Welcome back, manga fans! Diamond solicits continues to be an absolute nightmare for manga as people put up books coming out in January, February, March, April, May, AND June 2024. I give up. These are the ones that caught my eye. Hopefully you remember they exist in three to eight months’ time.
Oh, and no “Chainsaw Man” or “Akane Banashi” on this list. You know you should already be reading those.
10.5. Brought To You By the Circulatory System
“Cells at Work!” is a manga I’ve never read but heartily recommend whenever someone’s looking for a fun yet informative comic. The series’ reputation precedes it and David Production’s adaptation a few years ago was a rip roaring good time. Basically, imagine if everything in your body was personified. Regular cells just wear plain white Ts. T-cells have black hats that say KILL on it. White Blood Cells get to be covered in red from the many, many, many, many pathogens they kill.
It’s great! Does it get weird when cancer is personified? You fucking betcha. That’s the beauty of this series. Get your friend or small precocious child this omnibus as a gift. It’s reasonably priced and full of that good good edutainment we need.
Cells at Work! Omnibus, Vol. 2
Written and Illustrated by Akane Shimizu
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
Follow the 37 trillion cells inside a human body, including Red Blood Cell, White Blood Cell, Macrophage, and, of course, the cute, little Platelets, as they face off against threats like cedar pollen, parasites, food poisoning, staph infection, and their ultimate nemesis, cancer. Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, these tiny workers are doing their best to keep you moving. This new omnibus edition brings the series back in a larger page size, with three volumes in one. Collect the entire series i
10. I’m Mr. Lonely
While I don’t think this will quite scratch that “Promised Neverland” itch, “Lonely Castle” has piqued my interest with its idyllic yet menacing cover. It’s a short series too, at 5 volumes. More and more that’s a real selling point for me. Doubly so when the series is a mystery.
Lonely Castle in the Mirror, Vol. 2
Written by Mizuki Tsujimura
Illustrated by Tomo Taketomi
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven junior high students are granted access to a mysterious castle. The only thing connecting the kids is that none of them go to school during the day. Kokoro sees the castle as the only place where she truly belongs, but not everyone feels that way. Ureshino announces one day that he’s going back to school, but as summer vacation comes to an end, Ureshino returns with mysterious injuries. As it becomes clear that everyone in the castle has their own hidden secrets, Ookami-sama announces a new rule that will change everything.
9. I Thought It Was Another Isekai But It Was Really a Fantasy All Along!!!
Well well well. What do we have here? Let me do a quick check to ascertain what we’re dealing with. Overly long title? Yup. Medieval fantasy setting? Yes. Not looking good here, “Alchemist who Survived.” What about stats screen? No? Is there any reincarnation? No!?! Just “time travel” aka cryogenics into the future? Ok. Ok. One more question.
Is the main character an absolute Potato-kun? Jury’s out from just a description but the cover is significantly more “Snow White with the Red Hair” than “Sword Art Online.” I’ll take it! We did it folks! It’s a regular fantasy manga that’s not an adapta-
It’s based on a light novel, isn’t it?
Fuck.
…I’ll still give it a shot.
Continued belowThe Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams Of A Quiet City Life, Vol. 1
Written by Usata Nonohara
Illustrated by Aya Obara
Characters Designed by Ox
Published by Yen Press
For an alchemist like Mariela, performing incredible feats of magic are just part of the job. So when a stampeding hoard of monsters threatens to devour the kingdom of Endalsia, she decides to put herself in a brief state of suspended animation to survive. Luckily, she awakens safe and sound-200 years in the future… Now, all Mariela really wants is a quiet, laid-back life in this land she barely recognizes. It’s too bad potions have become a luxury good, and she’s the only girl in town with the skills to make them.
8. Big Tiddies and Lots of Blood
You have to be in a very specific mood to enjoy a Kohta Hirano work. It’s pure popcorn exploitation & grindhouse, guns and guts, blood and violence, taking to the nth degree of absurdity. The plots rarely make a lick of sense the second you scratch past the surface and the stylized proportions mean we’re doing a lot of gazing lovingly at butts, boobs, and people licking blood off things seductively.
Whereas “Hellsing” focused on vampires, “Drifters” is an iseaki (YEAH! Didn’t see that coming, did ya?) focusing on famous assholes throughout history fighting on some bleak hellscape of another world for the forces of heaven and hell? Maybe? Honestly it’s a big excuse to see Oda Nobunaga team up with, like, Joan of Arc to beat the shit out of Hitler which I am all for.
The big downside to this series? It releases so fucking slowly. Seven volumes in thirteen years. Volume six was 2018. Volume seven isn’t even OUT in the US yet. I guess this was Dark Horse’s way of keeping the series in print without worrying about the middle volumes disappearing. I’m all for it.
Drifters Omnibus Vol. 2
Written and Illustrated by Kohta Hirano
Published by Dark Horse Comics
From Kohta Hirano, the creator of Hellsing, comes Drifters, an action-packed fantasy epic where warriors and warlords from Earth’s history are transported to an alien world to intervene in a worldwide civil war. At the eye of the storm is the Black King who, desiring more than land and resources, is uniting the non-human races for a single purpose-the genocide of humanity. Drifters Omnibus Volume 2 collects Drifters volumes 4, 5 and 6 with 688 pages of all-out mystical mayhem!
7. A Quartz! A Quartz! My Kingdom for a Quartz!
I’m a sucker for dark fantasies, if you haven’t figured that out by now. Give me sad knights, dilapidated castles, and absolute nightmares lurking in the nearest caves. I can’t say whether or not “A Kingdom of Quartz” delivers on any of that but if you’re gonna invoke two of the biggest “holy shit that’s fucked” dark fantasies and one of the most intricately drawn manga of the last few years, you’d best be able to back it up.
A Kingdom of Quartz, Vol. 1
Written by Nagato Yamata
Illustrated by Atsushi Suzumi
Published by Kodansha Comics
An exquisitely drawn, dark fantasy manga for fans of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Made in Abyss, and Witch Hat Atelier. An orphaned girl named Blue has always dreamed of joining the ranks of the noble Angels, servants of the floating palace who protect the Quartz Kingdom against demons. Yet, Blue is not like the other children at the orphanage. Where their fledgling angel wings are downy white, Blue’s are pitch black, giving rise to whispers that she is cursed. One day, the orphanage comes under attack by a host of demons. Angels swoop down from the palace to drive the demons back, but Blue watches in horror as they are cut down one after another. Just when all seems lost, Blue feels a dark power welling up inside of her. It may be enough to avenge her friends-but will the cost prove too great?
6. I Hope They Brought Some Headlights
I can’t tell if this is supposed to be a black comedy, a gag comedy, something way more sinister or a heartfelt slice-of-life. Look at that cover. You can’t tell me it doesn’t feel at odds with the description of “a dorm filled with wonderful colleagues.” This is volume 2 after all. Are we being lied to? What’s with the hats with eyes and feet?!!
Continued belowBlack Night Parade, Vol. 2
Written and Illustrated by Hikaru Nakamura
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
Hino Miharu, unable to get into a decent university or land a full-time job, lived a down-on-his-luck life working at a convenience store where both his coworkers and customers treated him like a doormat. That is, until Knecht, a mysterious faceless man dressed in a jet-black Santa suit, whisked him away to the North Pole for a job at his company, the Santa Claus House! With a hefty salary, incredible benefits, and a dorm filled with wonderful coworkers, Miharu works diligently, despite his bizarre manager and the strange nature of his duties. He soon finds out that luck may not be completely on his side when his least favorite person in the world suddenly appears, missing tooth and all.
5. It’d Be A Miracle to Bloom in February
Another creator who only releases a volume every year/year-and-a-half, Asumiko Nakamura’s works are worth the wait. Always tender, always complicated, with a light, flowing line and highly stylized characters. I love her exploration of romance, especially queer romance, in “Classmates,” though her earlier short-story work collected in “Maiden Railways” is by far my favorite.
Yuri fans rejoice! Or maybe despair because of the long waits between volumes. At least there aren’t usually terrible cliffhangers.
A White Rose in Bloom, Vol. 3
Written and Illustrated by Asumiko Nakamura
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
An intriguing yuri manga from the dynamic creator of the modern BL classic Classmates: Dou kyu sei! Ruby is a student at an elite European boarding school. Things are going pretty well for her until she finds out that she won’t be able to go home for Christmas. Instead, she’ll be stuck at school with only one other student-the aloof and beautiful Steph-for company. As Ruby tries to understand Steph, she becomes more and more attracted to her. But can she break through Steph’s icy exterior?
4. Logos, Pathos and Eros
What to make of this one. I feel like I’ve been thrown in the dryer and spun around until I don’t know which way’s up and which way’s out. There’s a lot going on and I can’t say it’s all good (or that I understand it all.) Still, it’s caught my attention and I’m very curious to see if this will make me die laughing, die crying, or find some great middle ground. Or maybe neither!
Adults Picture Book, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Kei Itoi
Published by Yen Press
Erotic manga author Kudou’s friend Haruki passes away, leaving behind his young daughter Kiki and a note bequeathing her to Kudou. Strange as the situation is, Kudou commits to making a real family for the girl-so when he meets a woman who reminds him of his late friend, he fires off a marriage proposal on the spot!? By blood, friendship, love, or circumstance, family is family…
3. Fine Art
This is an easy pick. “Blue Period” is an excellent manga, I love josei works like “Ooku” and “Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu” and this promises to turn both those things up to 11 and shatter expectations.
Nude Model & Other Stories
Written and Illustrated by Tsubasa Yamaguchi
Published by Vertical Comics
From the truly unique manga-ka and author of the award-winning series Blue Period. Three deeply resonant short manga stories that turn the traditional style of josei manga into something stranger and more erotic. Three tales explore the darker more mature side of Tsubasa Yamaguchi’s imagination, where they weave the complex webs that provide little in the way of easy answers, while accurately depicting the strangeness and confusion of life for teenagers and adults alike. This fascinating, elliptical and alluring collection of shorts is very much more than the sum of its parts.
2. Steamed Treasure Chest For the Holidays
“Delicious in Dungeon” is nearing its end and the plot is thickening quicker than my mac & cheese roux. Dig in before it’s all gone.
Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 13
Written and Illustrated by Ryoko Kui
Published by Yen Press
Laios and the others have managed to snap Marcille out of the demon’s influence! But the demon is still at large, and the monsters are now dangerously close to the surface…Will Laios and his allies be able to lock the monsters in the depths of the dungeon before it’s too late?
1. Dark Reimaginings
Did you like Pluto? Do you want more reimaginings of classic Tezuka works? Are you looking for something with (hopefully) an actual ending? Then do I have the series for you. Inspired by the revenge thriller “Dororo” and translated and localized by the wonderful Mangasplaining people, “Search and Destroy” grabs you by the throat with its opening chapter and never lets go. Hell, it grabs you with the cover. Look at that beautiful piece of art! I’m so excited to read this in print, y’all have no idea.
Continued belowStill not sold? Well, good news. Chapter one is free to read. What are you waiting for?! Go! Go now! Rage!
Search and Destroy, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Kaneko Atsushi
Published by Fantagraphics Books
From the cinematic mind of Atsushi Kaneko (Bambi and Her Pink Gun) comes a contemporary reimagining of the timeless, Eisner Award-winning Dororo, by “God of Manga” Osamu Tezuka (Buddha, Astro Boy).This is a tale of rage. Rage against hypocrisy, injustice, exploitation, and the wrongs done to a child who grew into a righteous killer….
Complete in three volumes, Search and Destroy transplants the vengeful action of Dororo from feudal Japan into a dystopian future where mercenary robots known as “creatures” serve the human elite and victimize the city’s scrabbling, desperate masses. The violent death of one of these creatures connects an orphaned thief named Doro with a mysterious girl in a stinking animal hide that conceals deadly cybernetic implants. Who is this mysterious girl? How is she killing, one by one, the city’s most twisted and powerful creatures?
Originally serialized from 2019-2021 in the Japanese manga monthly TezuComi, Search and Destroy is a brilliantly-crafted thriller about an outsider looking for meaning and vengeance in the unjust world that took everything away from her. Kaneko populates a stunning, high-contrast setting that echoes postwar Cuba as much as Tokyo with an unforgettable cast of scrappy heroes and skin-crawling monsters on a nonstop ride full of action and suspense.
This authorized retelling updates the rebellious ’60s spirit of the original Dororo for the equally tumultuous 2020s, mixing Tezuka’s signature dark yet playful storytelling sense with Kaneko’s own wide range of influences, which include Western cartoonists like Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns as well as filmmakers like David Lynch. The result is not only one of the best sci-fi manga of recent years, but also one of the most visually rich and distinctive works of graphic storytelling in any genre or language.
Atsushi Kaneko is a Japanese manga artist from Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture. His two books, Bambi and Her Pink Gun and Soil, have both been published in France. Bambi has also been published in English and Soil has been adapted into a television drama series. Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovations in genre storytelling earned him such titles as “the Father of Manga,” “the Godfather of Manga,” and “the God of Manga.”
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Anything I missed? What are YOU looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!
