Comments on SAME HAT!: LOOKING BACK AT SECRET COMICS JAPAN

Heck yes what an awesome collection. my first intr...

2011-06-21T14:12:00.428-07:00

Heck yes what an awesome collection. my first introduction to Kago. i wish there were a translation of the complete Palepoli, those little 4-frame experiments were brilliant.

This is one of my all-time favorite collections. I...

2011-06-21T10:03:12.728-07:00

This is one of my all-time favorite collections. I remember being especially blown away by Mutant Hanako when the book first came out. So wild.

Wow, awesome. I never got to read the actual issue...

2011-06-21T08:12:36.629-07:00

Wow, awesome. I never got to read the actual issues of Pulp, just SCJ and the collected volumes of series, so this is new to me. Any chance you could throw up scans of the unused Palepoli pages?

@Stephen: There has been talk now and then but not...

2011-06-21T08:01:45.270-07:00

@Stephen: There has been talk now and then but nothing official as of yet. I recently (as in, last month) heard some revived talk about a small book (80-120 pages) of his stuff coming out, but I don't have any more details than con chatter at this point :)

Ryan, I'm sure several have already asked th...

2011-06-20T22:10:07.688-07:00

Ryan,

I'm sure several have already asked this at various points, but do you know whether there have been any plans laid to start publishing Kago's work in english?

@saicoink: Oh nice, glad to hear you had the same ...

2011-06-20T19:36:15.483-07:00

@saicoink: Oh nice, glad to hear you had the same experience! I read a borrowed copy from Evan and only got my own later later after college (used in Mountain View at Book Buyers)

@Brendan: Sounds like a really nice discovery!

@Kittysneezes: Punctures is one of my favorite stories in the book-- it's more psychological horror/paranoia than some of the other stuff he's known for, and I love that about it (less formalist, more about OCD and obsession).

In one sense, I don't think Kago triggers on the "gore" tip really either; but that said, it's definitely oversimplification to say Kago's JUST experimental and not objectionable to a TON of reasonable, even "edgy" readers. Case in point, I was looking at the book Punctures came from a few years back for another story to translate (for an anthology that never happened, long story oh well) and there literally wasn't one manga in the whole book without some form of sexual assault depicted. It was ludicrous in many of the stories, but still... that shit is a hard sell to the vast majority of readers, rightfully so.

(that said; SCJ was my first exposure to Kago'...

2011-06-20T19:25:49.959-07:00

(that said; SCJ was my first exposure to Kago's brilliance, and I didn't know it at the time. All I knew was that "Punctures" was a goddamn great story.)

I'm honestly kinda baffled by the vague "...

2011-06-20T19:24:58.893-07:00

I'm honestly kinda baffled by the vague "OH NOES!! UPSETTING!" things w/r/t Kago. His stuff doesn't trigger any of that in me AT ALL, and I can be kinda wussy when it comes to gore sometimes. Kago's stuff, to me, is just brilliant and experimental in all the best ways, and I would basically adore having a huge, translated phonebook of his stuff. I'd probably just have to carry it around with me at all times.

I bought this book by accident, on ebay years ago....

2011-06-20T19:07:05.696-07:00

I bought this book by accident, on ebay years ago. The seller listed the wrong book and I ended up with this... a good mistake!

Wow, such memories. Thanks for this. I read the bo...

2011-06-20T18:45:11.671-07:00

Wow, such memories. Thanks for this. I read the book in its entirety when it came out, but I actually still do not have a copy in my possession. II think it was because of reading Editor Women that at the time when I drew comics I would print out the text from the computer and paste it on to the originals...