Next up, it's my favourite mangaka Taiyo Matsumoto, and the first two volumes of his current series! It's called Le Samourai Bambou, from the original Japanese "Takemitsu Zamourai", and it's with script-writer Issei Eifuku, and it's utterly awesome. The whole book is drawn in an insane mash-up between Matsumoto's style and Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock prints. It's really gorgeous looking, and it is killing me that I can't read it... this one is a more difficult read (it's very non-linear). Still, great looking and inspiring. Matt Forsythe from Drawn.ca was talking about it the other day, and I had no idea it had been released into French...!

Also neat? Kazuo Kamimura is the artistic collaborator of Kazuo Koike on "Lady Snowblood", and there's a new French language collection of his work called Follies Passions Volume 1. It's a sort of a "hot steamy adultry" manga with a gorgeous cover and some lovely art. No one is sliced to bits though... at least not in this volume.

There've actually been a few dozen new French language releases in the past few weeks, and you'll see them jammed into every nook-and-cranny at the store... It'd be nice if we had a bigger store, wouldn't it? But yeah, good stuff. Check it out!

- Chris @ The Beguiling