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imomus
I'm not by any means a manga fan. I'm basically much more interested in drawing than plot, and I find most manga visually bad, flat and boring. But I do go to Japanese cafes and flip through the printed stuff I find lying around, and in this way I've come across one manga artist I do find visually very striking: Taiyo Matsumoto. His drawing is energetic, stylish, imaginative, grotesque, otherworldly. I don't know what these books are about, but every panel is startling. You turn the page with your eyes and imagination hungry for more. Matsumoto is clearly a really talented artist. (He's also scripted films, but I hear they're not so good.) I'll defer to someone who knows a lot more about his work -- and manga -- than I do. This is an extract from a review by Ben Wooller of one of Matsumoto's books, 'No. 5':
'Plot takes a backseat to the images and concepts that are littered in every panel, on every page... People who are familiar with Matsumoto's three volume series Black and White will be aware of the artist's love of thrusting the reader into a world that is at first glance alien and surreal, but utterly familiar... Characters in the book wear animal masks, or talk to disembodied heads. 20th Century pop culture references are splattered throughout, from Matroshka, the near-silent woman eating M&Ms, to a Michael Jackson coffee mug, all in between sudden bursts of the old ultraviolence. The world is, on the outside, an environmental utopia, everything fitting into the surroundings - even the Council's planes being shaped like wasps, right down the stripes on the thorax. The bizarre is the everyday in the world of No. 5.
'Matsumoto's art is reminiscent of Hugo Pratt, with a touch of Frank Miller circa RONIN. It's been noted that his art, like that of Paul Pope, crosses cultural lines, merging European comic and manga sensibilities, with a confidence not often seen in comics. His ideas and visuals convey this. Matsumoto himself has said, "American comics are powerful and cool. European comics seem very intellectual. And Japanese comics are very light-hearted. If you could combine the best of all three, you could create some really tremendous work. That's my goal."
You can watch a little TV commercial for Matsumoto's latest book, Gogo Monster, here.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 05:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 06:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 06:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 06:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 06:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 06:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 06:26 pm (UTC)and
http://www.politewinter.com/
It's assuming of me to think you'll like them, but I hope you do. You provide me with so much I love, I'd like to hink I can give something back.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 06:34 pm (UTC)Arzach
Date: 2004-09-22 06:36 pm (UTC)http://www.epsilones.com/imagenes/artesplasticas/moebius-tetra.jpg
http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/ftp/IMAGES/moebius/moebius-08.gif
http://members.optushome.com.au/jacoco/Resources/arzach.jpeg
http://www.bdselection.com/divers/pparzach1024.jpg
http://www.imakinarium.net/comic/ABC%20autores/M/Moebius/3X3/5.jpg
http://www.stardom.fr/
And haven't we seen the face of that Japanese boy with the fish somewhere before? I think in a Daily Photo or something...
manga women
Date: 2004-09-22 06:45 pm (UTC)Kusumoto Maki's
http://free4.ttcgi.com/kayne/ttboard/ttboard.cgi?act=list&bname=PIC
Tada Yumi's
http://www.shoujo-manga.net/gallery/tada/
Tono Saho's?
Re: manga women
Date: 2004-09-23 02:41 am (UTC)and while we're at it, here is a selection of my own:
home.wanadoo.nl/mietje
Re: manga women
Date: 2004-09-23 02:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 07:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 07:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-22 11:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-23 01:40 am (UTC)almost unknown outside of italy, his most ambitious work was 'pentothal': a series of tables without an explicit plot, but linked by carachters and the reflexive writing of the author. even if you decide to ignore the 'plot', the beauty of the drawings still gives you a great read.
some random images (but try and get yourself the books):
http://www.winnet.net/pazienza/pazimg/pazjpg/pag49.jpg
http://www.winnet.net/pazienza/pazimg/pazjpg/pag51.jpg
http://www.winnet.net/pazienza/pazimg/pazjpg/pag37.jpg
http://www.winnet.net/pazienza/pazimg/pazjpg/pag42.jpg
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-23 04:13 am (UTC)I can't say I've warmed to Manga either, but I suppose it's a matter of knowing the minutia between the artists styles - like the difference between Jack Kirby and Herb Trimpe, for instance.. I must admit that I preferred the old printing process of the silver age era - the flat colours, bold inking and chunky, dynamic angles. Funnily enough, I'm busy trying to create that at the moment with an album cover.
manga
Date: 2004-09-23 05:54 am (UTC)my own cartoon stuff here.. http://www.caperstreet.com
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-23 06:16 am (UTC)I love Taiyo Matsumoto's art, actually, I've been greatly influenced by his art, I'm a big fan of Moebius as well. Above are some excerpts from some of my own manga, graphic novel, or whatever we might call it.
martin!
Date: 2004-09-23 09:36 am (UTC)reminds me of matsumoto taiyo but
you definately have your taste.
Re: martin!
Date: 2004-09-23 09:54 am (UTC)I am actually looking for a publishing company!
I am also doing an english version of this(I first did it in french) and there are plans to have it translated in japanese as well.
Re: martin!
Date: 2004-09-23 02:18 pm (UTC)Re: martin!
Date: 2004-09-23 04:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-23 09:48 am (UTC)i don't read much mangas but he's my favorite.
and i respect him.
especially i love "Tekkon-Kinkurito" and "ping-pong".
I haven't tried his recent works.
I finally saw the movie "ping-pong"
i was kinda avoiding i don't want to ruin my imagination.
but it was okay.
Matsumoto Taiyo has his own style and the characters are interesting.
i love the way story goes and the words. and of course his
drawings.
I don't know much about anything but i know what i like. :-D
music movies books ... :-) life is pretty.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-23 10:09 am (UTC)exacting perplexity
Date: 2004-09-23 07:42 pm (UTC)i've realized that your life is far too action-packed for my dramatic forays into antagonism to have any effect on you or any songs you may write in the future.
i was hoping to provoke you into writing a song about the certain kind of person i was pretending to be but your henchman's estimation of my journal as being "suffused with dullness" was sufficient to quell my neophilic spirit.
also, if you're superstitious, you may find it of note that i have been calumnized myself, by one i used to consider a friend!
read about her brutal dismissal of my character at http://www.livejournal.com/~purple_toast/106964.html.
my pitiful attempt to storm the gates of your accomplished personality has left me thwarted.
anyways, i hope i had a tiny effect on your life, because that would interest me.
-tomas
p.s. reply if you must.
Re: exacting perplexity
Date: 2004-09-23 08:08 pm (UTC)Fluffy, my noble feline, is no more.
She was trampled by a fucking garish car
Today.
Fluff was one of those easy grinning
Eggshell white kittens
All gentle paws and suckling cat tongue.
I found her almost fresh born, lying on her back
Mewling, in a spotlight of tropical moon.
We raised her on towels and she continued to derive great bliss
From suckling on anything fabricated.
A jolly buddha cat.
No pretentious poses or haughty disdain.
A tumbler, a neck snuggler, romping.
I must seek out the fabled and infamous Necronomicon
Written by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred
In the hope of discovering the singular ritual
That must be performed to revive
Lifeforms of the feline variety.
(I've edited it a bit, hope you don't mind.)