KITARO The Birth of Kitaro

His parents were the undead, and he was born in a graveyard! Seven of Mizuki's early, and beloved, Kitaro stories, available for the first time in English, in an all-new, kid-friendly format. These stories are from the golden era of the late 1960s, when this hit its stride as an all-ages supernatural series. Here's the origin and adventures of a funny little kid, with a giant eye, who hangs out with ghosts, spirits and monsters. From the creator of Showa: A History of Japan and Shigeru Muzuki's Hitler.

These are both timelessly relevant and undeniably influential, inspiring a decades-long boom in stories about yokai, Japanese ghosts, and monsters.

"Kitaro's Birthday" reveals the origin story of the half-yokai boy Kitaro and his tiny eyeball father, Medama Oyaji. "Neko Musume versus Nezumi Otoko" is the first of Mizuki's stories to feature the popular recurring character Neko Musume, a little girl who transforms into a cat when she gets angry or hungry. Other stories in The Birth of Kitaro draw heavily from Japanese folklore, with Kitaro taking on legendary Japanese yokai like the Nopperabo and Makura Gaeshi, and fighting the monstrous recurring villain Gyuki.

With more than 150 pages of spooky and often funny comics about the titular half-yokai boy, The Birth of Kitaro is the perfect introduction to the award-winning author Mizuki's most popular series, seminal comics that have won the hearts of Japanese children and adults for more than half a century.

Includes a four-page history of Kitaro, plus several bonus pages of puzzles and fill-in games for kids of all ages. Also a capsule guide to the eight major Yokai who appear in these stories.