Okay, so David Taylor has already listed all of Diamond’s manga listings for March. I still feel compelled to trawl through for the debuts. It’s like what they say about flossing – if you do it enough times in a row, it becomes a habit where you feel strangely empty if you skip it.
Dark Horse: I admit that I’m not particularly inspired by a title with “Samurai” and “Executioner” in the title. It just doesn’t seem like my genre. But after reading the first volume of Kazuo Koike’s lurid and excellent Lady Snowblood, I’m intrigued by Path of the Assassin, by Koike and illustrator Goseki Kojima.
Dark Horse’s Harlequin line bustles along, with Pink’s The Bachelor Prince and Violet’s Blind Date. (Tony Salvaggio took a look at some other Harlequin offerings in a recent Calling Manga Island at Comic Book Resources.)
CMX: Toru Fujieda’s Oyayubihime Infinity debuts. (Speaking of CMX, why did no one tell me how wonderfully entertaining Chikyu Misaki is? Or why didn’t you make me pay more attention when you did?)
ADV: I guess there’s just no market saturation point for Neon Genesis Evangelion product. ADV debuts Angelic Days.
Americanime Productions: Tzvi Lebetkin and Stefano Cardoselli offer the first issue of Bushido, starring a cybernetic, solar-powered samurai. Environmentally sound violence!
Antarctic Press: There’s plenty of Gold Diggers to choose from, whether it’s Throne of Shadows or the Swimsuit Special 2006.
Boychild/Russell-Cotes Museum: Sakura Mizuki’s Japanese Drawing Room sounds kind of fascinating, a “true story set in Meiji era Japan, [which] combines the visual appeal of manga with a well-researched historical account.”
Century Comics: Japan? Yawn. Korea? Meh. Singapore’s Greatest Comics? Why not?
Del Rey: I’ve already mentioned the arrival of Del Rey’s first mature title, Masaki Segawa’s Basilisk. There’s also Fuyumi (Mars) Soryo’s ES: Eternal Sabbath.
Digital Manga Publishing: The yaoi just keeps coming from DMP’s Juné imprint, including Hinako Takanaga’s Little Butterfly and Keiko Kinoshita’s You and Harujion.
Dr. Masters Publications, Inc.: School, angels, demons, etc: Chan Wan Chum’s Stray Little Devil.
Ibooks: In Shinsuke Tanaka’s Wings, “a farmer finds an adorable, abandoned puppy. But this is no ordinary pooch, because this pup has wings!” Twist my arm, why don’t you?
Ice Kunnion: SoHee Park’s Goong asks the question, “What if Korea had continued monarchism?”
Seven Seas: Adam Arnold and Shiei’s Aoi House sounds like just the ticket for fans of seinen harem manga. Sarah Ellerton’s Interloch features wolf-people and elves.
Tokyopop: The manga revolution marches on. Here are Tokyopop’s firsts:
- .hack//Another Birth, by Miu Kawasaki and Kazunori Ito
- Devil May Cry, by Capcom, Shinya Goikeda, and Shiro Miwa
- Angel Cup, by Jae-ho Young
- Platinum Garden, by Maki Fujita
- Beyond the Beyond, by Yoshitomo Watanabe
- Blood Sucker: Legend of Zipangu, by Saki Okuse and Aki Shimizu
- Dogby Walks Alone, by Wes Abbott
- Mail Order Ninja, by Joshua Elder
- Secret Chaser, by Tamayo Akiyama
- GTO: The Early Years – Shonan Junai-Gumi Volume, by Tohru Fujisawa
Blu: Have you been holding out for the boy-on-boy version of Guru Guru Pon Chan? Kazusa Takashima obliges with Man’s Best Friend: Inu mo Aruke ba Fall in Love. Okay, now say that title aloud after “Excuse me, do you have any copies of…”
So… tired… Must… nap…