Hagane no Renkinjutsushi (more prevelantly known by its English translation Fullmetal Alchemist), was first published in the August 2001 issue of monthly Shounen Gangan. Its creator, Hiromu Arakawa, had only two short stories published at the time. Fullmetal remains her most famous work to date.

In 2004, Arakawa won an award in the Shogakukan Manga Awards for her work Fullmetal Alchemist. The series is currently being published monthly, in chapters of aproximately 40 pages, which are then compiled into tankoubons (aka volumes) of four chapters, or so, per tankoubon.

The basic story follows the Elric brothers (Edward and Alphonse), in their quest to restore their bodies back to their original physical form. Their mother died when Ed and Al were 5 and 4 years old respectively, and unnable to continue living a life without their mother (their father had left some time before their mother's death), the boys decide to revive her using alchemy (despite human transmutation being the ultimate taboo).
Their attempt at such a transmutation not only fails, but goes horribly awry, wtih Ed losing his left leg, and Alphonse his entire body, as equivalent exchange, or trade, for the transmutation. Realizing such an exchange would not be enough to bring back their mother, and not wanting to lose his younger brother for such an experiment, Edward then exchanges his right arm in order to seal his brother's soul to a suit of armor.
Shortly after the ordeal, (then) Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang and his right-hand Second Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye find the boys, consumed by their grief, guilt, and despair. With whatever hope and will the brothers had previously had to live being decimated by the events, Roy offers them a (metaphorical) way out. He presents a view that would give the boys a purpose to keep on living (hinting at the possibility of getting back their bodies as well). After considering Mustang's words, Edward becomes a National Alchemist and, along with his younger brother, head off on a journey to recover what they lost.
As the two head off on their journey, a larger chain of events begins to unravel and the Elric brothers, as well as Roy and crew, find themselves caught up in a national (and perhaps even larer) scheme, plotted by a mysterious figure called Father and his seven homonculi (which are named after the seven capital sins).

Arakawa's story is filled with drama, suspense, philosophical connotations that bring up a myriad of moral and ethical questions, humor, and sci-fi horror. More importantly, Fullmetal Alchemist is about the characters--the people, their relationships, and the will to keep moving forward regardless of adversity, strife, and horrors witnessed by fellow man. Mustang in particular, as a character, shows great determination and resolve to never again lose his hope, idealism, and strong drive to protect all those whom he can. Mustang never gives up, he never stops fighting, or gives up on life and living. He imprints such a strong will to whomever he meets, and has learned at this point in his life, to live according to his beliefs and philosophy, and never put himself in a position in which he must go against his very core.