Tuesday, September 13 2011
The Undiluted Promise of Comics as Vanguard for 21st Century Media
Sometimes, rarely, a work is so good (so well-conceived, so well-executed) that it simply breaks our traditional expectations of comics literature. And this breaking allows us to glimpse the true, rare promise of what the industry can achieve. Davids Lapham and Aja's Wolverine: Debt of Death is this work.
Friday, January 21 2011
‘Hagakure’: A Manga Guide to Bushido
Sean Michael Wilson and Chie Kutsuwada team up to present a manga-style introduction to Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure: The Code of the Samurai
Thursday, September 16 2010
‘Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential’: They’re Sparkly, Sexy and Can Really Kick Ass!
Why are images of schoolgirls so predominant in Japanese popular culture? Brian Ashcraft and Shoko Ueda offer their take on the subject in Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential.
Monday, August 30 2010
‘Manga and Philosophy’: More Connections Than You Might Think
The latest volume in Open Court's Popular Culture and Philosophy series casts a philosophical eye on the world of manga.
Friday, November 20 2009
Masters of Horror Manga: Kazuo Umezu and Hideshi Hino
Perhaps more so than any other artists, Kazuo Umezu and Hideshi Hino defined the genre of horror comics in Japan, an influence that extends to the West, and also to the world of J-horror films.
Wednesday, November 18 2009
Masters of Horror Manga: Kazuo Umezu and Hideshi Hino
Where Kazuo Umezu is somewhat more traditional, Hideshi Hino strives to find beauty or at least to nuture a sort of awestruck fascination with horrific images and narrative elements.
Wednesday, October 21 2009
Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater by Eric P. Nash
Nash offers a study of kamishibai's influence on modern manga, and how Japanese comics differ from American ones (as well as answering a common question: "What's with the wide eyes?").
Tuesday, August 4 2009
Manga and Minimalism: The Shared Visions of Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Raymond Carver
One is an acknowledged master of the modern short story, and the other is an influential figure in the world of alternative Japanese comics.
Sunday, August 2 2009
From Gekiga to Good Raymond
They lived on opposite sides of the planet, at roughly the same time, and never met. In their lifetimes (one is now dead) each became an acknowledged and influential master in his chosen form of storytelling, and even though their media, social contexts and biographies were worlds apart, the early work of each artist bears striking similarities: they shared a melancholy, darkly humorous, and peculiarly bleak vision of character, story, and life.
Wednesday, April 29 2009
A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
The scope, detail and physical detail of the book is a massive leap forward from the four-panel gag strips with which Hiroshi began his career.
