Manga Prime

Right now I'm looking through the longbox I have labled "Manga Prime." Lone Wolf & Cub was the first manga series I collected. I was led to it by Frank Miller (in much the same way I was led to the work of Alex Toth by Howard Chaykin, and the work of Jack Kirby by... well, everyone, really). From Lone Wolf & Cub I followed Kazuo Koike to my second manga series, Crying Freeman...

...and from Crying Freeman I followed Ryoichi Ikegami to my fourth manga series, Sanctuary.

(As to my third manga series, that was 2001 Nights.)

Together, these four series fill a longbox exactly.

EDIT: The fact that this box spans the 18th century through the 24th appeals to me.

I am also currently in the process of reading comics I bought years ago but never read. For example, I just finished reading 2001 Nights for the first time. Although I have read all of Lone Wolf & Cub and Crying Freeman (and, now, 2001 Nights), I have yet to read Sanctuary. (Has anyone here read it?)

A discussion of Lone Wolf & Cub can be found HERE.

A discussion of 2001 Nights can be found HERE.

When I get around to Crying Freeman (again) and Sanctuary (for the first time), I'll comment here.

I also have a "SECONDARY MANGA" box, a shortbox.

Back in 1997 Marvel launched the short-lived imprint "Marvel Imports". It's flagship title was Spider-Man: The Manga, reprinting the series produced specifically for the Japanese market back in 1978. Marvel had tried to publish reprints of American comics in Japan, but the effort failed. It has been said that an American comics are made to be read, whereas Japanese comics are made to be looked at. If a Japanese artist were to interpret a standard, 20-page American comic book in his own style, it would probably take him 100 pages. The Japanese Spider-man kept the costume, the origin and the powers, but Peter Parker became Yu Komari. a Japanese college student. By the time these stories were reprinted in the United States, I was already familiar with Ryoichi Ikegami (from Crying Freeman and Sancuary); here was my chance to see some of his earlier work.

These series had previously been reprinted, in a series of five small, "manga-style" tpbs, but they were in Japanese. I bought the first one as a conversation piece and enjoyed looking at the pictures, but I didn't buy the rest because I couldn't read them. I wish now I would have bought them all. Oh, well.

For more information of Marvel to crack the Japanese market, see FOOM #22, the "Mighty Marvel Media Special."

The second title from "Marvel Imports" was X-Men: The Manga. I stopped enjoying X-Men before I stopped reading it, and I stopped reading it before I stopped buying it. But I stopped buying it before the Jubillee, Gambit, Bishop era. (I have read some stories featuring these characters in the years since, but they haven't stuck with me.) At the time, because this was "a new number one," I thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce myself to these characters I had heard so much about, but I never got into this series (another "Don't buy what you don't read" title).

By the time I first became interested in manga (Lone Wolf & Cub) and Ryoichi Ikegami (Crying Freeman, Sancuary), Mai the Psychic Girl had already been published in America by Eclipse. I was able to buy the entire series (except for one issue) at a quarter sale. I later picked up the one issue I was missing and have had it for years... decades... but I have't yet read it. Shame on me. I really need to do that one of these days.

I also have Pulp: Manga for Grownups, Vol. 1, #1. I bought it for "Strain" by Ryoichi Ikagami (him again?), about an assassin who will kill anyone for five dollars. I liked it well enough, but it's only one feature in a 128-page anthology. The problem I had with Pulp is the same problem I have with every anthology: there's one feature I'm interested in (maybe two if I'm lucky), but I have to buy them all. I see now the series lasted only six issues. If I'd've known that at the time, I might've stuck it out.

Replies

Jeff of Earth-J April 25, 2026 at 10:08am

I also have a "SECONDARY MANGA" box, a shortbox.

Back in 1997 Marvel launched the short-lived imprint "Marvel Imports". It's flagship title was Spider-Man: The Manga, reprinting the series produced specifically for the Japanese market back in 1978. Marvel had tried to publish reprints of American comics in Japan, but the effort failed. It has been said that an American comics are made to be read, whereas Japanese comics are made to be looked at. If a Japanese artist were to interpret a standard, 20-page American comic book in his own style, it would probably take him 100 pages. The Japanese Spider-man kept the costume, the origin and the powers, but Peter Parker became Yu Komari. a Japanese college student. By the time these stories were reprinted in the United States, I was already familiar with Ryoichi Ikegami (from Crying Freeman and Sancuary); here was my chance to see some of his earlier work.

These series had previously been reprinted, in a series of five small, "manga-style" tpbs, but they were in Japanese. I bought the first one as a conversation piece and enjoyed looking at the pictures, but I didn't buy the rest because I couldn't read them. I wish now I would have bought them all. Oh, well.

For more information of Marvel to crack the Japanese market, see FOOM #22, the "Mighty Marvel Media Special."

The second title from "Marvel Imports" was X-Men: The Manga. I stopped enjoying X-Men before I stopped reading it, and I stopped reading it before I stopped buying it. But I stopped buying it before the Jubillee, Gambit, Bishop era. (I have read some stories featuring these characters in the years since, but they haven't stuck with me.) At the time, because this was "a new number one," I thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce myself to these characters I had heard so much about, but I never got into this series (another "Don't buy what you don't read" title).

By the time I first became interested in manga (Lone Wolf & Cub) and Ryoichi Ikegami (Crying Freeman, Sancuary), Mai the Psychic Girl had already been published in America by Eclipse. I was able to buy the entire series (except for one issue) at a quarter sale. I later picked up the one issue I was missing and have had it for years... decades... but I have't yet read it. Shame on me. I really need to do that one of these days.

I also have Pulp: Manga for Grownups, Vol. 1, #1. I bought it for "Strain" by Ryoichi Ikagami (him again?), about an assassin who will kill anyone for five dollars. I liked it well enough, but it's only one feature in a 128-page anthology. The problem I had with Pulp is the same problem I have with every anthology: there's one feature I'm interested in (maybe two if I'm lucky), but I have to buy them all. I see now the series lasted only six issues. If I'd've known that at the time, I might've stuck it out.
The Baron April 25, 2026 at 12:54pm

Interesting. I've read Lone Wolf and Cub ages ago, as well as Sanctuary and Mai the Psychic Girl. Crying Freeman is one of those "classics" that I've heard of., but never read.

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