REVIEW: Lone Wolf and Cub

Lone Wolf and Cub

By Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, introduction by Frank Miller

Originally published in 1970

·         It is to note that the cover for the American publications of Lone Wolf and Cub are drawn by Frank Miller, who in turn was inspired by the style of manga and who wrote an introduction to how much Lone Wolf and Cub inspired his works like The Dark Knight Returns and other Batman works that he did.

·         The specific issue I will focus on is Issue 8 of the American publication.

·         The introduction by Frank Miller doesn’t talk too much the author or even about the status of Japanese comics at the time but more on the censorship on American comics and how the media is slumping in our times yet with the exportation of comics to Japan, manga has taken a life of its own and perhaps we can learn a lot about the medium through how other nations make comics.

·         They choose in the beginning not to translate the sound effects and the names of the characters in the native Japanese writings done by Kazuo. Instead, the translators allowed the dynamic word play to continue on with the first page, translating only what was already in word bubbles and even that varies in importance. This could be seen as an influence to how Miller was to use his own style of words being influential to his works like in the Dark Knight Returns.

·         As manga is a colorless medium, the use of black and white as seen in Lone Wolf and Cub is influential to the mood of the story in addition to how the panels are laid out. Take the second page for example, where there is a panel with our protagonist in black yet the “aura” of his killing intent is in white, which would mean the author took planned drawing the inking and then whiting around the character to make an artificial fire look.

·         Unlike Tezuka, Kazuo took it onto himself to make establishing shots of the backgrounds (like in Page 11-12) to allow the setting to be in the reader’s minds when explaining other portions of the tale. Take it with the pages afterward (Page 13-14) where the assassins are shown and we take it with what we read before to mentally project the assassin’s onto the landscape even though Pages 13-14 are blank in the background.

·         To note Scott McCloud, characters seen in manga that are human or supposed to be at least Japanese have more simplified faces than any more detailed object which we are to not necessarily relate to. Take the people in Page 28, whose facial features look relatively simple in comparison to how more realistic drawings look. Now look at Page 29 with the highly detailed horse. We initially take in that the people are more relatable whereas we see the horse as its own separate object.

·         Speed lines, very prominent in manga, is seen well in this series as with the chain weapon on Page 52 or with the wind that is commonly seen like in Page 51.

·         Overall, this story was really good about a samurai and his son traveling for revenge. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Bibliography:

Koike, Kazuo, and Goseki Kojima. The Assassin's Road. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 2000. Print.

Miller, Frank, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley, John Costanza, and Bob Kane. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. New York, NY: DC Comics, 2002. Print.

REVIEW: Manga Sixty Years of Japanese Comics

Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics

By Paul Gravett

Printed in 2004

·         The book notably tackles the stereotype that manga is science fiction stories made for little boys full of action where manga, like other media, is a diverse genre that is not so easily defined by one term.

·         They note that American comics did influence the publication style of manga significantly and as such much after comics fell from the popularity of America it is still strong in Japan.

·         Printed blocks is in itself a form of manga printing but this is minute compared to the influence American comics have in manga.

·         In the Japanese education system, they do indeed teach manga as an art form but at best it is a footnote in the history of Japan and claims that Japanese block art is the complete influence of how manga came to be.

·         Unlike American comics, which require lots of colors and its own expensive print method, Japanese manga is noted for being printed in a cheap giant book weekly or monthly subscription form that is to be discarded unless someone wants to own a specific series, which in that case they are to buy a trade paperback of a specific series.

·         The book talks about how manga is creator owned in most cases, so once a writer-artist dies his work also goes with him. However, this allows more creative freedom for the artists and their assistants who help him ink, draw backgrounds, etc. However, given how editors still play a major role in the manga industry some series seem to last much longer than their initial stay in my opinion (like Bleach and its current forced longevity).

·         Early manga before Tezuka show more styles akin to American style as opposed to “big eyed” styles that we are accustomed to in manga today.

·         While American comics are usually sold in specialty stores today due to the lack of drive for everyday people to continue to read three dollar issue comics, manga in Japan are sold in most any market or common grocery store: showing that the livelihood of manga is much stronger than its American counterparts.

·         Digital distribution is a key part of American comics today, but given that Americans need to go to specialty stores today to look for comics this may be why digital distribution is key in the States. In Japan, however, digital distribution is not yet implemented in the norm due to the success of print already in the local Japan.

·         Much like American comics creators today, manga studios can range from a location studio where people have an art desk to just having a really messy art room in one’s apartment.

·         Manga as we know it today stems from what influences Tezuka gave, but also from many lesser known comics creators before Tezuka’s time: like the creators of Sergeant Norakuro.

·          Overall, this was quite an informative book and I enjoyed reading it.

Bibliography:

 Gravett, Paul. Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics. London: Laurence King, 2004. Print.

REVIEW: Buddha (Tezuka)

Buddha (manga)

Original manga By Osamu Tezuka

Printed in 1972

·         The story is noted for not focusing on the character who would become the “Buddha” in the beginning but rather it focuses on side characters who would influence the Buddha in future chapters, be it in their current incarnation or reincarnation.

·         Despite everyone being Indian as with the origins of Buddhism, the design is reminisce of Tezuka’s other works which makes the characters more simplistic in order to make us relate more to them.

·         Sacrifice of oneself in order to have a better reincarnation is a common theme in this manga. This is exemplified even in the beginning of the story where the rabbit was to sacrifice himself for the benefit of the dying hermit and thus transcended to a higher plain of existence, which was a theme to be consistently delved into in the series. (Buddha, Pages 22-25).

·         Slaves are treated horribly in the comic, as with the example of the slave boy in the beginning with his mother (Buddha, Page 40).

·         People have mystic powers that are not explained well in the mythos of the manga but they serve as part of the narrative to how certain things in the Buddha’s life came to be, Tatta exemplifies this with his powers of going into animals like when he saved the slave mother for his friend (Buddha, Pages 65-69).

·         Death and destruction is a common theme in the manga as people are killed, maimed, sold to slavery, etc that is less seen in mass in any Tezuka work, like the death of entire village with Tatta’s mother and sister dying (Pages 85-89).

·         As a piece of biography, this manga follows much of the established traditions of the Buddha’s lifestyle in the religion and philosophy with added side characters that Tezuka incorporated.

·         Tezuka does not insert himself in this work, notable compared to his other works to stress that this is a piece of fiction. Tezuka not being in this manga can be seen as stressing that this is NOT fiction, making us awe inspired and lost in his work as opposed to the other works where he tries to test our sense of reality.

·         Despite characters looking evil in the manga at times, it turns out that looks can be deceiving as morally decent characters actually can be good while morally deprived characters can look beautiful.

·         Characters dying in this manga are common, but as reincarnation is the theme of Buddhism it is not necessarily the case that we never see the character again: they can reappear as another person later on.

·         In the first book, the titular Buddha character does not even show up until the very last part, and even then he is but born.

·         Animals have their own will in this manga and tend to act rationally as people do. Given how animals can be reincarnated people, however, this should come to no surprise.

·         People are horribly mutilated in the Buddha series.

·         The only character to continue on by the series’ end was Tatta.

·         Overall, this was an excellent series worthy of Tezuka’s namesake.

Bibliography:

Tezuka, O. (2006). Buddha. New York: Vertical.