Furoku - 付録 Part 3: Furoku Manga - A Closer Look

In this segment of my continuing series on furoku, I'd like to take a closer look at several vintage manga furoku. Let's start with a Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy) manga. It's one of the most widely collected of all furoku series.

The mange is 48 pages long and measures 11.5 cm x 17 cm (4.5" x 6.7").

Typically these manga were just one color - in this case, purple.

 More after the jump:

This originally came with the April 1964 issue of Shonen (the date is on the spine), so it would have been a continuation of the story in the magazine. As with many furoku, it ends with the words "to be continued," so to carry on reading the story, you'd need to get the May issue of the magazine.

 Next up, an issue of Sasuke:

Another gorgeous cover. The dimensions are the same as the Atom furoku, but it's longer at 64 pages.

Here, blue was used as the single color.

This manga came with the May 1965 issue of Shonen.

I was struck at how graphic the art was. Even 50 years ago, Japanese manga was very serious and adult themed.

Finally let's take a look at a different sized furoku manga: Tobidase Teppei (とびだせ鉄平)

The book is 12.5 cm x 18 cm (4.9" x 7.1") and is 64 pages long. It was released with the August 1957 issue of Shonen.

The inside covers are purple on blue paper stock, and the manga is one color black.

Looks like a fairly intense read, with more emphasis on the story than on action. Reminds me of old suspense and mystery comics from the USA.

As with the other furoku manga, this one winds up with a to be continued hook.

Check out the cool Atom bobble head ad on the back cover.

Coming up, I'll wrap up this series on furoku with a look at the giveaways found in today's bookstores.