The Summit of the Gods

Two great Jiro Taniguchi graphic novel mangas this week! The second one I'd like to put a spotlight on is The Summit of the Gods, of which the first 300 page volume came out this week (it'll be a total of five volumes). The Summit of the Gods is based on a novel by Yumemakura Baku and starts off with photographer Fukamachi, who while on a trip with some Japanese mountain climbers, finds a camera that may have belonged to George Mallory (who attempted to conquer Everest). Fukamachi's investigation leads him to finding out about some other Japanese climbers and their adventures with various mountains, mostly in Japan. This manga (and the novel it's based on) is fictional, but it's rooted in history and I think it's one of the most exciting narratives I've read in recent memory (and I'm not a mountain climber, nor do I play one on tv), with the always excellent art of Jiro Taniguchi.