patokon blog

Mangaverse 7.1 Leiji Matsumoto tribute

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 18:13:00 +0000

Here is the link for the latest Mangaverse zine, a tribute to Leiji Matsumoto who passed away this year:
LINK

I'm posting it here for the time being until it can be put up on the N3F website where all the other ishes are here.

The cover

One of favorite things I did for this ish

Please check it out and tell me what you think!

On twitter @patokon

or email (patokon(dot)com(at)gmail(dot)com

CHEERS!

Comic - Rick Jones and Hulk

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 00:58:00 +0000

It’s not easy being sidekick to the stars

This is why there aren’t any peach-colored costumes for white superheroes.

Starry-eyed heroes of Akira 'Leiji' Matsumoto

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 13:17:00 +0000

Hello, friends and manga-philes.

You probably know that my interest in Japan was originally fueled by a combined interest in Japanese animation and martial arts. My interests expanded somewhat over the years, but one big change happened about the age of 15 when I bought my first Japanese collected comic. From that moment on, I became more interested in comics than animation and eventually after moving to Japan, I started to collect the comics of Mr. Leiji Matsumoto.

At first, I was put off by the heavy-lined art and blocky characters, but the more I got into the stories, the less I cared about the style. Eventually, though, I started to appreciate the artistry much in the same way it took me a while to warm to Jack Kirby's art.

Like most Leiji fans, I was heavy into Space Cruiser Yamato, Captain Harlock, Queen Emeraldas, and finally, Galaxy Express 999. These comics were created in the 70's and are representative of Matsumoto's style of that time. After moving to Japan, I came across Submarine Super 99 at a used book store near Hiyoshi station in Kanagawa. Looking at these two covers, one can see Matsumoto's 60's era big-ol' eyes style starting to merge into his 70's style. This series first started being serialized in the pages of Bouken Ou (Adventure King) magazine and contains many hallmarks of Matsumoto's most popular works. Steely-eyed boy (named Susumu) saving the world or universe (check), vehicle theme (check), Nazi stand-ins (check), and anti-warmonger message complete with the mixed message of 'aren't these weapons of destruction super cool' (check). My mistaken assumption was that Super 99 was Matsumoto's debut and all the rest went directly from there. How foolish I was.

Submarine Super 99
amazon.co.jp

I eventually learned that the highly-prolific Matsumoto had been creating comics since he was about 9 and was getting published at 11(!!) in a kids newspaper and at 16 (!!!) in a full-on pro magazine (Manga Shounen). I also learned that he originally worked under his actual name Akira Matsumoto until 1968 and started using Leiji from 1965. And that he worked in both boys and girls magazinesfor years while also working at magazines for older readers.

This post is just gonna touch on some earlier works such as Gin no Tani no Maria (Maria of the Silver Valley, 1958, Shojo Club).

Maria of the Silver Valley
amazon.co.jp

Interior art

Here we can see the star-eyed motif of early Akira Matsumoto. This art is from the digital preview on Japanese amazon and his name has been updated. I don't own this one, so don't press me on the details. What I do own is this amazing replica reprint edition of Aoi Hanabira (Blue Petals, published in 1958 but containing works from 1957). It comes with a reversible cover to replicate the first printing. The Tezuka-influence is very strong in this one.

Blue Petals (as Leiji Matsumoto)
available here

Replica Cover (as Akira Matsumoto)

Interior splash with the Tezuka's Mushi Pro logo.

Contents stating that here are three stories of three girls facing some sad and scary situations.

adorable frontispiece

Creepy antagonist makes an appearance.

I'm not going chronological or anything, so here's a collection of ninja tales by 10 manga masters of which one happens to be Akira Matsumoto. This was printed first in 1966 and includes such big names as Sampei Shirato, Shoutarou Ishinomori, Jirou Kuwata, Taku Horie (who I've mentioned before), Fujio A Fujiko, and Mitsuteru Yokoyama. Big, big names.

Ninpou Juuban Shoubu (10 Ninja Battles, 1966)
get here

Here's a different kind of starry-eye. A star, in the eye! Yuk-yuk.

Now comes the good stuff. My good friend and collector of first editions, Mr. Fujita has graciously lent me two Matsumoto items from his fantastic collection. Both are furoku (extra comic that comes with a comic magazine). They tend to be smaller than collected manga books, but are sometimes 224-pagers!

The first one is Denkou Ozuma (Lightning Ozma, 1961) from Bokura Magazine (Koudansha). Here we see the starry-eyed kid (Susumu, again) going up against a mysterious evil organization (the Nova Empire).

You can virtually feel the anti-war message oozing from the cover.

Just in case you thought it wasn't anti-war enough, here are two guys who really hate war.

Close up on some starry eyes.
A motif that freaked me out when I first saw it in the pages of Urusei Yatsura.

A cool skull-faced bad guy. Our hero is in trouble.

Finally we meet the big bad baddy, Ganmos, leader of the Nova Empire.

You can get the physical or digital version of this. Or the 'I'll just make it up all in my head' version.

Finally we have, Aoi Me no Marii (Blue-eyed Marie, 1958) from Shojo, a girl's comic magazine. This furoku is a thick comic of 224 pages with three stories including one by Akira Matsumoto. I thought it was one of Matsumoto's cute animal comics (of which he's done several), but written above the title it says kowai manga which means scary comic. The cover tho, not so much. Yes, good ol' Akira has put another young girl in distress. This time the heroine of our story is Mayuko who lives in America and has only one friend, Kenichi. Yep, it seems she can't make any local friends so she has to import one. Oh, but she does have one blue-eyed friend. Marie, her French doll who causes all kinds of mysterious things to happen.

BTW, this is one of those rare stories that Matsumoto only does the art for. The story is by Toshio Shimamori who is known for writing travelogues and sexy books like The Wet Pillow (1968) or The Women's Hell Prison Gate Record (1980).

Not that scary. Actually... come to think of it, that chihuahua's eyes are boring deeply into my soul.

Poor Mayuko's evil hell-doll has been stolen by a strange man in a black beret who followed her and her father from Kyushu back to America. Then steals Marie and takes off. Maybe that's a good thing?

This took a while to put together so my next post might be shorter. I have more examples from the wonderful Fujita Collection that I'll be sharing soon, but I think I have some other things I want to put up on here first. Like maybe about the time I met Leiji Matsumoto himself.

See ya in the funny papers!

Ninjas vs Cowboys, Top 10 Cowboy Manga

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 23:45:00 +0000

I talk about US ninja comics and Japanese cowboy comics on Tim Young's Deconstructing Comics.
Listen to it here!

I based on the lecture I gave last year at the Koshi Manga Museum.

First slide from my Ninjas vs Cowboys presentation.

Here are my Top 10 Cowboy Manga:

10. Bullet Tommy 『弾丸トミー』by Shige SUGIURA
This is a classic, one of the earliest comics. It's a "gag manga" for kids and so pokes fun at the various Western movie tropes. The art resembles Shoney's Big Boy, doesn't it?

9. The Cactus Kid 『サボテン君』by Osamu TEZUKA
This is one of Tezuka's early Western manga when he had only seen a few westerns at the time. I like the idea of a guy who wants to turn his parents' saloon into a milk bar.

8. The Belle Starr Gang 『ベル☆スタア強盗団』by Akihiro ITO
Ito is known for his Geobreeders saga, but this is his take on the real-life outlaw Belle Starr and her gang. I like the art and the attempt to incorporate real-life events into the comic.

7. Isamu of the Wastelands 『荒野の少年イサム』by Noboru KAWASAKI
A popular manga in Shonen Jump in the early 70s that was adapted into an anime that Hayao Miyazaki worked on in some capacity. Isamu is a dramatic story that tackles issues such as racism. KAWASAKI is best known for his baseball manga, Star of the Giants.

6. FLASH 『FLASH』by Masashi TANAKA
In the 90s, GON was one of the first manga hits for Dark Horse. It had no dialog so there was little need for translation as it was about a small dinosaur and his adventures. Before this all-ages hit, TANAKA drew sexy adventure comics. The best one was FLASH (which I talk about here) which was a Q. Tarantino/R. Rodriguez-esque western exploitation fantasy with lots of sex and violence. The main character gets shot up to pieces, but the more sex he has, the faster he heals.

5. Gun Frontier 『ガン・フロンティア』by Leiji MATSUMOTO
This manga has the earliest meeting of Matsumoto's best buds, Tochiro and Harlock. It's a buddy comedy but also an exploitation fantasy. Matsumoto says his favorite western is the movie Johnny Guitar with Joan Crawford who had bought the rights to the book. I'm guessing that he saw this movie AFTER he wrote Gun Frontier because the women in this comics are barely empowered and mostly subject to the whims of the men. His later character Pirate Queen Emeraldas is a lot more like Crawford's Vienna - a real cool character who unapologetically makes her own way in the world.

4. Captain Ken 『キャプテンKen』by Osamu TEZUKA
This is my favorite Tezuka comic. Of course it is! It is a sci-fi western (see my favorite such genre crossovers in my Top 10 Sci-fi Westerns part 1 and 2)! It's very anti-corporate and pro-indigenous peoples. It's got rockets, robot horses, and a twist at the end that has me in tears every time. The Martians are like Native Americans and the invading Earth force is like a huge conglomerate willing to wipe out or exploit whomever they can for their own profit. Who can save the day, but the Japanese cowboy with the super-robot horse, Captain Ken! This is a character that I'd been wanting to read since I first saw art for the covers in a Tezuka book owned by my good pal, Jim Reddy.

3. Black Bull the Ninja Cowboy 『黒い野牛』by Taku HORIE
The comic that inspired me to tackle this topic. It's about a Koga ninja who travels to the wild west and takes on an evil U.S. Army commander who is actually an Iga ninja and who has trained his men in the ninja arts. I found this reprint collection in the Shibuya Mandarake by pure accident - the kind of accident I live for. Pure crazy adventure gold.

2. Gunfighter, The One-Eyed Hyena 『片目のハイエナガンファイター』by Baron YOSHIMOTO

This is a gekiga comic for adults that takes western tropes seriously. The story follows Rocky, a one-eyed, gimpy-legged bounty hunter that shoots to disarm or wound, but rarely to kill unless provoked. He prefers to take home his quarry alive. He's a great shot, but he has his limits as we learn in the first chapter where he takes out the gang that's in his way, but loses his quarry as he can't run after him. The art style is very European. Very BD. Similar to Moebius without the same texture mastery but still very nice distinctive work. Creative use of contrast and layout make this comic very readable. Yoshimoto's exhibition is at the Yayoi Museum in Ueno until the end of March. Wish I could go.

1. Kim, the Boy Grim Reaper 『死神小僧キム』by Sampei SHIRATO
Shirato is known for The Legend of Kamui, which is a saga stretching over decades and dozens of books and has been adapted into anime and live-action. It is also the very first Japanese manga I owned. He is also known for his love of animals, his detailed scenes of nature, and his interest in class struggle. Kim is grim and oh, so good. Stone-hearted black hat killers and ravenous wild dogs flee in fear from the boy known as Kim. He's such a badass that tornadoes just appear and destroy the towns he walks through. He crawls from out of the wreckage and moves on. This comic needs its own post, so I'll come back to Kim again in the future.

Cheers and see you in the funny papers.
-PIW

Phenomena - Dario Argento, Jennifer Connelly, and Donald Pleasance

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:53:00 +0000

And don’t forget the chimp, the gimp, and the swarms of six-legged creatures.
Jennifer Connelly stars as Jennifer, an American at a creepy European boarding school (see Suspiria).
She’s pretty and rich, but lonely. Her parents have abandoned her and she’s WAY too friendly with bugs. What’s a girl to do? Why become friends with a slightly creepy entomologist dude, that’s what.
I’m sure she only had an eye for his bags and for his cute assistant, a chimpanzee. Something that is now a thing, I’m sure.
Like many Argento flicks, there are decapitations and attempted decapitations. Also lots of blood and broken glass. And mirrors. And useless cops. An excellent follow-up to Suspiria which I’d like to talk about in the future.

DOGVILLE - a comment

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 16:13:00 +0000

This film happened to express some recent thoughts I’ve been having regarding sin and the nature of forgiveness as well as regarding the possibility of an idyllic small town life. The smaller the number of variables, the more chance of effecting a utopian ideal you might think. The same weaknesses exist everywhere and in all of us. I don’t make Grace’s mistakes as much anymore. I’m not out to change the world or martyr myself for the greater good. I just do what I can with what I have and try not to be a rat’s ass (see quote from last post).

The way the movie is filmed is fascinating. Even though it’s stafe-like, you’d still have to shoot it on film for it to work. Brilliant. Dogville is like America seen through the eyes of the brilliant Shirley Jackson.

Anyway, the format of my commentaries is still in flux. I hope it’s not too incoherent.

FLESH + BLOOD mini-review (Rutger Hauer, Verhoeven)

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 11:26:00 +0000

I'm trying out a new format for talking about movies.

It's a work in progress. I actually want to do more illustration and the sketch of Jennifer Jason Leigh doesn't do her any justice. Once I turned on this movie, I wanted to look into Susan Tyrrell as she always plays highly-interesting broken characters. I plan to rewatch her in Angel (1984) sometime soon.
She has a great quote on IMDB:

I'm a loner. I don't like beautiful people, but I find beauty in the grotesque. And in the sweet soul inside someone who has been able to get through their life without being a rat's ass.

I love all the connections that I listed up here. Hauer is one of my absolute favorite actors and I can't believe I waited so long to see him in this. Or maybe I saw the casting and ran far away, cuz this is some bizarre casting!

Verhoeven is a very interesting director as in he's not afraid to do things differently. He apparently experimented while making this film and wasn't happy with the results. There are all kinds of crazy scenes like a love scene taking place right under a hung corpse with mutilated genitals(!!!). Yeah, THAT really puts me in the mood...

Manga treasures - super rare KoroKoro comic reprint

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 00:37:00 +0000

My good friend Mr. Fujita passed on one of his treasures to my mentor Mr. Hashimoto BUT FIRST he allowed me to share some photos and a quick flip through with you, loyal readers.

In this box is a tiny reprint (a minibon) of the first issue of weekly anthology magazine CoroCoro comics (5/15/1975, featuring Doraemon) which was given away to only the people who attended the editor’s end of year party in what I assume was 2005 as it says 30th anniversary on the box and inside.

I love the mini-bon format and I was sorely tempted to buy the set of Tezuka mini-bon that were sold once. But they’re not the best for research or for reading when your eyesight starts to go like mine has. In the poorly filmed flip-through below, you can see some early Doraemon, a few other series, and some color inserts related to Sadaharu Oh, a Japanese-born Chinese baseball legend who played on the Yomiuri Giants team and holds the world lifetime home run record of 868 home runs.

A bit of trivia about Diraemon. His measurements are:
Weight: 100 kg
Height: 100 cm
Bust:100 cm
Waist: 100 cm
Hips: 100 cm

This is what I tell people my measurements are when they ask. And they never, ever ask.

Next time: more rare comics.

Chūbu Printing akahon "Carefree Journey"

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 00:39:00 +0000

Welcome back to my blog!

Chances are it’s only your first or second time to visit and how could I blame you? This blog has been all over the place since I first started it way back when.

I use it to talk about my art, my writing, my charity work, and my adventures in and around Japan. Since right around the time of the Kumamoto Earthquake, I’ve been introduced to a whole new world - the world of comics scholarship.

I gave my first lecture in May 2016, which was on horror comics history, at Kumamoto University. It went over well and once the Kōshi Manga Museum was opened in 2017, I gave a shorter version of the same lecture combined with a fun workshop there. Based on that I was invited to give a series of 6 monthly lectures at the museum starting in Spring of 2018.

I continue to find comics history and scholarship fascinating and so, for the time being, you can expect more posts on comics.

Akahon comic Carefree Journey

Without further ado, Here’s a rare manga (likely can be considered akahon* based on the young target reader) lent to me by the vintage collecter Mr. Fujita who lives one town over. This book is a great example of the level of 'underground' that comics could be in the fifties in Japan. Yes, there were tons of fly-by-night publishers in the forties and early fifties in the US that were trying to get in on the comic book craze and this is a similar development. The factors that effect comics are basically same - talent pool, printers (technology), and distributors and the differences in these are likely what affected the differences in US and Japanese comics developments. Other factors include paper availability and censorship.

Basically, what I want to say is that I couldn't find much about the publisher and even less (meaning nada) about the creator or characters except what was written in the comic itself.

*check out my previous post on another probable akahon.

I love the 1950's Japanese synthesis of early 30's animation styles apparent in this cover. Trying to track down the influences led me down a huge rabbit hole which I will hopefully put down in the next post or so! The colors are really nice and the character design is solid. Of course, the interiors are much rougher.

It's a thin cardboard cover with the supratitle saying 大笑編漫画 which I will translate to Big Laughs Collection Manga. The author is listed as NAKAHARA Haruo (中原晴夫) who doesn't come up in any manga-related searches. It's possible that this a pen name (or an alias, hehehe), but who knows. Just because I can't find it online, doesn't mean he didn't do more work. As I increase my access to more vintage manga collections, I might come across his name again, but until then...

Mystery #1! Who is this Nakahara guy?

The back cover is a very tasteful rendering of a crow taking a mid-flight dump on this poor fool's head. The back cover lists the price, 80 yen (a common price for akahon of this size, 100 pg B6), the publisher in charge, MATSUKAWA Hiroshi, and the publishing company, Chūbu Printing (中部出版社). Chūbu means the center area of Japan and usually means Nagoya, the 4th biggest city of Japan.

According to Kanke Shobō, a rare and out of print comics shop in used book mecca Jimbōcho (Kanda, Tokyo), the publish date for “Nombiri Dōchū” (のんびり道中) which can be translated as “Carefree Journey” is unknown. I searched for the publisher and found a few items including mention of reprints of popular manga material such as “Pete's Castaway Adventure” (ピート君漂流記) which is a reprinting of Shintakarajima by TEZUKA Osamu. The publisher in charge is listed as MATSUKAWA Hiroshi again, but the kanji of the given name is different (松川宏)!! Also, according to this listing on Mandarake's auction site, the address of the company has also changed slightly.

Mystery #2! Who is Matsukawa and why the name change?

Rare manga researcher NANBU Kan'ei @kan_ei_sen in a tweet about another book by Chubu, mentions that they probably published works without permission. That statement holds up based on what little we've discovered so far, eh manga travellers?

Mystery #3! What's the deal with this publisher?

Okay, let's take a look inside. First of all, some neat endpapers which combine two favorite themes of mine: rockets and cowboys. There are a lot more connections between the two than you might think (but not as many as Cowboys and Ninjas!! More on that in the future.) [BTW: See Kerrigan's Tezuka in English blog post on Captain Ken for my all-time-favorite TEZUKA Osamu comic which features both rockets and cowboys.]

Here's the title page showing our hero (whose name is either Sasabei or Sasanosuke, could be both?) taking on an ogre-like samurai (or samurai-like ogre) by cutting his club to pieces.

The first chapter has Sasabei putting on a one-eyed mask to help catch the shapechanging fox which has been plaguing the villagers with his mischief. What is very strange to me is that the book reads from left to right as manga should, but the panels themselves read right to left with people on the left answering questions posed on the right.

Mystery #4! What's with the backwards dialog order?

The last page of the Sasabei story has him giving advice to young readers saying「失敗は成功のもと」(mistakes are the foundation of success). Can't argue with that. Not a-tall.

The second half of the book starts here with a story about Chakkiri Danbei by someone named FUJIKEN(?) Hakujin(?). The third character from the left is a character which I've seen before (in some name listed in MATSUMOTO Reiji's comic history encyclopedia) but can't find the reading of. The next time I'm with a Japanese language expert, I'll ask about both this and the character that looks like jin or hito (person) but has two extra strokes attached. No one I've asked so far seems to know what this is either, but my brain is telling me that I've seen it before somewhere. If it is just another weird way to write 'person' than we still have a creator whose name is White-Guy.

Mystery #5! What are these crazy kanji?

Chakkiri is either a kind of funnel or slang from Shizuoka prefecture found in a popular song from the 1920's. I'm really not sure how either relates to this happy-go-lucky fellow.

Mystery #6! What is chakkiri?

Danbei is a poor kid from the country who gleefully announces on the first page that his father has passed away leaving him and his poor old mom to fend for themselves. Look at his happy exposition face! Something tells me daddy was a good-for-nothing. Anyhoo... Danbei's dream is to become an ōzeki, a high-ranked sumo wrestler that is just below the highest rank yokozuna (grand champion), and then have the means to take care of his mom.

He certainly has the belly for it. And he has a big tummy, but not as big as his opponent who is threatening to knock him out of the ring. One thing that struck me about this page is the anachronic use of "OK" in the top panel. Seeing that there is a daimyo lord that is offering Danbei a huge reward if he wins the bout, it can't be the modern era and so "ok" wouldn't make much sense, but it's true that manga pioneer Tezuka himself would constantly mix in anachronisms in his comics for comedic effect. The round things Danbei is wearing around his waist are weights which is what keeps him from being knocked out of the ring by his larger opponent. I'm pretty sure that's cheating, but it's a Looney Tunes sort of cheating and I'm sure we're supposed to cheer on or laugh at Danbei's cleverness.

Here, he flings off the weights and the unburdened Danbei easily flips his opponent out of the ring thus winning the tournament and gaining not ozeki but yokozuna status, the very top rank you can earn. The daimyo is highly pleased as he's openly supported Danbei and now has earned some major bragging rights. He suggests that Danbei rush home and tell his mom the great news and bring her back to live with him.

And here he is on his way home to surprise his mom with his new status and a hefty bonus from the daimyo. He leaves off by thanking the readers for cheering him on.

The second half of the book doesn't have the subtle washes or even the same level of rendering as the first half, but the word balloons read right to left as they should and so it's obviously from a different creator and/or a different publication.
Either way, I was stymied by many of the things I found in this volume and that probably means I still have a ways to go to earn my manga scholar wings.

I hope you enjoyed this excursion and I'll be back next time with more mysterious comics.

Cheers!

Tokyo Akahon Manga “Gulliver’s Travels” by NAKAMURA Hiroshi

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 04:58:00 +0000

According to a post by akahon manga researcher Yuuzora Retro (pen name), the Tokyo-based publisher Taikōdō (泰光堂) created their Manga Classics series in response to the PTA backlash against manga contributing to delinquency in Osaka.

This is Gulliver’s Travels by NAKAMURA Hiroshi (中村ひろし), a B6-sized 3-color akahon* printed with red ink fills on either blue or green lines costing 85 yen.

NAKAMURA seemed to be the main artist for Taikōdō as evinced by the ad pages at the back.

There is no publishing date, but it probably wasn't too far from 1951 when "Cinderella" and "Snow White" from the same series were published.

Looking at the stamps on the endpapers on the back, we can see that this particular book was rented out at a kashihon-ya (rental comic shop) in Saga, Kyushu called Imazato Neo Shobō. It was lent to me by a Mr. Fujita, a collector heavy into Showa-era items. I will continue to introduce the books I was able to borrow from his collection until it joins the display of early Showa comics at the Kōshi Manga Museum (合志マンガミュージアム) where I often give lectures about comics history.

The story focuses on the most visually fun parts of the Gulliver story, namely when he visits the teeny-tiny Lilliputians and the huge Brobdingnagians, people who make him look respectively huge and tiny. The line work is simple, likely to match what the printers were capable of for this smaller press, but the artwork itself is better than many of the same era and distribution type. The layouts are lively and have depth and the figures themselves are dynamic. The style itself seems to be inspired by 1930's animation by Fleischer Studios, as were many manga of this period, including the 1938 feature "Gullivers Travels."

I'll be doing more posts about manga on this blog so visit us again. Cheers!

*I'm calling it an akahon based on the abundance of red ink and the commentary by Yuuzora Retro referenced above, though you could call it a kashihon manga as it was lent out at a kashihon-ya.
**For more info about akahon, here is an article about akahon at The Comics Journal by manga scholar Ryan Holmberg.

SENPO MAP and my Beppu adventure

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Tue, 31 Jul 2018 17:37:00 +0000

Hello!

It's me, patokon with an update on some of the work I've been doing lately.

This year, my good friend Junya Hanada told me about his plan to open a guest house in Beppu which is about 3.5 hours away from Mifune where we both live. He also told me that he wanted me to design a series of cards featuring local little-known establishments that guests could choose in order to make their own personal itinerary. I was asked to handle design and illustration duties in addition to managing the volunteers who were students from various countries studying at Beppu's Asia-Pacific University.

First, let me tell you about the guest house. It is called In Bloom Beppu and is just a hop, skip, and a jump from Beppu Station. My friend Junya is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet and is doing his best to make In Bloom Beppu a great place to use as a home base for exploring Beppu.

This is Junya showing me around the Hell Hot Springs.

This is In Bloom Beppu, though my photos don't do it justice.
Check out the homepage for great photos.

Now let me tell you about the project.

My first trip up to Beppu was in Feb. and I met with Junya, several Beppians who supported his conversion of a former summer residence into a guest house, and the APU volunteers.

This is the room I stayed in. It has a great old-fashioned feel to it.

There were several challenges facing me. The first one was deciding on which locations to focus on. Junya wanted lesser-known spots that were about half a km from In Bloom Beppu, but we wanted to keep it flexible. I suggested that we use the phrase "one thousand steps" or SENPO (千歩) because it seemed more vague. SENPO MAP also had a very nice ring to it and thus the name of the project was born! I had a list of spots to work from provided by Junya, but it took a second fact-finding trip to nail down most of the spots. It was on this trip that I found a couple of really cool spots that weren't on the original list.

I made a second trip in May where I visited several locations and took photos.
Photos provided by volunteers were also a huge help!

I had the spots and a general feel for Beppu, but I needed a theme or direction to focus my illustrations. Besides hot springs and retro/vintage atmosphere, the one thing I noticed about Beppu was that there were a lot of cats!

This feller was hanging around the backstreets of the Hell hot springs area.

My daughter found this friendly puss right around the corner from In Bloom Beppu.

Once I had the theme, I came up with the design for the cover right away. Honestly, it took a much longer while for the illustrations to take form.

I was very happy with this, but was frustrated that the illustrations for the cards were taking me so long.

I came up with a rough design that I was happy with and then it was a matter of gathering the necessary data (names, locations, hours, facilities, photos etc.) and the volunteers graciously helped filling in the blanks on the shared spreadsheet I created. Again, the photos they provided were also a huge boon!

This is the first concept I came up with and the final isn't too far off from this except for the style I decided to use for the front illustrations.

The deadline loomed and I was worried about having to arrange all the data while also having to finish the illustrations. I did a little research and found that I could link the data directly to files in InDesign if I formatted the spreadsheet the right way. A little trial and error and everything linked up great! That meant I only had to focus on the visuals - arguably, the most important part!

It was slow going at first, but once I got into a rhythm, I was able to get several drawings done in a single work session. I mostly worked in order, but jumped ahead if I was inspired about a particular place.

As I raced to complete the illustrations on time while trying to meet other obligations (more on these in a future post), my wife Saho printed out master sheets, made copies, and cut and bound the finals to be sent to Junya for the grand opening.

The SENPO cards and SENPO MAP before shipping.

The SENPO cards on the wall of the public area of In Bloom Beppu.

The cat hooks add a really nice touch.

Was very happy to learn that the local paper wrote a piece about the SENPO MAP.

I'm very grateful to Junya for asking me to take on this project and the end result has been more than satisfying for me. Junya tells me that the SENPO MAP is a big hit with visitors. Here are some of my favorite illustrations that I made for this amazing project.

I just like the cat's expression here

Inspired by the stained glass in the community center.

Yum!

Ahh! Gotta love relaxing in a local hot spring!

Inspired by Kazuo Umezu, natch. Made to represent the awesome and creepy Genshisha library.

Inspired by Jenny Linsky books available at the library this illo is for.

A very classy-cool cafe with the best coffee I've ever had!

This lady is really sweet. Disclaimer: not actually a cat.

I've heard good things about this place.

Yum Yum

This is for a curry place that has hookah pipes.
Just love this feline here.

I'll actually be adding a few more cards soon. I'll post an update here when SENPO MAP 2.0 is ready.

Thanks for making it all the way to the bottom! I hope to eventually turn some of these illos into postcards or prints. Let me know which ones you like best in the comments below or on my FB page.

Gappa & Guma charity picture book

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 03:35:00 +0000

Kumamoto Earthquake Picture Book Project

Here are the details for the crowdfunding project as it is running currently here: https://kumamoto.dreamraising.jp/pr…/kumamoto_pictures-book/.

The book:
The picture book is about a kappa (river faerie) named Gappa that lives under a bridge on the banks of a river in a town in Kumamoto (based on Mifune where I live). She likes swimming, fishing, and making music. One day, a terrible earthquake hits and Gappa is forced to abandon her home. She leaves on an adventure where she finds friendship, inner strength, and a purpose. She is faced with scary situations, but each time she remembers something that her Granny Babappa told her long ago and it helps her overcome her fear. During her adventure, she meets Guma, a big brown bear (actually a mountain faerie) who lives in the mountains and they spread Granny Babappa’s wisdom to the kids who need it most.
The main idea of the story is to give kids something to help them overcome their fear when a disaster hits. Through repeated readings, kids will learn not to panic, will find their own inner-strength just as Gappa and Guma do, and may even find a way to help others in need.
The book is A4 landscape with 28 pages in Japanese. English readers will receive a link to the English translation/readers guide.

The t-shirt:
The t-shirt will feature the Gappa and Guma and the words GAMADAS! which is Kumamoto dialect for “doing more than your best” or “hanging in there when things get tough”.

The team:
I, Patrick Ijima-Washburn am the illustrator and writer of Gappa’s and Guma’s story and I have a team of planners, designers, printers, evangelists, PR people, sponsors that are working to see this project through.

The mission:
I believe in the power of story and the power of books and that is why I chose a storybook to get this message across: that you don’t have to be scared and you don’t have to feel powerless. We all have strength, we just have to remember where to find it. We can all help and support others, we just have to find our own way to do so.
I tell my daughter the story of three little birds whose home has been destroyed in a storm and they fly out into the rainy night in panic. Luckily, they each remember the words of their mom and this advice gets them to calm down, dry their eyes, and take a fresh look at their situation. This story gave me the basic idea for this book as my 3yo daughter continues to use Mama Birds advice when she is upset or scared.

The schedule:
The crowdfunding campaign runs until July 10th after which the books and t-shirts will be printed. We will begin delivering items as soon as they are ready, but we expect this will begin at the end of July. Overseas shipping may take an extra 2-3 weeks.

The funds:
The funds will go towards the creation, design, printing, and distribution of t-shirts AND, depending on how much money is raised, will go towards printing extra copies of the book that will be donated to libraries and kid’s centers all over Japan.
This is a BEST EFFORT project which means that if you donate, you WILL receive what you ordered. However, the more donations we receive, the more books we will be able to donate.

To support:
There are 4 ways to support the project.
1. Donate 3000 yen and receive a picture book.
2. Donate 3000 yen and receive a t-shirt
3. Donate 6000 yen and receive a picture book & a t-shirt
4. Become a golden donor for 100,000 yen and receive a picture book, a t-shirt, AND a hand-drawn illustration of Gappa and Guma (Only 8 left)

The support page is in Japanese, thus if you wish to support the project and get a book or t-shirt follow these instructions:

a) Within Japan:
Send an email to piw@bifluent.com with your Name, Address, Donation type (Book 3000 yen, T-shirt 3000 yen, Book & T-shirt 6000 yen, Golden Donor Package 100,000 yen), and if you’re ordering a t-shirt state your size (Kids height(cm) 120(47”), 130(51”), 140(55”), 150(59”) or Adults SS, S, M, L, LL).
I will send you my bank account info for a wire transfer.
All prices include shipping within Japan.
OR send 3,154 yen (for 1 or 2 above), 6,266 yen (for 3 above), or 103,776 yen (for 4 above) via paypal to patrikwashburn@hotmail.com. (paypal fees included)

b) Outside of Japan
Send your Name, Address, Donation type (Book 3,476 yen, T-shirt 3,476 yen, Book & T-shirt 6,597 yen, Golden Donor Package 104,412 yen), and if you’re ordering a t-shirt state your size (Kids height(cm) 120(47”), 130(51”), 140(55”), 150(59”) or Adults SS, S, M, L, LL) along with the payment listed via paypal to patrikwashburn@hotmail.com. (paypal fees included)

There are 20 days left as of today 6/21/2016. Any and all support is appreciated. Please like, share and when sharing, please add your own comments and thoughts as these will mean the most to those who you are connected to.
Thanks for your help.

Kumamoto Earthquake Disaster - Charity Ts and Picture book

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Sun, 01 May 2016 22:48:00 +0000

I've been posting on FB (https://www.facebook.com/patrick.ijimawashburn) about the earthquakes in Kumamoto. I designed a charity T-shirt to support my recently adopted home. I'm also going to turn these characters into a picture book to help kids find the strength to get through disasters.
Wish me luck.

The T-shirt design. GAMADAS means "Do your best!"

A possible illustration for the picture book.

More information will be posted here: http://facebook.com/artistsdo

Thanks for your support!

Harley Quinn + Deadpool = The New Odd Couple

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 18:34:00 +0000

HarleyPool

I'm lovin' movie Harley Quinn

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 03:25:00 +0000

Of course, I'll always be a huge fan of Harley Quinn's original design by Bruce Timm.

But the Suicide Squad design is based on Harley's recent look which is pretty awesome in itself.

Check out these screencaps from the new Suicide Squad trailer. It looks like she's a HUGE part of the flick. Carla Whatsherface's Enchantress (did not like her in Paper Towns so not expecting much from her), Will Smith's Deadshot (always watchable), Jared Leto's Joker (could be insane), Killer Croc, fire dude, whatever... Margot Robbie's Harley steals the show!

Happy Birthday, Roy Batty!

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 02:15:00 +0000

Today is the day that Nexus 6 combat model Roy Batty comes to "life".

Come to think of it, he was a bit batty, but he was all Roy!

Below is a print I created for a Movie art exhibition a few years ago.

And here is an old post about when I actually got to meet the man himself!

My illustration featured in Lovecraft Zine!

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 14:20:00 +0000

Check out my illustration for "The Last Leaves" by Derek Wentz!
http://lovecraftzine.com/magazine/issues/2015-2/issue-36-autumn-2015/the-last-leaves-by-derek-wentz/

Black Sabbath Japan Ltd. Ed. T-shirt design

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 01:18:00 +0000

This was designed for Black Sabbath Ressurection and Lone Ones fashion brand originally based in Aoyama. Design was approved by the O man himself.

Musashi Team T-shirt "Dragon" design

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 04:23:00 +0000

I designed this shirt for K-1 fighter Musashi some years ago.

The Greatest Books You've Never Read

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 08:21:00 +0000

Here's an infographic I made that talks about how certain forms of literature and art are victims of snobbery and elitism when they are just as valid as any other.

When I get some time, I need to make a few edits and additions, but overall I'm pretty pleased with it.

A.J. Page single "Fireflies" art

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 13:15:00 +0000

Artwork for A.J. Page single "Fireflies"

for which I also translated the lyrics into Japanese

Singer/Songwriter AJ's HP: http://www.ajpage.com/fireflies-video

Hotaru

TCPA APAzine covers

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 13:13:00 +0000

Covers done for recent issues of Turbo-Charged Party Animal APAzine.

My personal theme: Silent film horror

Brigitte Helm, the stunning actress who starred in Metropolis

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, not to be confused with The Cabiner of Dr. Caligari a flick about rock-climbing

Dr. Mabuse!

Theda Bara, the original Film Femme Fatale

Recent fanzine art for Surprising Stories

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 13:10:00 +0000

Art for John Thiel's Surprising Stories

Found here: http://surprisingstories.thiels.us/SSV38/Contents.htm (latest ish!)

here: http://surprisingstories.thiels.us/SSV37/Contents.html

and here: http://surprisingstories.thiels.us/SSV36/Contents.html

Scavenger

Desire, a Harlot

Reversia

Trauma

Visitor from the North

Doing Time

I've been using different width art pens on gray and brown paper for some of these and ink and brush for others. There might be a digital one in there as well.

Comic art: El Muerto Jr.

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Wed, 20 May 2015 23:04:00 +0000

I thought I would share some of the artwork (sans dialog) I did for the Silver Skull book available here. This is the story of El Muerto Jr., son of a great luchadore and secret super hero.

Review "Housebound" (2014) NZ

noreply@blogger.com (patokon) — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 04:46:00 +0000

I know tons of people who outright hate horror movies and tons of those who dismiss them or never bother watching them. Well "Housebound" (2014) now on Netflix is one of those movies that shouldn't be dismissed.

My advice is to stop reading this now - especially if you're the kind of person that easily discovers spoilers in non-spoiler reviews - and just go watch this work of art. But if you still need convincing, read on.

Besides having some real creepy scares and a bit of "in your face" blood & gore (just a bit) this flick has a great story, a perfect plot, wonderful characters - including the main character - a hard case juvie that's given up on the world, a security guy who's a part-time paranormal investigator, and especially - well, I don't want to give away anything. Let's just say that every character has some great moments that make you smile, laugh out loud, or even cry - yes, cry!

Okay. Now quickly go rent or buy your copy of this flick and watch it!

Still not convinced? Without letting the cat out of the bag, this movie has such a great twist (a few actually) which really work naturally and comment on the the two worlds normally at odds in a horror movie - the straight Normal vs. the odd Other. As an Other myself, watching this forced me to admit that I can be as myopic as any Normal and I think that Normals will, after watching, find themselves sympathizing with Otherness and perhaps even get a glimpse on how both worlds simultaneously feed off and force each other into existence. Too deep? You don't have to look very deep in order to enjoy this flick - you can enjoy it as a fun and scary run through a carnival house of horrors (c'mon, I double dog dare ya) - but I love that you can look deeper and find solid motivation for every character.

My highest recommendation. Three thumbs up.