by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

While soccer fans (and the entire world) eagerly await 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany, Chuck Austen, on the other hand, has a different ball game that he’s interested in.

The former writer of Uncanny X-Men, Action Comics (and numerous other comics such as U.S. War Machine, Elektra, Captain America, Avengers, Eternal, Exiles as well as his unfinished creator-owned comic, WorldWatch) returns to comics (or rather OELs, ie TOKYOPOP’s Original English Language manga) with the scheduled release of the first volume of Boys of Summer this summer. The subject is Austen's return to baseball in comic form, which he touched upon previously in his adult comic, Hardball, though Boys of Summer is not an adults-only title.

According to Austen, Boys of Summer, illustrated by hentai (adult) manga-ka Hiroki Otsuka, is a romantic/comedy/drama about college, growing up, and learning to be an adult for the first time away from home. “It's the story of a college freshman named Bud who, for reasons we'll get into later in the series, is an incredibly talented pitcher who won't play for the school team no matter how much the coach begs him.

“The coach is desperate for talent; he manages an unaccredited team for a small-town, obscure college with mostly terrible players and few prospects. As an example, one of the players is an exchange student from Sweden who only played baseball with rocks and sticks before coming to the States. So Bud becomes a crusade for him. At one point, the coach even encourages his daughter to befriend Bud in an effort to get the young pitcher to join the team. The two begin to show signs of liking one another, and that just rips open a whole other can of worms.”

Boys of Summer came about due to the creator’s love of baseball. And manga. “I love baseball, and I've been a fan of manga since I was in my teens,” Austen admitted. “I love artists like Rumiko Takahashi, Osamu Tezuka, Naoki Urasawa, Egawa Tatsuya, Takao Saito and lots of others.

“Rumiko Takahashi is always fun, and takes me back to that joy I remember of reading comics as a kid. Love Inu Yasha, Urusei Yatsura -- all her work. Takao Saito is brilliant. A fantastic storyteller. Golgo 13 is sensational, and could teach a thing or two to Elektra, where assassination is concerned. Then there's Kaiji Kawaguchi, known most recently for Eagle, but he's done a cool baseball comic, and another series I loved called Silent Service, which is outstanding and would make one hell of a feature film or series. Tohru Fujisawa kills me with GTO. So funny and out there. Fantastic series. Monkey Punch's Lupin III is, and has long been, a top-ten favorite. It's how I first discovered Miyazaki. Hiroya Oku is doing this fantastic series called Gantz which is just ****ing intense! Wow, is that series tremendous. The Authority is a bunch of pussies compared to the Gantz crew. Wow. Oh, and Shinji Mizushima, who does various different baseball comics. Love his work. Wonderful stuff, great storytelling and fun characters. Mostly for a younger crowd, but great, nonetheless. Otomo Katsuhiro. So many more I can't think of, offhand.

However, it was through one manga-ka’s work that made Austen realize that there is more to the popular culture than just Superman, Nightcrawler and Captain America

. “One of the first manga creators I discovered is a fellow by the name of Mitsuru Adachi through a series he was producing called Touch, which is an amazingly sensitive, funny and touching -- no pun intended -- work by a master of his medium.

“That series more than anything else has inspired me to become a creator with a broader range of interest than just superhero comics, and really, really made me want to do a baseball comic.

“Touch was a baseball story about twin boys who are both talented baseball players, and the girl they each love in their own way who lives next door. There are funny, moving, incredibly sad and amazingly hilarious moments throughout the series, and the main character, Tatsuya, is one of the freshest and most interesting characters I've ever seen. Amazingly complex and layered, but drawn in this very simplistic, almost "Decarlo" kind of style. Being an immense Dan Decarlon fan, I was instantly drawn in by the art, and held by the deftness of the storytelling --- even though I don't read Japanese!

“In the series, there are fantastically detailed representations of baseball, and games that are played throughout, that just drew me in. Adachi made the storytelling of the game so easy to follow. It made me realize that the medium of comics could be so much more versatile than I'd ever imagined possible, and made me want to try a baseball comic. I've been trying to do one ever since.

“Touch, Rough, Katsu, Five, H2 -- just about everything he's done has been fabulous, and falls in my top whatever list.”

When asked about the characters in Boys of Summer as compared to the ones that he’s written before this, Austen said that “these are the most unique, original, and never-before-seen characters ever created,” he said, before breaking into a laughter. “I don't know. That's a hard question to answer. They're all different, funny, and interesting in their own ways. I'm just trying to make them as human and real as I can, while still keeping them entertaining. I've never seen a Swedish baseball player before. That’s new.”

The book’s protagonist is a “brash, horny young post-teenager who's going to college primarily to be unsupervised by his mother, and to get laid.” In Austen’s own words, Bud is an “enigma. We find out his father committed suicide a few years before the series begins, and Bud hasn't played baseball since. The big question is "why?"

“Then there's Manny, Bud's best friend -- a goof of a kid who Bud kind of has to take care of like a surrogate father. Manny's always on the cel phone with his mom, who has a hard time letting go since her only baby moved away to college. Manny wants to try out as catcher for the team, but the position is already filled by Chrissie, the coach's daughter.

“Chrissie doesn't like Bud for a variety of reasons, most of them having to do with his predilection for insulting her as he's looking down her shirt.

“Then there's the current pitcher, who's a great pitcher, and doesn't want competition from Bud. There's the Swedish baseball player who doesn't speak any English and drives the coach crazy. There's the first baseman who's a closet homosexual, and Bud's roommate, which causes tension for Bud, who's a bit of a homophobe.”

As Austen said earlier, the characters are “all different, funny, and interesting in their own ways.”

Boys of Summer was something that the creator pitched to TOKYOPOP more than a couple years ago. At one point, he had even offered to do it for free at the industry’s Big Two. “I had two ideas -- one was about college life, and the other about baseball, and he said either one would work. I wound up combining the two ideas, and ended up with Boys Of Summer.

“This is something I've been wanting to do for years,” he continued. “Hell, at one point I even offered to do it for free -- writing and art, just let me get paid on the back end if it's successful -- at both Marvel and DC. Neither wanted to try it. It didn't fit within their framework for marketable comics. In retrospect, I'm glad they both said "no." I'm really, really glad it happened at TOKYOPOP. They're a great company, their marketing strategy is broader and more mainstream than the "mainstream" publishers, they've been incredibly supportive and excited about the project, and just damn nice people to work with. And I get paid. Both up front and on the back end,” he laughed.

“And the editors have been wonderful, first Mark Paniccia, who was terrific to work with, and who I miss a lot ever since he went to Marvel, and then Rob Valois. Rob's the best. I can't imagine a better editor, really. He's a baseball fan, and a fan of good storytelling, and he rarely gives notes.

Austen also has high praises for artist/manga-ka Hiroki Otsuka. “[He’s a] fantastically talented artist who's only worked in Japan on traditional manga, before this. Really, really talented man, and very enthusiastic about this book.”

“We're all of us, [Rob], Hiroki and I, very excited about Boys of Summer. Really. I'm not hyping.”

While he’s been out of the limelight since his Marvel and DC days, Austen said that he has a lot of stuff in the works. “I've got a couple more pitches in to TOKYOPOP, and other places that I can't talk about. But soon. Mostly I've been working with my wife on series and screenplays -- but this is by far my greatest love. I've wanted to do manga since -- well -- forever.

“I just want to create a story that entertains people, and reaches out to an audience more like my kids. People who are really looking for something with more heart and soul than the average comic. I want to create memorable characters who leave their mark on you when the story is finished, and make you want to see more. I don't know. I just really like doing this, and I want others to like it as well, so I can keep going,” he concluded.

Boys of Summer is scheduled to be in stores in May.