 Well hello everyone!Lots of things afoot as usual in Living the Line-land. The most immediate? Koga Shinichi’s Mansect is now out basically everywhere, and it’s been getting rave reviews, each more grossed out than the last! If you don’t have it yet, or if you’re interested in hearing more, here are a few of them I’ve been particularly chuffed by. REVIEW: MANSECT reviewed at Publishers Weekly. “Admirers of Junji Ito and Kazuo Umezz will revel in this.” REVIEW: MANSECT discussed on 11’Oclock Comics Podcast. REVIEW: MANSECT by Koga Shinichi reviewed by horror author Orrin Grey. “…littered with visual nods to the horror films of the early 20th century…a striking, haunting, and gruesome masterpiece. “ REVIEW: MANSECT reviewed by Nerdburger Cazz. “If you want something with a deeper meaning but still totally gross, with the most amazing art by Koga, you are just going to love this, but it is not for the faint-hearted. You have been warned.” We’ve been working on this book, all told, for a little over a year now, a year in which Koga has quickly become one of my personal favorite authors, so to have his first release be greeted with so much cheer has been immensely gratifying.  As I mentioned on Twitter and Insta this week, Koga was at the center of a pivotal moment in global horror history, in 1974: The Exorcist arrived in Japan, led by partial adaptations by the two ruling titans of horror, Kazuo Umezz and… Shinichi Koga. Mansect came in on the heels of this tonal breakthrough. Image above is a sample of one of the 34 pages of his adaptation for Shonen Champion. Erik Kriek’s The Pit– coming in a matter of weeks!speaking of horror…Another recent much-discussed title has been our upcoming release The Pit by Erik Kriek, his follow-up to his graphic novel debut The Exile, which we released in 2023 and was recently repreinted! Books should be arriving at our distributor’s warehouse next week for this title, which you can now preorder from our website, or pretty much anywhere else, including your local comic shop (which can DEFINITELY use your support at the moment!) This has been a difficult one to discuss, as the story has quite a few twists and turns, but if you’re feeling brave, you can listen to some discussion on a few of my favorite podcasts… REVIEW: THE PIT by Erik Kriek reviewed on 11 O’Clock Comics Podcast. “…some real surprises, and what a crescendo of an ending.” REVIEW: THE PIT discussed on Awesome Comics Podcast. “…a classic character horror story… a folklore tale focused on grief… some of my favorite artwork there is at the moment… Whereas The Exile dealt with a Brechtian dream landscape, fighting and the arc of life and revenge, the Pit is the woodlands… a smaller-scale story. I was absolutely captivated by it.”And Speaking of Favorite Podcasts…Sean Michael Robinson Appears on the Awesome Comics PodcastI had a great time this week sitting down with the fine folks at the Awesome Comics Podcast, in a fun, candid talk about everything from book selection, prepress, specific titles, distribution woes, aesthetics, philosophies of art, and everything comic books! There were quite a few moments in here that will stick with me for a while, including a discussion at the end about art preservation, discovery and aesthetic influence, that culminated with the following coming out of my mouth (which I was quite surprised by). “The future is in the past. And it’s our job to reclaim it.”(Of course, I also spontaneously referred to comics and drawing in general as “vegetables clinging to more vegetables”, so, you know, plenty of bon mots to go around!)  speaking of the past…Face Meat by Bonten TaroLest I make this long message even longer, more news! Face Meat by Bonten Taro, now swollen to a gargantuan 238 pages thanks to the epic 20-page essay by Kunisawa Hiroshi, is also available to preorder pretty much anywhere, including our website. Website preorders will ship with an exclusive 4″ x 5″ sticker. Perfect for the horror manga or EC comics fan in your life.This weekend– MoCCAArts Fest 2025!Sean and Ryan Fest it UpIf you’re in the New York City area this wekeend, I would highly recommend you come down to Chelsea and see my favorite comic show three years running!The MoCCA Arts Festival will take place March 15-16, 2025, held at the Metropolitan Pavilion located at 125 W 18th St, New York, NY 10011.I (Sean) will be there both Saturday and Sunday from opening (11 am) to close at 6pm. And Ryan Holmberg, Smudge editor/translator, will be there on Saturday from (roughly) noon to 3pm! Come get your Smudge books signed, argue with us about the horror greats, or just sit and stare from a few feet away. Your choice! We’ll once again be one table away from our friends at Uncivilized Books, who will have their whole slate of amazing titles in attendance (along with quite a few cartoonists as well!)A Note About That ScheduleDistribution, and 2025/2026 scheduleJust days after I sent out our 2025 schedule in that last e-blast, our distributor Diamond Comics/Diamond Bood Distributors annouced that they were entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in an attempt to sell off assets, consolidate their debts, and continue debt-free as an organization. In the aftermath of that announcement, I temporarily pulled our schedule of books that weren’t already in the pipeline until I could assess the state of Diamond and make plans.I now believe our distribution situation to be solid enough to populate our list of new titles again, with slightly more gaps in between to protect a bit more against any other bad news on that front. Here is the schedule as it currently stands! Upcoming releases 2025 — Roihu by Kutikuti (March 2025) The Pit by Erik Kriek (April 2025) Face Meat by Bonten Taro (May 2025) The Rabagoo Race by Garresh (August 2025) TBA Classic Horror Manga by Iijima Ichiro (September 2025) Harpy by EPHK (September 2025) The Complete CD Gibson — a Widow and Her Friends by CD Gibson (December 2025) UNANNOUNCED CLASSIC HORROR MANGA (December 2025) Upcoming releases 2026 — Moonray Book Three: Blood Song (TBA) Polly and Molly by Jason Little (TBA) UK In a Bad Way Plus Six More by James Harvey (TBA) Gods Die Slowly by Troy Nixey (TBA) I hope you’ve been enjoying the recent books! We couldn’t do it without you. All the best, Sean Living the Line |
