The Social Welfare Agency in Italy is not what it seems. Yes, it rescues young girls who have been brutalized--but brainwashes them and transforms them into ruthless killers for an elite and secret counter-terrorism unit for the Italian government. Enter Henrietta, a young girl who witnessed the savage murder of her family and barely survived. The Agency takes her in and repairs her injuries using the latest in cybernetic technology, wiping her mind of all traces of her past and turning her into one of the Agency's most lethal assassins. Yet despite her programming, Henrietta is troubled by fragmented memories. It is her handler's job, Jose, to keep her feelings in check and ensure that she stays on mission. This task is made all the more difficult because Henrietta bears an uncanny resemblance to Jose's younger sister who died in a car bombing years earlier.

After Henrietta barely surives the savage murder of her family, Italy's Social Welfare Agency takes her in and repairs her injuries using the latest in cybernetic technology. All traces of Henrietta's past are wiped from her mind as she becomes one of the Agency's most lethal assassins. Despite her progamming, Henrietta is troubled by fragmented memories. Her handler Jose must keep her feelings in check and ensure that she stays on mission; a task made all the more difficult by Henrietta's striking resemblance to Jose's late younger sister.

Innocence Lost.... Henrietta barely survived a brutal attack that killed her family. "Rescued" by the Social Welfare Agency, her injuries were repaired with robotic components and she was brainwashed - lost with the memory of her family's death was almost every trace of her own humanity. Today she is an extraordinarily lethal cyborg assassin, obediently working with her handler Giuseppe to carry out her deadly tasks. Despite her conditioning and programming, Henrietta still has the heart of a young girl; she has not completely forgotten how to love. Yet the very emotion is contrary to her training and programming. Can the Gunslinger Girl survive? Can she find peace in a struggle against her very nature?

The Social Welfare Agency: a secret counter-terrorism unit for the Italian government that rescues troubled young girls and turns them into cybernetically-enhanced ruthless killers who do the government's dirty work. Yet the child assassins are not as heartless as they were programmed to be. Henrietta struggles with her conflicted feelings towards her handler Jose, while fellow agent Triela combats her own inner demons as she strives to remember the girl she once was. Meanwhile, the clash between the Social Welfare Agency and the covert radical group known as the Five Republics continues. As the Five Republics targets one of the Agency's handlers, the Agency plans its own counter-strike that will pit Triela against the professional assassin and martial arts master known as Pinocchio in a rematch to the death.

The thrilling New York Times best selling series reaches a heart-pounding conclusion The Gunslinger Girl saga comes to a stunning conclusion as the scattered factions of the Five Republics movement have united together under the leadership of the terrorist Dante. Utilizing a cache of stolen cruise missles, the Padanian terrorists unleash a series of devistating attacks across the Italian Peninsula and seize control of the New Turin Nuclear Plant. Their demands are simple: shut down the Social Welfare Agency or die. A must-have for fans of Gunsmith Cats and Battle Royale, the Gunslinger Girl manga series has spawned two highly successful anime series and a direct-to-video follow-up special. All of these anime have been released in North America on both DVD and Blu-ray by FUNimation.

The Social Welfare Agency in Italy is not what it seems. Yes, it rescues young girls who have been brutalized--but brainwashes them and transforms them into ruthless killers for an elite and secret counter-terrorism unit for the Italian government. Enter Henrietta, a young girl who witnessed the savage murder of her family and barely survived. The Agency takes her in and repairs her injuries using the latest in cybernetic technology, wiping her mind of all traces of her past and turning her into one of the Agency's most lethal assassins. Yet despite her programming, Henrietta is troubled by fragmented memories. It is her handler's job, Jose, to keep her feelings in check and ensure that she stays on mission. This task is made all the more difficult because Henrietta bears an uncanny resemblance to Jose's younger sister who died in a car bombing years earlier.

The Social Welfare Agency: a secret counter-terrorism unit for the Italian government that rescues troubled young girls and turns them into cybernetically-enhanced ruthless killers who do the government's dirty work. Yet the child assassins are not as heartless as they were programmed to be. Henrietta struggles with her conflicted feelings towards her handler Jose, while fellow agent Triela combats her own inner demons as she strives to remember the girl she once was. Meanwhile, the clash between the Social Welfare Agency and the covert radical group known as the Five Republics continues. As the Five Republics targets one of the Agency's handlers, the Agency plans its own counter-strike that will pit Triela against the professional assassin and martial arts master known as Pinocchio in a rematch to the death.

For the first time ever as a complete ebook series, all of Stephen King’s eight Dark Tower novels—one of the most acclaimed and popular series of all time. Special bonus: The ebook boxed set now includes The Complete Concordance, a user’s guide to the Dark Tower world. Set in a world of ominous landscape and macabre menace, The Dark Tower series features one of Stephen King’s most powerful creations—The Gunslinger—a haunting figure who embodies the qualities of the lone hero through the ages, from ancient myth to frontier Western legend. As Roland crosses a desert of damnation in a treacherous world that is a twisted image of our own, he moves ever closer to the Dark Tower of his dreams—and nightmares. This stunning, must-have collection includes: The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger; The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three; The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands; The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass; The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole; The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla; The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah; and The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower. The perfect keepsake for Stephen King fans, The Dark Tower 8-Book Boxed Set is the most extraordinary and imaginative cycle of tales in the English language from “the reigning King of American popular literature” (Los Angeles Daily News).

Grand in its scope, Asian Comics dispels the myth that, outside of Japan, the continent is nearly devoid of comic strips and comic books. Relying on his fifty years of Asian mass communication and comic art research, during which he traveled to Asia at least seventy-eight times and visited many studios and workplaces, John A. Lent shows that nearly every country had a golden age of cartooning and has experienced a recent rejuvenation of the art form. As only Japanese comics output has received close and by now voluminous scrutiny, Asian Comics tells the story of the major comics creators outside of Japan. Lent covers the nations and regions of Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Organized by regions of East, Southeast, and South Asia, Asian Comics provides 178 black-and-white illustrations and detailed information on comics of sixteen countries and regions—their histories, key creators, characters, contemporary status, problems, trends, and issues. One chapter harkens back to predecessors of comics in Asia, describing scrolls, paintings, books, and puppetry with humorous tinges, primarily in China, India, Indonesia, and Japan. The first overview of Asian comic books and magazines (both mainstream and alternative), graphic novels, newspaper comic strips and gag panels, plus cartoon/humor magazines, Asian Comics brims with facts, fascinating anecdotes, and interview quotes from many pioneering masters, as well as younger artists.

Introducing the launch of the second new monthly title spinning out of the SPAWN UNIVERSE, with one of the most popular characters in the entire SPAWN mythology! This book contains three separate GUNSLINGER stories, each taking a look at his journey through timeÑfrom the wild, wild west to the 21st century. Will his 200-year-old past come back to haunt him as he navigates the strange world of 2021? Get ready for the past and present to collide in this new ongoing title!