Comics will arrive on Thursday this week, which gives you an extra day to brace yourself for the joy. Let’s look at the current ComicList:
Adam Warren and Dark Horse explore the possibilities of the pamphlet with the Empowered Special: The Wench With a Million Sighs. Expect a lot of alliteration as the “scruple-free storyteller soon reveals how all of Empowered’s many frustrations at work, at home, and even in the bedroom can be conveyed strictly through the vocabulary of her extraordinarily expressive exhalations.”
Prepare for bittersweet emotions aplenty as CMX publishes the final volume of Kaoru Mori’s deeply lovely Emma. Happiness at the arrival will blend with sorrow in the knowledge that this is the last time. Will Emma and William make their way down the aisle, or will societal pressures separate them? Whatever happens, expect mono no aware aplenty.
Fortunately, Del Rey offers choices to lift one’s spirits. There’s the second volume of Nina Matsumoto’s excellent comic fantasy, Yokaiden, and the fourth volume of Koji Kumeta’s dense, often scathingly funny Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei.
Digital Manga offers pretty much all of the Makoto Tateno you can handle with the first volume of an omnibus version of Yellow and the debut of its sequel, Yellow II.
Image offers the third issue of Brandon Graham’s excellent King City, originally published in tankoubons by Tokyopop, now released in pamphlet form. Here are a few preview pages over at Comic Book Resources.
A press release that arrived in my in-box yesterday describes Yuki Yoshihara’s Butterflies, Flowers (Viz) as a gateway to josei for shôjo fans. “As shojo manga readers mature and their interests expand,” Director Brand Marketing Candace Uyloan notes, “we are delighted to be able to offer titles that are aimed at a grown up audience.” Works for me. Of course, Chica Umino’s excellent Honey and Clover has been serving a similar purpose for a while now, straddling the border between shôjo and josei with quirky aplomb. The art-college romantic comedy reaches its eighth volume this week.
Just based on Taiyo Matsumoto’s well-deserved reputation as a person who makes great comics, I expect that his GoGo Monster (Viz) might make a strong showing on some “Best of” lists this year. I haven’t read it yet myself, but if it’s anywhere near as good as Tekkonkinkreet, it will be very good indeed. I’m hoping there will be a copy at the bookstore today when I go to pick up Red Snow.
