WWAC editors and contributors read a lot of different manga last year, from indie publishers like Glacier Bay Books to heavy hitters like VIZ and Kodansha. We read romance, horror, slice-of-life, autobiography… And we’ve managed to narrow down our list to our very favorite manga of 2023, so here they are!
Roundtable: Kate Beaton’s Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
Here at WWAC, we’ve been fans of Kate Beaton for a long time, so we were especially excited for the publication of Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, Beaton’s highly anticipated memoir of her time working in the isolated Alberta oil-mining camps. At over 400 pages of Beaton’s distinctive intimate and emotional style, Ducks…
Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Goodbye, Eri on Movies, Memory, and Moving On
Following his previous one-shot web manga, Look Back, Shounen Jump+, Shueisha’s online platform, recently published Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Goodbye, Eri. In Goodbye, Eri, a boy named Yuta faces fallout after screening a film about his ailing mother, composed entirely of footage shot of her and his family to the very moments of her death. Yuta becomes…
Oscars Roundtable: Villains, Faves, and The Ceremony
It’s been a strange time for film-making — working around COVID protocols, virtual festivals, and audiences reluctant to head out to the theatres have all been obstacles no one has figured out how to circumvent. Even the Oscars got rescheduled, and while this year everyone was in the theatre and unmasked, the ceremony still felt…
REVIEW: Carmina #1 Lays the Groundwork for Diwata Komiks
Still dealing with the sudden, horrifying loss of her father as a child, Carmina tries to make the best of her situation despite being stuck in an unhappy relationship and living in a trailer park. But after being riddled by strange nightmares that put her up against monstrous creatures all the way on the Philippine…
Diwata Komiks Hopes to Bring Forward More Filipino Stories That Resonate From Home
Interest in ongoing komiks series like Trese has shown a growing enthusiasm for wider, global accessibility to consume Philippine-produced media. In recent years, especially accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic’s limitations of conventions and art shows, platforms like Penlab have given komiks creators more opportunities to expand their reach online while broadening the channels potential readers…
REVIEW: The Grotesque of Modern Frankenstein Has Been Done Before—And Better
As his student, Elizabeth is fascinated by the ways of Dr. James Frankenstein, a figure surrounded by controversy due to the conducting of unethical experiments he believes would serve the betterment of humanity. Swayed by what she believes are good intentions and her growing attraction to him, Elizabeth willingly becomes his protégé. She digs herself…
What’s a Zine? WWAC Roundtable on Zinecourse
In an era where self-publishing is easier than ever, what makes a zine a zine? Is a crowdfunded glossy fanzine full of big name fanart the same as a Xerox’d treatise on your favorite band? Is there room for more than one definition of zine? WWAC held a round table to find out!
Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Look Back Illustrates How Passion Also Means People
Although Tatsuki Fujimoto is mostly known for Chainsaw Man, especially in light of its upcoming anime adaptation to be developed by MAPPA, he has always had a strong versatility to his craft not letting himself be boxed within the confines of the tropes typical to the shounen genre. Look Back was recently published as a…
REVIEW: Netflix’s Trese Could Improve Its Delivery of Darkness and Dwende
This review contains spoilers for Trese (2021). “There are monsters among us, and some of them are human,” remarks Alexandra Trese, after cracking yet another case in the Philippine metropolitan of Manila, where the supernatural stalk its streets. Following in the footsteps of her father and coming from a significant lineage, Alexandra works as a…
REVIEW: Wika Empowers Its Visuals But Not Its Worldbuilding
As the last survivor in a line of a once-powerful fairy kingdom, Wika had to live her life toughening things out in the streets. While dodging suspicious characters, she tries to keep her identity a secret in a world where fairies are scrutinized and persecuted. But thanks to magical tattoos that visibly change on her…
REVIEW: WandaVision Has a Wonderfully Weird Start
Wanda Maximoff and Vision are no ordinary couple, so how long can they keep up an act before their neighbors find out? WandaVision is the latest byproduct emerging from the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline that follows the lives of Wanda Maximoff and Vision living in a suburban American neighborhood after the events of Avengers: Endgame.