MISC. MANGA, *Kitaro

Originally titled GeGeGe No Kitaro, or Hakaba Kitaro, this manga is one of the longest running comics in Japanese publishing. Kitaro first saw print in 1960 by Akuma-kun creator Shigeru Mizuki. Long before Cat Eyed Boy, Kitaro was one of Japan's original monster kid titles. It was also one of the first manga to focus solely on yokai which are Japanese spirits. Comedy/horror at the time in America was limited to sitcoms like The Addams Family or The Munsters, but yokai are more mythological in nature, and Kitaro shows a lighter side of what are thought of as everyday spirits working in tandem with the living world. Where Pokemon and Yokai Watch turned the idea of capturing yokai to be part of cockfighting matches, Kitaro blazed the trail for the whole concept, but as a humorous dark comedy.

Kitaro is the last remnant of a yokai clan called the Ghost Tribe. He was born in a graveyard from the shriveled bodies of his monster parents and was raised by a pair of humans. Kitaro looks like a withered young lad with a missing left eye, but his hair usually covers up the empty socket. He is followed by the still living eyeball of his deceased father acting as his Jiminy Cricket. Kitaro regularly acts as a liasion between yokai and humans solving problems and mending fences. His origin shifts from his initial upbringing to already being a supernatural go-between with established relationships with fellow yokai and troublesome spiritualists. Kitaro's earlier incarnation had him being more of pesky troublemaker than an emissary of the yokai but acts of aggression by invading Western demons shape him into more of a peacekeeper.

Kitaro has a rich history which only got released officially into English within the last decade by Drawn And Quarterly. The publishing company does an admirable job translating the manga, although they made it a little difficult to decipher the standard readout of the earlier chapters. Kitaro has also had its 2018 anime adaptation released in English with moderate success, but the manga is the true buried treasure. Give the Silver Age comic a look and crack open a long reclusive title that deserves its day in the sun.