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.

REVIEW: Astro Boy Film

Astro Boy Film

Directed by David Bower, Original manga By Osamu Tezuka

Film distributed 2009

·         Unlike the original origin of Astro Boy, Toby (the original boy Astro is based on), does not die from driving a future car but rather an incident with a rouge robot with a red evil core. In addition, Dr. Tenma is more open to accepting Astro as his son in this film as opposed to other adaptations of Astro Boy where he rejects Astro but still accepts him as his creation.

·         Past some key citizens of Metro City who are actual side characters from the original Tezuka works (including a cameo of Tezuka himself as a scientist in the film), the other added characters to the franchise look nothing like the style Tezuka made for the series. In addition, the technology and the looks for the robots look nothing like the sci-fi look that Tezuka set for his series originally.

·         Metro City, despite having a distinct Japanese feel to it, is not noted to being part of any country specifically in the film. There are references to New Jersey and other non-Japanese locations and culture making this adaptation unfittingly feels less Japanese and more International.

·         Astro is noted to keeping a shirt and pants for most of the film as opposed to only having underwear like his original comic. In addition, he doesn’t use his signature blaster gun hands and machine gun butt until later on in the film.

·         This film was notably co-created with a Hong Kong animation firm as opposed to a complete Japanese animation house.

·         The film specifically focuses on robotics for the majority of its sci-fi element whereas the original source material had cyborgs, plant people and aliens more regularly in the plot.

·         The classic style of Tezuka interacting with the audience is left out in this adaptation past his cameo as a scientist, which seems lacking in how Astro Boy comics and Tezuka’s style normally is in his animated films and manga. Normally, Tezuka would interact with the audience early on in his works to remind people that what they are reading is fictional, a personal trait of his works after he had experienced the aftereffects of World War II in Japan and how that affected the Japanese mindset.

·         The rules or robotics is made clear that robots cannot harm humans save for an ancient robot ZOG, which sets up irrational situations where robots try to get at humans by circumventing the rules.

·         Instead of the Heart power that Astro gained in the manga and his slow coming to becoming more like Toby, the Astro of the film immediately was given Toby’s memories from a strand of hair DNA and powered by the plot-driven Blue Core.

·         The forced tension of romance with Cora with Astro was unnecessary.

·         Overall, the movie was indeed enjoyable save for the forced friendships that Astro gained with the kids from the surface world. The political tone of the film also drew away from the manga origins where Tezuka focused on human suffering as his subject to his manga and/or how people overcome hardships on a regular basis. Overall though, I enjoyed the film.

Bibliography:

Astro Boy. Dir. David Bowers. Perf. Freddie Highmore, Nicholas Cage, Kristen Bell, Et.al. Sony, 2009. DVD.

REVIEW: Astro Boy Volume 1

Astro Boy Volume 1

By Osamu Tezuka

Published September 2002 by Dark Horse, first published 1952.

·         The origins of Astro Boy ironically do not show up in the first publications of Tezuka, instead jumping directly to the high fantasy sci-fi that is prominent for most of the story. Given that context, Astro Boy’s origins plays similarly to Batman’s in Detective Comics in that we know nothing about him in his original publication until much later.

·         Most of the first arc is dedicated to the “Hotdog Corps” arc where a loyal dog to a side character in Astro Boy’s mythos is turned into a cyborg man soldier to take over the moon with an entire corps of other cyborgs. This plays with 44, the dog once known as Pedro, always having an issue with loyalty given his stance against working with Astro Boy yet wanting loyalty for his former mater.

·         It is gruesome yet iconic for the dog cyborg 44 to be holding Pedro’s body in a non-horrified manner, giving a sense of macabre to the scene as Pedro is being intimate towards his fallen body.

·         The high fantasy end of this series stems from technology allowing robotics to allow people to the moon and other marvelous feats that is even today not in our grasp.

·         The plant people note that there are indeed aliens in this universe.

·         For some odd reason Tezuka notes that Astro himself is not allowed clothes in his origins.

·         The rushed part of Astro being discovered by the professor in a circus act mirrors that of Peter Parker’s introduction as a hero with him being a wrestler in his depute instead of a hero.

·         As one of the first manga series published, a lot of the narrative flows take its inspiration from the Golden and Silver Age style of high-end narrative and dynamic punches and poses to convey narrative as opposed to modern subtle methods that comics have adapted.

·         Though drawing heavily from Golden and Silver Age comics of America, the narrative of Astro Boy comics are not necessarily self contained and thus shows the prototype of story arcs which are commonly used in manga today.

·         Given the sci-fi nature of Astro Boy and other comics published in Japan around the same time, it can be seen why people labeled manga as sci-fi originally in its genesis.

·         It is noted that Astro Boy is the prototype for what would be called the “Shonen” genre of manga, which would have a demographics of adolescent to young adults much similar to how comics of the Golden Age were aimed towards the demographics of young boys.

·         It is to note that manga was originally printed on much cheaper and disposable paper than even its American counterparts, mirroring the fast-paced market of consumerism that Japan was emulating from the West.

·         Tezuka himself introduces story arcs in what is presented in the first volume’s tales, going as far as to critique with the characters troupes of narrative common in other media.

·         Overall, for one of the first manga ever published in a definition close to what we call “manga” today, Astro Boy stands the test of time as a great story enjoyable for all ages.

Bibliography:

Tezuka, Osamu, and Frederik L. Schodt. Astro Boy. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Manga, 2002. Print.

REVIEW: History of Anime

History of Anime

An article on Open Culture

First published online in 2012

History of Anime

·         The first animation and the animation on the Stolen Lump both are based on Japanese mythology while the last animation Private Norakuro is a satire on Japanese military.

·         The first animation and Private Norakuro both have a Disney feel to them while the Stolen Lump has realism feel to it based on art direction and the animation narrative.

·         The Stolen Lump is noted for using dialogue like a Charlie Chaplin silent film in that characters move their lips then black screen dialogue accompanied by music plays with spoken words. With the first animation and Private Norakuro, the words are spoken sometimes without regard to lip synchronization and such.

·         As early Japanese animation set in the late 20s and early 30s, it can be observed that the animation is similar to early Walt Disney animations not only in look but in how the protagonists of the cartoons act: the protagonists in all three animations act as jerks when confronted with their environments.

·         Narrative for the first animation is incoherent to some points as the fox-spirit samurai seems afraid of spirits at some points in the film even though he himself is a spirit.

·         Private Norakuro is noted to be a slacker and a bad portrayal of the Japanese militant man: which would not be allowed in animation once World War II became prominent in Japan.

·         The Stolen Lump is noted as a story to be printed on Japanese art paper as opposed to the animation paper that is used by the first animation and Private Norakuro, which uses normal animation black and white as opposed to the tan color of the Stolen Lump. This gives it a calligraphy look very much fitting to the Japanese classical art style of print block art.

·         Norakuro would ironically serve as a mascot to the Japan Self Defense Force, which given his origins as a satire to the Japanese military this seems unusual.

·         In the first animation, it is noted that they had the shadow raccoon’s move alongside the background corners of the room in one scene like a shadow fitting them to the shape of the scenery. This is notable as a feat of animation that is not used as much today.

·         Although these animations predate contemporary anime, many themes of anime and manga can be seen in these animations: most noted are the stylized proportions of the characters, the emphasis on backgrounds to play a major role in the narrative and the extreme expressions of individuals to convey emotions.

·         Save for The Stolen Lump, the majority of good protagonists are noted to be in a more blackened tone compared to other characters, which can convey that they are protagonists much like other blackened early animation characters like Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Rabbit and Felix the Cat

·         Overall, I enjoyed these animations and these animations clearly set the tone of what was to come for anime and other noted Japanese cartoon products.

Bibliography

"Japanese Cartoons from the 1920s and 30s Reveal the Stylistic Roots of Anime." Open Culture. Open Culture, LLC, 5 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.History of Anime

An article on Open Culture

First published online in 2012

History of Anime

·         The first animation and the animation on the Stolen Lump both are based on Japanese mythology while the last animation Private Norakuro is a satire on Japanese military.

·         The first animation and Private Norakuro both have a Disney feel to them while the Stolen Lump has realism feel to it based on art direction and the animation narrative.

·         The Stolen Lump is noted for using dialogue like a Charlie Chaplin silent film in that characters move their lips then black screen dialogue accompanied by music plays with spoken words. With the first animation and Private Norakuro, the words are spoken sometimes without regard to lip synchronization and such.

·         As early Japanese animation set in the late 20s and early 30s, it can be observed that the animation is similar to early Walt Disney animations not only in look but in how the protagonists of the cartoons act: the protagonists in all three animations act as jerks when confronted with their environments.

·         Narrative for the first animation is incoherent to some points as the fox-spirit samurai seems afraid of spirits at some points in the film even though he himself is a spirit.

·         Private Norakuro is noted to be a slacker and a bad portrayal of the Japanese militant man: which would not be allowed in animation once World War II became prominent in Japan.

·         The Stolen Lump is noted as a story to be printed on Japanese art paper as opposed to the animation paper that is used by the first animation and Private Norakuro, which uses normal animation black and white as opposed to the tan color of the Stolen Lump. This gives it a calligraphy look very much fitting to the Japanese classical art style of print block art.

·         Norakuro would ironically serve as a mascot to the Japan Self Defense Force, which given his origins as a satire to the Japanese military this seems unusual.

·         In the first animation, it is noted that they had the shadow raccoon’s move alongside the background corners of the room in one scene like a shadow fitting them to the shape of the scenery. This is notable as a feat of animation that is not used as much today.

·         Although these animations predate contemporary anime, many themes of anime and manga can be seen in these animations: most noted are the stylized proportions of the characters, the emphasis on backgrounds to play a major role in the narrative and the extreme expressions of individuals to convey emotions.

·         Save for The Stolen Lump, the majority of good protagonists are noted to be in a more blackened tone compared to other characters, which can convey that they are protagonists much like other blackened early animation characters like Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Rabbit and Felix the Cat

·         Overall, I enjoyed these animations and these animations clearly set the tone of what was to come for anime and other noted Japanese cartoon products.

Bibliography

"Japanese Cartoons from the 1920s and 30s Reveal the Stylistic Roots of Anime." Open Culture. Open Culture, LLC, 5 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

REVIEW: Supergods

Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us about Being Human.

Written by Grant Morrison

First published in 2012

Supergods

·         The whole of the work is Grant Morrison’s summary of the Golden Age, Silver Age, Dark Age and Renaissance of American comics, with his personal history and life-changing experiences interlaced with the narrative starting with the Silver Age/Dark Age.

·         A minor detail is that Grant Morrison overlooked that Mary Marvel mistakenly says “Captain Marvel” like Captain Marvel Jr. to become a hero, when she also says “Shazam” like Billy Batson except it’s to invoke goddesses for powers instead of gods like Captain Marvel.

·         A lot of American comics’ writers seem to be British by the influences that Grant Morrison states helped shaped American comics by the Dark Age.

·         He includes his details on his interpersonal relationship with the characters Animal Man and Superman, who are real people to him that happen to live in the DC Universe.

·         Periodically, Morrison includes pictures to tell his commentary, like the cover of Action #1 which he commentates on how people may react to seeing Superman for the first time during the early days of the Golden Age.

·         Jack Kirby is a consistent influence to Grant Morrison given his constant praise of Kirby’s creations showing up in his commentary or how cosmic comic events are constantly linked to Kirby by Morrison.

·         Morrison also happens to be responsible for a good number of Final Crisis and Countdown, which I happen to not very much, which he sees as art which I mostly vary in agreement save for the end of Final Crisis and the characters fighting the blank of the screen, ie their Armageddon.

·         Morrison also includes “real life superhero” phenomenon of real people in his final statements of both the original and paperback versions of Supergods. He uses this as justification that heroes are amongst us and how the line between fantastic heroic flare and real life is blurring. However, given my own knowledge of real life superheroes I don’t completely agree with this as real life superheroes do not necessarily help real causes as much.

·         Morrison includes a good number of Mark Millar titles to talk of the Dark Age and Renaissance where heroes are seen in a negative light. This may have been due to their previous friendship which let Morrison view his work more.

·         Despite talking of a good number about American comics, Morrison left out Will Eisner’s The Spirit in his book, who I see just as influential as Jack Kirby in using comics as an art medium.

·         The paperback book included commentary on Astro City and the Reeve’s Superman movie that were left out in the original print. Both were really good though I knew all the information of them already.

·         Overall, Morrison’s book Supergods was very informative of the history and culture of Comics. I would compare it to be the Sophie’s World of the Comic world, where as we go down the life of Morrison ‘s quest to becoming the known comics writer he is today do we also learn of the complete history of American comics and how it changed the more than half a century American hero comics have been around.

Bibliography

Morrison, Grant. Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us about Being Human. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2012. Print.

REVIEW: Astro City Confessions

Astro City

Written by Kurt Busiek, illustrated by Brent Anderson and Alex Ross

First published in 1997

Astro City: Confession

·         The story centers on a sidekick character for the majority of this installment of Astro City: the Choir Boy. He’s the sidekick of the Confessor, who is a Batman detective vampire character.

·         With the Confessor’s style of justice in the night, we see the night life and night crimes of Astro City, which is contrary to the bright and optimistic light of Astro City in the day.

·         Even Jack-in-the-Box, a superhero who has a gadget and acrobatics motif, isn’t as dark in tone as the Confessor’s stories.

·         The Confessor’s arc brings to mind that no matter what you are you can be a hero

·         The hero’s journey of Choir Boy brings an outsider to Astro City who wants to become a hero who in turn learns that there is more to being a hero than fame and respect, a trend Booster Gold in DC comics went through.

·         With the alien invasion to discredit the heroes being prevalent in the arc, we see why they included the alien spy arc in the first volume.

·         The fact that politicians choose not to bring heat to heroes in Astro City until this arc highlights how intergraded heroes are in the Astro City society, to the point that no one questions their motives or questions that the heroes could turn against the public

·         Again the art is beautiful and the design for the Confessor is well played, given that he allows his symbol to be a cross in order to self-punish himself so as to drive backs his bloodlust as a vampire and channeling his focus into fighting crime.

·         The introduction of the Crossbred, a religious themed group of heroes like the X-Men, brings to light the discrimination some groups of heroes may get for their beliefs. Incidentally, they are the most tolerant of the public’s discrimination against them during the manhunt for the heroes besides the Confessor.

·         When Choir Boy brushes off side hero plots like synopses of comic arcs, it highlights that super events in comics to the heroes that are part of the timeline barely note the happenings of others outside of general politics, similar to how real people know legislation and armed conflict in real life but do not put too much thought into it.

·         The story of the Hanged Man highlights that lives to get changed in timeline altering events in comics even if things seem to go back to normal, as one man feels empty after a day where his wife ceases to exist.

·         Choir boy becomes the new Confessor, with the public’s view of him being renewed as good after the original vampire Confessor sacrificed himself to save the planet.

·         Overall, I loved the Confession arc of Astro City, as it shows the underground that the daytime Astro City doesn’t show. It also shows how people get into the city hoping to get into the hero business and how dreams can be altered with growth in such a bizarre city of heroes.

Bibliography

Busiek, Kurt, Brent Eric. Anderson, Richard Starkings, John Gaushell, Steve Buccellato, and Alex Ross. Kurt Busiek's Astro City: Life in the Big City. LaJolla, CA: Homage Comics, 1997. Print.