Comics Underground Japan: Blast Books

COMICS UNDERGROUND JAPAN
edited by Kevin Quigley

COMICS UNDERGROUND JAPAN presents the wild, subversive world of Japan's most accomplished underground comics artists. Some of the dozen artists included in this anthology will be familiar to followers of manga; others make their American debut in these pages. The richly imaginative stories in this volume show a great range of graphic style, from painstakingly detailed draftsmanship to exuberant, maniacal renderings. At the heart of each work in this anthology is a unique personal vision and a fierce artistic compulsion--these manga artists are the misfits of the art form, and they are its visionaries.

artists included:

Yoshikazu Ebisu
Kazuichi Hanawa
Hideshi Hino
Suehiro Maruo
Pan Migiwa
Nekojiru & Hajime Yamano
Takashi Nemoto
Carol Shimoda
Yasuji Tanioka
Masakazu Toma
Muddy Wehara
Hanako Yamada
cover illustration by Suzy Amakane

"The Japanese invented the comic strip and are still at it. I've always dug and been influenced by the graphic wizardry of manga. This new anthology is a BLAST, the more disturbing, the better. I especially like Yasuji Tanioka (Gary Panter, eat your heart out!)." --S. Clay Wilson

"Japanese comics are so refreshing; like dripping flowers in the rain they show many faces; they don't all try to be roses. There are some happy, knobby, leafy, pungent blooms in the Japanese woodland. Lucky for us." --Gary Panter

"Blast Books once again provides a glorious selection of Japan's underground masters. My personal favorite is Kazuichi Hanawa's rich historical grotesque 'Mercy Flesh.' " --Joe Coleman