サルでも描けるまんが教室 [Sarudemo Egakeru Manga Kyōshitsu] #1

Published under Shogakukan's Big Spirits Comics line, this first volume of Sarudemo Egakeru Manga Kyōshitsu — affectionately nicknamed "Saruman" — opens with a cover that immediately signals something bold and a little wild. Two intensely rendered faces, one wearing thick-framed glasses, loom large against a fiery red sky dominated by an erupting volcano, the painted artwork giving the whole composition a raw, visceral energy. Created by Aihara Kōji and Takekuma Kentarō, this is a series that announced itself with unmistakable confidence from its very first page.