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138°E, a new-age comic magazine edited by illustrator Range Murata, will be releasing a series of collaboration goods with the Natalie Store run by the company Natasha. The first installment in the series will feature three different iPhone cases carefully crafted by the editorial section of 138°E.
The illustrators who have participated in this project include Range Murata, popular for his amazing talent, Q Hayashida, the author of the hardcore fantasy manga Dorohedoro, as well as Kei Toume, who is known for having a unique perspective. All of them are well-known illustrators, and fans are definitely anticipating the release of the illustrated products.
138°E is a "monster comic magazine" that combines manga, illustration, video, and music. It is published by the WaniMagazine, which has published books based on themes such as "robots," and plays a major role in the illustration movement in Japan. The publication uses a stellar lineup of great illustrators from both in and out of Japan and uses various gimmicks including special spreads. It's an illustration magazine of substantial volume and of the highest quality, featuring manga, illustrations, interviews, and more.
The new project is a collaboration with Natalie Store whose visions are in line with 138°E. The iPhone case release is only the first part, and fans can look forward to more releases. The second volume of 138°E will also be released in the second half of June and is highly anticipated.
**Range Murata**
An artist extremely talented at capturing realism, girls, and heavy mechanism. He is a critically acclaimed illustrator both in and out of Japan with an amazing design sense, and has participated in the cover illustrations of several magazines, books, and novels. He has also participated in activities such as the character design and original goods design of the anime Last Exile (created by Gonzo). Murata was commended in the 38th Bookmaking and Bookbinding Competition held by the Japan Book Publishers' Association for his artbook Futurhythm. He was the chief editor for the full-color comic Robot and also edits the magazine 138°E.
Q Hayashida
With a dark and grotesque world view and comical character expressions, Hayashida has attracted a highly enthusiastic fan following. Her works are known for their signature detailed drawings with rough lines that seem to jump off the page. Hayashida debut with Sofa-chan, which won the Monthly Afternoon magazine’s (published by Kodansha) Four Seasons Award in 1997. Her manga Dorohedoro is serializing in the monthly magazine IKKI (published by Shogakukan) now.
Kei Toume
With a combination of strong touch and lyrical sentiment, Toume is an artist who captures attention with her ability to tell emotional stories of adolescence. She is best known for work such as Hitsuji no Uta (published by Gentosha), Yesterday wo Utatte (currently serializing; published by Shueisha), and Mahoromi (published by Shogakukan). In celebration of the 20th year since her debut, she has released the artbook 20-twenty (published by Gentosha) this year.
Source:
http://kai-you.net/article/561(Japanese)
Source article written by Tomomi Yonemura
