James Bond 007 - Japanese graphic novels

In Dec. 2015, Japanese publisher Shogakkan released
the reprints of 4 books of Takao Saitô's graphic novel adaptations of
Ian Flemming's James Bond stories.

• Live and Let Die
• Thunderball
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service
• The Man with the Golden Gun
  

Originally written in 1968,
they are officially licensed adaptations,
but long time out-of-print.

After the licence has expired Saitô begun his most successful
(and still going on) series Golgo 13.
It's widely believed these Bond adaptations served as the basis for Golgo 13.

These reprints are billed as
the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Saitô's career.

Also obviously a tie-in with Japanese release of the movie Spectre.



Of course they are in Japanese,
but if you are a collector who wants to have anything James Bond,
they may be of your interest.


I haven't read any of them myself, but reportedly,
the stories are very different from the Flemming's source books.

Note that, among the 4 stories above,
Thunderball was the only one already adapted to screen at the time.

Still, Saitô's Bond doesn't look like Sean Connery at all.
(Somewhat like Victor Mature IMO.)
See here, for example.

Katsuhiro Ôtomo's 'GENGA' exhibition in Tokyo

From April 9 to May 30,
an exhibition of Ôtomo's Genga (original drawings)
is held at 3331 Arts Chiyoda in Tokyo.

A replica of Kaneda's bike is also shown.

Official website (in Japanese only): top, news (blog) (including the videos of Kaneda's bike riding to Tokyo.)

A report with photos at CinemaToday

3331 Arts Chiyoda's English page for the exhibition

If you happen to be in Tokyo around that time, you may want to visit.
But you need to buy ticket in advance for specific date and time slot.

I don't know if this exhibition is planned to be held in other countries.


The exhibition's official book:


Katsuhiro Ôtomo's Artwork - KABA 2 (book)


Amazon.co.jp exclusive steelbook BD of Akira:


Akira Club (US):