Welcome to Manga Zubon, where I take a look at the manga that have come out each month and pick what I think are the best of the lot. These are the manga that I feel deserve recognition and readership more than the rest, so I’m singling them out. My focus in this column is mostly on first volumes to get you in on the ground floor of new series, but I will include standouts in ongoing series as well. Keep in mind that though I do my best, I can’t read everything that comes out each month, so if you have something you think I missed or just have something to say about the ones I’ve chosen, please chime in in the comments section.

Azumanga Daioh Omnibus
Creator: Kiyohiko Azuma
Publisher: ADV

I’ve been a fan of this series exploring the fun and wonder of teenage girls coming of age together since I first stumbled on it, and seeing it in such an affordable format is excellent. Twenty-five bucks will get you all four books of the series in one big volume, about 61/2″ by 9″, and that’s a hell of a deal. At times funny, touching, sweet, and even downright weird, the four-panel strips are an odd method of doing manga, but it really works here. If you’ve liked Azuma’s other delightful series Yotsuba!&, give this one a try. It’s a blast.

The Ice Wanderer and Other Stories
Creator: Jiro Taniguchi
Publisher: Fanfare/Ponent Mon

These are some amazing stories dealing with the outdoors and man’s interaction with it. The first two are translations of stories by Jack London, including a story about London himself during the Gold Rush, and the other four very much have the feel of London’s adventure stories, where the wild outdoors is as much a character as the people. Taniguchi’s art is brilliant at bringing these stories to life, making the wide open snow and animals seem as real as the men encountering them. Simply wonderful.

Kindaichi Case Files V.16
Writer: Yozaburo Kanari
Artist: Fumiya Sato
Publisher: Tokyopop

It’s been a few months seen we’ve seen a volume of this well-done mystery manga, but it always satisfies when it arrives, so I don’t mind waiting. This time out, Kindaichi and his crew check out a train filled with magicians, and when they start to die, he’ll have to see through their tricks to find the culprit! Cool use of magic tricks, tricky crimes as always, and a hilarious gag that shows us Kindaichi is definitely a teenage guy helped solidify this as one of my favorite volumes in this series so far. Too bad it’ll probably be a while before the next volume…

Palette of 12 Secret Colors V.1
Creator: Nari Kusakawa
Publisher: DC/CMX

I very much liked the premise of this book, that there’s a South Seas island filled with colorful tropical birds where a city of magicians has grown around magically transferring the birds’ brilliant colors to other objects. The magicians are called Palettes, and each is paired with a single bird. Young Cello, a Palette in training, has the potential to be great, but lacks control, and the stories follow her, her bird Yoyo, and the island’s color-fixer Dr. Guell as she works to learn her craft. Very fun, with some cool ideas and cute artwork, I dug this, although the budding romance between sixteen-year-old Cello and 23-year-old Guell was a little odd. Nothing new for manga, just odd for me.

Pumpkin Scissors V.1
Creator: Ryotaro Iwanaga
Publisher: Del Rey

After a nasty war between the Empire and the Republic of Frost, there has been a cease-fire declared. In the wake of the war, the Empire suffers from starvation and disease, and bandits run amok. Imperial Army State Section III, better known as Pumpkin Scissors, is tasked with war relief and reconstruction. A small unit led by a noblewoman, they quickly pick up a special forces anti-tank trooper and head from mission to mission, trying their best to return the Empire to a place of peace and calm. The dialogue is fun, the art is dynamic and engaging, and the missions are both interesting and work to spotlight the characters. Pretty cool.

Vampire Hunter D V.1
Writer: Hideyuki Kikuchi
Artist: Saiko Takaki
Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing

Vampire Hunter D was one of the first anime that I ever saw, some twenty years ago, and it’s been a long time coming for a manga adaptation of the novel series, but it’s finally here, and it looks great. The bishounen dhampir D looks both aloof and dangerous, yet somehow inviting, and the vampires, mutants, werewolves and other enemies just look amazing in the gothic style. Takaki does a brilliant job of translating the story to manga, although some of the action scenes are a little unclear, and Kikuchi’s story of the vampire hunter with a caring heart is just cool. Plus, demon hand! Can’t beat that.