Lupin III

    (Tokyopop, 2002-2004)
™ and © Tokyopop

In the United States (for mostly complicated legal reasons), he’s been known by many names, but Monkey Punch’s anti-hero has become a legend among manga fans, due mostly to his absence. But now that his TV series is about to break into basic cable and Tokyopop is releasing the decades-old original comics, readers have to ask: Can the actual article live up to the hype?

The answer is: You betcha.

The introduction compares the art to that of Sergio Aragonés, but it looks a lot more like Mort Drucker working really, really fast. The ignorant might complain it doesn’t look like manga, but the sketchily drawn backgrounds and elongated characters are entirely suitable to the James Bond, pantomime (in the British Stage sense of the word) style antics. And, while references to “hippies” may date it, Lupin is no way dated (a complaint that rings more than a little hollow in a country that’s embraced Austin Powers three times in a row). Consider this a classic and classically cool.

— S.A. Bennett
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