Giga Town: A New Manga Resource

I recently got an early look at a helpful new reference book for anyone who works with manga (or manga-inspired comics). Giga Town: A Guide to Manga Iconography was published in Japan in 2018, but it now has an English translation from Mangasplaining and Udon Entertainment, which is out September 2024.

In the book, manga artist Fumiyo Kouno goes through more than 100 common symbols, character poses, and facial expressions used in manga using examples inspired by the Japanese scrolls that are often called the “first manga.” (As the introduction mentions, this is “something of a stretch,” but that’s not going to stop anyone.) This was a fun detail for me because I visited Kōzan-ji, the temple outside Kyoto that the scrolls belong to, during the short time I lived in Japan and saw the reproductions there.

Check out my mini review at Twin Cities Geek!

Udon Entertainment