Paperback: 855 pages
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly (April 14, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1897299745
ISBN-13: 978-1897299746
Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 2.2 x 8.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #200,565 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #50 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Drawn and Quarterly #67 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Japanese #119 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Graphic Novels > Educational & Nonfiction
Manga legend Yoshihiro Tatsumi chronicles his life and career in post-war Japan as an ever struggling artist attempting to rediscover both himself and his craft, intertwining his autobiography with the history of Manga. These two narratives are backdropped by the reconstruction of Japan in the post-war period as it struggles to regain national pride while at once being influenced by foreign works such as Western films, animation, and later the hard-boiled realism of American detective comics. Tatsumi (who is depicted in the story as Hiroshi Katsumi) begins his career as a Manga artist as early as middle school, where he and his younger brother write postcard Manga everyday for submission in monthly regional Manga magazines. By the time he was in his second year of high school, Tatsumi was already a fairly well known Manga artist who would begin to tip-toe into the same elite social circle as acclaimed Manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka became Tatsumi's mentor during his formative years in high school and early college and was his lifelong inspiration.The graphic novel traces Tatsumi's early obsession with Manga as a neophyte in middle school and early college through his development and maturity as a renowned and daringly experimental artist. The work starts off slowly and repetitively, as the reader is taken through rejection letter after rejection letter from various publishers as Tatsumi attempts to kick-start his career. The novel is at its strongest when detailing the chronology of these influences on Tatsumi and Japanese culture at large.
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