| Comic Gaia- Seishinsha's Comic Anthology |
Gaia #6, Shirow's Orion. Copyrights Shirow & Seishinsha. |
What are Comic Gaias? They are comics anthologies, serializing works by manga artists publishing with Seishinsha, published irregularly. Tankubon-sized and quite thick. Currently discontinued. More details- ISBNs, prices, etc. to follow at another section below. Comic Gaia is also well-known for carrying Masamune Shirow's Orion series and in later issues Appleseed, Dominion Conflict and also two Exon Depot stories. This could probably be considered serialization on Shirow's part, and he does most of the covers. All of Shirow's works featured here have been collected in individual tankubons, except for the Exon Depots. There are other interesting artists featured- most notably for Shirow fans, works of Hagane Kotetsu, Shirow's one-time assistant. Also, short pieces by Akihiro Yamada, another notable manga-ka (of Record of Lodoss War: Lady of Pharis fame) and several others, for which I don't know their names. There is a wide mix of story genres, but mostly fantasy and science-fiction themed. |
| Comic Gaia Book Informations |
|
Comic Gaia Vol.1 8th Aug 90 ISBN4-915333-74-4 C0079 P890E 890 Yen, 224 pages Shirow: Cover, Orion (40 pages)
|
Comic Gaia Vol.2 4th Oct 90 ISBN4-915333-79-5 C0079 P890E 890 Yen, 240 pages Shirow: Cover, Susano Pin-up Insert, Orion (40 pages)
|
Comic Gaia Vol.3 12th Dec 90 ISBN4-915333-82-5 C0079 P890E 890 Yen, 240 pages Shirow: Cover, Orion (40 pages)
|
|
Comic Gaia Vol.4 9th Mar 91 ISBN4-915333-88-4 C0079 P890E 890 Yen, 224 pages Shirow: Cover, Orion (40 pages)
|
Comic Gaia Vol.5 24th May 91 ISBN4-915333-93-0 C0079 P890E 890 Yen, 240 pages Shirow: Cover, Back Cover, Orion (40 pages)
|
Comic Gaia Vol.6 20th Aug 91 ISBN4-915333-001-7 C0079 P890E 890 Yen, 240 pages Shirow: Cover, Orion (40 pages, End)
|
|
Comic Gaia Vol.7 Oct 91 ISBN4-87892-005-X C0079 P890E 890 Yen Shirow: N/A
|
Comic Gaia Vol.8 Jan 92 ISBN4-87892-008-4 C0079 P890E 890 Yen Shirow: Exon Depot (Yamazakura)
|
Comic Gaia Vol.9 Apr 92 ISBN4-87892-013-0 C0079 P680E 680 Yen Shirow: Cover, Appleseed *New*
|
|
Comic Gaia Vol.10 11th Jul 92 ISBN4-87892-018-1 C0079 P680E 680 Yen, 310 pages Shirow: Appleseed *New* (24 pages)
|
Comic Gaia Vol.11 12th Sep 92 ISBN4-87892-023-8 C0079 P680E 680 Yen, 310 pages Shirow: Orion Pin-up, Appleseed *New* (24 pages)
|
Comic Gaia Vol.12 2nd Nov 92 ISBN4-87892-025-4 C0079 P680E 680 Yen, 328 pages Shirow: Cover fold, Exon Depot (Shimban)
|
|
Comic Gaia Vol.13 12th Dec 92 ISBN4-87892-028-9 C0079 P680E 680 Yen, 316 pages Shirow: Appleseed *New* (14 pages End...?)
|
Comic Gaia Vol.14 Feb 93 ISBN4-87892-033-5 C0079 P680E 680 Yen Shirow: Cover, Dominion Conflict
|
Comic Gaia Vol.15 Apr 93 ISBN4-87892-036-X C0079 P680E 680 Yen Shirow: Dominion Conflict
|
|
Comic Gaia Vol.16 June 93 ISBN4-87892-041-6 C0079 P680E 680 Yen Shirow: Cover, Dominion Conflict
|
|
| Gaia Notes |
|
Comic Gaia Vol.1 published in August 1990 carries the first episode of Shirow's Senjutsu Choukoukaku Orion. Some peculiarities in its Comic Gaia run; the series started from the scene where Seska is escaping for the Imperial Forces troops and heading towards the Kurama Tendai. It does not include the Transnav scenes and the bar scene with Seska's buddies. Also, the story ended with the departure of Susano and Kushinata, with Seska still recuparating in the 'pyramid' spell. In other words- Commander Ronnel did not exist in the Gaia Orion. He must have been added by Shirow for the tankubon collected edition... perhaps for the possibility of a sequel? Fuzen Naru-Anju, the protaganist in the Orion NRPG is Seska and Ronnel's daughter. After the Orion run, Shirow did an 'Exon Depot' story- around the same time Intron Depot 1 was published. From Vol.9 onwards, Shirow jumped into the 'new' Appleseed, with 24-page per episode. This did not last long however, and by Vol.12, Shirow skipped an episode and published another Exon Depot (Shimban) story. The last episode in Vol.13 was just 14 pages with indications that Shirow's not very interested in going on with the story... (a sad, crying octopus portrait...) The Appleseed series was collected in Appleseed Hypernotes published by Seishinsha in 1995. At the end of Vol.13, Dominion Conflict was advertised for the next issue, and there are also Shirow pin-ups in two of the Comic Gaias, Vol. 2 (Susano) and Vol.11 (Susano and Seska, ID2 No.2001)... and with that I have to stop because that's all the Comic Gaias I have... I will try to find out more about subsequent Shirow involvements with Comic Gaia, and if you can help, please do! Drop me an e-mail. Thanks!
|
| Gaia Side Notes |
|
There are also various Shirow-related items advertised in Comic Gaia- Orion phone cards, Olympus Police Badge, Susano and Deunan figures, and also there's a reader feedback page with some fan arts. Of notable interest in Comic Gaia are works by Shirow's one-time assistant, Hagane Kotetsu, who helped Shirow with his inking and screen-toning works for awhile. Other works includes Wonder Navi by Kenji Hagita and one-shots by Akihiro Yamada (yet another wonderful manga artist publishing with Seishinsha!).
|