If you don’t have this in your collection…
Now I don’t usually take the time to explicitly shill for for something* but this is a special case. The deluxe hardcover editions of Hayao Miyazaki’s “Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind” came out today and even though I’ve had copies of the four-volume “perfect collections” from back in the day re-buying this was a no-brainer. I normally hate, hate, HATE doing that but this is a fantastic edition of what is — in my opinion — the greatest comic ever made. It’s the entire saga in two handsome hardcover volumes with the color art from the Japanese release intact. They even included a poster too, which I’m seriously considering framing.
There are a few quibbles. Though it’s printed on good quality paper, the actual manga looks a bit lighter than I’ve seen it before. I’m not arguing for a recall, and there’s a chance I’ve only noticed this because of all the times I’ve read the “perfect collections” and have their images burned into my mind. The other one… well, I’m REALLY curious about it. Back in the day, the first half of the manga was originally translated by Toren Smith and David Lewis of Studio Proteus (pre-dating their tenure and eventual buyout by Dark Horse) with Matt Thorn taking over for the second. This was reflected in subsequent editions, but not here as Smith and Lewis are credited with the entire series. Unless they did some additional work here, we may be hearing a public apology from Viz about this in the very near future.
Regardless, this is still the definitive version of the one comic that I think EVERYONE should have in their library. It’s the “complete package” in terms of scale, subject matter, characters, art — it doesn’t get any better than this. Go. Buy.
*Except for “Eden! It’s An Endless World.” I’ll continue to (politely) demand that you all buy it until Dark Horse finally publishes all eighteen volumes.