40 whacks with a Top Shelf AX

You know the funny thing is about a couple of years ago when Tokyo Zombie came out I went ahead and purchased several issues of AX (the de-facto spiritual successor to Garo) from Last Gasp figuring, "There's pretty much no way I'll ever see this in English." Well wouldn't you know that Top Shelf would have to go and prove me wrong by releasing an English language version of the eclectic bi-monthly indy-manga anthology and I've finally had some time to dive into it and I gotta say I'm loving this book.

There is a wide variety of stuff sandwiched between these covers and at times it can be a bit of a mixed bag. I mean let's be honest there rarely is such a thing as a perfect anthology (although Kramers Ergot comes pretty damn close. RIP Buenaventura Press...) but the pluses far outweigh the minuses and we've been needing this book. There hasn't been this in-depth an examination of alt-manga since Viz's Secret Comics Japan or Blast Book's Comics Underground Japan (and let's throw Fantagraphics' Sake Jock in there while I'm thinkin' about it...)

The book itself is a shockingly beefy little tome. You get 400 pages in a compact 6.5 x 8.5 inch package (pretty close to the dimensions of the OG AX...) graced with a lovely cover by Akino Kondo and inside there's wide variety of alternative manga. There's good stuff by some familiar faces (Kazuichi Hanawa, Imiri Sakabashira, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Hanakuma...) and there is a bunch of new artists who's work I've never seen before. Some stand outs for me included Enrique Kobayashi's ElDorado by Toranuskue Shimada, Takao Kawasaki's Rooftop Elegy, Shinya Komatsu's winsome Mushroom Garden, Yuka Goto's The Neighbor, Takato Yamamoto's ero-guro-esque Into Darkness, and of course Akino Kondo's pair of charming tales The Rainy Day Blouse and The Umbrella. And there were even a couple of stories in there from the volumes I bought from Last Gasp! Namely Mitsuko Yoshida's The Tortoise and the Hare as well as Namie Fujieda's The Brilliant Ones.

There are a ton of comics here and this book is definitely well worth picking up. And I just found out that it is official and Top Shelf will be releasing AX VOLUME 2!!!

I really enjoyed the first volume and I can't wait to see what the second one holds in store. Hopefully we'll see more work from AX regulars/superstars Shigeyuki Fukumitsu and Shigehiro Okada. I'd love to see Yuka Goto's totally bonkers art-brut Justice Corps in action. I've heard Toranusuke Shimada's Traumerei is a great read. And I'm dying to know what is the deal with Kotobuki Shiriagari's sprawling epic which seems to involve lots of explosions and people shrieking in terror.

Hopefully the next book will also include some artists who didn't make the cut for the first volume like the intricate screen-toned stylings of Shizuka Nakano. There's the European-flavored sci-fi/fantasy comics of Minoru Sugiyama (Mother Cosmos looks pretty cool...) And the crazy work of Michihiro Hori who's current series involves a group of high school students obsessed with making lacquered bowls. Of course if wishes were horses it'd be nice if they started including articles about manga/gekiga as well (a'la Comic Art) but I don't think that's gonna happen. Oh well.

Anyways... AX #1 is great GET IT. AX #2 don't drag yer feet gettin' here.

AKKUSUUUUUUUUUUU!!!

Today is a good day. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting compounded by delays and fruitless searching I'VE FINALLY GOT A COPY OF AX!!! Trip report to follow...

Dude... Where's my manga?

I'm not even sure where to start when talking about Kosuke Masuda's Gag Manga Biyori. All sorts of weird characters, historical figures and everything in-between experience crazy shenanigans after being pulled through a Gordian knot of the bizarre logic common to gag manga.

I'm only familiar with this manga from having seen the tiny 5-minute long episodes of the anime (directed by Akitaro Daichi of Sexy Commando fame...) but holy crap do they cram a lot of insanity into those five minutes. It's a pretty hilarious series and I would totally buy it if it was available in English.

fake edit: Couple of quick notes. GMB used to be in Shonen Jump but now it's in Jump Square. The latest season of the GMB anime has changed to full blown 1/2 hour episodes. This action figure of protagonist Shotoku Taishi looks hella rad.

Dive dive DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!

Whoops. I forgot I've been sitting on the last couple of Tokion/Garo comics for quite some time. Here's the last Toyo Kataoka strip... Submarine Family!

Cold n' Crabby...

Oof. It's good to be back. I managed to survive Christmas, a visit from the in-laws and their generous gift to both of us in the form of a matching set of particularly nasty head colds. But that's behind me and now it's a new year with new possibilities, new projects to work on aaaaaand a new episode of Tokyo Flow Chart for you to enjoy! GO! READ IT NOW!!!

Dude... Where's my manga?

I've been catching up on my web reading lately and I saw Top Shelf announced that due to a shipping snafu the AX anthology has been available just not showing up in stores. Fortunately the problem has been resolved and hopefully I'll be able to get my grubby mitts on a copy soon enough. I feel like I've been waiting forever for this book to come out and it got me thinking about various little comic gems that seem to have fallen through the cracks.

Remember Eiji Nonaka's Cromartie High School? When AD Vision went belly-up not only did this result in us not getting the last leg of the series but I think it also killed the chances of us getting to enjoy his follow-up series Mirai Chounaikai (Future Neighborhood Association) which follows the adventures of a... well... A neighborhood association in the future. Every chapter had them dealing with various issues affecting the community. Maintenance, littering, alien abductions, psychic warriors.

Tokyo Flow Chart by Eiji Miruno is one of the titles that's a part of Viz's partnership with Ikki and I must say I am loving this comic. TFC takes the standard yonkoma strip and spins it off in a zillion different directions wringing larfs out of every panel. Ok, this one hasn't exactly "fallen through the cracks" but I do feel it's kinda on the bubble seeing as how it's part of the Sigikki "throw it against the wall and see what sticks" initiative and this comic deserves a wider audience.

Hmmmmm... Two brilliant gag manga authors both named Eiji. COINCIDENCE!?

And while poking around on the Ikki website I saw that Taiyou Matsumoto's No.5 will be available on the iPad in Japan, Canada and the US!

Oh and one more very important thing. In the latest entry from Same Hat! they linked to a section of manga previews from AX publishers Seirinkogeisha and I found out that the gentlemen who I've been referring to as Jiro Ishikawa all this time is actually named Toyo Kataoka. Oops. My apologies all around especially to Mr. Kataoka. And boo to Tokion magazine for getting his name wrong in the creator credits.

GRANNY NOOOOOO!

I'm still working over my fevered little brain how to get this comic jam thing to work. I really really reeeeeeeeeally need to talk to the guys at Bedrock City because they expressed a definite interest in making this happen (even if it's just to promote their store...)

Still chugging forward on the comic which is almost finished (not almost enough though for my tastes) and I've uploaded some more Toyo Kataoka manga. Cheggit Oot.

~bonk~

More Tokion manga! This time we've got the first of three strips by Toyo Kataoka. Let's kick things off with Building Fetish...

Mo manga, mo problems...

I am seriously jazzed. Less than two weeks until the comic jam!

Also I've uploaded some more Tokion/Garo manga for your enjoyment. This time we've got Jiro Ishikawa's Got Little Got Big.

When it rains it pours...

I really need to figure out a way to make more money. Because between being up to my eyeballs in debt and the transmission in my wife's car crapping out things are pretty tight. Anyways, let's change the topic of conversation to something more pleasant shall we?

I've scanned and upped the second half of Kiriko Nananan's Paint in Water Colour for your enjoyment.

Last night I was Burgin' like Candice...

My bebbeh and I got ahold of some tasty chimichuri sauce and mixed it up with some ground beef, cooked it up good and topped it with some sauteed onions and havarti and served that up on toasted Hawaiian king rolls. Best burgers ever. And for dessert we enjoyed some frozen deliciousness from Bruster's which is quite frankly the best ice cream I've ever had.

But enough food talk. I've got some more Tokion manga up for you guys to see over at my Tumblr. This time we're shifting focus from gonzo comedy to pensive dramatic territory with Kiriko Nananan's story Paint in Water Colour.

Pardon our dust...

I'm in the middle of switching all my stuff over to a new host and working with a new laptop to get everything set up so I know what the hell I'm doing and I still need to configure my ftp so I can access my webspace and put stuff on it.

In the meantime I've been chilling out by digging through some of my old books and I found a couple of old issues of the fashion magazine Tokion I bought way back when. Now the fashion stuff I could care less about. The reason I picked these publications up is because for a while each issue had a mini-comic bound in with strips ganked right from the pages of Garo, Comic Cue, etc. So I figured I'd share these quasi-lost* gems with everyone. I'm kicking things off with a healthy dose of two-fisted awesomeness courtesy of Yusaku Hanakuma.

fake edit: Holy crap. I just poked around on hanakuma.com for the first time in quite some while and the guy has got some crazy merch. I certainly would not mind having the Fujio and Mitsuo Iphone app...

*Lost to me anyways. I forgot I had this stuff...