TOKYO — Cartoonist Shigeru Mizuki, well known for his “GeGeGe no Kitaro” comic series depicting spirits and monsters in Japanese folklore called yokai, died Nov. 30 of multiple organ failure at a Tokyo hospital, his office said. He was 93. Mizuki, whose real name was Shigeru Mura, was hospitalized on Nov. 11 after he fell […]
Cartoonist Mizuki, known for ‘GeGeGe no Kitaro’ comic, dies at 93
December 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Buying American, Japan bashing in the post-industrial
January 20, 2012 by 1 Comment
UPDATE: It appears I was mistaken, and this was all just a clever ruse. I rescind my offer and reactionary knee jerk reaction. What? Something wrong happened on the Internet? Well LOOK OUT BLOGOSPHERE BECAUSE I’M A SHARK AND I JUST CAUGHT THE SCENT OF BLOOD. No, I’m not talking about SOPA or PIPA, which are […]
Love and marriage
August 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment
SCENES FROM AN IMPENDING MARRIAGE By Adrian Tomine (Montréal, Canada: Drawn & Quarterly, 2011, 56 pp., $9.95, hard cover) There are several things about Adrian Tomine’s “Scenes from an Impending Marriage” that mark it as a departure from his previous work. The 50-page comic documents Tomine and his (then) fiancé Sarah’s wedding planning process, making […]
Larry Hama and the making of a ‘real American hero’
July 29, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Every so often, a Hollywood movie studio makes plans to bring a popular property — be it a comic book, toy or TV series — to the big screen. Fans then fervently follow news of project developments, eager to learn the names of the screenwriter, director, and actors, or to glean script details. When Paramount Pictures […]
JASON SHIGA: Interview with a Crazy Genius
July 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
“Crazy + Genuis = Shiga,” wrote Scott McCloud, considered by many to be the foremost authority on comics. Indeed, one would be hard pressed to argue that those two words do not apply to Jason Shiga. A favorite in the indie comics scene for more than a decade, Shiga won renown for his dark humor […]
THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT: Comic strips as vehicles of social and political commentary
One area of 20th century popular culture that is fascinating for historians to interpret is the comic strip. The first strips were introduced in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. They quickly attracted mass readerships and boosted newspaper circulation. (The term “yellow journalism” was even coined in reference to the lowbrow […]