"A Drifting Life" by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
B Sellers
a lightly fictionalized memoir in manga format running
to 856 pages,8 3/4" x 6 1/2" and 2 inches thick,on good
paper with paper covers
"A Drifting Life" starts about 1948 with the
young protagonist obsessed with creating manga and in
the midst of his troubled family before chronicling
the narrators journey into the world of manga meeting along
the way all the great mangaka of the period, and ending with
the Seventh Anniversary Memorial of the death of Tezuka Osamu
and the pseudonymous author's musing over a cup of coffee.
Despite the length it was easily a one day,
one setting read. Watch him as a child meet Tezuka as
a University student and see how he helped support his
family by "Postcard" manga contests. Read about the
proto-otaku of the time. His initial success and
exploitation by the publishers of the time.
His drive to create a manga beyond manga which
he call "gekiga" or drama manga to distinguish it from
the children's manga and the 4 panel manga strips which
were the main forms.
Nearly 50 years of manga and mangaka history
in manga. And if it is not precisely gekiga it will
do as well.
This is published by Drawn & Quarterly and I
found this copy at the local Borders for $29.95 when
I happened to have a 30% discount coupon and some
spare change courtesy of a friend.
Get it if you can!
later