In the bleak world of the swordsman, it is said that he who becomes the Number 1 samurai shall rule the world. And only Number 2 is allowed to challenge Number 1. Afro Samurai has assumed the mantle of Number 2, seeking vengeance against Number1, a gunman who killed his father years ago. But assassins lurk at every corner, seeking to rob Afro Samurai of the title of Number 2. Can Afro survive long enough to exact his revenge?

Tor/Seven Seas
Release: September 2008
Grade Range: 11 and up
Age Range: 16 and up
ISBN: 978-0-7653-2123-7
ISBN-10: 0-7653-2123-8
Trim: 5-1/2 x 7-1/2 inches
176 pages

UPDATE (3/2/08): Over at About.Manga, manga blogger Deb Aoki reports that Slam Dunk will be replacing Hikaru no Go in the May issue of Shonen Jump. I know some readers are disappointed by the change in line-up, but I think it makes a lot of sense from a business standpoint. Slam Dunk may be the best-selling manga of all time, but Viz faces several hurdles in getting American readers to embrace this series, not the least of which is an American aversion to sports manga. (Or at least sports manga that don’t star super handsome tennis players.)

If Slam Dunk hasn’t been on your radar screen, I encourage you to give it a try, especially if you’ve enjoyed series like Eyeshield 21, Whistle!, One Pound Gospel or the criminally under-appreciated Firefighter Daigo of Company D (a sports manga in disguise). Takehiko Inoue is surprisingly adept at comedy; his sprawling cast of aspiring b-ballers may remind you of Rumiko Takahashi or Makoto Kobayashi’s sweetly bumbling characters–and that’s a good thing. Want a sneak peek at the artwork? Then visit Sporadic Sequential, where John Jakala has been posting scans from the original Gutsoon! Comics edition of Slam Dunk.

UPDATE II (3/29/08): Viz has posted the first chapter of Slam Dunk on its website. Click here to read. (Link courtesy of Sporadic Sequential.)

UPDATE III (8/15/08): Our reviewer Michelle Smith offers an early review of volume one. Click here to read her thoughts on this shonen classic!

Our manga takes place approximately 200 years before the events in the film, when Gelflings were plentiful and so were the gentle Mystics and evil Skeksis. The first volume, which is subtitled The Garthim Wars, tells the story of Lahr, a shepherd, and Neffi, a weaver–two Gelflings who are forced rally up a small village of Gelflings to fight against the onslaught of violent Garthim that have been raiding villages in the area. It’s the first volume of a planned three-volume arc that helps set up the events in the film.

To whet fans’ appetites, Beedle just posted the cover in his blog:

Over the next few weeks, Beedle will be sharing more images and commentary with all you Gelflings and Mystics. To stay abreast of the latest Dark Crystal news, subscribe to his blog with your favorite feedburner:

http://www.tokyopop.com/beedlejuice/rss

UPDATE (9/17/07): Newsarama interviewed Beedle about Tokyopop’s collaboration with Henson productions. For a sneak peek at a few finished pages from Dark Crystal, or simply to learn more about the story, click here.

In a time of chaos and war, a godforsaken era, twin sons are born to an emperor. But legend states that the son of the emperor shall be born a demon! But twins? Who is the demon, and who shall reign as emperor?

Chunchu is the story of a young man saved from death by his mother, banished by his people, hunted by his brother, and tortured by the demons within. Living and fighting with a low-born warrior tribe who can never trust him, Chunchu lives a life of blood and violence, every day a struggle to survive. But something mysterious lurks within his cold exterior, something that could be awakened by the touch of a woman.

* Dark Horse is proud to continue our Korean manhwa publishing program with this exciting series by Kim Sung-Jae and Kim Byung-Jin.

* Presented in the original left-to-right manhwa format, with FX intact and overlaid.

* Manhwa of the Year in Korea-2003.

* Best Manhwa export-2005. Licensed to over ten countries.

Publication Date: Aug 08, 2007
Format: b&w, 208 pages, 5 1/8″ x 7 3/8″
Price: $10.95
Age range: 16+
ISBN-10: 1-59307-753-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-59307-753-2

Rally Vincent and Minnie-May Hopkins are two regular American girls. Regular American girls who own a gun shop, and might have dabbled in prostituion, respectively. And who happen to be a crack shot and an explosives expert, respectively.

These might be odd skills for American girls, but these two happen to be Chicago’s top bounty hunters. Rally can shoot the trigger off a gun from a good distance, and May generally wreaks havoc with explosions and cuteness. And together, with some very useful friends and associates, they make up the Gunsmith Cats.

“Burst” finds our ladies back at work, back in action, and… back in trouble. Now presented in the favored Japanese, right-to-left format, Gunsmith Cats: “Burst” aims to please.

* Published in the authentic right-to-left reading format, as originally released in Japan.

Publication Date: Apr 25, 2007
Format: b&w, 192 pages, TPB, 5″ x 7″
Price: $10.95
Age range: 18+
ISBN-10: 1-59307-750-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-59307-750-1

She’s cute. She’s a barrel of fun. She’s irrepressible. And…a bit of a klutz. She’s Haruo Hattori, and now she’s leaving her little country farm town, her boyfriend, and her loony family for college in the big city. Before she leaves, she makes a pledge that she’ll remain true to her boyfriend, despite all the temptations a big city can throw at her, and the temptations pile up like cordwood when the need for a few yen to rub together nets her a job at Club 9, a hot hostess bar. The charming country girl lights a lot of fires in the hearts of the club patrons, and her short skirt is fanning the flames! How ya gonna keep `em down on the farm once they been to Club 9? Collecting the story-arc from issues #13-19 of the Super Manga Blast! ongoing series.

Club 9 is raucous slice-of-life, fish-out-of-water comedy as only What’s Michael? creator Makoto Kobayashi can craft.

Publication Date: Feb 12, 2003
Format: Soft cover, 192 pages, 6″ x 9″, b&w
Price: $15.95
Age range: 16+
ISBN-10: 1-56971-915-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-56971-915-2

Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s most famous love story, unfurls in a dramatic manga setting, in which Verona becomes a street in the highly fashionable Shibuya district of Tokyo. The star-crossed lovers, touching in their youth and innocence, are caught up in a bitter feud between two Yakuza families (Japan’s ‘mafia’) whose rivalry erupts into violence and killing on the streets. Romeo, a rock star, is a Montague who falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet. They defy their parents and consummate their passion in secret. This is a story of love, revenge, violence and tragedy.

In this manga, Hamlet is set in a dramatic futuristic world. The year is 2017. Global climate change has devastated the Earth. This is now a cyberworld in constant dread of war. The state of Denmark has grown prosperous and defended itself successfully against neighbouring states. But could it be that its greatest threat comes not from without, but from within the state itself?

It is in this cyberworld that we find the young Hamlet. His grief over his father’s recent death turns to something far darker when the ghost of his father appears to him. Hamlet is very soon to discover that something is rotten in the state of Denmark…

In this issue Takeru and Kou return from school to the monastery only to find the entire place in shambles. As Kou searches for the nuns outside, Takeru remembers the mysterious, forbidden claw locked away inside. But can she get to it in time? Originally serialized in Japan’s popular magazine, Champion Red and written by Witchblade Anime head writer, Yasuko Kobayashi, this uniquely Japanese tale is collected for the first time in standard comic format and in glorious full color.

Cover A) Sumita cover
Cover B) Gonzo cover
Full Color 32 pages $2.99

By Park Joong-Ki
Dark Horse, 208 pp.
Rating: 16+

Sampling the ICE Kunion, Infinity Studios, CPM, and Net Comics catalogs, one could arrive at the erroneous impression that 97.4% of all manwha documented the romantic tribulations of beautiful, sparkly-eyed girls (or sparkly-eyed tomboys who clean up nicely). Dark Horse has set out to show American audiences that manwha has a manly-man side as well, first with the sharp-looking Banya the Explosive Delivery Man and now with Shaman Warrior. Like Banya, Shaman Warrior serves up generous portions of pow! splat! thmp! and gyaaaa!, but freshens up the formula with political intrigue and a hint of the supernatural.

In the opening pages of volume one, the two principle characters—Yarong, a warrior endowed with wolf-like eyes and superhuman strength, and Batu, his hulking sidekick/bodyguard—walk into an ambush in a remote desert outpost. Lead by Commander Yuda, himself a formidable warrior, a posse of heavily-armed men engages Yarong and Batu in an epic fight complete with swordplay and martial arts moves straight out of the Jet Li playbook. Yarong finds himself on the business end of a poisoned dart, so he dispatches Batu to their village with a special mission: protect Yarong’s infant daughter from the people who ordered the ambush.

One of the pleasures of reading Shaman Warrior is the sheer beauty of the character designs. Artist Park Joong-Ki populates his landscape with an astonishing variety of faces and body-types: old, young, beautiful, grotesque, comical, muscular, lithe. Park fumbles, however, when rendering bodies in motion. Don’t get me wrong—his characters lunge, twist, jump, writhe, and run convincingly. But his action sequences are frequently hard to follow. During the initial ambush, for example, I thought Commander Yuda had beheaded the titular character. Imagine my surprise when I turned the page to see Yarong toss his opponent over the side of a bridge. The source of my confusion: speed line abuse. Park employs them in almost every panel of chapters one, two, and three (or so it seems), obscuring the characters’ movements and body parts with visual clutter.

Another drawback to Shaman Warrior is the stock dialogue. During the early fight scenes, Commander Yuda’s henchmen function as a low-rent Greek chorus, commenting on how baaaaaaaad Yarong and Batu are in combat. (Sample: “What the hell is this? They didn’t say anything about any monsters. I heard we just had to kill two warriors from the mainland!” “Get a hold of yourselves! He’s just one guy!”) The later chapters—in which we learn about Yarong’s past—have the slightly stilted quality of a period picture, with characters making flowery statements about the beauty of combat, the power of names, and the fragility of existence.

That said, Shaman Warrior still ranks among the best-looking and most entertaining titles in Dark Horse’s catalog. Like Banya, Shaman Warrior boasts a gorgeous cover design and several full-color pages, as well as other hallmarks of a quality production: superior paper stock, meticulous editing, idiomatic translation. Sound effect purists will be pleased to see that the editor preserved the original Korean text—accompanied by unobtrusive English translations—wherever feasible, substituting the English-language equivalent only in busy panels. Fans hungry for extras may be disappointed by the slim pickings: a doodle by the artist, a brief (and uninformative) preview of volume two, and several character sketches. But who needs extras when the overall product looks sharp, reads quickly, and promises future volumes filled with political intrigue, supernatural thrills, tender paternal moments, and good old-fashioned throw downs?

Hop on board with Madoka, as he shuttles more reluctant ghosts to the afterlife! This time, he assists the ghost of a stage-show “superhero” by giving him one last shot at a heroic performance. He also helps a beautiful high school English teacher, a friendless 11-year-old girl, and an old woman who lost something precious. And is a bunny suit about to be retired? Plus, two bonus stories by writer/artist Meca Tanaka!

CMX | 200pg. | B&W | Softcover | $9.99 US | ISBN 1401211178 | TEEN

On Sale November 22, 2006

These stories are told with the same bold, kinetic art style and brilliantly paced storytelling that Samura’s Blade of the Immortal epic is famous for. The main offering, “Ohikkoshi,” follows the turbulent paths of several twenty-something art students as they fall in love, fall in lust, play in rock bands, ride motorbikes, eat, sleep (together), and try to avoid making life decisions while drunk. This romantic comedy is a “Japanese art school confidential” packed with absurd humor, obscure death metal references, and some expertly placed, dramatic revelations. “Luncheon of Tears Diary” is a vibrant, genre-busting tale that also peppers its humor with sharp, dramatic moments. Natsumi Funabashi, a virgin, is an aspiring manga creator on a quest for love and a fulfilling career. Along the way, she has to cope with overzealous men, gang warfare, a mahjong addiction, and a lascivious manga editor. This collection is rounded off by Samura’s hilarious “Kyoto Super Barhopping Journal: Bloodbath at Midorogaike,” a rare, autobiographical travel piece.

• Fans of Hiroaki Samura’s award-winning Blade of the Immortal epic will be overjoyed with this hard-to-find collection–presented in English for the first time!

Publication Date: Oct 18, 2006
Format: Soft cover, 248 pages, b&w, 5 1/4″ x 7 1/8″
Price: $12.95
Age range: 16+
ISBN-10: 1-59307-622-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-59307-622-1

HC • FC • 56 pages • $15.99

Note: preview pages provided by IDW

Humans and ghosts live together peacefully in the world of Saiyuki Reload, but that peace has suddenly been shattered. The ghosts have lost their selves and started to attack humans. It all seems related to an evil experiment aimed at reviving Gyumao, a powerful ghost who has been sealed for 500 years. Now it’s up to the Sanzo group, powerful fighting priests, to stop the experiment, traveling through a world gone crazy.

• Based on the popular manga by Kazuya Minekura, the Saiyuki Reload anime is a fan-favorite! Now it comes to you in full-color trade paperback from Dark Horse Manga. Features the first six episodes of the hit series in the fun “non-westernized” format!

• Series has been equally popular as a graphic novel, magazine, website, and anime. One of the hottest titles in Japan and the U.S.-with fans steadily building since 1995.

• Amateur fan circles host Saiyuki events-some devoted to certain characters or couplings of characters-complete with contests.

Publication Date: Oct 04, 2006
Format: Based on the manga created by Kazuya Minekura, Soft cover, 160 pages, Full color, 5″ x 7″
Price: $14.95
Age range: 16+

For over twenty years, the character Vampire Hunter D has haunted the imaginations of people around the world, its image forever etched in the mind’s eye through the dazzling artwork of Yoshitaka Amano. As the original novels appear in English for the first time, American readers are clamoring for a more extensive look at this singular creation. Coffin obliges. This gorgeous retrospective embraces the full scope of Amano’s work with the character: in the novels, as inspiration for the animators of the two theatrical films, rare paintings, and illustrations created for release as limited edition prints.

• Amano’s illustrations for Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series and Greg Rucka’s Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer won him legions of new fans.

• Coffin features an original Vampire Hunter D short story by creator Hideyuki Kikuchi, available nowhere else!

• The definitive Vampire Hunter D art book. 113 black and white illustrations and 72 amazing color images!

Publisher: DH Press
Publication Date: Oct 04, 2006
Format: Soft cover in Hard cover slipcase, 200 pages, b&w & Full color, 14″ x 11″
Price: $39.95