I’ve spoken before about annoying things I’ve noticed about the Lone Wolf & Cub English versions, and now I’ve found another. Recently, Dark Horse has been releasing reprints of one of their most popular Mangas in the form of Lone Wolf and Cub Deluxe volumes. But are they really deluxe?
When Dark Horse reprinted their best-selling Manga in a larger form from their digest releases, I noticed something different. The title pages which were always accompanied with an defining image were now absent. When the newest versions were announced, I wondered if they would put the missing images back or leave them out. I had my reservations ever since I noticed that a speech balloon had text misplaced in the wrong bubble, and was notified that this would be corrected. I checked later editions, and this was never corrected.
This video was the only way I could get confirmation of my worst fears. There’s so much wasted white space! Other places such as Penguin Random House weren’t much better. Good luck in trying to get a preview, since the publisher in their infinite wisdom, decided to show the pages in reverse, starting from the back. You get some cover art, a creator bio, a glossary, and the last page of the story Half Mat One Mat, a Fistful of Rice on page 706. You’d think a well-reputed publisher invested in the Manga market would’ve known better by now. (Later volumes have promotional art from the original artist Goseki Kojima, but that’s not as effective)
To make matters more insulting, back when Manga releases were in their infancy being serialized in pamphlet form, even First Comics showed Flute of the Fallen Tiger with a lush shot on the preceeding page, while the Dark Horse version only shows a shrunken cropped frame of what was originally a double-page spread. Not only is the earlier release of LW&C more faithful, it’s even more dramatic than the modern version.
Speaking of Half Mat One Mat, I compared both publications, and there are small differences between the two. Dark Horse opens up with this page:
Then First Comics' title shows up later.
Dark Horse has the title opener panel, which pairs off with the opening page very well, while First Comics ends with this page, which is otherwise missing.
There’s a missed opportunity in missing the accompanying image that used to grace the smaller volumes. These always gave an extra visual oomph that the title alone lacks. Reducing the opening title screen to just text is just so dull. You don’t even get any caligraphy font!
But more maddening, I happened to come across the French version of these Deluxe versions, and there’s a significant difference. Whereas the English version opens up with the title page, the French Prestige edition goes right into the story en media ras.
THEN the full-page title image shows up.
The second episode is slightly unique as the original opened up with an overhead establishing shot that’s actually a zoom in of the first panel.
But look at where the title would’ve shown up if properly aligned:
Having the title page show up later gives the already cinematic Manga another cinematic quality to it. I’m sure if you go back and check the early edition of LW&C, you can easily find instances where an image could've stood as an expressive summary of the episode, or full-page silent panels that could allow insertion of the title page. The title image for 8 Gates of Deceit would definitely show up 4 pages later.
In fact, the French edition's cover even shows artwork from the artist himself, while the American reprints all have covers by American artists, or are left mostly blank. Here, Ogami Itto is regulated to a tiny frame on the front cover. It's almost like they're embarrassed to show Goseki Kojima's art in the first place! It would be one thing if the inclusion of these title pages intruded on the story, breaking up the narrative flow. But LW&C is so leisurely paced that the exclusion of these panels is hardly broken.
You’d think something labeled *Deluxe* would contain a fuller package than what was previously presented. If you’re offering a larger reprint of a legacy comic, that should be a superior version compared to previous print runs, don’t you think?
Not all releases need the addition of title pages to feel complete. For instance, when Dragon Ball was first released in French, it was flipped, and had title pages spaced out between chapter breaks. When the later reprints were given better translations and more faithful to the original, these chapter breaks were mostly regulated to the back. Some of these exclusions were maddening, especially if they were essential to the story, such as the Ginyu Force crashing on Namek. But more than that, many of the page compositions such as the below were missing.
I only found out later that some of the accompanying title pages were shown out of order. And when they were reprinted, the majority of those were left out or excluded when their inclusion would’ve slowed the narrative down. Still, I missed when Dragonball would have title chapter breaks, but when they matched up, the results were immensely satisfying, more so than if they’d showed up at the end of the book.
It's a mark of good storytelling when a narrative can have extraneous breaks missing, and you're still able to get the general gist. Not many readers know this, but Akira had title pages during its serialization. These were collected in the Akira Club book, showing how they looked both with and without the title intruding over the art. And if you pay close attention, you can tell where these divisions took place. Some of these images were used as artwork for the colourized comic covers. (The middle row had covers for #36, #13 and #12)
That's not the only difference. Kodansha recently reprinted Akira again, as they tend to do with every successive generation, and the latest edition has a slight difference with the inciting incidence with the old kid's face. See if you might notice?
In the first instance, Takashi looks miserable, while in the original, he simply looks almost indifferent. As long as we're covering Akira, I might as well include a panel difference I missed the first time around. Who knows when I'll get the chance again?
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