Your friendly neighborhood anime/manga columnist would like to think he's still young, but after helping a high school senior with a project and realizing she missed ALL of the 1980s, never knew a world without the Internet and probably never saw “;Crayon Shinchan”; in its original, English-subtitled form on KIKU, I figured out pretty quickly that I've been around the block a few more times than I'd like to think.

The notion that I'm getting older revisited me a few days ago when I learned that “;Gordon Rider,”; the Mechahawaii whiteboard comic-turned-actual comic book drawn by Jon J. Murakami (who also does this paper's “;Calabash”; strip), celebrates its fifth anniversary this year.

In honor of the five-year milestone, Murakami is releasing a “;Gordon Rider”; sketchbook and fan art book that will debut at Kawaii Kon in April. And that's where you, dear artistically minded “;Cel Shaded”; readers, come in. He wants to see fans' illustrated interpretations of the character. Without swearing, sexually or graphically explicit images, or use of other copyrighted properties, please; let's keep it PG-rated and within accepted fair-use standards, people.

For those unfamiliar with the series, “;Gordon Rider”; is Murakami's tribute/spoof of 1970s Japanese TV superhero series like “;Kikaida”; and “;Kamen Rider.”; It stars Gordon Rider, a guy who cuts an imposing figure in his safety vest, rubber gloves, toilet paper scarf, baseball helmet with straw antennae and swimming goggles, a piece of paper with his insignia taped to his black T-shirt, and underwear worn outside his pants. Take a look at the reference art posted at www.hsblinks.com/1ph sometime ... Gordon definitely looks like a fun guy to draw.

Submissions in color or black and white—300 dpi, saved in JPEG format, please—may be e-mailed to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with the subject line “;Gordon Rider Fan Art.”;

Include your name, e-mail address, phone number and any other information you'd like to have listed with your name (a nickname, a Web site, a link to a page on a social networking site like Facebook, Twitter or Deviant Art, stuff like that).

If you can't scan your art, you can also turn drawings in at Mechahawaii, 1126 12th Ave., Unit 105 in Kaimuki. Store hours are from noon to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays. Submission deadline is Feb. 14.

Artists whose work appears in the sketchbook will receive a free copy of the book, either at Kawaii Kon, later via mail or at Mechahawaii.

Questions? E-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or contact Murakami on Twitter (user name “;jonjmurakami”;). You can also visit the official “;Gordon Rider”; Facebook page at www.hsblinks.com/1pr.

In 'Drawn & Quartered' Sunday

With Viz punching the accelerator on the “;One Piece”; manga starting this month—four volumes a month through June, pushing the series from 24 to 53 volumes—and Funimation continuing to release episodes on DVD and online, now's as good a time as any to take a look at the manga and anime. What is it about this tale of pirates on the high seas that has made it one of Japan's best-selling series ... and can the pirates finally give the ninjas of “;Naruto”; a run for their money in the U.S.? Join me in the Sunday Today section to learn more.