Ikigami - The Ultimate Limit

Congratulations! You have been randomly selected by the government... to die in 24 hours!

In order to stifle apathy and to kick start motivation, the government has been utilizing the practice of killing their own people.  Not en mass, mind you, but one a day should be enough to keep citizens in line.  A "small" sacrifice for the betterment of the whole - This is similar to the idea behind The Lottery, Battle Royale, and Hunger Games, but without inherent brutality of those processes.

The National Welfare Immunization is provided to each citizen as they enter elementary school.  The immunization protects against infectious diseases, but 0.01% of the syringes contain a nano-capsule that will kill them when they are between the ages of 18 to 24.

When the date and time of a capsule rupture is coming up, the Ministry sends out a messenger to notify the recipient of the capsule of their impending death.  One such messenger, Fujimoto is the 25 year old protagonist of the series.  He is the connected thread between all the characters we watch in their final moments.  Fujimoto is compassionate and inquisitive and not entirely sold on the practice of Ikigami.  Throughout the series, Fujimoto struggles with the morality and efficacy of what is taking place around him.  He must be careful, though, because if his internal struggle boils to the surface, he will be injected with the capsule as are all "social miscreants". 


Ikigami is certainly a dark story, but there is a lot of optimism hidden in these pages.  Writer/author Motoro Mase highlights as many positive sides of human nature as he does negative.  For some of the characters who receive an ikigami, a quest begins.  What would you do if today was the last day of your life?

- Ryan

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service

"Your body is their business!"

Your dead body, anyway... KCDS is described as a horror manga, but it is so much more.  The story follows five Buddhist university students with odd skill sets allowing them interactions with the dead.  Some mortalities result in spirits being trapped in their own bodies, unable to move on to the next reincarnation.  Using their abilities, the group tasks themselves with helping these unfortunate souls.  No matter what the cause or complication, the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service will bring your body wherever necessary for you to be free.

If you grew up on Scooby Doo, Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or anything of the like, you should check out this series immeadiately. A good mix of group dynamics and mystery harken back to the aforementioned series, but KCDS hues a much darker tone.  There is true horror to experience and this manga is only for mature readers.  There is gore, nudity, and violence as well as plently of disturbing imagery. 

 - Ryan

Picks of the Week

IRON SIEGE #1 (OF 3)

WWII with a horror twist! An outfit of U.S. soldiers captures a group of Nazis led by a high-ranking SS officer. But when they come across a deserted town with a dangerous secret, they must forge an uneasy alliance to survive an unspeakable nightmare. It's Dawn of the Dead meets Assault on Precinct 13 in Iron Siege, a three-issue miniseries presented bi-monthly in Golden Age size. With incredible artwork by Trevor Goring and covers by Tim Bradstreet.

 

BLACK PANTHER MAN WITHOUT FEAR #513

In the wake of Shadowland, there's a new protector of Hell's Kitchen! He has no kingdom, no vibranium, and no high-tech safety net--just bloody knuckles and the will to prove himself in a foreign land where the fiercest of jungle predators stalks the most dangerous urban prey! His name is T'Challa, and in the aftermath of Shadowland, he will create a new life, a new identity, and learn what it is to be a different kind of hero. But with Daredevil gone, the bad guys are coming out to play, and a new nemesis--Vlad the Impaler--plots his bloody rise to power.

SUPERMAN SECRET ORIGIN DELUXE HC

Writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank bring you a startling new look at the beginnings of Lex Luthor, The Legion of Super-Heroes, Lois Lane, Metallo, Jimmy Olsen, The Parasite and more of your favorite characters from the Superman family in this new, deluxe hardcover. Collecting the acclaimed six-issue miniseries!

2010 Holiday Gift Guide

Check out the Laughing Ogre Holiday Gift Guide for great gift ideas and special discounts.  You can find the guide right under New Releases.

Dara Naraghi Signing Today at Laughing Ogre High Street.

Dara Naraghi will be signing today from 5-8.  He has a short story in the DCU Holiday 2010 Special.  So be sure to swing by today and get a copy signed.

 

Picks of the Week

Lady Mechanika #1

The tabloids dubbed her "Lady Mechanika", the sole survivor of a psychotic serial killer's three-year rampage through London. Found locked in an abandoned laboratory amidst countless corpses and body parts, with her own limbs amputated and replaced with mechanical components, her life began anew. With no memory of her captivity or her former life, Lady Mechanika eventually built a new life for herself as a private detective, using her unique abilities to solve cases the police couldn't or wouldn't handle. But, she has never stopped searching for answers...
Now, brought into a case unlike any before, Lady Mechanika will have to rely on her advantage in all things occult and paranormal in order to solve the case and possibly unlock the secrets to her past!

Fables #100

In this fantastic 100-page issue, it's time to put an end to Mister Dark once and for all, and time for the Fables to return home to Fabletown. For that to happen, one of the Fables agrees to take on the Dark Man in single combat! It's big, it's epic, and if you live in New York City, you may want to take a quick vacation when this issue comes out, because things are going to get wrecked!
In addition to the larger-than-life main story, we have a FABLES prose story written by Mark Buckingham and illustrated by Bill Willingham! We have an All-Star Burning Questions section that will knock your socks off (seriously, innocent people are going to lose some socks here). We have a puppet theatre created by the unstoppably creative Mark Buckingham, a FABLES board game, sequential stories painted by Chrissie Zullo and Joao Ruas, and even more surprises in this square-bound behemoth celebrating this award-winning Vertigo series!

DCU Holiday Special 2010 #1

From the dawn of time (Anthro) to the far-flung future (Legion of Super-Heroes), sentient life has honored the winter holidays with celebrations and rituals as diverse as the universe itself! Join DC Comics - and a stellar team of writers and artists - to honor the vast and diverse holidays of the DC Universe in
6 tales of holiday cheer! Starring the aforementioned characters along with Superman, The Spectre, Jonah Hex, and Green Lantern John Stewart for a HOLIDAY SPECIAL like no other!

Employee Pick: King City #12

Brandon Graham's pun-filled urban epic King City wraps up this week with issue #12 on stands courtesy of Image comics!  Now, we've discussed this title here on the blog before, and how picking it up could be the biggest favor you do yourself this decade.  It's one-of-a-kind, snappy and off-the-wall with so much detail packed into every page that you could spend hours going over all the little hidden treasures with a magnifying glass.  Graham has an incredible passion for comics; he weathered the collapse of Tokyopop (KC's original publisher) and a bout with cancer 6 issues in and came out swinging.  Real love for the medium shines through here- we follow Catmaster Joe as he fights a demon king, masked man Pete as he falls for a water-breathing alien girl, and Korean Xombie War veteran Max as he and his girlfriend Anna battle drug addiction and PTSD.  It's a wild ride. Now, some of you folks may be the type to wait until a miniseries like this is finished so you can read the whole thing without the seemingly interminable wait between installments, and that is just fine, but THE TIME IS RIGHT AND THE TIME IS NOW to snatch this one up before there's no more copies left!

Though we're sad to see one of our favorites reach the end, Graham will be returning soon with his full-color postapocalyptic Russian werewolf epic Multiple Warheads!  Stay tuned and hang on tight, this is comics at their best!