As Integr8d Fix has played home to classic American comics of the 1970s and 1980s, I can't let the moment pass without regarding the manga versions of what we here call STAR BLAZERS. During the run of the program from October 1974 through March 1975, there were three Japanese comic books dedicated to SPACE BATTLE SHIP YAMATO, including one being written and drawn by the cartoon's director Leiji Matsumoto. In fact, in an interview from 1976 on starblazers.com, he credits the primary, proud Wave Motion Gun to a cannon in an earlier erotic comedy, SEXAROID, which he created in 1968. Nishiyaki's impressions of SEXAROID in fact led to his initial offer for Matsumoto to join his team of designers---which he would not do until he had full executive control, in a vacancy made in spring of 1974 by the departure of Eiija Yamato. While his manga ended about the same time as the cartoon, the Star Force has returned to comics form several times! The configurations of the fleet init...