As an addendum to the Umezz Fest 08 post, here is a clip of Demerin playing the FEVER theme from Dr. Mario:
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
UMEZZ FEST '08
We all missed it, but a few months back in Kochijoji, Kazuo Umezu hosted a big UMEZZ FESTIVAL '08 event. I was secretly scheming a way to get over to Japan in time to attend (or get Nate, Same Hat's Man in Japan to sneak in) but no luck this time. Luckily, Umezu and Demerin have posted pics of the entire happening.
The event was held on 9/14 at Star Pine's Cafe, and included dancing, comedy skits, a Q&A, exclusive Umezu goods, and prizes like DVDs and figurines for folks in the audience.
GODDAMMIT, I WILL BE THERE FOR UMEZZ FEST 09!
Party people in the place to be.
Umezz webmaster & mangaka, Demerin.
The sultan of horror manga.
Rocking the cape with UMEZZ PERFECTION edition panels on the walls.
The greatest jacket of all time?
Goddess of Love and Umezu.com themed Yokosuka base silk jacket. AMAZING!
Scooby Doo-eseque comedy sketch, it appears.
Very disturbing stuff, this.
Finale group shot...
So, who else wants to go to the next one in 2009??
The event was held on 9/14 at Star Pine's Cafe, and included dancing, comedy skits, a Q&A, exclusive Umezu goods, and prizes like DVDs and figurines for folks in the audience.
GODDAMMIT, I WILL BE THERE FOR UMEZZ FEST 09!
Party people in the place to be.
Umezz webmaster & mangaka, Demerin.
The sultan of horror manga.
Rocking the cape with UMEZZ PERFECTION edition panels on the walls.
The greatest jacket of all time?
Goddess of Love and Umezu.com themed Yokosuka base silk jacket. AMAZING!
Scooby Doo-eseque comedy sketch, it appears.
Very disturbing stuff, this.
Finale group shot...
So, who else wants to go to the next one in 2009??
Monday, November 24, 2008
BRICK & MORTAR SHOPS WITH ELECTRIC ANT #1
Just a quick mention that a few more shops will be carrying Electric Ant #1 on their shelves:
+ Needles & Pens, 3253 16th st, san francisco, ca 94103 (site)
+ The Beguiling, 601 markham st, toronto, on M6G 2L7 (site)
+ Pony Club Gallery, 625 nw everett st, #105 portland, or 97209 (site)
+ Giant Robot SF, 618 shrader st, san francisco, ca 94117 (site)
These are in addition to:
+ Quimby's, 1854 w. north ave, chicago, il 60622 (site)
+ Giant Robot 1, 2015 sawtelle blvd, los angeles, ca 90025 (site)
(Image courtesy of the talented, sheisept)
Issues are still very available via gCheckout or Paypal on the site. A few folks have also bought copies by sending hidden cash or a money order in the post. GET YOURS NOW!
+ Needles & Pens, 3253 16th st, san francisco, ca 94103 (site)
+ The Beguiling, 601 markham st, toronto, on M6G 2L7 (site)
+ Pony Club Gallery, 625 nw everett st, #105 portland, or 97209 (site)
+ Giant Robot SF, 618 shrader st, san francisco, ca 94117 (site)
These are in addition to:
+ Quimby's, 1854 w. north ave, chicago, il 60622 (site)
+ Giant Robot 1, 2015 sawtelle blvd, los angeles, ca 90025 (site)
(Image courtesy of the talented, sheisept)
Issues are still very available via gCheckout or Paypal on the site. A few folks have also bought copies by sending hidden cash or a money order in the post. GET YOURS NOW!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
THE COLLECTION by Shintaro Kago
We've been sorta overrun with Kagomania here the past week, haven't we? But I assume that nobody really minds, right? Today, we received another great gift from the manga-duo of Rizzah & Anonymous K over at Wanted: Cheap Manga - a new and utterly gruesome short scanlation of The Collection by Shintaro Kago.
This one is old style Kago, with a simple conceit and pretty realistic and grisly gore, like The Savage Mouth by Sakyo Komatsu or Chuck Palahniuk's Guts. As Rizzah explains it,
Click here to download The Collection, then go over and leave comment on Wanted: Cheap Manga.
This one is old style Kago, with a simple conceit and pretty realistic and grisly gore, like The Savage Mouth by Sakyo Komatsu or Chuck Palahniuk's Guts. As Rizzah explains it,
The Collection is a fucked-up story of one girl’s obsession with a dude. She collects everything he touches… EVERYTHING. Very NSFW, NSIFOYGF, and NSIFOYMAD (try to figure out those last two!).
Click here to download The Collection, then go over and leave comment on Wanted: Cheap Manga.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
SHINTARO KAGO POSTER, "SADISTIC CIRCUS"
DESIGN FESTA 28 was held at Tokyo Big Sight a few weeks ago, during the weekend of November 8-9. DESIGN FESTA is like the colorful mutant child of Lollapalooza, the MOMA in New York and San Diego Comic Con. Both Same Hat's Man in Japan, Nate, and Tokyo Damage Report's Schultz were in attendance this time.
I'll be posting an event report from Nate (with tons of pics! and goods from Kago!) soon, but until then here is a Shintaro Kago poster picked up by Schultz:
Schultz says, "Kago Shintaro is famous for being the most disturbed manga artist in a country where that title is like a coveted olympic medal."
More detailed information and tons of great pics/scans from Tokyo Damage Report, here and here.
I'll be posting an event report from Nate (with tons of pics! and goods from Kago!) soon, but until then here is a Shintaro Kago poster picked up by Schultz:
Schultz says, "Kago Shintaro is famous for being the most disturbed manga artist in a country where that title is like a coveted olympic medal."
More detailed information and tons of great pics/scans from Tokyo Damage Report, here and here.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
ELECTRIC ANT #1 ON SALE AT QUIMBY'S
A quick post from the wilds of St. Louis; Electric Ant #1 is now on the shelves at the midwest indie comics/zine mecca, Quimby's in Chicago!
Quimby's Bookstore
1854 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
tel. 773/342-0910
A few copies of the zine are also on-sale at Giant Robot (GR1) on Sawtelle Blvd. in Los Angeles.
Quimby's Bookstore
1854 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
tel. 773/342-0910
A few copies of the zine are also on-sale at Giant Robot (GR1) on Sawtelle Blvd. in Los Angeles.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
REPORTAGE! HALLOWEEN WITH SHINTARO KAGO
[This is the first of hopefully many posts written by my good buddy Nate who is living in Tokyo. Nate is a grad student who helped me out on Tokyo Zombie and contributed The Department of Implementing 15 Kinds of Violent Death article to Electric Ant #1!]
Halloween is not a major holiday in Japan. Recently, people here have started trying to half-ass it with pumpkin decorations and a few chintzy costumes, but for the most part, it's not a big deal in Tokyo. This year on Halloween however, people who wanted to experience true thrills and chills hightailed it to the Flying Teapot Cafe in the obscure suburb of Ekoda for an evening of film and fun with the one and only, Kago Shintaro.
The main man himself was in attendance for the event, which was being held to kick off a mini-exhibition of his artwork at the cafe. There was a screening featuring a glut of Kago's live-action DV films, as well as just general fanboy (and about two-ish fangirls) hangouttage. There were about 15 souls in the house total, so it seems like Kago's fan base is bigger abroad than at home.
After a bit of coffee sipping, prog rock listening, and Jan Svankmeier watching to get the audience warmed up, the films hit the screen / cafe wall. Kago started off with a selection of short shorts (1 to 4 minutes each), including predictably Kago-esque (and hilarious) gags like poop coming out of phones, voodoo dolls hidden in birthday cakes, bloody feet in christmas stockings, and girls bashing strangers with baseball bats to the rhythm of an enka beat, among others.
Another fun one had a girl getting her fingernails pulled out, only to have them instantly grow back. The gangster torturing her keeps pulling faster and faster, until it becomes almost Chaplin-like; the story has a happy ending when the girl opens a successful fingernail boutique!
Next were a few longer films: Ekimae Setsudan (駅前切断, Stationfront Cutdown), Ekimae Hanayome (駅前花嫁, Stationfront Bride), and Paranoia Street (パラノイアストリート). it seems like these might be based on older Kago manga - maybe a reader who is a far bigger Kago otaku than I am knows? "Cutdown" featured an executioner for hire who roams about looking for jobs; "Bride" is a (literally) tangled tale of the threads of fate connecting lovers, as well as the severed fingers that result when those threads get rearranged; and Paranoia Street can only be described as Poop Overload (even for Kago!)
The final long film was perhaps the most "atmospheric" / creepy / Halloween appropriate: a girl's friends and relatives keep disappearing, leaving behind only notes saying "they'll be back later." Before she knows it, everyone else starts doing the same thing...and then she stumbles and finds a farewell letter from her left leg... To close, Kago let rip a few digital animation shorts (think cardboard cutouts, not anime) with goodies like car-carsh victim tossing as an Olympic sport and popular uses for post-circumcision foreskins (fried appetizers, hula hoops, Jesus halos...)
Several of the films are available on DVD (probably Japan region coded, unfortunately) through Kago's website.
After the film, there was more general hanging out and browsing the artwork:
If I had 300 bucks to spare, I would have bought this on the spot!
Kago had literally his whole back catalog out to browse (!!!):
Crying yet, fanboys?
He also had all kinds of goods for sale, from new comics to more of his ever popular crazy toys!
This is the "Old Man Sex Set" - it comes with tea and cakes to seduce the geezer, polident for his stinky gums, and most importantly, an L-bracket to hold up his uncooperative wilmo!
Other toys on hand included the "Anti-Nationalism Kit" with a mini-flag and matches, "Corpse-Fucking Set" (don't forget the nose-plugs!), and the ever popular "Curry / Poo Set" to trick your friends into eating your feces! (Also, see this old post for the Bullying Kit! -ryan)
I chatted with Kago a bit afterwards, and he revealed that his answer to the age-old question "Would You Rather eat poo that tastes like curry, or curry that tastes like poo?" is: poo that tastes like curry, which is perhaps unsurprising when one considers his oeuvre.
Did I just refer to the guy that drew these as having an "oeuvre"?!?!
Homeboy also confirmed that he is in fact doing a monthly comic in Vice mag. Perhaps the most shocking sight of the evening, however, was the wedding ring on Kago's finger - You can guess what I was pondering on the way home...
I picked up a couple of small Kago goodies for Same Hat readers as prizes for a future contest (contest TBA, stay tuned! -ryan), and Ryan is working on getting up a gallery link to post some more photos from this and future events in Tokyo. So keep yr eyes tuned to this here computer-box!
–Nate, Same Hat's Man in Japan
Halloween is not a major holiday in Japan. Recently, people here have started trying to half-ass it with pumpkin decorations and a few chintzy costumes, but for the most part, it's not a big deal in Tokyo. This year on Halloween however, people who wanted to experience true thrills and chills hightailed it to the Flying Teapot Cafe in the obscure suburb of Ekoda for an evening of film and fun with the one and only, Kago Shintaro.
The main man himself was in attendance for the event, which was being held to kick off a mini-exhibition of his artwork at the cafe. There was a screening featuring a glut of Kago's live-action DV films, as well as just general fanboy (and about two-ish fangirls) hangouttage. There were about 15 souls in the house total, so it seems like Kago's fan base is bigger abroad than at home.
After a bit of coffee sipping, prog rock listening, and Jan Svankmeier watching to get the audience warmed up, the films hit the screen / cafe wall. Kago started off with a selection of short shorts (1 to 4 minutes each), including predictably Kago-esque (and hilarious) gags like poop coming out of phones, voodoo dolls hidden in birthday cakes, bloody feet in christmas stockings, and girls bashing strangers with baseball bats to the rhythm of an enka beat, among others.
Another fun one had a girl getting her fingernails pulled out, only to have them instantly grow back. The gangster torturing her keeps pulling faster and faster, until it becomes almost Chaplin-like; the story has a happy ending when the girl opens a successful fingernail boutique!
Next were a few longer films: Ekimae Setsudan (駅前切断, Stationfront Cutdown), Ekimae Hanayome (駅前花嫁, Stationfront Bride), and Paranoia Street (パラノイアストリート). it seems like these might be based on older Kago manga - maybe a reader who is a far bigger Kago otaku than I am knows? "Cutdown" featured an executioner for hire who roams about looking for jobs; "Bride" is a (literally) tangled tale of the threads of fate connecting lovers, as well as the severed fingers that result when those threads get rearranged; and Paranoia Street can only be described as Poop Overload (even for Kago!)
The final long film was perhaps the most "atmospheric" / creepy / Halloween appropriate: a girl's friends and relatives keep disappearing, leaving behind only notes saying "they'll be back later." Before she knows it, everyone else starts doing the same thing...and then she stumbles and finds a farewell letter from her left leg... To close, Kago let rip a few digital animation shorts (think cardboard cutouts, not anime) with goodies like car-carsh victim tossing as an Olympic sport and popular uses for post-circumcision foreskins (fried appetizers, hula hoops, Jesus halos...)
Several of the films are available on DVD (probably Japan region coded, unfortunately) through Kago's website.
After the film, there was more general hanging out and browsing the artwork:
If I had 300 bucks to spare, I would have bought this on the spot!
Kago had literally his whole back catalog out to browse (!!!):
Crying yet, fanboys?
He also had all kinds of goods for sale, from new comics to more of his ever popular crazy toys!
This is the "Old Man Sex Set" - it comes with tea and cakes to seduce the geezer, polident for his stinky gums, and most importantly, an L-bracket to hold up his uncooperative wilmo!
Other toys on hand included the "Anti-Nationalism Kit" with a mini-flag and matches, "Corpse-Fucking Set" (don't forget the nose-plugs!), and the ever popular "Curry / Poo Set" to trick your friends into eating your feces! (Also, see this old post for the Bullying Kit! -ryan)
I chatted with Kago a bit afterwards, and he revealed that his answer to the age-old question "Would You Rather eat poo that tastes like curry, or curry that tastes like poo?" is: poo that tastes like curry, which is perhaps unsurprising when one considers his oeuvre.
Did I just refer to the guy that drew these as having an "oeuvre"?!?!
Homeboy also confirmed that he is in fact doing a monthly comic in Vice mag. Perhaps the most shocking sight of the evening, however, was the wedding ring on Kago's finger - You can guess what I was pondering on the way home...
I picked up a couple of small Kago goodies for Same Hat readers as prizes for a future contest (contest TBA, stay tuned! -ryan), and Ryan is working on getting up a gallery link to post some more photos from this and future events in Tokyo. So keep yr eyes tuned to this here computer-box!
–Nate, Same Hat's Man in Japan
CHIP KIDD BAT-MANGA EVENT IN SF!
Hot news for Bay Area folks... Chip Kidd will be giving a public presentation and book signing in support of "Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan." The event is free to the public at 6PM on Thursday (11/12/08) at the 111 Minna Gallery in SoMa!
The Bat-Manga "cover controversy" buzzing around blogs aside, the book is an incredible and strange artifact, and my good friend Anne Ishii (ex-Vertical) did the translation for Jiro Kuwata's wild-ass manga pages included in the book. I had the luxury of attending a similar talk by Chip about the project (with Anne during MoCCA in June) and loved the presentation, unseens images and Chip's theatrical recreation of Batman vs. Lord Death Man!
Details from Last Gasp's blog:
The Bat-Manga "cover controversy" buzzing around blogs aside, the book is an incredible and strange artifact, and my good friend Anne Ishii (ex-Vertical) did the translation for Jiro Kuwata's wild-ass manga pages included in the book. I had the luxury of attending a similar talk by Chip about the project (with Anne during MoCCA in June) and loved the presentation, unseens images and Chip's theatrical recreation of Batman vs. Lord Death Man!
Details from Last Gasp's blog:
Last Gasp is proud to host a reading and book signing with Chip Kidd for his newest book BAT-MANGA. See you Thursday, November 13 at 6pm at 111 Minna Gallery!
In 1966, during the height of the first Batman craze, a weekly Japanese manga anthology for boys, Shonen King, licensed the rights to commission its own Batman and Robin stories. A year later, the stories stopped. They were never collected in Japan, and never translated into English. Now, in Chip Kidd’s BAT-MANGA! The Secret History of Batman in Japan hundreds of pages of Batman-manga comics more than four decades old are translated for the first time, appearing alongside stunning photographs of the world’s most comprehensive collection of vintage Japanese Batman toys, courtesy of Saul Ferris.
This is the Dynamic Duo as you’ve never seen them: with a distinctly Japanese, atomic-age twist as they battle aliens, mutated dinosaurs, and villains who won’t stay dead. And as a bonus: Jiro Kuwata, the manga master who originally wrote and drew this material, has given an exclusive interview for the book.
More than a dazzling novelty, BAT-MANGA! is an invaluable, long-lost chapter in the history of one of the most beloved and timeless figures in comics. The signed, limited hardcover edition will have a distinctly different cover, full-color printed endpapers, and an amazing extra adventure written by Jiro Kuwata (not included in the paperback), about a band of rogue alien robot art thieves at large in Gotham City. Who Could possibly stop them?!
About the Author
Chip Kidd is a graphic designer and writer in New York City. His two previous books about comics for Pantheon were Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz and Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. Both won the Eisner Award and were national bestsellers.
Author Reading
Thursday, November 13-San Francisco
6pm @ 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna St., San Francisco, CA 94105
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