EARLY MANGA DAYS: A CHRONOLOGY

I started compiling this list over on the site MyAnimeList, which has a cool community called "The Alternative Manga Club" that I've been posting on. Since it's a bit hard to comment on that thread without being registered, I decided to move it here. Please help fill in details below!

I'm trying to compile a chronological list (by publication date) of very early manga from Japan published in English. Specifically, I wanna list everything that was translated and published in America (or in bilingual editions in Japan, in Europe, etc) prior to the big explosion at the end of the 80s by Viz and Dark Horse, etc.

(Thanks so far to Joe McCulloch, Azraelito, pekochan, Deb Aoki, and Fred Schodt for their additions)

1977
+ Star*Reach #7 (January)

"The Bushi" written by Satoshi Hirota & art by Masaichi Mukaide
Star*Reach bibliography
comics.org

1978
+ BAREFOOT GEN Vol.1 by Keiji Nakazawa

Published by Project Gen in April
Photos and details on Same Hat

+ Imagine #3 (August)
"The Spider Thread" by by Masaichi Mukaide
MyComicShop

+ Imagine #4 (November)
"The Awakening of Tamaki" written by Lee Marrs & art by Masaichi Mukaide
MyComicShop

1979
+ BAREFOOT GEN Vol. 2 published by Project Gen
From Frederik Schodt's bibliography page

+ Imagine #6 (July)
"Salvation" by Masaichi Mukaide
MyComicShop

1980
+ Heavy Metal, March issue: "Violence Becomes Tranquility" - Kaze Shinobu
+ Heavy Metal, December issue: Front Cover by Hajime Sorayama
Scans and details on Same Hat
List of full issue contents

+ Epic Illustrated #4 (Winter):
Article: "Portfolio: The Art of Shotaro Ishimori" by Gene Pelc & Archie Goodwin
List of full issue contents

+ Food Comix: "When Socrates Drinks, Everybody Drinks!," by Akira Narita with Fred Schodt and Leonard Rifas
Published by EduComics, San Francisco

1981
+ Heavy Metal, August issue: Back Cover by Hajime Sorayama
Scans and details on Same Hat
List of full issue contents

+ The Rose of Versailles Vols. 1 & 2, by Riyoko Ikeda,
Published in bilingual editions by Sanyusha in Japan

1982
+ Epic Illustrated #10 (February issue): "Heart And Steel" - Kaze Shinobu
List of full issue contents

+ I Saw It! The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima: A True Survivor's Story by Keiji Nakazawa
Published by Educomics
Wikipedia

1983
+ Epic Illustrated #18 (June issue):
"Article: The Art Of Go Nagai" - Jo Duffy
"Oni" - Go Nagai
List of full issue contents

+ Manga translated & excerpted in Frederik Schodt's Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics:
- Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka
- Rose of Versailles by Ryoko Ikeda
- Ghost Warrior by Leiji Matsumoto
- Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa

+Bilingual edition Urusei Yatsura by Rumiko Takahashi
Published by Shogakukan, at least 3 volumes were released
Listing on Bunkoudo

1984
+ Epic Illustrated #26: "Landed" - Keiichi Koike
Scans and details on Same Hat

1985
+ RAW v. 1 n. 7
Edited/published by Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman
Featured an insert of Yoshiharu Tsuge's "Red Flowers"
along with comics by Terry Yumura; Yosuke Kowamuro; Sugiuro Shigeru;
Indy Magazine article by Bill Kartalopoulos

1986
+ Golgo 13 No. 1: Into the Wolves' Lair by Takao Saito
+ Golgo 13 No. 2: Galinpero by Takao Saito
+ Golgo 13 No. 3: Ice Lake Hit by Takao Saito
All published by Lead Publishing

1987
+ Golgo 13 No. 4: The Ivory Connection
Published by Lead Publishing

+ Samurai Son of Death by Sharman DiVono & Hiroshi Hirata
Published as Eclipse Graphic Novel #14
My Comic Shop listing

+ Legend of Kamui by Sanpei Shirato
Published by Eclipse/Viz starting in May
eBay listing

+ Mai the Psychic Girl by Kazuya Kudō & Ryoichi Ikegami.
Published in May by Eclipse/Viz
Covers and details on Same Hat
eBay listing

+ Area 88 by Kaoru Shintani
Published by Eclipse/VIP
eBay listing

+ Lone Wolf & Cub by Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima
Published in May by First Comics
eBay listing

+ Xenon by Masaomi Kanzaki
Published by Eclipse/Viz
MyComicShop

1988
+ Cheval Noir #1 (comics magazine)
"Angel Fusion" by by Keisuke Goto and Hiroyuki Kato
Published by Dark Horse

+ Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
Published by Epic Comics
eBay listing
Background on publication history
Same Hat post about Steve Oliff's color guides

+ Mazinger by Go Nagai
Published by First Publishing
MyComicShop

+ Dirty Pair by Haruka Takachiho
Published by Eclipse Comics
eBay listing

+ Appleseed by Masumune Shirow
Published by Eclipse Comics
eBay listing

+ Outlanders #1 by Johji Manabe
Published by Dark Horse / Studio Proteus
eBay listing

+ Justy by Tsuguo Okazaki
Published by Viz
MyComicShop

+ Crying Freeman by Kazuo Koike & Ryoichi Ikegami
Published by Viz
MyComicShop

+ Pineapple Army by by Kazuya Kudo & Naoki Urasawa
Published by Viz
MyComicShop

+ Good-Bye and Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Published by Catalan Communications
(A "semi-legal" book, translated from Spanish into English by Catalan)

1989
+ Rumic World by Rumiko Takahashi
Published by Viz
Issue 1: Fire Tripper
Issue 2: Laughing Target
MyComicShop

+ Lum #1-8 by Rumiko Takahashi
Published by Viz (May - December)
MyComicShop
+ Baoh by Hirohiko Araki
Published by Viz
MyComicShop

+ Panorama of Hell by Hideshi Hino
Published by Blast Books
Noted by Fred Schodt as the first manga published "unflipped" in English

+ Cyber 7 by Shuho Itahashi
Published by Eclipse Comics
MyComicShop

+ Golgo 13 #1 - The Impossible Hit by Takao Saito
Published by Lead Publishing
eBay listing

+ Dominion #1-6 by Masamune Shirow
Published by Eclipse
MyComicShop

1990-1991
+ Golgo 13 #2: Hopper the Border
Published by Lead Publishing

+ RAW v. 2 n. 2
Edited/published by Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman
"Oba's Electroplate Factory" by Yoshihiro Tsuge

+ Black Magic #1-4 by Masamune Shirow
Published by Eclipse
MyComicShop

+ Grey by Yoshihisa Tagami, published by Viz [eBay]
+ Lost Continent by Akihiro Yamada, published by Eclipse [eBay]
+ Hotel Harbour View by Natsuo Sekikawa & Jiro Taniguchi, published by Viz [MyComicShop]
+ 2001 Nights by Yukinobu Hoshino, published by Viz [MyComicShop]
+ Saber Tiger by Yukinobu Hoshino, published by Viz [MyComicShop]
+ Shion Blade of the Minstrel by Yu Kinutani, published by Viz [eBay]
+ Cobra by Buichi Terasawa, published by Viz [MyComicShop]
+ Horobi, published by Viz [MyComicShop]
+ What's Michael by Makoto Kobayashi, published by Eclipse [MyComicShop]

NEEDS TO BE CONFIRMED/DATED
+ MANGA 1984
- Front cover by Hajime Sorayama
- Two Warriors by Hiroshi Hirata
- Down Time by Yosuke Tamori
- The Mask of the Red Dwarf Star by Yukinori Hoshino
- Olai Portfolio by Noriyoshi Olai (illustrations)
- Watermelon Messiah by Otomo Katsuhiro (wordless)
- Midsummer Night's Dream by Lee Marrs & Keizo Miyanishi
- The Great Ten by Noboru Miyama
- Schizophrenia by Youji Fukuyama
- The Promise by Masaichi Mukaide
- Cat in Animation by Masayuki Wako (wordless)
- Back cover: Hiroshi Hirata
This book was published in Japan and exported to America. This 88 page book contains color and B&W entries.
Complete analysis and descriptions by Job on the Savage Critic blog

1977: Star*Reach #7 includes a story by Satoshi Hirota/Masaichi Mukaide

Ostensibly, the first English "Manga" was Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama's "The Four Immigrants" comics, created in the 1920s while he was living in the United States. These comics were translated by Frederik Schodt and published by Stone Bridge Press in 1998
Further reading on Fred Schodt's site

MORE READING:
+ "Manga: Another SF/F Trend Missed by SF/F?" by Cynthia Ward (published in Locas Online)
Cynthia states in this article (among other great tidbits):
Eclipse/Viz followed these titles with several SF manga (Appleseed, Cyber 7, Cosmo Police Justy, Dominion, and Xenon: Heavy Metal Warrior).

+ The Age of Fake Manga - a fantastic collection of American comics created in the 80s that mimicked the style of manga, including: Ninja Funnies, The Fat Ninja, Eagle (a ninja comic unrelated to the Sawaguchi political manga), Shuriken, Mecha, Gigantor & Speed Racer remakes, Metal Bikini, and Rion 2990. CHECK THIS OUT!

ABOUT PUBLISHING TSUGE IN RAW:
From Indy Magazine article by Bill Kartalopoulos
Mouly: We did go see all of those people while we were in Tokyo in 1983, so we managed to find out about them even before we went... We also very very early on made contact with Kosei Ono... Kosei Ono is a book critic, and a writer, and a scholar of comics and he's the one who put us in touch with Tsuge and, a really smart guy. So we basically made connections with the right people.

It's the only time that Tsuge published outside of Japan. He just won't allow it. He let it happen with a book that just came out in France this year, ten years later. It was basically because Kosei Ono vouched for us, and Tsuge gave us permission for "Red Flowers." And of course we had to do it as an insert. He didn't want it blown up in Raw, and he liked the idea that it would have its own format, that he would be presented. The reason that he doesn't want to be published anywhere else is that he contends, and I can see, if you read his books you can understand what he means, that if you truly want to understand his work, you have to go move to Japan, learn Japanese, and then you can understand his books.

Karasik: The translations that I did of Tsuge's remarkable tales remain the Raw work of which I am proudest. My close pal, Akira Satake, who is one of the best banjo players in the world and quickly becoming one of the best ceramicists, as well, was familiar with Tsuge's work and would do a rough translation of the story. Because he and I are so close, even though I do not understand Japanese, I was able to take his translations into vernacular English while retain what I believe and hope is the intonation and intention of Tsuge's original work. Footnoting the "Red Flowers" was Art's bright idea. It gave us a way of explaining the sound-effects, inflection and subtleties inherent in the original Japanese which would be lost to Western readers.

Mouly: It turned out that Tsuge loved the idea of having footnotes, we loved the idea of having footnotes. It was nice, we liked the idea of a comic strip with footnotes. It slows down the reading, which was the same project that we had as well.

PLEASE ADD ANY ADDITIONS IN THE COMMENTS AND I'LL UPDATE THIS POST! Adding images today.

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