THE LABOR PARTY!

Assuming you’re a fan of creative entrepreneurial types and other Young Pioneers, this definitely qualifies as breaking news: Dan Pink, the business author best known for writing the still-popular Free Agent Nation, is working on a book about career advice that will published in the form of a Japanese manga graphic novel.

For those not in the know, manga – which is actually the Japanese word for comics – is an absolute cultural steamroller in the land of the rising sun. Just about everyone in Japanese society reads manga, and because of that, nearly every social strata and subculture in the country is served by their very own manga title, if not five or ten or 20 manga titles. Take a ride on a Tokyo subway train during rush hour, and you’re likely to see dozens of salary men reading manga novels, some of them as thick as a small town’s telephone book. So while the idea of Dan Pink publishing a manga-style book about business and careers in America is certainly unusual, there wouldn’t be anything odd about it all in Japan. 

According to Pink, who previously lived in Japan, and who announced his upcoming project during an interview with Marci Alboher for the New York Times, “[In Japan] you have manga graphic novels – book-length comics – covering a whole range of topics, like how to prepare for retirement or how to cook or how to find a mate. It is a whole genre, a medium analogous to television.”

Pink says his project will be “a 160-page graphic novel called ‘The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: the Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need.’” Pink also claims that readers of the graphic novel “will learn the six essential rules to a satisfying and productive career.”

The book will be available on April 1 2008; it’s already available for pre-sale on Amazon.com.