The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels by Danny Fingeroth

This is a really well written and constructed guide to graphic novels.  It is divided into eight clear sections, starting with what constitutes a graphic novel and the history of the genre with a 40 page graphic novel about writing comics as interlude before moving on to Fingeroth's selection of 60 best graphic novels, the writers, artist and publishers and finishing with a good informative section on Managa, a section on film adapations and resources.  The layout is really attractive, with blue boxes in the margins providing information along the lines of 'if you like this, you might like...'.  It is good but not great, and it isn't completely up to date, being published in 2008 it misses some of the major movements of the last four years, such as the rise of steampunk, and there are some puzzling omissions as to major writers and artists.  However, a good starting point which has given me plenty of new information.

Birthday by Meimu

These are three manga stories about Sadako from The Ring, revealing details about her background, her childhood years and the tragedy of her past.  Engaging and beautifully drawn, fast paced and achingly sad.

Twelfth Night Manga Shakespeare by Nana Li

Well illustrated and using the conventions of Manga expression to bring out the nuances in Shakespeare's text this is a great introduction to Twelfth Night for anyone who finds reading a play text difficult.  Li brings to life the comedy of the play, graphically showing the anarchic sense of fun that was current in Shakespeare's time.   The drawing is achingly beautiful, I'm not sure who I'm more in love with!

Comic, Comix and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art by Roger Sabin

Definitive work of research by Sabin in large format chronicling the history of British comics from their conception up to about the turn of the century, interesting and through though a bit thin on comic art for girls and very little about manga, but there are other books for that

Godchild 1 and 2 by Kaori Yuki

Godchild is the story of a Victorian aristocrat named Cain, his 10 year old half sister Mary Weather, insane homicidal half brother Dr Jizabel Disraeli, their sadistic absent father and Cain's young butler Riff. Cain is a collector of poisons and detective and Godchild 1 and 2 cover a couple of his cases investigating murders, suicides and hauntings.

Yuki is the creator of Angel Sanctuary (which I've just started reading) and Cain and is female. Godchild is from the Shojo Beat house (shojo - young women) and is a far cry from the kind of shojo I don't like - high school romance and girlish crushes on older more powerful men. There is the usual mobile sexuality of manga that is both odd and entralling to my westernised mind, the androgny of Cain and Dr Disraeli, the overt exercising of Cain's power over society girls and the tensions in the relationships between Cain and Mary and Cain and Riff. After reading twice I may be hooked

It would have been really interesting to see these stories written and drawn in a westernised style along the lines of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, this is definately a fantasy of Victorian London although there are elements of what it would have been like

Loveless by Yun Kouga

This is the side of manga that exposes Japan's idiosyncratic obsessions, with homosexuality and in particular the love of younger boys, and with fantastical meetings of worlds. Challenging and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet! I love the way the people who haven't had sex have ears!

AZ: "Ritsuka Aoyagi is a sixth grader, transferring to a new school. Years ago his brother Seimei was murdered. Upon transferring in, he is branded as peculiar - he shows up without his parents, and is aloof toward the other students. Yuiko, an outcast in her own right, befriends him, much to his dismay. Soubi, a Fighter Unit, arrives to meet Aoyagi. Soubi knew Seimei, and Aoyagi lets his guard down momentarily. Midori and his Fighter Unit Ai come with orders to abduct Aoyagi, but are powerless against Soubi. Aoyagi, who seems to be suffering from memory loss as well as personality disorder, wants to reclaim his identity as "Ritsuka." Aoyagi discovers a mysterious last message left from Seimei in which he reveals the identity of his murderer(s) as The Seventh Moon, and that his true name is Loveless. Midori and Ai again try to abduct Aoyagi, but are thwarted once again by Soubi. Aoyagi is confused by Soubi's psychological tactics, who seduces him yet withholds the emotional connectivity which he craves. On the other hand, he slowly warms up to Yuiko, becoming a friend to her. Meanwhile, other rivals appear: Yayoi is jealous of Aoyagi's friendship with Yuiko; and Kio, a university colleague of Soubi, is distraught that a young boy such as Aoyagi could capture Soubi's attention. As a sign of their bond, Soubi asks that Aoyagi pierce his ears. On Parents' Day at school, neither Aoyagi nor Yuiko's parents are present, but Soubi shows up to greet Aoyagi at the entrance. Aoyagi is further entranced by Soubi."

Buddha: Kapilvastu by Osamu Tezuka

Tezuka is supposed to be one of the best manga artists, so I thought I'd start reading his major work, his narration of the life of the Buddha. Kapilvastu is the first volume and, as with most manga, I'll need to read it again to get it properly!

AZ: ""Kapilavastu", Chapra, an ambitious slave, spurns the caste system into which he was born, and tries to become a nobleman. Tatta, the wild pariah child, communes with animals, and the monk, Naradatta, strives to uncover the meaning of strange portents surrounding the Buddha's birth. Originated in the 1970s, "Buddha" is Osamu Tezuka's unparalleled rendition of the life and times of Prince Siddhartha. Tezuka's storytelling genius and consummate skill at visual expression blossom fully as he contextualizes the Buddha's ideas; with an emphasis on action, emotion, humour and conflict as Prince Siddhartha runs away from home, travels across India and questions Hindu practices such as ascetic self-mutilation and caste oppression. Rather than recommend resignation and impassivity, Tezuka's "Buddha" predicates enlightenment upon recognizing the interconnectedness of life, having compassion for the suffering, and ordering one's life sensibly, his approach is slightly irreverent in that it incorporates something that Western commentators often eschew, namely, humour."

Bleach 3, 4 and 5 by Tite Kubo

AZ: "One rainy day, Ichigo, whose ability to see the undead is a blessing with a curse, tried to stop a young girl from drowning in a nearby river. His mother, Masaki, ran after them, frantically trying to rescue her son. Then everything went black, and Ichigo awoke only to discover his mother dead and the little girl gone. It's the anniversary of Masaki's death, and the entire Kurosaki clan, along with former Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki, head to the cemetary to pay their respects. Sleeping demons rarely ever stay still and pretty soon Ichigo confronts the Grand Fisher, the Hollow that may be resposible for his mother's demise"

Death Note by Tsugami Ohba, volumes 1 & 2

AZ: "Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal...or his life? Light tests the boundaries of the Death Note's powers as L and the police begin to close in. Luckily Light's father is the head of the Japanese National Police Agency and leaves vital information about the case lying around the house. With access to his father's files, Light can keep one step ahead of the authorities. But who is the strange man following him, and how can Light guard against enemies whose names he doesn't know?"

It's funny, I only really warmed to this on second reading, and now I'm hooked and will have to wait until I can afford more issues. Humph! The interaction between the idiosyncratic slightly odd L and the charming hyperintelligent murderous Light is interesting in the extreme and the links with Japanese mythology are fascinating

Harlequin Pink: The Batchelor Prince by Debbie Macomber and Misao Itoshiai

The kind of manga I don't like: wish fulfilment for 16 year old girls, completely edgeless and fuzzy, still read it all though!

One Missed Call by Yaushi Akimoto and Mayomi Shihou

Passable horror manga in the vein of The Ring: people get missed calls from their future selves at the moment of their deaths which take place within 48 hours of the call.

Bleach by Tite Kubo

My first real foray into Manga, after sitting on the floor of Borders browsing through to eliminate the endless stories of teenage girl angst with improbably large breasts. Not really my kettle of fish

AZ: "Ichigo Kurosaki has always been able to see ghosts, but this ability doesn't change his life nearly as much as his close encounter with Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper and member of the mysterious Soul Society. While fighting a Hollow, an evil spirit that preys on humans who display psychic energy, Rukia attempts to lend Ichigo some of her powers so that he can save his family; but much to her surprise, Ichigo absorbs every last drop of her energy. Now a fully-fledged Soul Reaper himself, Ichigo quickly learns that the world he inhabits is one full of dangerous spirits, and along with Rukia, who is slowly regaining her powers, it's Ichigo's job to both protect the innocent from Hollows and to help the spirits themselves find peace."

I've been reading my way through the series ever since, I think this entry is for Bleach volumes 1 and 2. I love the way you have to read manga backwards and the sense of an entirely different culture with different sexual and cultural values.

Crying Freeman by Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikigama, volumes 3 and 4

I first read the first two Crying Freeman volumes some time ago, and decided to see what the rest of the series was like. I found it disturbing and the sexual violence sensationalist, maybe I missed something! The idea of an assasin who cries when he kills is heartbreakingly brilliant, but I found the execution of the idea too disturbing for me.