MISC. MANGA, *Mai The Psychic Girl

Mai The Psychic Girl was essentially the very first manga to be printed in English for American readers. It was first published by Eclipse Comics, which then lead into the formation of Viz Manga, the first North American mainstream publisher of English-translated manga. Eclipse also went on to print manga like Area 88, Appleseed, and Legend Of Kamui, but their actions also lead into the formation of Studio Proteus who provided titles like Oh My Goddessto Dark Horse Comics. So, it's entry into the American culture pretty much paved the way for the booming anime fandom of the late 80s. Written by Golgo 13's Kazuya Kudo, and drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami who also drew the 70s Spider-Man manga, Mai The Psychic Girl achieved a modest success in Japan, but became a massive underground hit among American readers, and was even considered several times for an American live-action movie project.

Mai is a teenager that lives with her widowed father, and appears to be a normal Japanese schoolgirl. However, a secret group known as the Wisdom Alliance has been keeping track of children with the potential to become powerful psychics. Mai happens to be the descendant of a long line of mystic women, and her father is skilled in an ancient form of martial arts. This comes in handy as they are being chased by the Japanese branch of the Wisdom Alliance who send out a giant beast-like assassin to track them down since they both went into hiding. Mai's psychokinesis proves to be nearly on the level of Akira as her flared tempers can result in disaster if not controlled properly.

The manga was first released in America as a 28-issue comic series through Eclipse, then by Viz as incomplete 3-volume graphic novels, but then reprinted as the signature "Perfect Collection" of books, the term for which was used by various manga and OVA series in the 90s. It's still very popular among many old school otaku, but hasn't had much exposure since the turn of the millennium. It's worth tracking down the Perfect Collection editions of this, or at least some of the earlier single issues if you can scrounge them up in a dollar bin.