Fantagraphics Books#xE2;#x80;#x99; first volume of manga is a collection of short stories byone of Japan#xE2;#x80;#x99;s most influential and critically lauded comics innovators. Moto Hagio has been reinventing sh#xC5;#x8D;jo manga (Japanese comics marketed at10-18 year-old girls) since 1969. Unconstrained by boundaries of genre, she hassculpted a career characterized by intellectual curiosity, psychological authenticity, and an aesthetic sense that has often been at odds with a sh#xC5;#x8D;jo manga mainstream littered with Sailor Moon knockoffs and sub-Harlequin-romance clich#xC3;#xA9;s.Now, for the first time in English, we offer a Hagio primer, a selection of shortstories spanning four decades of groundbreaking work #xE2;#x80;#x94; 1971-2007 #xE2;#x80;#x94; by an artist who is working at the peak of hercreative powers. In #xE2;#x80;#x9C;Autumn Journey#xE2;#x80;#x9D; (1971), a boy#xE2;#x80;#x99;s pilgrimage to the home of his favorite author has more meaning than either the author or his daughter can imagine. In #xE2;#x80;#x9C;Mari#xC3;#xA9;, Ten Years Later#xE2;#x80;#x9D; (1977), two estranged friends learntoo late how their actions had destroyed the balance of a perfect triad of intimacy. In #xE2;#x80;#x9C;A Drunken Dream#xE2;#x80;#x9D; (1980), twoscientists#xE2;#x80;#x94;one a hermaphrodite, the other a tribal priest#xE2;#x80;#x94;meet on a space station orbiting Io; but they have met beforeand are destined to meet again. In #xE2;#x80;#x9C;Iguana Girl#xE2;#x80;#x9D; (1991), a girl who appears to her mother and herself to be a hideousanthropoid iguana struggles to overcome her mother#xE2;#x80;#x99;s rejection and find happiness .

but her mother has a secret. Learn for yourself why the creator of There Were Eleven! (adapted into an anime) and A, A#xE2;#x80;#x99; has influenced the careersof countless other creators, both within and outside the manga industry, and continues to garner international criticalpraise and appeal to readers across ages and generations.