The classic Gundam series now in a premium Deluxe Edition hardcover!PRAISE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES “It’s a good book. Very good, actually. Very good war comics, requiring no prior experience with anime or mecha or Gundam—just a well-made, old-fashioned war comic, full of thrills and spills and lucky breaks and narrow escapes and preening villains you’ll love to hate and pigheaded heroes you may hate to love, and expert drawings by a master craftsman, and hard, sturdy violence.” —Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal“One of the best drawn and told manga works of recent memory… If you want to understand the fuss around the original Gundam, or even read one of the better manga works out there, then Gundam: The Origin is definitely worth checking out.” —Ollie Barder, Forbes“WINNER: BEST MANGA [2013] This manga was penned by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko—and who better to handle the transformation of the show from screen to page than the man who had key roles in the original series, from character design, to illustration, to layout?” —NEO Magazine (U.K.)“Yasuhiko’s work is just really strong throughout. Fights between mobile suits are exciting, and manage to stay clear despite an impressive amount of detail… These releases deserve as much love as was put into them.”—Joseph Luster, Otaku USA“While it goes without saying that Gundam fans should enjoy these books, they are also a good read for those who simply like a science fiction or a war story that is well-written, nicely illustrated, and full of interesting characters… [S]eriously good literary entertainment.” —Anime News Network“No real knowledge or understanding of the original MSG is needed… What follows are hundreds of pages of suspenseful war drama and sci-fi explosiveness, all of which is well and good (seriously good, actually; this is an intensely fun sci-fi epic), but it’s the visuals that you are truly getting this book for.” —Graphic Novel Reporter“A compelling coming-of-age story. It spins personal and political drama together in a way that is both engaging and satisfying… This is a series you will want to put into a teen’s hands, even if they don’t know it yet. Once they start reading, they won’t want to put it down.” —School Library Journal Blog Network The storied Gundam franchise’s “First Season” that set new standards of verisimilitude for televised sci-fi animation returns in comics form at the hand of one of the initial creators! The definitive account expands on the classic narrative with the same sense of purpose that lit up the screen more than four decades ago. This new edition collects the original bestselling twelve-installment English release into six oversized volumes. All of the many color pages—unusually numerous for Japanese comics—have been retained…only at a larger size. The master’s artwork has never looked so grand! (Does not include essays and illustrations from the original release that are not the author’s own)
Contributors: (W) Yoshikazu Yasuhiko; Yoshiyuki Tomino; Hajime Yatate
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is a Japanese animator and manga artist, who also has been noted as a published author and an illustrator of children's books and young adult books. His career as a character designer has spanned three decades, creating famed characters for such anime as Space Cruiser Yamato, Brace Raideen, and the widely known Mobile Suit Gundam. Considered a pivotal player in mecha and sci-fi anime, Yasuhiko's characters, stories and illustrations are unmistakable in their style and serve as timeless examples as pioneers of manga and animation in Japan.Born in 1947, Yasuhiko began his career as an animator in Osama Tezuka's Mushi Productions, and later on decided to go freelance to work for a number of animation productions for both film and television. In 1981, he took home a Seiun award for Best Artist of the Year. Praise and accolades continued for Yasuhiko, when he took home the Nippon Mangaka Kyokai (Japan Cartoonists Society) award in 1992, followed by an Excellence Prize in manga for Ōdō no Inu at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2000. Continuing his work with Gundam, Yasuhiko has written the manga Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin as well as providing character design for Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.