Dark Horse interviews Kazuo Koike

Darkhorse.com has an interview up with Kazuo Koike, creator of Lone Wolf & Cub, Crying Freeman and my current favorite manga, Lady Snowblood. A lot more than just a PR piece, it offers Koike's insights on manga's past, present and future:

And now, the big economic story is manga, too. The Japanese government is trying to protect the manga business, give it active support as an industry. This represents a clear and significant change in Japan's own social perception of the medium. Even politicians are going around encouraging Japanese citizens to read more manga. This might mean that manga is the only new-and perhaps, the last new-commodity that Japan can proudly present to the world.