Manga Village

In the darkness stands a girl draped in pure white. Don’t let her innocent appearance fool you; her hands grip a glistening scythe. Momo is the dark messenger of death who, along with her wise cracking cat named Daniel, is tasked with releasing humans from their mortal bonds and delivering their souls to the great beyond. First encounters with Momo always end in farewells. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley Written by K-Ske Hasagawa; Illustrated by Asuka Izumi Publisher: CMX Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Supernatural Age Rating: Older Teen Price: $9.99 (OOP) Momo is dead. She’s a shinigami, actually. But there’s something different about her. Unlike the other shinigami, Momo is not dark and scary; instead, she seems to visit those who are struggling in their lives. And she provides a sort of guidance counseling as only she can. In the first of three short stories, a young man is so self-involved in his depression that he can’t see the world around him for what it truly is. But Momo drops by and imparts some wisdom with him, and he tries to understand what she means. The second showcases a brother who has eternal regrets from something his sister did. And the…

Meet Noh-A Joo, a brand new student at Amityville North High School. We’re barely introduced to the girl when suddenly we get to watch Noh-A get her head chopped off in a gigantic battle between Jack Frost, the only surviving student of North District, and the head guidance councilor of the West District, Hansen. Jack, armed with two sword-like blades attached to his arms brings the heat on Hansen, who wields what appears to be a gun that has been blessed with holy power. A few beautiful fights scenes, some perverted comedy, and ridiculous and disturbing panty-shot scene later, and Noh-A is alive, in a neck brace, in the hospital wing of the school. By JinHo Ko Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Horror Price: $10.99 It turns out that Noh-A is a “Mirror Image,” an immortal in the realm of Amityville, whose blood can be used to heal any wound. While the origin of her special power is not explained, the comic does explain that Amityville is a place where people who fall out of the reincarnation cycle go, to live and then die for good. Amityville is a world that is writhe with battle. Different districts…

After the finish of Monster tongue wagging Naoki Urasawa fans were begging for something new, and earlier this year both Pluto and 20th Century Boys started their runs in English. Urasawa’s popularity is no fluke, and these titles are huge sellers in Japan, as well. In fact, a three-part movie adaptation is happening now in Japan. (Part 3 comes out later this year.) By Naoki Urasawa Publisher: Viz Media – Viz Signature Age Rating: T+ Older Teen Genre: Mystery, Drama Price: 12.99 USD A series of bizarre deaths reconnects a group of school-age chums from who have been friends since the late 1960s. Half of the book is flashbacks to childhood days as recollections of stories between the reunited friends which often read like scenes from “Stand by Me” or “The Wonder Years”. The boys made a secret clubhouse out of a mound of grass in an empty lot, and there hide from “enemies” like the “evil twins” Yanbo and Mabo. Childhood games are epic in proportions, even if they have no real significance in everyday life, but what makes 20th Century Boys fascinating and mysterious is the symbol the boys created as a sign of their club starts showing…

“I used to sell myself. I’d do whatever anyone wanted for money. And that’s normal for me! This guy you just slept with here… he’s disgusting!” By Kazuna Uchida Publisher: Aurora Publishing – Deux Press Genre: BL/yaoi Rating: 18+/M/Mature Price: $12.95 The BL genre is relatively new, having first come into existence in the 1970s with pioneering works by artists such as Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya, but not really taking a stable form until the 80s; this is how Deux Press can get away with calling I Shall Never Return “early yaoi” even though it’s less than 20 years old. For all that the 90s are more recent than the 70s, though, there’s definitely something distinct about I Shall Never Return that sets it apart from more recent BL series. Both the art style and the content bear the marks of the era in which the book was created. They don’t make ’em like this any more. The story concerns the tumultuous relationship between Ritsuro the glasses-wearing neat-freak and Ken the smouldering bad boy; they’re friends in childhood, but when Ken turns thirteen, his parents get divorced and he starts going off the rails, and Ritsuro tries to “console”…

Yamaoka and his father Kaibara Yuzan, have never enjoyed an ideal father-son relationship.  In fact, it’s about as far from ideal as possible, and when they start arguing about food–which they inevitably do–the sparks really fly.  In this volume of Oishinbo, the subject of dispute is fish, starting with the question of whether mackerel can ever be truly good sashimi.  Later, things come to a head during the “Salmon Match” which pits father against son in an epic contest to develop the best dish before a panel of judges.  Will Yamaoka finally defeat Kaibara?  Or will he once again be left in his father’s shadow? Written by Tetsu Kariya; Illustrated by Akira Hanasaki Publisher: Viz Media – Viz Signature Age Rating: Teen Genre: Food Price: $12.99 The overall premise of Oishinbo is that Yamaoka and his partner Kurita are compiling the “Ultimate Menu” of Japanese cuisine for the 100th anniversary of the publishers of Tozai News.  Each volume of Viz’s compilation of this long running series is centered around a type of food. This volume is all about fish.  The stories are episodic, and can be broken down into two types; Yamaoka helping someone out or putting someone in their…

In the first volume, Lim gave us blisteringly fast, bloody fighting. With the talented illustrator Park, he gave us gorgeous art, busty women, high tension scenes, and a background story for three characters thrust into something unfathomable. He also gave us tens if not hundreds of tiny, niggling questions. These questions made it so hard to truly enjoy Black God, Volume 1. Now, with the second volume, we still have questions, but a few more answers. Written by Dall-Young Lim; Illustrated by Sung-Woo Park Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Drama Price: $10.99 In this second volume, we foray into a deeper, darker world, and meet a second motsumita, a superhuman guardian of the earth’s “terra”. While these things have started to take on a meaning other than plain jibberish, their strength as story telling terms has not reached a high point . Throughout the volume, Lim uses these words, phrases, and expressions to divulge a secret, carefully crafted like a lotus, its petals peeling away one at a time. The result is a maddeningly suffocating curiosity that permeates the second volume. Many impressive things from the first volume turn out to be mainstays of the seinen manga…

Nuclear war has ravaged the future, and the result is the last remnants of humanity fighting against other species. One of those species arose to become nobility: Vampires. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley Story by Hideyuki Kikuchi; Art by Saiko Takaki Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror Rating: Young Adults (16+) Price: $12.95 It starts with D, who is riding around the countryside to Ransylva, but is confronted before he can get there. Instead, he faces a woman who refuses to let him pass. The two battle briefly, but D seems to handily defeat the woman. But as he starts to leave, she pleads with him. She realizes he is a vampire hunter, and that’s just the type of person she needs. The woman, Doris Lang, successfully convinces D, who then says he is a dhampir, to help her. Doris has been bitten by someone in the nobility, which means she is cursed to become a member of the undead. The villagers continue to provoke her and fear her for being bitten. Doris tells D about her interaction with Count Magnus Lee, who was the vampire who bit her. That night, Larmica and her minion, werewolf Garou, try to…

Recently I ran a comics camp for boys and girls ages nine to twelve. For one week, these kids dove into comics like you wouldn’t believe. They drew and drew and drew, and drew some more. We talked about character, plot, action, but also visual elements like panels, word balloons, speed or emotive lines, and how to draw eyes and mouths to show what your character is thinking. By Shinji Saijyo Publisher: DRMaster Age Rating: 13+ Genre: Cooking Price: $9.95 Now, I’ve taught comics to kids off and on for fifteen years. Whenever I start, the first thing I ask is “What’s comics?” At first, I always got “Spiderman!” or “Batman!” or the like. About a decade ago, I also got some “Dragonball!” answers, maybe a “Sailor Moon!” or two. This time, it was only at the very end that I got the superheroes. Their initial answers were newspaper comic strips and Manga. A big part of comics camp is reading. I pull out dozens and dozens of graphic novels, comics, manga, and collections of comics published over the last seventy-five years. And the kids are voracious readers—I had to bring in extra material midway through the week just to…

Recently I ran a comics camp for boys and girls ages nine to twelve. For one week, these kids dove into comics like you wouldn’t believe. They drew and drew and drew, and drew some more. We talked about character, plot, action, but also visual elements like panels, word balloons, speed or emotive lines, and how to draw eyes and mouths to show what your character is thinking. By: Shinji Saijyo Publisher: DR Master Age Rating: 13+ Genre: Cooking Price: $9.95 Now, I’ve taught comics to kids off and on for fifteen years. Whenever I start, the first thing I ask is “What’s comics?” At first, I always got “Spiderman!” or “Batman!” or the like. About a decade ago, I also got some “Dragonball!” answers, maybe a “Sailor Moon!” or two. This time, it was only at the very end that I got the superheroes. Their initial answers were newspaper comic strips and Manga. A big part of comics camp is reading. I pull out dozens and dozens of graphic novels, comics, manga, and collections of comics published over the last seventy five years. And the kids are voracious readers—I had to bring in extra material midway through the week…

Convinced that finding the jewel of the Dragon God will release the Kuroishi family from their curse, Megumi and Suzuka travel to China together.  Will they succeed in their mission and finally break the captive spell? By Matsuri Hino Publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat Age Rating: Teen Genre: Comedy/Romance Price: $8.99 In this final volume of Captive Hearts, Megumi and Suzuka go to China to fulfill the Kogami family’s contract with the Dragon God, which will hopefully cancel out the Kuroishi family’s curse.  But it turns out the Kuroishi weren’t the only ones to have been cursed by the Dragon God, and this new group isn’t as understanding about things as Megumi. The comedy and hijinks continue in this last volume of Captive Hearts, though the burden is taken off of Megumi and is transferred to a group of villagers who were cursed by the Dragon God to turn into animals at night.  Their bumbling efforts to get Suzuka make for some laughs, as so their transformations, as not all villages turn into animals.  Some just gets ears and tails. The majority of the volume takes place in the village, as the leader and fortune-teller, Granny, tries to get…