So, over the last few years, I’ve come to expect that May will have a very large number of comics and manga that I want to buy and I try to plan accordingly. I generally fault attending the Toronto Comic Arts Festival for most of this. Being exposed to so many great creators makes me want to bring home their work. And on top of that, I have the usual slew of preorders to deal with in May, too. I made some great out-of-print finds last month as well. I was very happy to finally complete my collection of Yayoi Ogawa’s Tramps Like Us, for one. Although I believe it was technically released in April, my copy of Menatiko Itto’s Priapus arrived in May (which I promptly reviewed). As for other May preorders, I was very excited for the beautiful license rescue of Kaoru Mori’s Emma. Though I haven’t read it yet, I was also pleased to see Tadao Tsuge’s Trash Market, a collection of short manga from an important Garo mangaka, released. I continue to be incredibly grateful that Shimura Takako’s Wandering Son is being translated into English. I have no idea when the next volume is scheduled to be published, but the eighth volume is now available. (Review to come soon!) I’ll be reviewing Kaiju’s The Ring of Saturn in the very near future as well since it was recently released in print. May also saw the publication of two of the best comics that I’ve read so far this year: Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona and Yoshitoki Oima’s A Silent Voice, Volume 1.
Manga!
Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz, Volumes 6-7 by Mamenosuke Fujimaru
The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Volume 1 by Kore Yamazaki
Aquarion Evol, Volume 2 written by Shoji Kawamori, illustrated by Aogiri
Attack on Titan: Junior High, Omnibus 3 by Saki Nakagawa
Black Rose Alice, Volume 4 by Setona Mizushiro
Cretian Cow by Gengoroh Tagame
Dorohedoro, Volume 15 by Q Hayashida
Dream Fossil by Satoshi Kon
Drug and Drop, Volume 2 by CLAMP
Emma, Omnibus 1 by Kaoru Mori
Fairy Tail, Volume 48 by Hiro Mashima
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Volume 6 written by Yuto Tsukuda, illustrated by Shun Saeki
Gangsta, Volume 6 by Kohske
The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Volume 3 by Hiromu Arakawa
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 1: Phantom Blood, Volume 2 by Hirohiko Araki
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past by Shotaro Ishinomori
Love Stage!!, Volume 1 by Eiki Eiki
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Omnibus 3 by Satoshi Mizukami
Maria the Virgin, Volume 2 by Ishikawa Masayuki
My Little Monster, Volume 8 by Robico
My Neighbor Seki, Volume 2 by Takuma Morishige
Noragami: Stray God, Volume 4 by Adachitoka
Peach Girl, Volumes 1-8 by Miwa Ueda
Peach Girl: Change of Heart, Volumes 1-10 by Miwa Ueda
Priapus by Mentaiko Itto
Say I Love You, Volume 7 by Kanae Hazuki
A Silent Voice, Volume 1 by Yoshitoki Oima
The Seven Deadly Sins, Volume 8 by Nakaba Suzuki
Terra Formars, Volume 6 written by Yu Sasuga and illustrated by Ken-ichi Tachibana
Tramps Like Us, Volumes 7-10, 13-14 by Yayoi Ogawa
Trash Market by Tadao Tsuge
Wandering Son, Volume 8 by Shimura Takako
What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Volume 8 by Fumi Yoshinaga
Witchcraft Works, Volume 4 by Ryu Mizunagi
xxxHolic: Rei, Volume 3 by CLAMP
Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Volume 2 by Miki Yoshikawa
Manhwa!
Give to the Heart, Volume 3 by Wann
Comics!
Bookhunter by Jason Shiga
Cry to the Moon by Various
An Entity Observes All Things by Box Brown
Hot/Cold by Alisha Jade
I Grew Up Beautiful by Alisha Jade
Ink for Beginners: A Comic Guide to Getting Tattooed by Kate Leth
King City by Brandon Graham
Mighty Star and the Castle of the Cancatervater by A. Degen
MTS by Alisha Jade
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Sea Urchin by Laura Knetzger
Second Quest written by Tevis Thompson, illustrated by David Hellman
Shades of A by T. A. Kimpton
A Stray in the Woods by Alison Wilgus
Sunstone, Volume 1 by Stjepan Sejic
The Ring of Saturn by Kaiju
Towerkind by Kat Verhoeven
Usagi Yojimbo: Senso by Stan Sakai
Valor edited by Isabelle Melançon, Megan Lavey-Heaton
Weeping Flower, Grows in Darkness by Kris Mukai
Wonderland written by Tommy Kovac, illustrated by Sonny Liew
Wuvable Oaf by Ed Luce
Zero by Ken Nimura
Light Novels!
The Devil Is a Part-Timer, Volume 1 by Satoshi Wagahara
Novels!
The Master Key by Masako Togawa
Nonfiction!
Gay Erotic Art in Japan, Volume 1: Artists from the Birth of Gay Magazines by Gengoroh Tagame
Anime!
Free!: Iwatobi Swim Club directed by Hiroko Utsumi
Ghost Hunt by Rei Mano
Golden Boy directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Horus: Prince of the Sun directed by Isao Takahata
I think a big find I got this month was all of With the Light on ebay for $50 (shipping included). I also found the first three DVD sets for Maison Ikkoku for $20 each at the local used store. I have little hope of finding the rest, but since I have the manga, that’s ok.
I’m curious about Nimona, I keep seeing it at the comic shop, but I typically want recommendations before buying any American comics.
Oh, those are some good finds! I know for a while there, some of the volumes of With the Light were getting pretty expensive.
I loved Nimona. (I posted a quick take of it a few weeks ago, but I don’t think it really does the comic justice.) You can read the first three chapters of Nimona on the publishers’ website. (I find it a little easier to read the first three chapters of the original webcomic, but the artwork has been revised somewhat for the print edition.)
I also adore Stevenson’s “Gay Dads AU” of Nimona which started with this illustration. She and other creators continue to post other AU illustrations from time to time, too.