Welcome to the inaugural edition of a new feature at Multiversity Comics: the Multiversity Manga Club! We at Multiversity Comics are huge fans of all kinds of comics, but our coverage admittedly skews toward American and European books. Nevertheless, manga, or Japanese comics, has a huge presence in the world of graphic story-telling, as anyone who has frequented a book store chain over the last decade can attest. I myself have only dabbled in the medium throughout the years, primarily through my love of “Dragon Ball Z.” With the hope of presenting a more concerted effort to highlight the fascinating world of manga, I’ll be selecting a specific work each month and inviting readers to join me in reading and examining the book. It’s a true virtual book club!
For our first offering, I’ve chosen the relatively recent “Jaco the Galactic Patrolman” by Akira Toriyama (of “Dragon Ball Z” fame). “Jaco” is a charming story about an exuberant but slightly incompetent member of the distinguished Galactic Patrol, tasked with protecting the Earth from a terrible alien threat. As a complete story contained in a single volume, “Jaco” makes for a terrific first step into the world of manga. Likewise, Toriyama’s iconic art style is as equally inviting as the charming and witty story.
So, head to your favorite bookstore, online or digital retailer and dive into “Jaco the Galactic Patrolman.” Then, leave your questions and feedback in the comment section of this post or respond on Twitter using the hashtag #mangaversity. At the end of the month I’ll post a review of the book and respond to any comments we’ve received. We at Multiversity Comics hope that the Manga Club will be an inviting for both burgeoning manga readers and long time fans alike. As a relative neophyte to the medium, I look forward to exploring this exciting and unique realm of sequential story telling.
P.S., the guys at Robots From Tomorrow recently did an entire episode about “Jaco,” which you can listen to here. Consider this a fantastic supplement to the month’s reading!
