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Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Author: Hayao Miyazaki

Volumes: 2 compiled hardbacks in one collectors box/ 7 collected volume edition also available

Publisher: Viz Media [click HERE for hardcover edition Amazon page]

This isn’t a comic I would recommend for a first experience. In fact if I were marking it in that regard it wouldn’t be on this list. Nausicaa’s presentation is that of a lengthy story that has very few chapter breaks/ stopping points. A single chapter of the story is essentially the size of a single standalone volume of any other typical series.

I find I’d say the same thing if this were a traditional novel too, chapters in Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaa demand that you go in for the long haul. There’s a lot to keep track of in each chapter, and there’s not a lot of clear division between chapter events either.

So why put this in an already tight fit of a list if I think it has these kinds of issues? Well it’s because there’s clear intent behind it all. If you know anything about Miyazaki’s works it’s that he has a very particular flow with any one of his stories, a lot of the time he doesn’t really even know how they’ll end, or even truly where they will actually go from off the starting line.

I love the character of Nausicaa. A prophesied hero of the people, but one that comes across as somebody that would help everyone around her even if it weren’t written in stone. I found it interesting to contrast the comic and the film for this entry too. Personally I think both work exceptionally well in their own respects, but the comic is really able to tell a much more detailed account of the events, as well as better cover the themes of man vs nature.

The Torumekian princess and her aid get better treatment here too. The characters are still very much part of an active military campaign, but there’s much more nuance to it here. In the film they shoot King Ghil dead hastily for seemingly no justifiable reason, whereas in the comic Ghil gets to pass away peacefully since the Torumekian army have nothing to gain from attacking a small village.

Also, the artwork is absolutely beautiful. Miyazaki can render in ink in a way that’s always aesthetically pleasing to the eye, whether it be organic or man made, it all stands out clean and crisp on the page. There are series today that could stand to learn a thing or two from the attention to detail and how it rarely if ever interrupts the flow of a scene. As long as you’re prepared to be in for the long haul, this is one incredible entry in comic book history.

Just look at the rendering on that giant Ohmu in the middle panel and the action sandwiching it, the images may not be moving, but we feel the very real danger the situation poses to anyone in this creatures path as it rampages onward mercilessly. I won’t spoil the ending, but I will at least say I needed a moment to really process everything after all was done, despite these images suggesting the film and comic have a lot in common, the ending is extremely different, and much darker in tone.