Patra and the Iron Cross | Jouji Manabe | pgs. 14&15

Size : 25.5 x 36.2 (x2)
Media : pencil, ink & zip-a-tone on paper
Condition : very good 

Beautiful set of 2 consecutive pages unfortunately without Cleopatra (hence the lower price) but very representative of the work of Jōji Manabe !

Jōji Manabe | 眞鍋譲治 (1964) is a Japanese mangaka who emerged in the mid-1980s, a period when adult-oriented science fiction, erotic SF, and military and hard SF were increasingly published in magazines targeting older readers. While studying in Osaka, he made his professional debut with the SF short “Blank Sea Area V-2” (Monthly Comicomi, 1984). He worked mainly in science fiction and fantasy genres, but in the 1990s he began to focus more on adult manga and dōjinshi.

Manabe became widely known through Outlanders, a sci-fi romantic comedy serialized in the 1980s and later adapted into an OVA (original video animation). Outlanders is representative of its era, combining action, humor, and playful sexual elements, and remains his most internationally recognizable title. Another major work is Ginga Sengoku Gun’yūden Rai, a long-running space opera inspired by historical war narratives, which focuses more on large-scale conflict and political struggle than his earlier comedic work, and was also adapted into an OVA.

Patra and the Iron Cross (パトラと鉄十字) is a manga series serialized in Monthly Kisuka from 2019 to 2023. The story reimagines Cleopatra resurrected in the midst of World War II, leading a campaign to restore the Egyptian kingdom while navigating alliances and conflicts, blending historical fantasy, war narrative, and Manabe’s characteristic dramatic action.

In addition to his commercial manga, Manabe is active in self-publishing and leads the dōjin circle Studio Katsudon. Through dōjinshi, he has produced derivative works and continuations of his own series, sometimes exploring material that could not be included during magazine serialization. Manabe continues to be active as an independent creator. His career is often cited as an example of a manga artist who moved between mainstream and dōjinshi publication in response to constantly changing conditions in the Japanese manga industry.