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2021 Reading Challenges > Doc's 2021 Challenge

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message 2: by Doc, Warden of Weirdness (last edited Dec 04, 2021 10:31PM) (new)
Jan 04, 2021 12:25AM

Doc (docpersona) | 376 comments Mod
Artist Alley
Just a little place where I try to read a bit of a particular panel artist each month. Might cut into the color reads but I am really behind in some series lol. :)

January
The month of January belongs to legendary comic artist Stan Sakai following up on my final review from 2020 Usagi Yojimbo: 35 Years of Covers. With a little luck I am hoping to at least read the Fantagraphics line of comics and Usagi Yojimbo: Senso. If you have not had a chance to check out the interesting art of Stan Sakai, like animal people stories, or are into samurai period stories then join me as I dive into the world of Usagi Yojimbo. :)

February
With this month being a bit shorter and love being in the air thanks to Valentine's Day this month I am drawing attention to Chiho Saitō who is known for Revolutionary Girl Utena (which from what I remember was a pretty revolutionary book when heavy editing was a favored activity of English translators.) Like the Special Edition Usagi book from January this one is a two book set in a slipcase so hopefully this time I will have time to read both books lol. :)

March
While I know I said I was planning on featuring one artist every month I decided to try something a little different like spring breaking into winter. For this month I decided to get a little slimy and by that I mean I want to read some manga about one of my favorite reborn in another world humans, Rimuru Tempest. With a popularity so grand that one manga is not enough (similar to my 2nd favorite isekai Overlord) I am going to try a bit of various slime manga this month from artists such as Taiki Kawakami, Tae Tono, Sho Okagiri, Shiba, and Shizuku Akechi. It's slime time. :)

April
April showers bring May flowers but few things (besides food) can brighten up a day like fantastic art and this month's artist is Kamome Shirahama who not only won the Harvey's Awards for best manga of 2020 for Witch Hat Atelier but also the 2020 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia for the same series. If you haven't seen this series I hope her style brings you a feeling of warmth as it does me while her characters come to life from volume to volume. Just in case you do not know she has also done some work as a comic book artist (which is an important job considering a boring cover might be overlooked) and she also has a new series out in manga called Eniale & Dewiela which I plan to try out this month as well. Perhaps if I am lucky lightning will strike twice and I will find another fascinating series with art to boggle my eyes and my mind. :)

May
As the weather brightens and we start seeing the results of April showers bringing the world to life I present a mangaka that has influenced and inspired so many over the years. While there are many great anime series out there and few if any can even dream of reaching the level of Osamu Tezuka this is not about him (seriously...the guy was a workaholic if you read his story.) No the person I am referring to is Rumiko Takahashi who has brought us well known series like Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha but also some classics that are being re-released and may find new fans like Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, and one of my favorites Mermaid Saga. Of course there are other series that she has created but for now I will be primarily trying to get at least some of the previous 5 series read (considering I am soooo far behind on some it is painful lol.)

June
With summer warming up my world (hopefully) it is a good time to enjoy some nice action stories and as long as we are at it why not share the ideals of friendship is magic? As quick paced stories that make you feel good few mangaka can achieve this combination as Hiro Mashima who is best known for the popular Fairy Tail series but has also been releasing Eden Zero and created the classic Rave Masters among other titles. This month I will do my best to catch up on Fairy Tail:100 Year Quest Books, Eden Zero, and finally get around to reading Hiro Mashima's Playground. Hopefully the lazy summer days won't steal away too much reading time like in May. :)

July
With the 4th of July and Christmas in July this month is full of treasures as the world becomes more resistant to a deadly disease that has taken so much from us. What mangaka is better known for treasure then Eiichiro Oda of the famed One Piece series whose popularity has launched it to publish (last time I checked) 99 books and nearly 900 episodes along with animated movies and OAVs making it a treasure to so many as the odd band of pirates the story follows seeks the ultimate treasure. Needless to say unlike many action books that can fill whole pages with action scenes One Piece is more then just fights between over powered entities due to great character interactions and stories of the bonds of friendship filling the pages as well making this an Action manga with heart. Now if only I could catch up to the present manga volume sometime in the year or so I might not get caught in the tidal waves of spoilers when the series finally ends lol. :)

August
At first I was going to focus on just Kaoru Mori who has given us some impressive manga over the years (at which point I am looking at you Yen Press if you can get rights to distribute Shirley in English after CMX was shut down) but with this being the second half of the year and so many great graphic artist I have decided to also add in DOUBLE-S and Oh! Great who both have their interesting artistic styles reflecting more realism then is often associated with Japanese style animation. Of course there are other great artists such as Kamome Shirahama whom I talked about in April and Naoki Urasawa whom I hope to dedicate a month to as well (psst...he is down in October.) As such the series of this month I will primarily be reading will be A Bride's Story , Until Death Do Us Part Omnibus, and Bakemonogatari. :)
Edit: I found another mangaka that fits this months theme in Kenji Tsuruta who is known for the Wandering Island among other things so I plan to also read the 2 volumes of the series so far released as well as at least the first volume of the manga Emanon. :)

September
As the year winds down the hot and muggy days of summer fade into a cooler climate and nothing signifies this change more then when leaves change from green to an assortment of reds and oranges before surrendering to the pull of gravity as winter makes its entrance. So in commemoration of the month that autumn falls in I am going to be reading volumes of Yona of the Dawn whose main character has hair like a vibrant dawn much like many of the leaves on the longer end of the visible spectrum of light. So for September I have the pleasure to read the works of Mizuho Kusanagi who also did series like NG Life among others though it seems her other series are either quite expensive now or were cut unexpectedly short by her publisher so I will be sticking with her most successful series through out the month. :)

October
October is often considered a spooky month ending with a celebration of free candy originating in a tradition to confuse spirits as the veil of the material world and the spirit world thins allowing spirits to come to our world temporarily. However Halloween has evolved over the years and has become a month of not only dressing up as witches, vampires, and other monster but a chance for people to dress in any sort of costume without judgment (expect for those curmudgeons that think older people should grow up and stop wearing costumes) so Instead of picking a horror mangaka I decides to go with one that has shown his talent in various manga types over the years. At first I would have loved to dedicate a month to legendary mangaka Osamu Tezuka but alas I do not have many Tezuka manga at this point. Instead, as mentioned above in August I have another Mangaka that fits the bill in Naoki Urasawa whose work I was first introduced to in the "Monster" anime exploring the difference of monster and man as an act of kindness leads to much evil and an obsession to make amends. So in addition to reading some of Naoki Urasawa's Monster I hope to have time to read more 20th Century Boys: The Perfect Edition, Asadora! , and PLUTO: Urasawa x Tezuka . Sadly I realize I never collected the Master Keaton books when they were coming out and there is no kindle version so I will hopefully have at least volume 1 by the end of the month so maybe I will get to that one too. So many great stories and so little time as always. :)

November
As the weather continues to get colder we bundle together physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually to fight back against the gloom of a dying world readying itself for renewal. As such Thanksgiving has always been a holiday for me where the importance of friends and family is celebrated and honored even if the world outside has become colder (don't get me wrong...I don't mind late fall and winter but I prefer the in-between seasons temperatures like spring and fall) so this month I am going to be reading two series in particular being The Promised Neverland by Kaiu Shirai and To Your Eternity by Yoshitoki Ōima who both deal with struggles and the importance of family and friends. I wish you all the best as you celebrate Thanksgiving (assuming you do) in your own personal ways. :)

December
2021 has been a challenging year for sure but by my vote it was still better than 2020 though it is a little sad to see this group seems to have joined other similar groups on Goodreads in a lack of use. As we have passed the month with the day of giving thanks we are now in the month of generosity as we (hopefully) can reach out to loved ones whether friends and/or family or perhaps even to strangers that do not have the blessings we have acquired ourselves. As such I have been busy preparing for the last hurrah of the year and am not going to focus on an artist. Instead I will be dipping into my pile of one shot volumes and omnibuses that I have not been able to get to yet. I hope as the year winds up for you all that you will have happy memories to look back upon as 2022 comes calling all to soon. Semper ad meliora.


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