Adolf: A Tale Of The Twentieth Century
by Osamu Tezuka
5 Volumes, Viz
Genre: Historical Adventure
Plot: On the eve of World War II, the destinies of three men named Adolf become inexorably intertwined... Adolf Kaufmann, the son of a German consular official living in Japan with his Japanese wife... Adolf Kamille, the son of a Jewish-German refugee couple who run a bakery in Japan... and Adolf Hitler himself. Adolf is a rip-roaring adventure spanning several decades and continents involving dozens of characters.
Background: Originally serialised in 10-page segments in the news-magazine Shukan Bunshun between 1983 and 1985, Adolf is widely regarded as one of Osamu Tezuka's finest works and won the Kodansha Manga Award in 1986.

"Although Adolf is a work of fiction, it incorporates a great deal of well known and not so well known aspects of actual history. To many non-Japanese readers, in fact, Adolf will provide a perspective on World War II that is new, unusual, and provocative. It is not only a Japanese view of what was a truly global war, but it is Osamu Tezuka's..."
Fred Schodt, author of Manga Manga

Banana Fish
by Akimi Yoshida
19 Volumes, Viz
Genre: Hard-boiled action mystery thriller. (Mature Readers Only)
Plot: An involving tale of a psychoactive drug and the rival gangs and secret organisations vying to control it... Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful and highly intelligent; nurture made him a cold ruthless killer. Abused as a child, his own father forces Ash into male prostitution, eventually becoming the main squeeze of Mafia Boss, Papa Dino. Now, as a gang leader, Ash is trying to break free, but is drawn into a complex plot of murder and intrigue when he discovers a dying man uttering the words "Banana Fish."
Background: Originally serialised in 1985 in Shojo Comics and taking ten years, 3,400 pages to complete. Despite it's strong homosexual undertone, every red-blooded Japanese male could happily admit to reading Banana Fish with it's high quota of blood and guts, and clean-line graphics reminiscent of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira.

"... Schwarzenegger meets Woo."
The Comics Journal #249

"...an emotional roller-coaster ride, with every episode bringing new twists and turns in the complicated plot."
Frederik Schodt, from Dreamland Japan

Battle Royale
by Koshun Takami & Masayunki Taguchi
12 Volumes, Tokyopop
Genre: Violent Action, Drama (Mature Readers Only)
Plot: Forty-two teenagers are unknowingly selected to be the next contestants on The Program, a state-sponsored reality TV show. Set on a deserted island, the shows premise is simple... within three days the participants must kill each other until only one of them remains alive. This is the ultimate test of survival of the fittest, where friendships and allegiances come into question, and where duplicity and betrayal becomes the norm.
Background: A manga adaptation of the popular and controversial Japanese film.

"The book's scenes of torture, implied rape and killing combine the horror and extreme violence of A Clockwork Orange with Lord of the Flies' exploration of human nature and depravity and aren't for the faint of heart."
Publishers Weekly

Blade Of The Immortal
by Hiroaki Samura
13 Volumes, Dark Horse
Genre: Samuria Action
Plot: Manji, a ronin warrior of feudal Japan, has been cursed with immortality. To rid himself of this curse, regain his mortality, and end his life of misery, Manji must slay one thousand evil men. His quest begins when a young girl seeks his help in talking revenge on her parents killers. His quest ends only after he has spilled the blood of a thousand!
Background: Winner of the 2000 Eisner Award for Best US Edition of Foreign Material. Originally serialised in the pages of Afternoon comics, Blade Of The Immortal sent a shock wave through the Manga industry for it's nihilistic-punk sensibility, masterful artwork and science-fiction edge.

"In my view, its standing as one of the best manga currently in the process of translation is not entirely undeserved and future volumes will undoubtedly strengthen this reputation."
The Comics Journal #228

G.T.O.
by Tohru Fujisawa
25 Volumes, Tokyopop
Genre: Action, Comedy (For Older Teens)
Plot: Eikichi Onizuka is a 22-year-old ex-biker. He's crude, foul-mouthed, and has a split-second temper. His unlikely goal: to be the Greatest High School Teacher in the World! Before he can become a full instructor, he's got to work as a student teacher to earn his credentials. Onizuka may think he's the toughest guy on campus, but when he meets his class full of bullies, blackmailers, and scheming sadists, he'll have to prove it.
Background: GTO is one of the most popular manga in Japan and made its appearance in 1997 in the Weekly Shonen Magazine. The following year Fujisawa was awarded the 22nd Kodansha Manga award for the series. The series has spawned a hit anime series as well as a live action drama. The final episode of the GTO TV series was the most watched televised event ever in Japan.

Hero
by Wing Shing Ma
1 Volume, Comics One
Genre: Historical, Martial Arts Action
Plot: At the height of China's Warring States period, the country was splintered into seven kingdoms: Qin, Zhao, Han, Wei, Yan, Chu, and Qi. For years the separate kingdoms fought ruthlessly for supremacy. This brought decades of death and suffering to the people of the battered landscape. The soon-to-be Emperor of China is on the cusp of conquering the war-torn, but three martial arts masters are determined to assassinate him first. However, one loyal subject stands in their way, ironically in the name of peace for all the land.
Background: Hero is the manga adaptation of Zhang Yimou's breathtaking 2003 Oscar nominated martial arts movie starring Jet Li, and the graphic novel contains an alternate ending written by Mr. Ma and approved by Zhang Yimou.

Initial D
by Shuichi Shigeno
26 Volumes, Tokyopop
Genre: Action, Adventure
Plot: Only the fearless survive in the white-hot world of street racing, as teams take on dangerous roads in the shadow of Mt. Akina. Behind the wheel of the mysterious 'Ghost of Akina' is Takumi, on his way to becoming the greatest racer ever.
Background: The Initial D manga series made its debut in 1996 and is currently serialized in Japan in the weekly Young Magazine. The story also formed the foundation for an extremely long-running and popular anime franchise in Japan: a TV show produced by Avex ran for 39 episodes over 2 seasons from 1998-2000; there were also two OVA episodes and a theatrical movie release, as well.

Lone Wolf & Cub
by Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima
28 Volumes, Dark Horse
Genre: Samurai Adventure
Plot: A widowed Ronin (Itto) and his toddler son (Daigoro) travel through feudal Japan working as an assassin for hire in an epic samurai adventure of staggering proportions with unforgettable imagery of stark beauty, kinetic fury, and visceral power.
Background: First serialised in Manga Action magazine in 1970, Lone Wolf & Cub (or as it is known in Japan, Kozure Okami) finally totaled over 7000 pages and is acknowledged worldwide for the brilliant writing of series creator Kazuo Koike and the groundbreaking cinematic visuals of the late Goseki Kojima which have influenced a generation of visual storytellers in Japan and in the West. Lone Wolf & Cub has been adapted into a television series and six motion pictures.

"It takes you to another time, and to a frightening, alien land, windswept and gray. Koike and Kojima tell their story masterfully and artfully, portraying a man, a boy, and a country on their journey into Hell."
Frank Miller, creator of Sin City, The Dark Knight Returns

Monster
by Naoki Urasawa
18 Volumes, VIZ
Genre: Action, Suspense Thiller
Plot: An ice-cold killer is on the loose and brilliant Dr Kenzo Tenma is the only one who can stop him. Conspiracies, serial murders and a scathing indictment of hospital politics are all woven together in a compelling thriller. Tenma risks his promising medical career to save the life of a critically wounded young boy. Unbeknownst to him, this child is destined for a terrible fate. Who could know that Tenma would create a monster.
Background: Naoki Urasawa was born in Tokyo in 1960 and is Japan's manga master of the suspense thriller. Critically acclaimed and immensely popular his award-winning woks include 20th Century Boys, Master Keaton, Pineapple Army and Yawara.

"...18 volumes of twists and turns in this thrilling, chilling roller-coaster of moral dilemmas and dark suspense."
Paul Gravett - visit PaulGravett.com for more reading recommendations.

Vagabond
by Takehiko Inoue
15 Volumes, Viz
Genre: Samurai Action (Mature Readers Only)
Plot: Takezo is a lone warrior determined to survive and sharpen his skills as a samurai by challenging master swordsmen throughout Japan to become the strongest samurai in Japan. A cold-blooded killer at first, Takezo embarks on a quest of self-discovery, eventually changing his name and outlook on life as he continues to become a master swordsman under the name Miyamoto Musashi.
Background: Vagabond is the manga adaptation of the fictionalized biography of the real-life sword-saint, Miyamoto Musashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa, and has been appearing weekly in Morning magazine since 1998. In 2000 Inoue received the Kôdansha award for Best Manga for his work on Vagabond.

Barefoot Gen
by Keiji Nakazawa
4 Volumes, Last Gasp
Genre: Historical Autobiography
Plot: Cartoonist Keiji Nakazawa was seven years old and living in Hiroshima in the early days of August 1945 when the city was destroyed by an atomic bomb dropped by the US Government. In Gen, he depicts the harsh family life in Japan, inflicted on the population after years of war and privations. He goes on to tell his account of the days after the atomic bomb was dropped, as seen through the eyes of seven-year-old Gen Nakaoka. Like Gen, Nakazawa lost his father, sister and brother in the holocaust and struggled to survive afterwards with his mother.

"Despite it's harrowing nature, this work is invaluable for the lessons it offers history, humanity and compassion."
Publishers Weekly

"Gen haunts me. The first time I read it was in the late 1970's, shortly after I'd begun working on Maus. I has the flu at the time and read it while high on fever. Gen burned its way into my heated brain with all the intensity of a fever-dream. I've found myself remembering images and events from the Gen books with a clarity that made them seem like memories from my own life rather than Nakazawa's... Gen deals with the trauma of the atom bomb without flinching. There are no irradiated Godzillas or super-mutants, only tragic realities."
Art Spiegelman, author of Maus & In The Shadow Of No Towers

Buddha
by Osamu Tezuka
8 Volumes, Vertical Inc
Genre: Biography, Historical
Plot: A manga retelling of Siddhartha's life and times with emphasis on action, emotion, and conflict as Prince Siddhartha runs away from home, travels across India, and questions Hindu practices such as ascetic self-mutilation and caste oppression. Rather than recommend resignation and impassivity, Tezuka's Buddha predicates enlightenment upon recognizing the interconnectedness of life, having compassion for the suffering, and ordering one's life sensibly. Philosophical segments are threaded into interpersonal situations with ground-breaking visual dynamism.
Background: Tezuka himself was a humanist rather than a Buddhist, and his magnum opus is not an attempt at propaganda. In fact, Tezuka's approach is slightly irreverent in that it incorporates something that Western commentators often eschew, namely, humor.

"Buddha is a vast and fulfilling masterpiece of epic proportions executed with religious devotion. It stands as the opus of Japan's greatest cartoonist, and a high watermark for the medium."
Craig Thompson, creator of Blankets, Carnet de Voyage, Goodbye Chunky Rice

"If a biography of Buddha strikes you as potentially somber or didactic, think again. Tezuka is first and foremost a storyteller and yarn-spinner; the narrative of Buddha moves like a freight train... The full range of Tezuka's skills are in evidence on every page; it's as if he pulled out all the stops, used every arrow in his considerable aesthetic quiver, knowing that this would be his last major work."
Gary Groth, The Comics Journal #259

Nausicaä: Of The Valley Of The Wind
by Hayao Miyazaki
4 Volumes, Viz
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: An environmental crisis has made Earth a hostile place and Nausicaä is the Princess of a beleaguered kingdom known as the Valley Of Wind. She struggles to create peace in a world torn by war and is a passionate defender of the natural world and her ability to commune with the creatures of the forest appears almost magical. As war ravages the planet, Nuasicaä embarks on a quest to unlock the secret of the Sea of Corruption, a spreading wilderness of fungi which threatens to envelop the planet with its poisonous excretions of miasma.
Background: Nausicaä was originally serialised in Japan between 1988 and 1993. It is a classic fantasy tale - in the tradition of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia or J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings - and is underscored by a deep ecological message. It is widely considered to be Miyazaki's greatest work.

"Nausicaä is the finest example of high fantasy I've encountered in the comics - and one of the greatest comics stories I've ever read."
The Comics Journal #200

Vision Of Escaflowne
by Katsu Aki
8 Volumes, Tokyopop
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: Hitomi Hoshino, a 16-year-old school girl with an interest in mysticism, experiences strange dreams at night. A mysterious temple, a tremendous jewel, a shadowy prince - the images trouble her, and a strange incantation keeps echoing in her mind. During a simple fortune-telling one day Hitomi feels a magical pull, and in a shocking moment the dream incantation drags her from her body. She wakes up in a strange world where the Earth hangs in the sky and a headstrong prince asks her to power his god. Where is she? Why has she been transported? And will she really be able to wake the deity Escaflowne?
Background: Vision of Escaflowne (or Tenkuu no Escaflowne as it is known in Japan) was originally serialised in Shounen Ace magazine in Japan between 1994 and 1998. Katsu Aki's manga adaptation of the story was based on the original anime creation of Hajime Yadate and Shoji Kawamori.

Hino Horror 2: The Bug Boy
by Hideshi Hino
1 Volume, DH Publishing
Genre: Horror
Plot: Sanpei is a social outcast - bullied at school and mistreated at home. His only comfort are his pet bugs, but after being bitten by one, he begins to painfully mutate into a huge poisonous inset. He then sets about extracting his revenge on the school bullies by eating them, before moving on to random strangers.
Background: DH Publishing have begun to translate all of Hideshi Hino's chilling back catalogue in their ongoing Hino Horror series. With over 200 titles available in Japan, Hideshi Hino is considered the master of horror manga.

"Ditko meets Kafka... He sucks his audience into bizarre worlds, chews them up and spits them out, yet makes them laugh along the way."
Comics International

The Ring
by Koji Suzuki & Sakura Mizuki
5 Volumes, Dark Horse
Genre: Horror
Plot: A reporter, Asakawa, connects the death of his niece to the deaths of three other high school students. During his investigation, he discovers a videotape with a terrible warning - Those who view these images are fated to die at this exact moment one week from now. With the aid of a friend, Asakawa traces the video to an alleged psychic and her daughter, Sadako.
Background: Manga version of the best-selling horror novel by Koji Suzuki, which has also been made into Japanese and Western movies.

Monokuro (Kinderbook)
by Kan Takahama
1 Volume, Fanfare/Ponent Mon
Genre: Nouvelle Manga
Plot: In a compelling collection of contemporary short stories - tackling subjects as diverse as suicide pacts, mermaids, making a porno film and a bar room chat - Kan Takahama offers the reader the chance to observe and study her characters and then discreetly leave them to their lives, dispensing with the need to witness the narrative through to a dramatic resolution.
Background: Kan Takahama was born in 1977 and had her first comic, Women Who Survive, published in 2001 within the pages of the esteemed magazine Garo. Her work appeared regularly in Garo during 2001 and 2002, and a Japanese collection of her Garo short stories was published under the title Yellowbacks. In 2002, she collaborated with the French comic artist, Frédéric Boilet on the cross cultural romance story, Mariko Parade, and today she continues to be at the forefront of the Nouvelle Manga movement - an attempt to cross pollinate the worlds of Japanese manga with the French bande dessinée.

"As a cartoonist, Takahama employs a delicate, almost Impressionistic mix of ink, pencil lines and rich gray tones to lure the reader into the stories that wouldn't seem out of place among the Drawn & Quarterly publishing line. Hers are personal tales of the lives of urban Japan, as seen through a rich multiplicity of social perspectives - imagine Adrian Tomine had leapt onto the comics stage wielding a painter's brush rather than a cartoonist's crowquill, relating stories of a broad cross-section of American life rather than the narrow slacker angst for which he first achieved his reputation, and you'll be somewhere in Kan Takahama's neighborhood."
Books Of The Year 2004, The Comics Journal #266

The Walking Man
by Jiro Taniguchi
1 Volume, Fanfare/Ponent Mon
Genre: Nouvelle Manga
Plot: Who takes the time these days to climb a tree in bare feet to rescue a child's toy? To stop and observe the birds? To play in puddles after a storm? To go down to the sea to put back a shell? The Walking Man does as he strolls at random through urban Japan - often silent, often alone - with his vivid dreams that let time stand still.

"I love Taniguchi's The Walking Man, there's very little dialogue, it's just putting quiet moments under the microscope. It works, it's amazing. You couldn't do that in any other medium. If it was a novel, then there would be an internal dialogue as he was walking along. I think that book gets close to communicating a moment or experience which isn't tangible, and that is what art should do. This is what's so special about comics; they're alchemical. Hoo! Get you all excited, the words and the pictures and how different balances together can get different reactions! It's like a great big scientific experiment."
Andi Watson, creator of Love Fights, Breakfast After Noon, Slow News Day

"The pleasures of The Walking Man are principally in the form of Taniguchi's careful compositions, which achieve a contemplative beauty. Like a short walk of the mind, they refresh and provide exercise."
Time.com Read the full review here.

Akira
by Katsuhiro Otomo
6 Volumes, Dark Horse
Genre: Science Fiction
Plot: Set in the post-apocalypse Neo-Tokyo of 2019, a vast metropolis built on the ashes of a Tokyo annihilated by an apocalyptic blast of unknown power that triggered World War III. The lives of two streetwise teenage friends, Tetsuo and Kaneda, change forever when dormant paranormal abilities begin to waken in Tetsuo, who becomes a target for a shadowy government operation, a group who will stop at nothing to prevent another catastrophe like that which leveled Tokyo. And at the core of their motivation is a raw, all-consuming fear: a fear of someone - or something - of unthinkably monstrous power known only as... Akira. And Akira is about to rise!
Background: Akira is a bold and breathtaking epic of potent narrative strength and astonishing illustrative skill and is regarded by many as the finest comic series ever produced. Originally serialized in Japan between 1981 and 1993, Akira is a 2,000 page science fiction epic, praised for it's decompressed storytelling style where a few seconds of story time can take pages. Otomo's distinctive hyperkinetic black-and-white drawings explode across the page.

"Currently the most-thumbed books on my shelves are the four phone directory-like volumes of the original Japanese version of Akira, striking artifacts with plastic dust-jackets and coloured edges, totaling some thirteen hundred pages. Even without understanding the language, the sheer impact of the graphics, bristling with complex detail, tonal effects and an exceptional kinetic charge, means that I can dip in at any point and get carried along with the flow, frantically turning the pages (backwards, of course) like the most avid manga-gobbler on the Bullet Train!"
Dave Gibbons, co-creator of Watchmen and The Originals

Ghost In The Shell
by Masamune Shirow
Single Volume, Dark Horse
Genre: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk
Plot: An epic tale of politics, covert actions the dark side of cybernautics technology. Set in 2030 where a human mind can be programmed like a computer... but where does the human soul end and the cybernetic machinery begin? What does it mean to be human? The beautiful and deadly Major Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg and the leader of a crack team of internal affairs operatives who's investigations lead them to confront an AI-entity that borders on the edge of living.

Planetes
by Makoto Yukimura
5 Volumes, Tokyopop
Genre: Science Fiction
Plot: In the 2070's, mankind has established a mining base on the moon and dispatched men to explore Mars. The first manned mission to Jupiter is also in progress. As a result of this interplanetary activity, space debris is increasing and its collection has become a new profession. Haunted by a space flight accident that claimed the life of his beloved wife, Yuri finds himself six years later as part of a team of debris cleaners on a vessel called the Toy Box charged with clearing space junk from space flight paths. The team consists of Hachimaki, a hot shot debris-man with a sailor's affinity for the orbital ocean; Fee, a chain-smoking tomboy beauty with an abrasive edge; and Pops, a veteran orbital mechanic whose avuncular presence soothes the stress of the job. In a dark and cruel universe, each of these space junkers grapples with his or her own personal problems. Planetes follows the lives of Yuri and his fellow debris-men as they work and ruminate at the edge of the great empyrean sea.

"Compelling characters, story and art add up to one of the finest regularly published titles you're likely to come across on the racks today, from any country… do yourself a favour. Elbow your way past the TRL-watching kids lined up in front of the manga racks at the bookstore. It's an unlikely place to renew your faith in comics, I know, but if you pick up the sturdy, grey-spined volumes of Planetes you find there, that's exactly what this emotional, beautiful series will do."
The Comics Journal #264

Between The Sheets
by Erica Sakurazawa
Single Volume, Tokyopop
Genre: Romance, Drama (Mature Readers Only)
Plot: Welcome to Sex & The City manga-style. Between The Sheets features the unusual friendship from the nearly inseparable Saki and Minako. Minako carries a fervent torch for the other girl - a passion of which Saki is initially ignorant. But when Minako sleeps with Saki's boyfriend Ken (just to see what Saki sees in him), the true nature of Minako's obsession begins to reveal itself... provoking an understandably strong reaction from Saki.
Background: Erica Sakurazawa specialises in fairy tales for adults which are lovingly drawn and feature elements of magic and mystery, as well as some gritty realism drawn from daily metropolitan life in our times. Her other works include Angel, Angel Nest, The Aromatic Bitters, The Rules Of Love, Nothing But Loving You.

"Erica Sakurazawa's tales of Japanese young adults falling in and out of love are unlike any romance comics I've read... One of a series of Erica Sakurazawa books translated and brought to the American market by Tokyopop, Between The Sheets may well be the most mature work they've published so far."
The Comics Journal #259

Gravitation
by Maki Murakami
12 Volumes, Tokyopop
Genre: Comedy, Romance (Mature Readers Only)
Plot: Shuichi Shindou is determined to take his band, Bad Luck, to the top of the Japanese pop charts. With his drive, talent and satin singing voice, he just might stand a chance. But Fate throws a wrench into his well-oiled machine in the form of a handsome stranger named Yuki, a romance writer with an attitude. Yuki is Shuichi's biggest critic, but as the two young artists gravitate towards each other, friendship, and perhaps something more, is sure to blossom.

Mars
by Fuyumi Soryo
15 Volumes, Tokyopop
Genre: Romance
Plot: Kira, a shy high school student, lives only for her art. Rei, an arrogant, rebellious and violent playboy, wears his delinquency like a badge of honor. They are exact opposites in every way, but when Kira sees Rei kissing a statue of Mars, she overcomes her fears and asks him to model for her. And, to everyone's surprise, Rei agrees. But problems already lurk on the horizon. Vicious upperclassman Harumi has had her sights set on Rei for a long time, and is not about to let go now.

Astro Boy
by Osamu Tezuka
23 Volumes, Dark Horse
Genre: All Ages Science Fiction
Plot: Astro Boy is a jet-powered, super-strong, evil robot bashing, alien invasion smashing boy-robot. Exciting, whimsical, and touching, Astro Boy hearkens back to the classic era of comics and animation, featuring stories that readers young and old will enjoy.
Background: The manga-master Osamu Tezuka created over 150,000 pages of comics in his career and is considered to be the Walt Disney of Japan. Astro Boy (or Mighty Atom as he was called in Japan) was the first manga series to be adapted to animation and became a worldwide phenomenon, making Astro Boy the Mickey Mouse of anime.

"Tezuka created Astro in the ashes of Japan's defeat in World War II, when Japan did not have the reputation for science and technology that it has today. He used Astro to imagine - from the perspective of the very analog 1950's - a world of advanced technology where man and machine co-exist, and the problems that might emerge. Tezuka once wrote that he had created Astro to be a 21st century reverse-Pinocchio, a nearly perfect robot who strove to become more human and emotive and to serve as an interface between man and machine. The closer we get to a true age of robots, the more meaning Astro Boy therefore assumes."
Frederik L. Schodt, from the introduction to Volume 1

Manga: 60 Years Of Japanese Comics
by Paul Gravett
Paul Gravett presents an accessible, entertaining, and highly-illustrated introduction to the development and diversity of Japanese comics from 1945 to the present. Featuring striking graphics and extracts from a wide range of manga, the book covers such themes as the specific attributes of manga in contrast to American and European comics; the life and career of Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy and originator of story manga; boys' comics from the 1960s to the present; the genres and genders of girls' and women's comics; the darker, more realistic themes of gekiga - violent samurai, disturbing horror and apocalyptic science fiction; issues of censorship and protest; and manga's role as a major Japanese export and global influence.

Dreamland Japan: Writings On Modern Manga
by Frederik Schodt
In the sequel to his award winning Manga Manga, Japanese culture expert Frederik Schodt looks at the current state of manga comics, both in and outside Japan. He introduces dozens of artists, magazines, and individual works, and he goes further, looking at manga's impact on society and on the evolution of anime.

"Fred Schodt's Dreamland Japan is the most encompassing and the best introduction to manga I have ever read. For anyone involved in graphic literature this book is necessary background reading."
Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit, A Contract With God

Manga Manga: The World Of Japanese Manga
by Frederik Schodt

"An excellent historical guide to manga, as well as a fine introduction to various artists and major thematic concerns."
Variety

"...a thorough going exposition of the manga genre in text and pictures."
The New Yorker