecha (giant robot) genre.  Kids piloting mechs and questioning the morality of their action isn’t brand new(Neon Genesis Evangelion did it ages ago), but Bokurano has a different take.  The kids choose to sign up for the game and play out of boredom and a sense of adventure.  It looks at the drive for violence in people and how the line between simulated and real violence is quickly blurred.  This is especially timely as warfare often uses remotely controlled drone aircraft to kill from afar.  I’m not sure if this is meant to be a direct comparison, but it definitely fits as a metaphor.  This is a fast paced series, with a main character being axed in the very first volume, so readers get pulled in fast.  The art has an appealing rough quality to it.  All the characters are drawn with sketchy uneven lines.  I look forward to future volumes eagerly and strongly recommend manga fans of all tastes give Bokurano a chance.

Twin Spica by Kou Yaginuma YP FIC YAGINUMA

Thirteen year old Asumi Kamogawa dreams of the stars.  Now that she has applied to the first class of the Tokyo Space School she feels like her dreams may actually be in reach, but it’s hard to defeat gravity.  All around her are memories and ghosts of the suffering caused by a rocket ship tragedy that deeply marked her home town and family. If she can escape the Earth will she escape its ghosts?  Does she really want to?

This could very well be a new classic in manga.  It even has a timeless art style that looks as much like an 80s manga as a modern book.  What makes the book stand out is a mix of melancholy, hope, wonder, and whimsy, so it probably isn’t going to compete with Naruto. Asumi is like many quiet and shy manga protagonists with painful pasts.  I think what made me respond to her over the multitude of others is that her sense of earnestness and wanderlust is tied to a very well realized tragic past.  Just about everything dealing with plot and character is well realized.  All the supporting characters have their own stories and drives and Asumi’s ability to look closer at people allows them to be uncovered. This is a wonderful love letter to friendship, hope, family, exploration, and dreams that never becomes sappy or sentimental.  Manga fans looking for something original and heartfelt should give this gem a chance.

Biomega by Tsutomo Nihei YP FIC NIHEI

It’s 3005 and unsurprisingly in a manga set in the far future the world is pretty darn terrible.  A crazy virus is turning humans into drones (super deformed zombies) and kill squads have been sent to exterminate all infected.  Zoichi Kanoe is a synthetic human working for TOA Heavy Industry.  He’s on a mission to find an accomadator in the city.  Someone infected but not zombified.  When he finds her, he finds himself in the middle of a war with the public health service. They’ve decided that humanity needs a facelift and that they’ll take all the accomadators they can kidnap, start a new race, and nuke the “old” humanity.  The basic plot idea is old, recycled, and pretty predictable so far, BUT the art, design, and execution of the action is just stellar.  Nihei makes his world dark and grimy with an impressive attention to details, inking, and shading.  This is a bloody, gory, horror-action book that jumps straight to the point.  The entire book is only 6 volumes, so it doesn’t waste time on anything.  The bad guys are super cool and tough, Zoichi has awesome tech and weapons, and there is a talking bear that uses a laser gun, so the action gets very crazy.  Fans of darker manga or action manga can’t go wrong here.  There aren’t any laughs or much deep philosophy, but with art and action this good I can do without it.

7 Billion Needles Volume 1 by Nobuaki Tadano YP FIC TADANO

Hikaru isn’t much of a social butterfly.  She prefers to hide behind her headphones and drown the world out, but there’s a new voice she can’t ignore.  It’s inside her and it says that if she doesn’t help find an alien called Maelstrom hiding in one of her schoolmates than the entire world will be destroyed.  Hikaru isn’t sure what’s worse: annihilation of all life on Earth or having to talk to her classmates!

This is a really clever idea and Tadano nails the execution.  This is a stand out from the crowded “normal teen gets super powers and fights evil reluctantly” crowd.  It works because Hikaru is such a believable teen and her reluctance is more believable. Almost any high schooler knows the sheer terror of having to talk to certain classmates.  It’s way freakier than fighting an alien!  Except this alien, it’s way freakier.  This book does the ‘enemy amongst us’ idea very well.  Maelstrom is seriously and legitimately creepy.  The drive to find him before he kills again and again and again makes this a very suspenseful read.  Top that off with top notch art and some great action sequences and you have a manga must read!  Last and certainly not least I am very happy that this is a four volume series.  I love when authors can resist the urge to tell never ending stories (I am staring so hard at you right now Naruto!).  So check it out, even if you hate it there isn’t that much of it to read!