Comments on: Hokusai: First Manga Master

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » June 14, 2007: The Mary Jane Watson instant weight-loss program

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 08:30:58 +0000

[...] Rob Vollmar reviews Christophe Marquet’s Hokusai: First Manga Master. [...]

By: Rob Vollmar

Rob Vollmar — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 22:03:04 +0000

All,

Hey, thanks to everybody who stopped in to comment.

Dave: I was not aware that Michener had written on Hokusai and look forward to checking that out!

Jenny: I’ve been geeked out on Edo culture for a couple of years now so I’ll definitely try and run those books down.

Matt: I believe it was Eddie Campbell who first steered me on the idea of comics as essentially a technology-bound phenomenon. I have misgivings about sequence or sequentiality as being a cornerstone of comics but your writing is well-crafted and persuasive.

By: Matt Blind

Matt Blind — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:47:30 +0000

I made the assertion that linked comics to advances in printing technology, as much as to any on-going continuous artistic tradition back in March (I try not to be guilty of gratuitous self promotion so I won’t link it, it was 5by8 #13 on Comicsnob for the really curious [He wouldn't link but I will -- JDC]) but it’s interesting to see that you’ve also noted how the production of comics is just as noteworthy as the art. If you’ll let me get away with quoting the column:

“I think folks who try to find the historic roots of comics miss the point that it is a product of technology as much as the output of an artist. Not just the advances in printing, but also in the new visual vocabulary that comics share with photography and film. When I review a manga and pull in terms like shifting camera angles and blocking, I intentionally reference cinema in an attempt to describe (via words only) the more complex relationship that the images have to each other and the story. [ref. wiki: mise en scène] The aspects of sequence, story, and visual dynamics are what make comics unique, not the static images of centuries past that have the occasional speech balloon or scroll.”

By: MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Tuesday morning roundup

MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Tuesday morning roundup — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:31:35 +0000

[...] At Manga Life, Michael Aronson gives middling grades to vol. 2 of DN Angel. Rob Vollmar reviews Hokusai: First Manga Master at Comics Worth Reading, and readers chime in with more recommended reading in comments. At the [...]

By: JennyN

JennyN — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:16:57 +0000

Linking manga into studies of historic Japanese art or culture seems to be quite the trend nowadays. Besides this book (which is an excellent sampler of Hokusai’s work), I’ve come across MANGA FROM THE FLOATING WORLD: COMICBOOK CULTURE AND THE KIBYOSHI OF EDO JAPAN, by Adam L Kern. “Kibyoshi” were illustrated novelettes created by the commoner artists and writers of Edo (now Tokyo) – humourous, fantastic, erotic or satirical. MANGA FROM THE FLOATING WORLD is mainly a quite serious and scholarly study of this non-aristocratic “townsman” culture and its literature, but I was interested to see that (a) Kern explicitly mentions modern manga, as well as US publishers such as Dark Horse and Tokyopop; and (b)to read the second part of the book, you have to start from the back, as he’s translated three “kibyoshi” in the original unflipped format. (I love the titles: “Playboy Roasted a la Edo”, “The Unseamly Silverpiped Swingers”). It’s not particularly cheap, so I’d suggest checking it out at a library unless you’re really into Edo culture, but it’s definitely worth a look.

By: Amy K Ganter

Amy K Ganter — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 08:56:41 +0000

Oh man… I LOVE Hokusai. Thanks for pointing this out!

By: Dave White

Dave White — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 08:01:01 +0000

If you’re looking for more of Hokusai’s work, could I recommend James Michener’s commentary on the Hokusai Manga (currently out of print, but libraries should have it), or the catalog from the excellent exhibition they had at the Freer last year (http://www.freersacklershop.com/hokusaivolumei.html). They’re not necessarily going to shed much light on the relationship between Hokusai and modern manga, but they’re both excellent reads.