October 2011 saw the publication of the first edition of 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die: The Ultimate Guide to Comic Books, Graphic Novels and Manga (US edition, UK edition). I haven’t picked up a copy for myself yet, but I plan on doing so soon (probably the UK edition because I like the cover better). The editor Paul Gravett has also created the 1001 Comics Mini-Site, which has kept me occupied in the meantime. In his words:
Even with 960 pages, I couldn’t squeeze all the material I had into my book 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die. This mini-site is designed to supplement that book with updates, additional information and links… but obviously you’ll still need a copy of the book!
Not surprisingly, I was particularly interested in the comics included in the book that came out of Japan. If you’re a regular reader here, you may be aware of my love for making lists. And what’s even better than a list? Why, a spreadsheet, of course! And so, I created one based on the list of Japanese comics found on the 1001 Comics Mini-Site. Using that list as well as additional sources, I included title, date, Japanese volume, creator, and English-language license information. Because I put so much work into it, I’ve decided to share my efforts with all of you in case you’d like to take advantage of the result.
In the process of analyzing the list I discovered manga that had already been licensed that I wasn’t familiar with as well as plenty of manga not currently available in English that I would really like to see translated. I was also pleasantly surprised by how many I had already read or known about. It’s an interesting list and it’s got some great titles on it. I’m looking forward to reading the more detailed commentary that 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die will provide for these titles as well as all of the other comics included in the book.
I realize that the embedded spreadsheet is a little unwieldy; you can find a more readable and much nicer looking version of the table HERE. If you would like a copy of your own to play around with, e-mail me at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com and I would be happy to send you a CSV, Excel, or OpenOffice file.
As already mentioned, the title list comes from Paul Gravett’s 1001 Comics Mini-Site (as of October 19th). Specifically, I used the titles listed by country under Japan. I have made a few changes to reflect more commonly known versions of a title (at least as I’m familiar with them). For example, I have changed Thomas’s Heart to Heart of Thomas. I also removed initial articles for sorting and alphabetizing purposes. Therefore, A Distant Neighborhood appears as Distant Neighborhood in the list, and so on.
Dates, number of volumes, and English-language license information primarily comes from Anime News Network’s Encyclopedia with additional information from Baka-Updates Manga, Wikipedia, and Jason Thompson’s Manga: The Complete Guide. Dates in particular are a bit fuzzy and may be off by a year or so since my sources didn’t always specify if the date was the start of serialization or the start of tankōbon publication. In the cases of titles that have been licensed multiple times, I have included only the most recent licensee. Please note, just because a title has license information associated with it does not mean that it is currently in print or that all volumes in a series were published in English.
If you notice any errors that I’ve made in the creation of this spreadsheet, please let me know. I’d like to keep it as up-to-date and accurate as possible. You can leave corrections and feedback here in the comments or send them to me via e-mail at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. I hope you enjoy and find it useful!
Wow, amazing work! I need to pick up this book for sure. Emailing about getting a copy of your spreadsheet, although I’m sure the number of ones not available in English is going to make me sad.
Happily, a majority are (or were) at least partially available in English. The list of titles that I want to check out has definitely increased. My wallet is going to hate, I’m sure! :)
I hope US manga publishers take a look at this book and try to license these essential titles! Manga like Rose of Versailles, Emperor in the Land of the Rising Sun, The World is Mine, and so on. Gosh that would be amazing! Publishers need to license “important” and influential manga more. I do have some problems with this list though. There are many great and classic titles (some striking leave-outs though, most notably Sukeban Deka, and I would have expected Wandering Son to be on here giving the other entries.) but as with any 1001 (or other ridiculously high numbered) list there are not 1001 comics that are essential, and writers just end up looking like they’re grasping at straws most of the time. How did things like Red Colored Elegy, Yu Gi Oh!, and Dragon Head get on here?
Good list in general though.
You make some great points! My impression of the 1001 series is that the books don’t collect a “best of” list per se so much as a list that is “of note.” I’ll admit, I was surprised to see some of the titles, such as Yu Gi Oh!, included. I’m interested in seeing what the book has to say about them and why the contributors believe them to be significant.
Wikipedia says Sazae-san was 45 volumes long.
Also, you have Sazae-san listed as licenced by Kodansha. Would that be in Kodansha’s Bilingual series? If you are going to include that, Doraemon and Genius Bakabon have been published in the same series.
Thank you for the information! I really do appreciate it and have made the updates to the document. I think I originally had the number of volumes of the bilingual edition for Sazae-san. I’ve added Kodansha to Genius Bakabon and Shogakukan to Doraemon. Thank you again!
You’re welcome – your spreadsheet is an excellent resource and I’m glad if I can help with it.
I just discovered thru Google that GeGeGe no Kitaro and Section/Division Chief Kosaku Shima were also published by Kodansha Bilingual.
Good catch on Doraemon – Shogakukan, not Kodansha, as I thought.
Good catch on the bilingual editions! I’ve updated the spreadsheet again. Thank you for your assistance! I’m glad you’re finding the resource valuable. :D
Possibly one more: is Screw Style just the short story or a collection? The story was published by Fantagraphics in The Comics Journal #250.
There are some non-Japanese short stories in the 1001 comics, such as Master Race and Here.
I’m not sure if it’s just the story or the collection. I’ll make a point to look that up when my copy of 1001 Comics arrives. I’ve gone ahead an added Fantagraphics. A somewhat similar situation exists for Palepoli. Viz hasn’t published the work in its entirety, but excerpts of it were included in Secret Comics Japan.
Thank you again for all of your help!
That is an awesome spreadsheet, and it looks like it’s going to be an excellent reference. I’ve read surprisingly few of these titles, though many of them are on my wishlist.
I think I’m going to get this book now, too.
I’m glad you’re finding it useful! Thanks for stopping by and taking time to comment. I’m looking forward to getting my copy of 1001 Comics.