''The Comiq'' (stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by

Kazuki Takahashi , known professionally as , was a Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the author of ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'', published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1996 to 2004. The manga spawned a trading card game of the same name, which holds the Guinness ...

. It was serialized in

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

's manga magazine ''

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...

'' from October to November 2018, with its chapters collected in a single volume.

Plot

The story is set in near-future Japan, where prison inmates are assigned manga background art as part of their labor. Ryota Sakamaki, a novice

manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

, relies on his editor to subcontract his background artwork to an exceptionally detail-oriented assistant. When police question him about a symbol in his manga linked to an unsolved murder from three years prior—the "Halloween Murder Case"—Ryota returns home to find his manuscript data erased and a spiked black pumpkin doll hanging outside his window. Forced into a mystery he does not understand, Sakamaki investigates the cold case. The victim, a 22-year-old woman, was pushed to her death from a hilltop park on Halloween night. The confessed killer, Baba Katsuo, a then-23-year-old unemployed man, was swiftly arrested—but Sakamaki discovers he is his anonymous prison assistant. Visiting him in jail, Ryota learns Baba has been mute since the incident and has been using their manga collaboration to silently proclaim his innocence. The story unfolds as Sakamaki and Baba use manga clues to uncover the truth behind the murder.

Publication

Written and illustrated by

, ''The Comiq'' was serialized in

's manga magazine ''

'' from October 15 to November 26, 2018. Shueisha collected its seven chapters in a single volume, released on January 4, 2019. In North America, the manga was licensed by

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

and published on their ''

Weekly Shonen Jump Weekly refers to a repeating event happening once a week Weekly, The Weekly, or variations, may also refer to: News media * ''Weekly'' (news magazine), an English-language national news magazine published in Mauritius *Weekly newspaper, any news ...

'' digital magazine. Viz Media published the volume digitally on June 28, 2022.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Comiq, The Mystery anime and manga Shōnen manga Shueisha manga Thriller anime and manga Viz Media manga