Monday, 28 October 2013
Manga in the 80's Pt. 13
A favourite manga of mine with an
engrossing story and appealing art with its character design and
organic integrated technology all wrapped up in a space opera.
The invasion of Earth by the galaxy
spanning Santovasku Empire's immense living battleships and
terrifying ground troops and war beasts, our reluctant hero a Tokyo
News Photographer by the name of Tetsuya Wakatsuki is taken as a
prisoner by the beautiful (but deadly with a sword) Princess Kahm who
has such lovely horns befitting one of Royal blood is the daughter to
the Santovasku Emperor!
For a start humans are seen as vermin
on this sacred planet and battle fleets of star-ships have been given
orders to exterminate the infestation! With such a large Empire of
many bipedal races (much like inhabitance of moons of the planet
Mongo!) some fish-like (Royal Servant Nao ), and some the pinnacle of
feline (Lady Battia) and canine (General Geobalai) evolution I think.
Tetsuya persuades Kahm to save the
Earth and all its Human inhabitance and she promises to marry him and
take on her father, but others are plotting against her, add to this
confrontations between Lady Battia and General Geobalai and family
of Royal Servants loyal to the princess you have a space opera with
style!
[Note. Toren Smith of Studio
Proteus sold the translated manga of Outlanders to the fledgling
comic-book company Dark Horse, thus gave them their first manga
title and a foot-hold in the newfound market. Such was its
importance!]
[Note. 8 Volumes were printed by Dark
Horse covering the entire series (of 33) & the one-off specials
(dates to be confirmed).]
[UPDATE: Collection of issues 1 to 33 now complete. Plus specials.]
OUTLANDERS.
Issues 1 to 12.
OUTLANDERS.
Issues 13 to 24.
OUTLANDERS.
Issues 25 to 28.
OUTLANDERS.
Issues 29 to 32.
OUTLANDERS.
Issue 33.
Special issues.
OUTLANDERS.
Volumes One to Eight.
LETTERS PAGE.
Gallery.
Gallery.
Gallery.
Gallery.
Gallery.
Monday, 21 October 2013
Manga in the 80's Pt. 12
Grey. Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami. Viz Comics published 9 issues in a monthly format, from October 1988 to June 1989 . The manga was originally published by Tokuma Shoten in the mid to late 80's.
One of my fondest memories was seeing a
poster on the wall of the 'Final Fronter' comic-book shop (sadly no
longer with us) this film size poster of Grey death with the iconic
two legged flying machines in the background, just looked like the
coolest Science fiction I'd ever seen (back in 1989)!
Set in the future when man's lust for
war has reduced the human population to small pockets of scattered
villages and the occasional town, with most of the high technology
lost or restricted to the general populous. Life is hard, living in
what for most is a ghetto, feeding from what others throw away. There
is endless war and the threat of attack from the next village or even
from your own 'Troopers' who defend the settlements and strike back,
because in this class system of society, if you're not a 'Trooper'
you're scum (class “F”)! There are even classes of troopers
class “E” up to class “A” (50% of all who start never make it
to a class ”D” trooper), with the promise of food, shelter and
safety from invaders in 'the City' being a class “A” entitles you
to become a citizen, and you are set for life! Killing the enemy and
destroying vehicles and machines of war advances you up the ranks!
We follow the chronicles Grey as he
becomes determined to survive after the death of his girlfriend
called Lips, carrying her dream of becoming citizen and living in the
city, is his relentless drive. As a trooper he is sent on mission
after mission, each one harder than the last. His uncanny survival
and being the sole trooper out of his squad to return from many a
mission marks him with the nick-name Grey Death as we witness him
becoming a ruthless killing machine focused on the next class rank!
From retro fitted WWII tanks and vehicles to power amour and Mecha,
and the realisation that humanity's fate is not their own, and that
there is a group fighting a resistance, Grey now seeks answers to the
endless battles.
[Note. The American author Harlan
Ellison mentions in his introduction to the manga of Grey, “it is
an important comment on how a society mad for war can debase and
chill its citizens. Grey is also a powerful statement about the
demeaning caste systems we create to keep others in their place.”]
[UPDATE: Collection of issues 1 to 9 now complete.]
GREY.
Issues 1 to 9.
GREY.
Volume ONE and Volume TWO.
A look back at GREY.
Gerard Jones Writer, "Confessions of a rewriter".
Gerard Jones Writer, "Confessions of a rewriter".
GREY, THE END AND THE BEGINNG.
[Note. The three page article at the back of volume one entitled “Confessions of a rewriter by Gerard Jones, can be quoted as saying “Ultimately, the story of Grey springs not from the characters but from the machine-dominated world in which they function.”]
Genealogy of Manga;
"GREY". Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami.
"HOROBI". Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami.
"FRONTIER LINE" Also Written and illustrated by Yoshihisa Tagami.
Notable adaptations in to animation;
Anime entitled; GREY: Digital Target. (December 1986, 75\80 minutes, Director Satoshi Dezaki).
[NOTE: On the 12th.September 1994, in the UK 'WESTERN CONNECTION - Film and Video Distribution' released a PAL VHS tape, with Japanese Dialogue and English subtitles of GREY: Digital Target.]
GREY Illustrations ART BOOK.
(with THANKS to Brain F. for finding this book for me.)
[NOTE: 1984's TV Series 'Super High Speed Galvion' sees Yoshihisa Tagami credited with the character designs. - a keen eye can see this, by the distinct style and shape of the characters noises.]
Manga in the 80's Pt. 11
Fire Tripper. Written and illustrated
by Rumiko Takahashi. Published by Viz comics 1989 (the first the
“Rumic World” showcase series). The manga was originally
published by Shōgakukan Inc. 1989.
This cleverly worked time travel short
story centring on two children both flung from their respective times
(1980's and possibly Japan's feudal civil war of the1500s) by a fiery
explosions, with both of them having forgotten their juvenile past.
The principal part of the story takes place in feudal Japan where the
teenage schoolgirl Suzuko has been transported to a field in
aftermath of a battle, and rescued by an older boy Shukumar who takes
her to his village, where their relationship blossoms.
[Note. UPDATE: As of 2022 I have both "Fire Tripper.", and "Laughing Target", as well as the TPB "Rumiko Takahashi's Rumic World".]
[Note. UPDATE: As of 2022 I have both "Fire Tripper.", and "Laughing Target", as well as the TPB "Rumiko Takahashi's Rumic World".]
[Note. Dear reader, 'Fire Tripper' is the
only surviving issue I have from the 'Rumic World' that I have found
in my collection, and with the OVA releases of the same name and
under the same banner, I'm sorry to say I can not at this time recall
all the manga that was featured.]
[Note. Laughing Target (1990) was the second short story in the collection of Rumic World.]
[Note. there was later a Trade Paperback compilation that had 3 stories within its pages called Rumic World.]
[FOOTNOTE: Rumiko Takahashi, her most popular English translated 'Manga' (Published by VIZ COMIC) in the 1990's was "Ranma 1/2" (a martial arts comedy), and the long running series "Maison Ikoku" (a light-hearted Soap Opera), but her dip into Gothic horror and the Occult would be those stories taken form myths and Legends of the Japanese Mermaid; ]
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Manga in the 80's Pt. 10
We also had stand alone issues of Manga
released as one-offs at the end of the 80's, and Go Nagai's Iconic
“Mazinger” was one to get.
Mazinger. Written and illustrated by Go
Nagai. Published by First publishing Inc. in November December 1988. The manga
was originally published by Dynamic publishing Inc.1988.
The year is 214X, eight years after the nuclear war
and its nuclear winter the ten percent of humanity is split between
North & South as the new super powers fight for resources, thus
starts the one hundred years war, with war machines of gigantic size!
Our hero young Major Koji Kabuto is
flung in to battle in the Combat Robot Mazinger, the masterpiece of
the subterranean arsenal. As the battle rages something he is
unprepared for happens and the battle shifts, changing his motivation to saving a beautiful woman from the horrors of war!
[Note. Go Nagai is known for his part in
the Japanese robot revolution on TV in the 1970's and his reputation
for hypersexual psycoviolence (Cutie Honey, and Devilman) changed the
manga industry for kids comic-books & comic-strips for that
decade and beyond, spawning many Anime tv series.]
[NOTE: so far as I can find in the publications of "FIRST COMICS" in the 1980's, the issue of this bespoke graphic novel (MAZINGER) made for an North American market, is the only other title apart from "Lone Wolf and Cub", from Japan to be published!]
[NOTE: so far as I can find in the publications of "FIRST COMICS" in the 1980's, the issue of this bespoke graphic novel (MAZINGER) made for an North American market, is the only other title apart from "Lone Wolf and Cub", from Japan to be published!]
Hypersexual Psychoviolence!
"The dynamic world of Go Nagai" by Frederick Patten.
Hypersexual Psychoviolence!
"The dynamic world of Go Nagai" by Frederick Patten.
[Note. A four page article by Frederick Patten on Go Nagai at the back of this graphic novel is well worth reading.]
"MANGA: THE NEXT GENERATION!"
"THE WORLD PREMIRE OF THE FIRST ORIGINAL FULL-COLOR FULLY PAINTED MANGA."
This full colour advertisement was printed in two issues of the "Sable" comic book in 1988, proclaiming that; "MANGA: THE NEXT GENERATION!" "THE WORLD PREMIRE OF THE FIRST ORIGINAL FULL-COLOR FULLY PAINTED MANGA."
This B&W advertisement was printed in an issue of "Sable" comic book (1988).
[NOTE: having to buy a selection of comic books that, just on the off chance that there would be advertisements for this ONE-OFF comic book, did pay off, for me outweighs the cost of the ITEM PRICE: £25.00 ORDER TOTAL:£31.50. (AUGUST 26Th. 2022)]
The source and proof of advertisements.
Saturday, 12 October 2013
Manga in the 80's Pt. 9
Dominion. Written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. Published by Eclipse International & Studio Proteus in 6 issues in a Monthly format from December 1989 to May 1990. The manga was originally published by Hakusensha 1986.
A highly enjoyable Science Fiction comedy!
[Note. Like so many translated manga of its time only a short number of issues where produced to show the verity and style form Japan, and then where gone! Easily missed at your local comic-book store.][Note. So popular was this series that over the years, 3 sets of OVAs have been animated (Dominion Tank Police, New Dominion Tank, and TANK S.W.A.T. 01).]
[Note. Masamune Shirow is best known in the West by his seminal work “Appleseed”.]
[UPDATE: Collection of issues 1 to 6 now complete]
Dominion #1 to #6 from Eclipse Comics.
[NOTE: When I was missing issues 4,5, & 6, at the time I also missed out on adverts and articles too.]
The Promethean Challenge.
Graphic Album
Shipping in Spring of 1990.
[UPDATE: From Dark Horse comics; Collection of 7 manga comic books would be printed in 1996 (March to August, and ) 'Masamune Shirow's DOMINION Conflict 1 - No more noise' #1 to #6.
#1to #3
#4 to #6
[NOTE: these last 7 manga comic-books were added to my collection, in April of 2021.]
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