Mangas
(Japanese comic books) are nothing new in the world
of videogames. Whether a game is based on a manga or
a manga is based on a game, they are easily the most
omnipresent form of videogame-related media - light
years ahead of film, TV and animation.
This is mainly because mangas are, essentially, very
easy to produce: a single artist can often output close
to 200 pages in the space of a couple of months. It
is this ease of production, coupled with the Japanese
public's voracious appetite for all things material,
that causes such an absurd amount of books to be available.
And that would be fine, if mangas didn't suffer from
the same problem that hampers most forms of Japanese
'entertainment': 99% of it is a vicious load of pointless
and inane gibberish.
Fortunately,
the 'Gamest Comics' manga label manages to avoid falling
that category, mainly because each and every volume
in the series is billed as nothing more than a minor
tie-in of said game's storyline. And bar a few exceptions,
they don't have any pretensions beyond re-iterating
already established plotlines and characters. Therefore
they become an extension to the game in question - an
expansion, a tribute, a souvenir of sorts. And in that
respect, the Gamest Comics range won't let you down.
Alright.
First it might be worth pointing out that all of these
books are in Japanese. None of them, as far as we are
aware, have ever been published anywhere outside of
Japan. But don't let that put you off - there are many
people out there who don't have an ounce of Japanese,
and still enjoy imported mangas. And in the case of
game-related mangas, the language barrier is even further
reduced: chances are you might already know the characters,
and even the storyline.
The
'Gamest Comics' series started relatively slowly, it
eventually gathered pace, with sometimes up to (?) releases
a month in 199x-xx
Vols
1 to 23 are small format mangas
Categories:
- Manga
- Comic Anthology
- 4-Koma Ketteiban (lit. 'Yon-Koma')
Street
Fighter Zero
(Masahiko Nakahira)
Originally appearing as a serial amidst the
pages of Gamest magazine, Masahiko Nakahira's superb
Street Fighter Zero adaptation is notable mainly for
its faithful adaptation of the original storyline, but
also for its superb art - that resembles almost exactly
Capcom's in-house style.
This two-part collection unifies the whole story, both
issues are listed for sale on the Street Fighter Zero
page, and comes highly recommended to Street Fighter
fans. Almost as recommended as...
Street
Fighter III - Ryu Final
(Masahiko Nakahira)
As a direct continuation of the Street Fighter
Zero strip, Ryu Final is quite possibly the best contender
for the accolade of 'best Gamest manga'. Dark and moody,
Nakahira chronicles the journeys of Ryu and his quest
to control his evil intent.
Both issues are listed for sale on the Street Fighter
Series page.
|
