The Monster Hit that is "Monster"

Before "Death Note" became a huge hit, there was another manga and Madhouse anime that fans (including yours truly!) followed greedily, despite its daunting length. I'm talking about Naoki Urasawa's brilliant medical suspense thriller, "Monster".

To those of you who haven't heard of it, "Monster" is about a brilliant surgeon named Dr. Kenzo Tenma who is faced with the moral dilemma of choosing which critical patient he should operate: a politician who will be funding the hospital he works for or a little boy who had been shot in the head. Unfortunately, his choice will lead him into a life of a fugitive, being pursued by both the police and a mysterious organization, whose members wish to rule the world.

"Monster" recently garnered two nominations for Best U.S. Edition of International Material–Japan and Best Continuing Series at the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. For the former category, "Monster" will be facing stiff competition from "Walking Man" by Jiro Taniguchi, "Antique Bakery" by Fumi Yoshinaga, "After School Nightmare" by Setona Mizushiro and "Old Boy" by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi.