Friday, August 21, 2009

JUNKO MIZUNO SIGNING TOMORROW AT NEW PEOPLE

For Bay Area folks, quick announcement that Junko Mizuno will be signing copies of her new manga, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU Vol. 1 , at the NEW PEOPLE Store in San Francisco. The signing was put together by publisher Last Gasp and will take place tomorrow (8/22/09) at 2pm.


[You can check out a preview and buy it on the Last Gasp site.]

HERE ARE THE DETAILS FROM LAST GASP:
Junko Mizuno will be signing her new book, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU Vol. 1, on Saturday, August 22 at 2pm at NEW PEOPLE The Store in San Francisco’s Japan Town.

PELU is a cute extraterrestrial critter who travels to Earth to find happiness in the form of a bride. Prepare to be astounded as the search for fulfillment takes him from the surface of his fantastic alien planet to an off-kilter modern Japan inhabited by aspiring enka singers, sassy girls, paint-sniffing bad boys, sushi chefs with unspeakable secrets and the body-switching students of a mysterious high school.

NEW PEOPLE
1746 Post St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
Saturday, August 22, 2pm

Praise for Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU:
…Fluffy Gigolo Pelu suggests that her work is only veering into more vividly mischievous territory. It offers a look at an exercise that is comparable to taking the broken crumbs from the bottom of a bag of candy and trying to melt them into a lollipop – bright and supposedly sweet, but deformed and foul smelling where it’s burned. Pelu’s stories of alienation, unconventional pregnancy and huffing are overtly cracked, but the view that it presents of less incendiary subjects like office work dreariness and career dissatisfaction similarly fit into its scheme of candy colored unhappiness.

…noting the diversity of Earth’s population, Pelu leaps into a magic mirror hoping to find someone like himself. His mad anti-trip-to-Oz whirlwind is captured in a montage of dreary meetings, lottery wins, and over eating – framed by a psychedelic expectoration of bubbles.
Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu features enough dire absurdity that it’ll force you to laugh.
Scott Green, Ain’t It Cool News

Whether her stories titillate you or not, it’s hard to deny their unique place in the world of manga. Sans narrative, they’re vintage candy wrappers that you hold on to because you know you’re going to want to just look at them again sometime down the road. In that respect, maybe Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu is the lovelorn-tragedy-laced Laffy Taffy of the bunch.
…is there enough love on our cruel planet to include a vomit-green, bow-tie-wearing cotton ball like Pelu? Maybe the answer lies in volume two, but I’m digging the journey so far.
Joseph Luster, Otaku USA

The book is filled with bizarre, disturbing, but utterly engaging adventures, like the chapter where Pelu’s friend the Space Hippo arrives on Earth, eats too many unfamiliar foods, and ends up vomiting an acid-like substance all over the town’s local poodle ranch.
John Jakala, Robot 6

Here are some photos from a Junko Mizuno singing in Barcelona:


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