Word: manga
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...having anything to do with what I had already climbed on my isolated tower to try to make, which was a long comic book that would need a bookmark." In the past 25 years the meaning of the phrase has only gotten hazier and less satisfying. Japanese manga, superhero collections, non-fiction, autobiography - all of these are "graphic novels," a term that now applies to any square-bound book with a story told in comics format. "The problem with the word 'graphic novel' is that it is an arguably misguided bid for respectability where graphics are respectable and novels...
...real bottom line - dollars and cents. Most big bookstores, like Barnes & Noble and Borders, put all the graphic novels together in one place. Trade bookstores have become an increasingly important outlet for comic publishers so the strategy for selling them on the floor has become critical. Should Superman, manga and "Maus," sit side by side? Chip Kidd, among many others, can't stand this. "I truly believe that Spiegelman's 'Maus' should be shelved next to Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi, not next to the X-Men. Maus is a Holocaust memoir first and a comicbook second." Micha Hershman...
Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989), a former M.D., more or less invented Japanese comics - AKA manga - during the 1950s. Part D.W. Griffith and part Walt Disney, he is revered in Japan and throughout Asia but only recently has his work been appearing in quantity in the United States. His most famous creation, "Astro Boy," a series about a powerful robot who looks like a boy, has been reprinted by Dark Horse (see the TIME.comix review.) "The Phoenix Saga," a multi-volume series considered his life's work has properly begun to appear here courtesy of Viz. Now Vertical...
...irreverent "Buddha" can best be described as playfully serious. (Tezuka takes the Middle Path!) Much of this comes from a uniquely Tezuka form of comix making. The characters have a simplified, "cute" design but inhabit a highly detailed, realistic environment - a style that became the foundation of the manga look. Recalling traditional Japanese landscapes, with careful pen and ink craftsmanship Tezuka depicts mountain vistas and waterfalls. In one remarkable scene a swarm of locusts fills an entire two-page spread...
...Master—who is loose in cyberspace. The “ghost” is pursued through a futuristic metropolis by the cyborg cops of Section 9. Meanwhile, Major Motoko Kusanagi searches for her own humanity within her robotic body. Based on Masamune Shirow’s original manga, the anime is a must-see for Matrix fans—it served as direct inspiration for the Wachowski brothers. Ghost in the Shell screens Tuesday, August...