Manga

60 Years of Japanese Comics

by Paul Gravett

Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics

Japan’s output of manga is massive, accounting for a staggering forty percent of everything published each year in the country.Outside Japan, there has been a global boom in sales, with the manga aesthetic spreading from comics into all areas of Western youth culture through film, computer games, advertising, and design.

Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics presents an accessible, entertaining, and highly-illustrated introduction to the development and diversity of Japanese comics from 1945 to the present. Featuring striking graphics and extracts from a wide range of manga, the book covers such themes as the specific attributes of manga in contrast to American and European comics; the life and career of Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy and originator of story manga; boys’ comics from the 1960s to the present; the genres and genders of girls’ and women’s comics; the darker, more realistic themes of gekiga — violent samurai, disturbing horror and apocalyptic science fiction; issues of censorship and protest; and manga’s role as a major Japanese export and global influence.

This history of manga, focusing on key events and authors, including Tezuka. Good timelines of different trends and genres, and major dates. The section on Tezuka is only a few pages, but it places him well in the general history, and treats more recent trends as well.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ENTRY:

Gravett, Paul. 2004. Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics. New York: Collins Design.