#507 Excel Saga

Excel Saga

A fantastically undermanned operation is laying the groundwork to take over the world — starting with Fukuoka, Japan! That’s the premise of Rikdo Koshi’s Excel Saga, which ran in Japan from 1996 to 2011, and started in North America in 2003, where three volumes made it into the top 50 graphic novels chart. But now, with the manga boom long past, it seems to have faded to obscurity. Tim and Kumar take a look at the first three volumes to decide whether its current obscurity is fully deserved.

#459 Yokohama Comics Chat

Chris Taylor, James StaceyThis week Tim travels just south of Tokyo to Yokohama to meet up with Chris Taylor (“Sketchfro”), creator of Relic Hunter: Riven, and James Stacey of Black Hook Press, which publishes Japanese translations of US and UK graphic novels. How do you prepare for conventions? Did you do comics differently back home? What’s different about tabling at German comics events? Why did Chris get in an argument with Archie Comics? That and more!

#314 Tiny Comics, Novel Manga, and Manga Translation for India

Okashi na FutariBrian John Mitchell talks about his Kickstarter project to fund the making of his matchbook-sized comics. Two of these books involved a collaboration with Dave Sim!

Rook Bartly” (US Air Force active duty member Jason) tells us about “Okashi na Futari”, the Japanese novel series whose author has hired him to draw a manga version of the story.

Then, Kumar returns to tell us about a couple of his recent manga translation projects, “Stupid Guy Goes to India” (which landed him an interview in the March 25 Mumbai Sunday Mid-Day, pg 38-39) and Osamu Tezuka’s “Adolf”.

All this, plus the announcement of the winning “what do you like about Deconstructing Comics” entry!

#286 Herge’s “The Adventures of Tintin”

TintinPerhaps the most famous comic to come out of Europe is The Adventures of Tintin, by the Belgian known as Hergé. It’s known the world over and has appeared in more than 80 languages. Tim and Kumar discuss the comic’s appeal, Hergé’s expert cartooning, and some of the controversies that have swirled around the strip and its creator. Also, Kumar has some observations about the trailer for the upcoming Tintin movie.