by Yoshihiro Tatsumi Publisher: Catalan Communications (January 1, 1988)
Softcover 118 pages
This is a collection of nine short
stories from manga artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi.
These are not the types of tales you might of upon hearing the word
manga. No giant robots, psychic monsters, or sorcerer powers here. These are
stories of regular people trying to cope with real problem in then-modern
Japanese society. Still they aren't boring. No even really for kids. They
tackle some adult issues such as abortion, infidelity, prostitution, sexual
dysfunction, pimping, and virginity.
The style here is a traditional
Japanese one from the 1960s and 70s before the anime version (big eyes, small
mouth) began to dominate the export medium for manga. While the characters are
not explicitly Japanese looking, they are done in a bigfoot style with finer shading.
It’s almost old fashioned, but still looks great, perfectly blending in with
the story material. Though it is a little distorted as the original Japanese
printing was of a much smaller scale, but I barely noticed the differences.
Catalan
Communications, who published the book in English, was a company that, like
several other failed companies in the 1980s, decided to translate and import
European comics into the American market. It was a little more successful than
its competitors as if offered better than average material at a reasonable
rate, being the first to introduce Rocco Vargas, Torpedo 1936, Milo Manara’s
work, and many many others into the United States. They were involved in a
brief obscenity trial (back when America still had such things) over their
distribution of Squeak the Mouse trade, which they eventually won. They lasted
until 1992 when the big comic bust was just beginning and then went the way of
many other companies.
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.
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