Me and Manga.
It’s getting to be the end of the year, and it’s that time when everyone starts making their lists of best, worst, and most notable whatevers. (You can find a fairly comprehensive collection of links to lists of this sort right here.)
I don’t really have a Best/Worst list for the year, but one category that I would have mentioned is this one:
THE COMIC THAT FINALLY GOT ME TO READ MANGA: Gyo Vol. 1 by Junji Ito – I’ve never had anything against manga, and I’ve had only a passing interest in it as a whole…my interest in comics history would lead me to read articles and histories of manga, for example, without actually reading any manga (I recommend the excellent Manga Manga: The World of Japanese Comics by Frederik L. Schodt). However, the sheer wrongness of some of the imagery in this book compelled me to give it a try. Seeing fish on legs invading an island community…there was just something primally disturbing about this idea, and given that I have an interest in horror comics in general, this was a natural book with which to break my manga drought.
Of course, this now has me interested in Ito’s other horror work, such as Uzumaki. You (and I as well) can learn more about Ito here.
Plus, now that I’ve broken down that barrier, I find myself looking at more manga, such as Sgt. Frog, which is about as far away from Gyo as you can get. Don’t ask me to explain.
