For those Same Hat readers not (yet) financially-devastated by the past few week's global meltdown, PictureBox Inc out of Brooklyn has just released two incredible art manga books! These officially debuted at SPX two weekends ago, but according to the PB blog, will be shipping out to buyers in the coming week or so. Here is a quick recap and preview images of these fantastic titles:
+TRAVEL by Yuichi Yokoyama
A wordless graphic novel, I picked up and read the Japanese edition of Travel this past spring at a Book-Off in Kyoto. It's more linear and direct in some ways than PictureBox's other Yokoyama release, New Engineering, but also a bit more more cereberal. Not to slag off PB, but the production for the book (being wordless) must have been quite easy. That said, Yokoyama fills the end of his books with dozens and dozens of dense footnotes and commentary, which are preserved and translated here. The sad bit for us not at SPX, according to their site is that, "All SPX copies are signed with a drawing by Yokoyama." From the PB description:
In Yuichi Yokoyama’s Travel, the storyline is as linear as it is sharp: it is the long, silent and crystalline description of a train ride undertaken by three men. The subject Yokoyama depicts here is less the landscape around the train (the distance covered, the regions travelled through) than the actions within the train itself. As the train moves, the three men walk through the string of cars and are confronted with the vehicle’s architecture, its machine-like environment. By above all, they are confronted with the stares and the physical presence of other passengers. Travel is a journey into the contemporary Japanese psyche – a brilliant, wordless graphic novel.
Bookforum has written of Yokoyama: “Concerned with phenomena rather than character and narrative, his comics resemble the output of a drafting machine: sequences that present multiple views of an object in action and look like exploded product diagrams. Yokoyama seems to enjoy the resulting images as much for the strange shapes that are generated as for what they reveal.” This edition features an introduction by cartoonist and historian Paul Karasik and commentary by the author.
“Nemoto is the undisputed master of filthy comics. His work is brutal and horrifying and sure to shock even the most jaded comics reader. And yet underneath all his absurd depravity is a beautiful and touching story of a father’s love for his giant mutant sperm son.”-Johnny Ryan
At long last, this underground Japanese classic has been translated into English. A seminal work of manga from the mid-1980s, Monster Man Bureiko Lullaby is a Candide-esque tale–if you can picture Candide as a mutated sperm brought to life by radioactivity. Unremittingly explicit, this is the comics equivalent of Henry Miller at his best: direct, honest and insightful while simultaneously beautiful and grotesque. Tokyo-based Takashi Nemoto, who was born in 1958, has been called the R. Crumb of Japan: Nemoto and Crumb share a similar, surreal drawing style and pessimistic, satirical stance, for which both have faced their share of negative criticism. Due to his unapologetically squalid subject matter, Nemoto has long been a controversial figure in Japan–clashing violently with mainstream Japanese morals–and is just now receiving some critical success there.
In addition to being a fascinating and utterly unique read (nestled in the growing but still genre-deficient US manga market), the book itself was designed by heta-uma King Terry. The book production and hand-lettering was done by artist (and new friend of Same Hat) Jon Vermilyea. I only have the shots from the PB site to go on so far, but it looks to be a masterful and badass bit of lettering.
This is for our UK readers (or others with a private jet and massive amounts of disposable income). I received a notice from Paul Gravett, manga expert and author of the luxurious and large creator-focused book, Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics. Next week, he will be holding a presentation and lecture in London about manga that might be of interest to ya'll:
He says, "The idea is whether you're a novice or a serious otaku, it promises to be a fun night celebrating the diversity and quality of Japanese comics today. I've put a flyer below and people can come to my site for more details and to book tickets via PayPal (people must book ahead of the evening)."
When: Thursday, 23rd October 2008, 7pm to 9.30pm There will be an interval with light refreshments.
Where: St Albans Centre, Leigh Place, Baldwin Gardens, London, EC1N 7AB Tube: Chancery Lane. Venue web-site here. Map available here.
Tickets: £10.00 available in advance, only from his website (above).
Old news by a few weeks, but I wanted to post a quick congrats to two awesome artists that won Ignatz awards at the Small Press Expo (SPX). The Ignatz Awards are "intended to recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. "
Outstanding Mini-Comic Bluefuzz by Jesse Reklaw "Like the mentally challenged but nobler little brother of Dungeon, Bluefuzz sets the bar scarily high for what kind of story a minicomic can pull off. The interspersed color paintings of Bluefuzz's "great deeds" are icing on the cake."
Jesse is on tour right now promoting his book of Slow Wave dream comics, "The Night of Your Life" and will be attending a release party with Hellen Jo the first night of APE.
Outstanding Artist Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream by Laura Park "Her minicomic collection is part sketches and part strips that hint at longer form storytelling. Aside from have a sweet (but not saccharine) sense of humor, DNDMKD shows off Laura's warm and incredibly rich draftsman0like style. She is a real talent to watch, and it'd be a major gaff for the indie scene if someone doesn't sign her to do a book in 2008."
A sketchbook page by Laura was included in the Ivan Brunetti-edited "An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories: Volume 2", and her contributor bio mentions that she's working on finishing a collection!
Quick TGIF clip that I guarantee will make you smile a little (unless you're dead on the inside). From Umezz's YouTube channel, here is footage of him visiting MANGART BEAMS and checking out their Umezu graphic t-shirts in person at BEAMS shop in Daikanyama!
This just announced on the Giant Robot SF blog... They will be hosting a new gallery show this month featuring art from two of my favorite artists (and friends), Derek Yu and Matt Lock! The show is titled GAME OVER, and features art inspired by video games by the gamer generation:
This is cool news, and I'll be swinging by to check it out this weekend. In a bit of shameless self-promotion, I've got to note that both these artists are also featured in Electric Ant #1 (just sayin'!!).
Here is a pic from his blog of one of the two pieces Derek has in the show: Die, Allied schweinehund!!
Many thanks to reader Karen for letting us know that Tokyo Zombie has been reviewed in the November issue of UK anime and manga magazine, Neo!
Karen was rad enough to send a scan of the review, which looks to appear on page 77. Click the image here for the full scan:
The review says (in part):
If you have a thirst for the macabre, love bad taste zombie stories, don't mind smut and can turn a blind eye to Hanakuma's rather unusual illustration style, check out this title, which is on the shelves now.
Also! A zombie site called Zombie Reporting Center has posted their review of the book too. Here's s short preview:
While this is a very silly book, it’s also contains some very heavy underlying comments on the social politics of class warfare. Politics, slap-stick and gore! Perfect! This has definitely become one of my new favorite zombie comic of all time.
Tokyo Zombie was just published this year in English for the first time ever by the awesome people at Last Gasp. I can’t recommend the book enough. Everybody who loves zombies should read this.
After months and months of planning and talking and working, I am happy to announce that the zine is finally done! I spent the last 5 days chained to my computer and InDesign, and with the help of Evan's graphical wizardly, I finalized the layout/proofing and sent ELECTRIC ANT #1 to the printer last night!
The good news is that the book will be done in time to debut at Alternative Press Expo 2008. For folks in the SF area, I will have copies on hand and available at the Bang Gang booth (alongside Hellen's new comic, Jin & Jam no.1 fuckyess)
Front cover Back cover
ELECTRIC ANT #1: Your First Kiss 7" x 8.5" digest, 92 pages and bound like a paperback book Color cover inside & out, B&W insides with a 4-page color first kiss survey spread Printed locally at 1984 Printing in Oakland, CA (They publish some of Little Otsu's books) Price: $8, debuting at APE, then sold via Same Hat & electricantzine.com and looking/hoping to get it carried by some comics & zine shops, and (maybe?) Last Gasp and Giant Robot
ABOUT THE CONTENTS Features: + TALKING WITH THE MASTER OF MANGA Author Frederik Schodt on translation, Tezuka, and life as a teenager in Tokyo + THE ILLUSTRATED HALL OF DARK LORDS My favorite cartoonists take us on a tour of the darkest lords that ever lived! + YOUR FIRST KISS Revisited in all its glory... in the form of comics, short fiction, and drawings + DEPARTMENT FOR IMPLEMENTING 15 KINDS OF VIOLENT DEATH A photographic tour of Beijing's Dongyue Temple and its assorted hells + FEATURE COMIC: LOVE ENTITY BY SHUNGA (aaron k) A beautiful and demiurgical tale of transtemporal love and destiny
Goodies: + 4-KOMA STRIPFEST + NIN LIBS + THE 5 WORST PLACES TO FIND YOURSELF AT THE START OF THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE + NINE NUGGETS OF ZINE WISDOM FROM ERIC NAKAMURA
FULL CONTRIBUTOR LIST: RYAN SANDS (me) EVAN HAYDEN ALICE KIM ANTHONY HA ANTHONY WU CALVIN WONG DAVID MURRAY DEREK KIRK KIM DEREK YU ERIC NAKAMURA GEA* HELLEN JO JENN YIN JULIA WERTZ JUSTINE LAI MARINAOMI MATT LOCK MC LARS MIMO MICHAEL DEFORGE MICHAELA COLETTE NATE SHOCKEY ROOT STUDIO RYAN GERMICK SHUNGA (AARON K) SOPHIA FOSTER-DIMINO TONY TULATHIMUTTE
I will be posting more information as APE (November 1-2) gets closer, with further details about each of the rad contributors and how to order the zine online. I'm planning to use Google Checkout and launch a proper site sometime between now and then.
Afro-haired Fujio and bald Mitsuo, the protagonists of Tokyo Zombie, are keen judoka who know all about this, so when Fujio inadvertently kills their boss during a disagreement at work, they know just the place to get rid of his body.
When they get there, they find a middle school gym teacher disposing of his former students. The man is literally dismembered (with the emphasis on member) by a naked woman who rises from the dead. It seems the mixture of sewage, garbage and rotting corpses on Dark Fuji has unleashed a plague of zombies.
All of this within the first 13 pages of this good example of heta uma, or "bad, but good," manga that, like the 2004 British zombie movie Shaun of the Dead, treats its gruesome subject with tongue firmly in cheek.
Just finished reading Tokyo Zombie. Dead people rise out of a rubbish tip! Bald and Afro martial arts blue collars must kick ass and drive gaudy trucks to survive! Expect swearing, pig surfing, and minutely observed renderings of mixed martial arts grappling. With a grin on my face I raced to my computer to look up author Yusaku Hanakuma.
Any of this sound familiar? Zombie comedy? Gentrification? The poor laboring thanklessly to provide for the rich who live in furnished apartments? Zombie games? Believe it or not but these aren’t tributes or nods to any of the recent spate of zombie movies. No, in fact this book came out back in 1999, well before either of the movies that most people will compare it to. It’s almost enough to make one wonder whether or not Romero and Wright are closeted manga fans with hard drives full of scanlated volumes of underground horror series.
If you're looking for refined artwork, dynamic character development and complex plots, this might not be your thing. But if you appreciate manic, manly manga and over-the-top black humor, then Tokyo Zombie will not disappoint.
Updated: SAME HAT stopped updating in 2013! For all new projects, please see Youth in Decline's sit and Instagram.
All fan translations of manga that you'll see in the archives are previously untranslated into English and range from comedy to horror to avant-absurd weirdness.
Same Hat is written & edited by Ryan. If you would like to contact me, please email: samehat @ gmail.com. Also, you can Ask me anything on the Same Hat Tumblr!
