wetsprocket

Hooray, I feel like writing again!

Astro Boy

I'm in vol 10 of 23. I got these on the cheap a few Sakuracons ago.

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order

Up to vol 10. Found a month ago that this only goes up to vol.12. Another one of those brilliantly drawn stories that only has a volume every nine months or so. The only manga where you'll ever see two cybernetically enhanced warriors have a twenty-page thumb-wrestling match.

Blade of the Immortal

Up to vol.21 . Hey, the main characters got split up, then reunited again! The most expensive manga series running, I think. ($18 for 200 pages)

Crying Freeman

I am actually reading the 1990s edition of this so I don't know how the volumes correspond to the new Dark Horse version! I'm in the middle of the second Perfect Collection. Seeing manga that reads left-to-right and completely hand-lettered... is nice!

Dr Slump

Up to vol. 17, only one volume to go. A very enjoyable series for anyone who liked Dragon Ball better before Raditz and Vegeta showed up.

Excel Saga

Up to vol 18. Excel still has amnesia :( Vol.20 (JPN) seen at local Kinokuniya. Is it ending soon?

GTO: The Early Years (aka Shonen Junai Gumi)

What starts out as two high-school punks trying to score ends up being a biker-gang drama. Lots of posturing and threatening and guys standing with their chins off-center. Not quite what you'd expect if you're coming into this after reading GTO. Up to vol.9 of 15 (assuming Tokyopop is willing to finish it! Things are quite different in the manga industry now compared to five years ago).

Gunsmith Cats: Burst

So Dark Horse goes back and rereleases ultimate versions of the first series, and then does three volumes of the follow-up Burst and then there's nothing for months and months while the series has been over in Japan for some time with enough material for three more volumes to be published. Hopefully it has not ended up like the last Kenichi Sonoda series Cannon God Exxaxion where DH did not publish the final volumes...

Hellsing

Up to vol 9. Hope I don't have to wait another two years for vol.10

Hikaru no Go

Up to vol 13. It still amazes me that I am utterly engrossed in a story about people playing a board game.

Inu-Yasha

Up to vol.37. IIRC the Japanese version just finished at vol.55 and they only publish four volumes a year in the US. Sit, boy.

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service

Got into this one "late", having just finished vol.5 while I think vol.9 goes on sale soon. Slackers help the dead get the bodies returned to places. It's very entertaining; it is definitely a manga that is outside of the "90% of anything is crap" idea. The art is clean and often quite gruesome. The English rewrite is great and has copious backmatter translating the SFX and providing background. The first time I've ever read a reference to 2chan in a manga. Highly recommended.

Naruto

It's decent... I feel like I'm missing out since I am only reading what's in Jump and they've skipped entire sagas to catch up to the Japanese releases and I don't feel the inclination to buy three volumes of Naruto every month to follow along. At least it's still readable, unlike ONE PIECE.

Oishinbo a la Carte

Read the Japanese Cuisine and Sake volumes. This is basically a "best of a theme" compilation series of a manga that's been running since the 1980s and has dozens of volumes. I remember reading it in Mangajin in the 1990s. The Kino clerk was very surprising to see it in English! The title means "The Gourment" and the story concerns two newspaper reporters set out to find the Ultimate Menu in all of Japan, visiting a seemingly endless parade of restaurants with plenty of high-level prep-talk and rival-induced melodrama. The art is the exact opposite of flashy but quite detailed when it comes to the food. Published by Viz Signiture, this means IT IS GOOD. Next volume covers Ramen and Gyoza.

Phoenix

I have all 12 volumes but I am still reading vol.8. I have to be in the right mood for it.

Path of the Assassin

Another classic series from the creators of Lone Wolf and Cub. It will completed this year... I wonder if there will be another series from the authors to follow this one, as it followed Samurai Executioner and followed Lone Wolf and Cub. There are a few dozen short, stubby white books filling one of my bookshelves...

Vagabond

Up to vol. 27, still haven't found a copy of Vol.28 yet. If you haven't read it since it came from hiatus, the seemingly endless Kojiro Flashback ended and it's been pretty much one epic sword battle after another.

Yotsuba&!

Once Yen Press publishes the new volumes I will read them. YES.

Yuyu Hakusho

I don't know the volume number as I am reading this one through Shonen Jump. But it's almost over! and the artist is REALLY phoning it on most of the backgrounds. If they ever go back and rerelease this in three-in-one editions I'll probably get them.


AND I MIGHT EVENTUALLY START READING:

20th Century Boys
Works of Osamu Tezuka published by Vertical (another troubled manga publisher!)
Crayon Shin-Chan if CMX publishes vol 11 since I already have the ComicsOne versions of vol 1-10


NOTE

If it seems like I am reading a lot of books, keep in mind that a.) I AM, and b.) a lot of these are effectively annual publications.


NOT MANGA, BUT SIMILAR

Empowered by Adam Warren continues to impress. There will be a volume 5. I am surprised and pleased that sales were high enough to justify its continued publiction since nothing he writes or draws ever lasts long. He's the king of the never-sequelized Marvel miniseries.






 

Yen Press will publish vols 6 and up of Yotsuba&! starting in September. No word on if they'll repub 1-5. And I guess they will be republishing Azumanga Daioh as well...

What happened over at ADV Manga, anyway?

GRILLLLLLLLLED CHEEEEEEESE SANDWIIIIIIIICH

That's some kind of lighting effect on my lip, btw.  And you can probably guess who the fellow with the ball-cap on the monitor there is.