A doujinshi imprint that was famously contributed to by mangaka Masamune Shirow, Shirow's participation in the circle began during his university days in 1980 exactly. The circle itself began in 1978 as simply Atlas. When membership and production began to wane, the circle created the Pate imprint as a supplement - known as 'Battle Comics', the moniker was made in regards to the fact that the contributors only had 3 days to 'battle', or submit their manuscripts. Produced at a rather breakneck pace, this imprint is exceedingly hard to find, rare and highly sought after - books can fetch up to $200 to $400 a copy. I managed to grab one for only $35 USD. With that said, Masamune's contributions to this particular volume are very few sans for the cover and a periodical submitted.

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Additionals:

Information on the circle is heavily documented, though I find this to be the best source of information:

https://www.shirowledge.com/se003.html

Additional circle info:

https://www.suruga-ya.jp/product/detail/ZHORO76358

Shirow had already published Black Magic in 1983 when this particular issue was released and had garnered a lot of fame considering with later manga and the Black Magic OVA. The cover reflects his style change from the late 70s into the 80s. Many of Shirow's 70s works are credited under several different pseudonyms or simply not at all.

While the interior says IV, the front cover is distinctly IIII.

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Questions? Comments? Inquiries?

You can reach me @retroanimechris on X/Twitter/Bluesky and adoggoart@gmail.com or chrisdelabigne@gmail.com

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Scanning services are available! Simply send your inquiry to any of the contacts above and I will get back to you in 24 hours at best. Discord is available by request.

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https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/Madanglerpress

Current market value:

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/o1202504587

Table of Contents:

3 - Quark! Quark! — Pyua (Pure) (ぴゅあ)
15 - Big Hammer Yarō (大ハンマー野郎) — Kobuki Aya (小椋 彩)
36 - SHIROW KUN WA KONKAIOYASUMIDAYO!
  (“Shirow-kun is taking a break this time!”) — Tsuchirō Masamune (土郎 正宗), Masamune is known to write Shirow as such vs the latter in context. It's a joke on his own pen-name.
39 - Wow! — The Theme is ‘Love’ (ウワ! テーマは「愛」) — Sigma and Kinta (シグマ & きん太)
43 - ELISE (エリス) — Aoi Tenpei (あおい天平)
57 - Toy Box (おもちゃ箱) — Sasuke (佐助)
63 - Gangō Maō (ごんごう魔王) — Masashi (まさし)

Illustrations/Cuts:

13 - Tonari Masafumi（となり まさふみ）

14 - Kinta（きん太）

32 - Itō Kōji（伊藤 コウジ)

35 - Yamano Takao（山野 たかお）

42 - MARK III（ＭＡＲＫⅢ)

61 - Kōtetsu Nagane（鋼鉄 ながね）

Additionals:

Cover Illustration: Tsuchirō Masamune（土郎 正宗）
Back Cover Illustration: Pyua (Pure)（ぴゅあ）
Contents Page Illustration: Tsuchirō Masamune（土郎 正宗）
Afterword Illustration: Masashi（まさし）
Inside Cover Illustration: Masashi（まさし）

Base +11, Bane13 +60