Outlanders Volume 4

Johji Manabe takes comand of your mind, body, and soul with this epic tale. The first novel is terrifying and fun, as is the second. Somewhere around the third volume it becomes impossible to not find the next. When I finished volume 6, I proclaimed that Manabe had more guts than any writer I'd ever before encountered. When I finished volume 7, I was in tears. I preordered volume 8, checking its progress daily. I cried again reading that one, but finished the novel laughing. Not since Nausicaa have I been so moved by a graphic novel series. This is the kind of story that puts the "novel" in the phrase graphic novel. If you don't read this series, you are really missing out on something. This story single-handedly proves that Johji Manabe is one of the most brilliant writers to ever take up pen and ink.

And believe me, I read a lot of them. Outlanders just has that magic to captivate and enthrall, not through the cliched methods of mutants and whatnot, but by turning the space opera genre on its ear. Nothing in Outlanders will turn out how you expect it. There will be times when you are laughing out loud on one page, and then crying your eyes out on the next. It toys with your emotions. You will find yourself falling in love with some of the characters, and absolutely hating others. But no matter what, you'll have to agree that Outlanders is storytelling at its best, and that Johji Manabe's epic masterpiece hasn't lost its appeal, even after more than ten years since its original publication. Additional hats off to Toren Smith for his magnificent translation job. Nowhere in the books did it seem as though the words were not English to begin with. Comparing the Studio Proteus/Dark Horse version to the Japanese version even shows some fun the translator and touch-up artists had with the manga...for example, in issue #1, the names "Dark Horse" and "Studio Proteus" are written out in katakana on building signs which are blank in the original Japanese version. The name "Hakusensha" also appears, but in English. Again, the sign it appears on was blank in the Japanese comic.I cannot recommend this book enough (though you probably should be at least 18 before you start reading it, as there is some pretty graphic violence, adult situations, and stuff you just won't get if you're not an adult). Take my advice, Outlanders is everything you could ever hope for on the comic page, and more.

Ah... a classic story of boy meets girl, girl is alien, girl's empire takes over world. Indeed. This is a truly cool comic series (not as cool as Caravan Kidd though...) and I HIGHLY reccomend picking it up.

This is really an enjoyable series. I found out about it when I first purchased the anime movie based on it. If you're an Outlanders fan, you've got to get it. I've heard that vol 6 is coming out in fall of '99, and that according to Toren Smith, there will be 8 vol's altogether.