Oh lord! There's a slew of really amazing books that either just came out, I just heard about, or are coming soon. I wish i could teleport my future paychecks into the psychic coffers of these publishers and have the books in my meaty paws immediately. Here, for your enjoyment-- more Same Hat Library fodder!
The Push Man and Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi: Amazon says it's not released yet, but I saw it at a local bookstore on Sunday. This thing is GORE-GEE-OUS! The book is bound nicely and the panels and printing look really smooth. It's flipped, rather than the right-to-left I prefer, but apparently Tatsumi actually helped with these changes to make sure they were done right. Aside from being a collection of really masterful, twised and shocking tales, all the lettering was done by Adrian Tomine! Only 20 bucks! I want to take my time on digesting this one.
Doing Time by Kazuichi Hanawa: Okay, so this isn't new in the least, but I finally put it together in my brain that this is THE Kazuichi Hanawa (of previous monkey brain fame), and THE 'Doing Time' that was made into a Japanese movie a few years ago. Like David Choe's hilarious/depressing article about his weeks in a Japanese prison in Giant Robot a year or so ago, this book is a collection of true stories from Hanawa's time in prison. Read about what got the old man into jail in this review. Sounds (not to be totally lame here) really illuminating about some real post-war Japan, not more samurai and courtesan crud. Put out by a UK(?) publisher and sometimes hard to track down.
Scary Book Volume1: Shadows by Kazuo Umezu: FINALLY! Another English translation of Kazuo Umezu's stuff is going to be released. Guess they're going literal with this one-- SCARY BOOK! The drag is that it won't be out until early next year. I'm hoping that they don't follow the Orochi:Blood lead and only put out one book of a series. MORE UMEZU! YAY!
Black Hole by Charles Burns: It's not manga, but this is the one I'm MOST EXCITED ABOUT! Charles Burns' BLACK HOLE is finally being collected into a hardcover trade. I've read issues of this here and there (and being totally creeped out and floored by most everything) but purposefully avoided reading more because I had heard this would be coming out one day. And not that day has come (well, nearly). There isn't another book that I'm looking forward to more this fall! (except maybe this)
PS: Hellen is almost done with her night paralysis comic!! You can see a cellphone photo of one of the pages on her blog. Yay Hellen! Finish that damn thing, cuz we're DYING to read it!!!
PPS: NEW KOJI AIHARA STRIP GOING UP VERY SOON