Manga Recommendation: 20th Century Boys

Back in the late Sixties, a group of junior high kids formed their own secret society, complete with a symbol that showed they were “true friends.” Flashing forward to modern times, we learn that there was a threat to the world itself at the end of the 20th century, and that a small group of men are credited with saving the world. Also involved is a sinister cult led by a man who refers to himself only as “a Friend,” a series of strange deaths that can’t be pinned down as murders, and vague scenes of a huge “monster” looming over the city. Kenji Endo, the main protagonist, is a failed rock musician and current caretaker of his missing sister’s child who seems to be more closely tied into all of this than he knows, but as he learns more he begins to wish he’d never gotten involved in the first place.

Manga Recommendation: Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka

Pluto (プルートウ) retells the “Greatest Robot on Earth” story, wherein something or someone is murdering the most powerful and well-known robots on the planet. Inspector Gesicht is the chief detective on the case from Europol, which seems to get stranger by the moment. And he hasn’t even gotten to meet Atom yet.

In classic Urasawa style, he spends just as much time telling the story of the supporting characters as the main characters, making it all the more poignant or heartwrenching when something happens to them.