Manic Manga Pixie Girl : Naoki Yamamoto – “Dance Till Tomorrow”

Better late than never. Naoki Yamamoto’s “Dance ‘Till Tomorrow” (“Asatte Dance”) is a late-'80s work, but was first published in the U.S. in PULP, a late 90's magazine that was rare Western representation for mature manga. (At the time, any manga that wasn't Dragon Ball had 'rare Western representation,' before the Barnes-&-Noble types caught on …

The Monkey King and the Sacred Quest for Panties: Akira Toriyama – “Dragon Ball” (Volume 1)

Ah, Akira Toriyama's "Dragon Ball." The finest of children's entertainment! It is truly refreshing to revisit the pages of this beloved classic, looking for a gentler time, a more innocent time. What wondrous insights will we find in this pure-hearted adaptation of "Journey to the West," the revered, borderline sacred 16th-Century Buddhist tome? *opens comic …

Shell Bound : Masamune Shirow – “Black Magic”

A fully-decked warrior points out to his comrades in arms, who are about to be deployed from a military helicopter: "We're soldiers, not philosophers." That's from Masamune Shirow's  1983 debut,"Black Magic." It's the standard intro to any number of action scenes  in movies, novels, and graphic novels: assorted mercenaries bantering and bonding over the noise of the chopper's rotors. But it …