All PostsManga is almost unavoidable these days. Bookstores have shelves and shelves of it. It’s everywhere and most of it (as Sturgeon’s Law tells us) is crap.
I used to read a lot of manga. Years ago, after having seen Robotech, Star Blazers, and G-Force on tv as a kid, I discovered my first real Japanese comics. I think it was an issue of Appleseed or a book of Grey. These were distinctly different than the superhero comics I was then reading. At the time pretty much the only manga available in translation came from Eclipse (Mai the Psychic Girl, Kamui, Xenon, Appleseed) or Viz (in the very early years: Nausicaa, Lum, Crying Freeman, other things I can’t remember) as well as a few lone titles (Lone Wolf and Cub from First, Akira from Marvel/Epic). I probably tried an issue of just about all the titles (not too hard) but eventually, before the really big explosion of manga published, I got bored. I think the only volumes I kept from then are Akira (the full color issues) and Nausicaa.
I’ve recently started searching out interesting manga titles. Titles that would be be satisfying to my tastes. It started with Vertical’s fantastic edition of Tezuka’s Buddha (6 volumes of the 8 now out). I’ve been reading comics blogs and manga sites trying to find other titles worth seeking out and reading. There must be a manga equivalent to the small press comics of the States–a specious analogy as manga in general covers all manner of genres and audiences, while mainstream US comics are predominantly superhero comics for adolescents. I’m looking for something that isn’t the usual fight manga (endless, probably pointless fighting scenes) or romance (the very popular shojo manga for girls and women).
On the small chance anyone reading this is familiar with manga, I’d love some recommendations. Either way I’ll keep searching and post reviews of the things find favorable. My recent, current, or planned future reads: Buddha, Pheonix (also by Tezuka), Nausicaa (reread), Saikano. Akira (reread), Yasuhiko’s Joan, some of the volumes from Fanfare/Ponent Mon, and the forthcoming Push Man and Other Stories from D+Q.