Blog Archives
sIn August 1967, when Weekly Manga Action first published the adventures of Lupin III, Monkey Punch hoped for modest success for what was supposed to be a three-month series. Drawing on 15 mysteries from Maurice Leblanc for inspiration, the artist Monkey Punch combined the stylings of MAD Magazine, Playboy, and Chuck Jones’s Tom & Jerry animation shorts […]
Months after a Lupin doppelganger is sentenced to death and hanged, Lupin III returns to the limelight, stealing a number of legendary artifacts tied to longevity on the request of Fujiko. Meanwhile, her mysterious benefactor tries to woo Fujiko, promising immortality to his personal Helen of Troy. But when Lupin double-crosses Fujiko to learn the […]
50 YEARS OF LUPIN III: The Castle of Cagliostro
Sunday , 13, August 2017 Art, Comics, Movies 7 CommentsHeroism goes along with my job.–Lupin III After stealing bags of cash from a Monaco casino, Lupin and Jigen dump out their entire haul, recognizing the money as legendary Gothic counterfeits. Resolving to find the plates for their next caper, the thieves slip into the small Italian principality of Cagliostro. Their search is interrupted when […]
50 YEARS OF LUPIN III: The Fuma Conspiracy
Sunday , 6, August 2017 Comics, Fiction, Movies 3 CommentsWell, if it ain’t the smell of villain.–Lupin III In 1987’s direct-to-video movie The Fuma Conspiracy, the utterly unthinkable has happened: Goemon Ishikawa, famed ronin of the underworld, is getting married. The Lupin gang reunites to attend his wedding to Murasaki Suminawa, the daughter of his martial arts instructor. The wedding ceremony is interrupted by ninjas […]
“Believe me, the painting doesn’t do him justice. He’s worse than me.”–Lupin, describing General Headhunter. To keep his nation’s treasury out of the hands of thieves, the king of Zufu moved his nation’s gold reserves to a safe house on Drifting Island. After a coup topples the heads of the king and his son, Prince […]
One of the stranger entries in the franchise, Lupin III’s 40th anniversary special, the 2008 Green vs. Red, took a risk by not featuring its namesake character at all. Instead, it pitted two of the most iconic versions of Lupin against each other in a fight for the Lupin name, the Green Jacket against the […]
50 YEARS OF LUPIN III: Daisuke Jigen’s Gravestone
Monday , 17, July 2017 Art, Comics, Movies 2 CommentsI owe you a bullet wound, and I’m going to make sure that debt gets paid. – Daisuke Jigen Nine days after Queen Malta’s assassination at a peace concert, a sniper ends Lupin III’s latest jewel heist with a well-placed shot, sending a bullet into Daisuke Jigen’s leg. The thieves crawl away to safety before […]
Great artists and thieves are similar; they both know how to steal your soul.–Lupin III In 2015, Japanese and Italian investors collaborated to present the fourth main TV series in the Lupin III franchise. Reflecting the Italian involvement, Lupin traded his world-spanning heists for an Italian base of operations, and the targets of his heists, […]
Fifty years ago, manga artist Monkey Punch drew up the first issue of what was intended to be a short series to last a couple years. After reading fifteen of Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin stories, Monkey Punch decided to try his hand at his own gentleman thief, updated to the sensibilities of the 1960s, of course. […]