“What Manga Would You Recommend For A Complete Newbie?”

A spread from "A Brief History of Manga" featuring One Piece, Naruto, GTO, bite-size tastes of info and a timeline bubbling along throughout the book.

That’s a question that keeps on coming up in interviews. It’s a real toughie, because the ‘right’ answer depends on the person you’re talking to, and that’s often a theoretical complete stranger – or in an online interview, an Internet of complete strangers. How do you answer? “{It’s) a huge question because it depends entirely […]

The Only Way Is Ethics! The Manga Bible on the Superhero Ethics podcast

Superhero Ethics episode banner: a classical bluegrey heroic statue forms the background for the podcast logo and episode title.

I’m with Matthew Fox on the Superhero Ethics podcast. We talked manga and #TheMangaBible and I had a great time. Full disclosure: since you can’t talk ethics (or manga, or superheroes) without also talking politics, especially when talking in 2026 to a host who lives in Minnesota, a little political comment is involved, The show […]

Happy New Book Birthday to The Manga Bible!

From left to right, the German, English and French editions of The Manga Bible by Helen McCarthy. The book covers are identical, a purple background overlaid with manga art, with the book title in bold yellow capitals and other text in white. In the background, enlarged copies of the ENglish cover on advertising boards, one with the launch date, 5 March 2026.

Happy New Book Birthday to me! The Manga Bible is in the shops today. Of course, I’ll celebrate – but very quietly. Cake, no alcohol, no rushing from bookshop to bookshop to admire its gorgeous cover on the shelf and maybe sneakily move it into a more visible position. I can’t go into town and […]

The Manga Bible: The Movie!

A frame from the Reels video shot by and ©Octopus Books/Octopus Publishing, shows someone flipping through The Manga Bible

My lovely PR team at Octopus shot some videos of me to promote The Manga Bible and I thought it might be fun to share them. This one is all about why the book came to be. Thanks to Matilda, director and cinematographer, and Keiron and Emma for support and great company during the shoot! […]

Christmas in January: Italian Edition of The Manga Bible!

Front cover of La Bibbia dei Manga, published in Italian by Gribaudo. The cover is deep pink, overprinted with a page of manga art by Baron Yoshimoto in black ink. The title is in large, bold, bright yellow block capitals, with the author's and publisher's names in smaller white capitals.

I was absolutely thrilled to receive an advance copy of La Bibbia dei Manga – Gribaudo’s Italian edition of The Manga Bible. Just when that after-Christmas, no-more-exciting-parcels feeling usually kicks in, this gem shot through my letterbox and made my day.   Many thanks to translator Paolo Silvio Poli for making my work accessible in […]

My Transatlantic Aunty: The Podcast

Opening screen of The Aunty Sochelle Podcast features the podcast logo at top right, the text GUEST STAR: HELEN MCCARTHY in purple caps at bottom right, and a Megaera Amis portrait photo of Helen on the left, all on a black background. Helen has cropped blonde hair and wears glasses. Today her earrings are a pair of wings serpents in dark gold and you can just see the silver chain of her Tyrannosaurus skeleton necklace.

I had SO MUCH FUN it ought to be illegal – my first time on the Aunty Sochelle podcast! We talked about my forthcoming book The Manga Bible, the history of manga, fandom, and lots of other fun stuff. This is the blurb for the show, which I didn’t write and am therefore especially proud […]