Who
ate the Flying Chair?, tiddles, my
ratings, me, Graffiti,
Manga, Computer Games,
deep stuff,
word of the week, other stuff,
downloads, links.
Viz Communications
(I thought of the adult comic too.)
Although Viz isn't nearly as big as Marvel
or DC, it is a giant when manga is involved. Along with Dark horse, this company
releases a large proportion of all manga printed in English. Viz call themselves
a manga-only company. They do not publish the adult comic known as Viz, from
which the strips Modern Parents and Billy the Fish originated. They do, however,
publish a large amount of Pokémon stuff.
Each month, Viz currently* publishes the following titles:
Animerica, an anime magazine containing a few pages of manga;
Animerica Extra, an anthology magazine;
Pulp, an anthology magazine for mature readers
only;
Inu-Yasha, a 'feudal fairy tale' from Rumiko
Takahashi;
Ranma ½, a famous comedy from Rumiko
Takahashi;
Aqua Knight;
Ceres, Celestial Legend;
Dragonball Z (which developed into the
animé currently being screened on Cartoon Network);
Dragonball (which I feel is better than
its 'sequel', Dragonball Z);
El Hazard;
Gundam Wing Episode Zero;
Neon Genesis Evangelion;
No need for Tenchi (which is also currently being shown on Cartoon Network
in animé form);
and Silent Möbius, by Kia Asamiya.
Viz has published a large number of
graphic novels. These include:
Rumiko Takahashi's works - (The Return
of) Lum Urusei Yatsura, Mermaid Saga, Rumic Theatre, Rumic World Trilogy,
One Pound Gospel, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma
½ and Inu-Yasha;
Pulp collections - Dance till Tomorrow, Strain,
Voyeur(s Inc.), Banana Fish, Black and
White and Heartbroken Angels;
Animerica Extra Collections such as
Fushigi Yûgi, Short Program, Video Girl Ai, X/1999 and Steam Detectives
(by Kia Asamiya);
and some other stuff such as Ashen Victor, Crying Freeman, Eat-Man, Eagle,
The Legend of Kamui, Mai the Psychic Girl, Nausicaä of the Valley of
Wind, Neon Genesis Evangelion, No Need for Tenchi, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers
Revenge and Silent Möbius
My favourite manga from Viz are probably Maison Ikkoku, Ranma ½, Dragonball, Banana Fish and Ashen Victor.
As I said before, Viz and Dark
Horse are the biggest publishers in terms of manga. Viz releases more,
but Dark Horse (in my opinion) releases
just as much good stuff.
*Currently as in at the time of writing.
3x3 Eyes
Animerica Extra
Banana Fish
Baoh
buying manga
Cartoon Network
Dark Horse
Dragonball
Dragonball Z
Inu-Yasha
Kia Asamiya
Lone Wolf and Cub
Lone Wolf and Cub Glossary (unready)
Maison Ikkoku
Pulp
Ranma ½
Rumiko Takahashi
Super Manga Blast
Usagi Yojimbo
Viz
What's Michael?
And if you think that my reviews are shit (perhaps because they are) and want to have a go yourself, just write a review up in Microsoft Word and e-mail it to me. It should be up on the site within a week.