Yoshihiro Tatsumi is considered the grandfather of Graphic Novel in Japan for starting the
gekiga style of alternative comics in 1957. His works only enjoy worldwide popularity when Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly started to publish them in annual anthologies. His comics deal with the human mind and condition, especially in the working class society. The stories are simultaneously haunting, disturbing, and darkly humorous. Tatsumi focus on the troubled emotion and sexual lifes of the individuals trapped in the overwhelming and crowded society of his time. He is absolutely fearless in his willingness to examine what it means to be human.
Designed and edited by Adrian Tomine, The Push Man and Other Stories is the debut volume in a the series of anthologies. Abandon the Old in Tokyo is the second of the series that continues to delve into the urban underbelly of 1960s Tokyo, exposing Tatsumi’s maturation as a story writer. I bought these two books at Kinokuniya a few years ago and look forward to acquiring the latest addition, Good-Bye. It's shortly after the war in the 70s that Tatsumi created these desperate stories about the aftershocks and desperation experienced by the men and women.
Here are some old sketches we did during our trip to Matu in 2002. The journey was long and tiring. The only way to get there was by boat. It was good to be away from the city to experience a simple lifestyle in a small town. Everyone wakes up very early when the cock crows and sleep around 9pm everyday. It takes time to get used to that. We stayed at Hee's relative's house and really enjoyed the peaceful and refreshing esperience.
This has got to be the most interesting and exciting blog we come across this year. Urban Sketchers is a group blog where artists from around the world showcases their sketches of people and places of the cities of at least four different continents: from London to Moscow, from Barcelona, to New York, from San Francisco, to Lisbon, São Paulo and Tokyo. Seattle illustrator and journalist Gabi Campanario started this blog because he wanted to gather the best talent in one spot. He was inspired by the art that others share online (on blogs and Flickr accounts). You can also also view the artworks the Urban Sketchers Flickr group.
