Before we delve into the current ComicList, I just have to reinforce my Midtown Comics Pick of the Week: Osamu Tezuka’s Book of Human Insects (Vertical) is amazingly good pulp. Of course, I’m rather fixated on two belated arrivals to comic shops.
When one uses a variety of retail streams to acquire their comics, one can lose all sense of the orderly progression of time. One can also feel like the very last person on earth to get his hands on fabulous, classic shôjo. This is my way of leading up to saying that I will finally, finally be able to purchase my pre-ordered copies of Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon and its prequel, Codename Sailor V, both from Kodansha. With these and Dark Horse’s re-release of CLAMP’s Cardcaptor Sakura, I feel like all of my magical-girl manga needs are being gloriously met. (Not punctually met, but gloriously.)
I still shouldn’t allow all of this delightful sparkle to distract myself from Viz’s contributions to the week’s bounty. There’s the 26th volume of Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist, possibly my favorite shônen fantasy-adventure ever, and the fourth volume of Natsume Ono’s House of Five Leaves, certainly among my very favorite character-driven seinen series.
What looks good to you?