MISC. MANGA, *Black Blizzard

As one of the very first genuine manga titles ever made, Yoshihiro Tatsumi made this crime drama in late 1956, featuring both color and greyscale sections, which is a standard in even modern manga as the beginning usually begins with a few pages of color. Black Blizzard was a crime drama that unlike most of the Tezuka manga of the 60s, it didn't feature aliens, robots, or superheroes. In fact, Tezuka was a collegue of Tatsumi who encouraged him to make longer stories during a time that most Japanese comics were anthologies of short segments. Tatsumi decided to instead create manga intended for mature readers, which on its own was a turning point in the history of Japanese publishing, bringing on more pulp fiction themed titles.

Two fugitives escape from a train, and are handcuffed together. Now on the run, the professional criminal Shinpei and newly convicted Susumu ge better acquainted with Susumu going over the story of how becamed a wanted man. The young man fell for the singing daughter of a circus owner, but was found with the owner's corpse with no alibi. His affair lead to his arrest, but Susumu does find salvation in a shocking twist that links his and Shinpei's fates together.

Yoshihiro Tatsumi got his idea for Black Blizzard from the Count Of Monte Cristo, which itself was later turned into a sci-fi anime series. Drawn and Quarterly did a fine job cleaning up the vintage manga for English readers, and the plot is engaging for fans of The Fugitive and The Shadow.

ANI-MOVIES, *Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind

Hiyao Miyazaki began his earlier career with projects like Lupin III: Castle Of Cagliostro and Future Boy Conan. Prior to the founding of Studio Ghibli, he also arranged to have a manga series he created into a full-length animated movie through Toei. The manga itself become a sprawling saga much sought after by collectors, and the movie itself was first released in English under the title Warriors Of The Wind, an infamously despised dub and edited edition put out by New World Pictures. It wasn't until it was later re-released through Buena Vista, and again years later by GKids in its full glory, even if Shia Lebouf isn't one of your more favorable voice actors. The style of Miyazaki's post-apocalyptic vision went on to influence several Japanese video games and RPGs, including Final Fantasy, but also became the basis for his later successful anime, Princess Mononoke.

Occuring a millenium after what was probably WWIII, the remnants of mankind struggle for life in seperate nations surrounded by an evergrowing deadly forest called the Toxic Jungle, infested with large Mothra-sized bugs. Nausicaa is the princess of an area titled the Valley of the Wind, although why its not referred to as the "Wind Valley" is unknown, and the Toxic Jungle's poisonous flora is constantly teetering on the edge of infecting the inhabitants' healthy trees. The Valley of the Wind becomes the center of a war between the neighboring kingdoms of Pejite and Tolmekia, as the feuding nations plan to use a buried giant robot to change the course of their struggle. A Tolmekian military faction is sent to the Valley to secure the weapon while taking control of the locals, and assasinating the already dying king. Nausicaa works with the Tolmekian to ease her citizens, but they are shot down by the Pejite prince on their way to being held as war prisoners. The princess and prince both survive the thrilling arial duel, taking refuge under the Toxic Jungle where they discover that the land beneth it is healthy enough to breathe with clean water. Nausicaa tries to jam the tide between the Valley's feuding kingdoms, while saving her people from a raging stampede of the huge insects.

Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind's movie covers most of the events of the manga, although it has a different conclusion as the manga was still in production at the time of its release. The movie itself has been considered one of the single greatest animated movies of all time, even decades later. It acted as the dawn of Studio Ghibli's foundation, and helped build the genre of anime as a mature artform not just used as a vehicle for super robot shows. The character designs are brilliant and memorable, with equally elegent animation still years ahead of what today's CGI could never accomplish. Its one of the first true fully-realized fantasy anime projects of the time.