Let me preface this by saying that comments and criticisms about my review are more than welcome. I'm new to this, so anything you guys have to say is great. My review is styled after the ANN reviews. I may decide to restyle them later, but for now, this is the format I am using. So, here it is. Enjoy.
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Review of Yoshihiro Tatsumi's Push Man and Other Stories and Abandon the Old in Tokyo
Published by Drawn and Quarterly
June 25, 2008
I know, great title. I'm popping my review virginity here, be gentle with me. On with the review…
In order to understand the importance of the volumes at hand, it is imperative to understand the notions behind the works. Tatsumi began working as a manga-ka (manga artist, for all you non-otaku) in the late 50s and 60s, at a time when Japan was still recovering from war. It was a very dark and bleak time for the Japanese, and Tatsumi's work reflects Japan as such. To separate his work from the mainstream of the time, Tatsumi called his works "gekiga" as opposed to manga. Manga literally translates as "whimsical pictures." In stark contrast, gekiga literally means "realistic pictures". And that's what Tatsumi's works are: a realistic and gritty portrayal of the era.
The first thing of note is the elegant binding of each volume. The beautiful hard-covered, cloth-textured exterior make them look like they belong in a library or old bookstore. The exterior reflects the effort that went into the interior as well. Open the cover to find end pages featuring blown-up panels taken from the stories themselves. And the front and back end pages aren't even the same! That's huge! I mean, most manga don't even have end pages, but they went as far as to blow up two whole separate images! Go D&Q (that would be publisher Drawn and Quarterly)! Ahem. Then of course are the wonderful introductions and interviews with Tatsumi himself found in both volumes. Adrian Tomine, Japanese-American comic author of Optic Nerve, writes the introduction for Push Man, as well as conducting the interviews. Not to mention the fact that he's the editor. Koji Suzuki, original author of The Ring, introduces Abandon the Old. Big names can only mean big works contained within. And I'll admit, my hopes were high when I cracked open the spines of these tomes. I had heard only wonderful things from people whose opinions I respect. And after I shelled out the $19.95 (Ok, that's a lie, I totally got them at B&N when we had a super-mega-employee sale) for each one, I was expecting my brains to be blown out by the awesome. In retrospect, with the great translation, the awesome intros and interviews, and the beautiful covers, even paying full price for these babies is one hell of a deal. AND. As Tomine said in the introduction for Push Man, the author himself, cut and pasted every panel of his work so that the artwork wouldn't have to undergo the dreadful "flopping" that many translated works have had to endure in order to be more widely read by Western audiences. All that work for a measly $19.95, and this is just scratching the surface.
Push Man is a collection of Yoshihiro Tatsumi's works from the year 1969, Abandon the Old from 1970. The art reflects the early style of the manga of the time, simple lines, no screen tone, cross-hatched shading, very minimalist style. But even if you compare the art style to say Osamu Tezuka's work of the time, there's something very different. It's a grittier version of Tezuka's Disney-inspired strokes. Darker, more realistic, while still maintaining that sequential art feel. The stories look and flow like a Noir film, but less dramatic. There's none of the fancy lighting, just the straight story. Each short story, about 8 pages in length (longer in the second volume), seems ripped directly from the headlines. Many of his stories even end with a panel showing a headline of the events that took place, rather than the events themselves. He shows the motivation behind the headlines, the true story that you don't get to read. His stories all follow a different nameless man, usually also voiceless, who just goes about his everyday life. Tatsumi lets the action do the talking, typically at said nameless man's breaking point. For example, Push Man opens with a story called Piranha, about a factory worker who intentionally gets his arm cut off in a machine to collect on the insurance money so his wife can open her own bar. When he discovers that she is cheating on him, he puts her arm in a tank of piranhas. How's that for an opener? That's just the beginning. Murder, sex, lust, illegal abortion, every theme you never thought could be in your standard sequential art is found here. Abandon the Old's title story is about just that, abandoning the elderly. The male lead intentionally lets his ill mother die in his apartment while he goes off gallivanting with a woman. The stories are harsh and crude: a man gets off on naked drawings in a public toilet, a sewer-worker disposes of his girlfriend's aborted fetus in the sewer, a broken business man turns to a dog for love. Yet, even though the stories are incredibly short, there is an immense amount of depth. Tatsumi makes his stories ask all the right questions. How much are we really different from animals? How does one define themselves in a city filled with "individuals"? How can one avoid getting lost in the shuffle? Who are you really? But most importantly, why do we do the things we do?
The only major drawback that I found is the artwork. It is a very traditional, intentionally minimalist style, but there are times when I couldn't tell person from person, even within the same story. There are also definitely some stories that feature the same looking main character. This was actually brought up in the interview in Abandon the Old, and it is intentional. They are not the same character, but they represent the everyman of Japanese society, and Tastumi's disgust with discrimination and inequality. So, even thought the art is at times a bit sloppy, there are still moments of pure awe as scenes from everyday life backdrop the harsh reality of life itself.
Overall: A-
Story: A-
Art: B-
+ : Unique. A must for the foundation of gekiga and fans of alternative comics. If you like it when manga or comics make you think, look no further.
- : May be too graphic for some readers. Some of the scenes are really shocking and disturbing, like the dog sex.
i do love tatsumi.
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