TAIYO MATSUMOTO'S GOGO MONSTER!

On the way back from San Diego Comic-Con, Evan and I stopped at the San Diego BOOK-OFF for manga hunting. I only found two items, but both were crown manga jewels the likes of which would please a manga Indiana Jones (or to a lesser degree, a manga Nicholas Cage from National Treasure 2).

The first was a magazine collection of Yoshida Sensha comics (with stickers! More on this later); The latter was a hardcover edition of Taiyo Matsumoto's ＧＯＧＯモンスター (GOGO MONSTER). It was only 12 bucks, if you can believe that shit. It's a gem, and I know lots of folks place this title extremely high on their MOST-WANTED-IN-ENGLISH list (Chris, looking at you dude). I've read through it, and recently bequeathed it to mega-Matsumoto fangirl, Hellen Jo. Here are some pictures of the book I took before passing it on...



Hard cover edition with slipcase and bookmark tassel (so classy).


Beautiful back cover, with a Where the Wild Things Are vibe but more Japanesey.


Striking but sparse, check out that front cover action!


Whoa! It's a different setting than Tekkon Kinkreet - but Matsumoto's cityscapes are utterly thrilling. As you can also see here, the page edges are bright red and feature pen art.


Page detail, a comic within the comic.


I won't spoil any details on who this fella is...


Such a perfect little collection of details. Matsumoto kills me! (in a good way).


Geometric transitions and film-like transitions pepper the book.


Detail of previous page.


From the opening chapter of GOGO MONSTER.

The only question that remains... When is this magnificent book going to be released in English!? Hellen says that there have already been Korean and French editions published (naturally). Man, c'mon America!