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PictureBox to Release Manga by Seiichi Hayashi, Yuichi Yokoyama This Fall (Updated)

North American publisher PictureBox revealed on Tuesday that it plans to publish Seiichi Hayashi's Gold Pollen and Other Stories and Yūichi Yokoyama's World Map Room manga this fall.

PictureBox's release of Gold Pollen and Other Stories will include short stories Hayashi produced in the 1960s and 1970s, including "Red Dragonfly" (1968), "Yamauba's Lullaby" (1968), and "Gold Pollen" (1971). The shorts will be published in their original full color in a hardcover book. Manga scholar Ryan Holmberg is working on PictureBox's release of the collection, as he has been for the publisher's Ten Cent Manga line that includes Shigeru Sugiura's 1974 manga adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans historical novel as well as Osamu Tezuka's The Mysterious Underground Men manga.

Hayashi is most well known for his experimental manga in the Garo alternative manga magazine. Drawn and Quarterly released Hayashi's Red Colored Elegy manga in 2008. The one-volume manga was nominated for a Harvey Award in 2009.

PictureBox previously released Yokoyama's Garden manga, which was nominated for The Los Angeles Times' Annual Book Prize last year. Yokoyama's "Book" short story published in his New Engineering book was also nominated for an Eisner award in 2008. PictureBox has also published Yokoyama's Travel and Color Engineering manga.

Update: PictureBox has confirmed with ANN that Gold Pollen and Other Stories is the first volume in a new "Masters of Alternative Manga" book series, which Holmberg is helming. PictureBox will announce the authors and works for the series' subsequent volumes at a later date, but most of the authors will be related to Garo, and future volumes may include more works from Hayashi.

Yokoyama's World Map Room will ship in September or October for US$19.95, in a softcover volume with a dustjacket. Yokoyama describes the work as follows:

Guys visit a city. They watch airplanes departing and arriving at an airport. They go on board a ship and across a river. Finally they arrive at a building as their destination. A man guide them to "World Map Room". It seems they have an appointment there, although there is no description about the appointment. They see books on the shelves, and have some desultory conversation. Then they go to the courtyard and carry on the conversation. They reach a pond with a sunken ship. The guide starts to explain the ship's history. THE END.