Horror from the East: The H.P. Lovecraft manga of Gou Tanabe

H.P. Lovecraft manga of Gou TanabeHorror author H.P. Lovecraft never wrote with an Asian audience in mind. He identified as an Easterner, having spent most of his life in New England, but of the Far East he knew nothing. He never traveled abroad. In fact, the farthest he ever ventured from his beloved Providence was to New York, an experience that later led him to describe Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood as “a maze of hybrid squalor.”

About that word, “hybrid.” Lovecraft wasn’t one for mixing with foreigners. While the degree to which he was an overt racist is sometimes overstated, his xenophobia and his mistrust of unfamiliar cultures were real. In fact, they underlie many of his most memorable stories.

Given all of this, it may be surprising to learn that, in my opinion, some of the best recent comics adaptations of Lovecraft’s weird fiction have come from the pen of Japanese manga artist Gou Tanabe. » More... »

It ain’t easy being a successful manga creator

I was fascinated by the sections of Frederik L. Schodt’s Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics describing the breakneck, seemingly even harrowing nature of the Japanese manga business, and I wanted to learn more. I found what I was looking for in another book: Manga in Theory and Practice, by Hirohiko Araki.

This slim volume from Shonen Jump was first published in English by Viz Media in 2017 – meaning some 20 years had passed since the revised edition of Schodt’s book. Still, not much seems to have changed in terms of how manga are produced. » More... »

Frederik L. Schodt wants to introduce you to manga

I almost didn’t read Frederik L. Schodt’s Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. I’ve been reading a lot of manga lately, so a history of the subject sounded appealing. Had it not been for the Covid-19 pandemic, however, it might have been a near miss.

You see, I’d checked the book out of the public library, but the dense text and its textbook-like format, with its multiple sidebars and explanatory notes, put me off. As its due date approached, I still hadn’t read more than a few pages and I was about to return it. That’s when San Francisco issued its “stay at home” order for the pandemic and the entire library system shut down, book deposit boxes and all. As a result, Schodt’s book was mine for the duration, so I decided to put on my thinking cap and give it a whirl.

I’m glad I did. Manga! Manga! has maintained its reputation as the definitive English-language work on the subject, and despite being somewhat dated – it was the first such work ever written – it deserves its accolades. » More... »

Frank Miller, you’re no Will Eisner (and other thoughts on the comics biz)

I’ve had a little-worn copy of Eisner/Miller on my shelf for years. Published in 2005 by Dark Horse Comics, and to my knowledge never reprinted, it offers a dialogue between two respected cartoonists in the mold of François Truffaut’s celebrated conversations with Alfred Hitchcock. In this case, the pairing is of Will Eisner (best known for The Spirit) and Frank Miller (of Dark Knight Returns and Sin City fame).

I’d only read the book once since I bought it, 15 years ago. Considering later developments in both men’s lives, and in the American comic book business in general, I thought it deserved a second look. » More... »

Edward Snowden talks state secrets in a book that’s short on surprises

Edward SnowdenI don’t read a lot of memoirs. None, really. I can get behind a good biography, and maybe even an autobiography, sometimes. But the idea of slogging through a few hundred pages of the self-important reminisces of someone gazing through the lens of their own nostalgia appeals to me about as much as being FedExed the plates from whatever they ate for dinner last night. But when I heard famous NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden had published such a book, my curiosity got the better of me and I picked up a copy. For the most part, it was worth it. » More... »

The bonkers chaos of Go Nagai’s ‘Devilman’

Manga and AnimeWhen Netflix released Devilman Crybaby last year, I enjoyed the anime, but it made me realize that although I was cursorily familiar with the character, I had never really gone back and read Go Nagai’s original manga from the early 1970s. When I found out that Seven Seas Entertainment had released Devilman: The Classic Collection in two volumes the same year, I decided to check it out. And what a ride it is. » More... »

LibraryLookup updated to version 0.3.2

Icon of a stack of booksI’m not sure when my LibraryLookup extension for Chrome browsers stopped working, but when I noticed it wasn’t, I took some time out to knock it back into shape. For those not familiar with the extension, it watches when you’re browsing Amazon and when it sees you looking at a book or other item that’s available from the San Francisco Public Library, it inserts a link into the Amazon page where you can find a copy or request one be shipped to your local branch. Chrome users can install it here. » More... »

Fake books!

E-ReaderAll right, I’ll say it. E-readers are the best. I actually prefer to read books on an electronic device now than to have to carry around big slabs of dead trees. What’s more, if I hear one more person say, “But I like the feel and the smell of the paper,” I’ll scream. There are two distinct types of people in the world. Some of them think women’s panties are for wearing, and the others … catch my drift? But to me, the advantages of an e-reader far outweigh any nostalgic notions of paper books (except, perhaps, longevity).
I’d been in the mood for reading some new books, so I did a little research and I found about four that I’d be interested in reading. I wasn’t so sold that I wanted to shell out money for them, though. So you know what? I checked them out from the library. Yes, on the e-reader. That’s a thing. Now I walk around with all four of them in my jacket pocket. When I finish one I can pick up the next one, just like that. I can read them in the dark, no flashlight necessary. And to repeat, I did not steal them, I checked them out from my local library and thus supported the authors.

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A writer’s bookshelf

TypewriterFor as long as I’ve been a professional writer (almost 20 years now), and with all the writers I’ve known and spoken with, one thing that surprises me is that I don’t recall ever having a conversation with another writer about writing. I mean the writing itself.

Any time you do something creative, be it writing or painting or poetry or comedy or whatever you do, you always get someone who will say, “I wish I could do XYZ like you do.” Well guess what? Nobody was born with it. Nobody.

Me? I believe I am quite good at what I do, but nothing comes for free. I think I am different from many of the writers that I’ve met, in that I consciously work at self-development all the time. Writing can be an art, but it is also a craft, like carpentry or ship building. When you’re doing business writing, it’s almost all craft. This means you can consciously choose to get better at it, through practice and study. » More... »