Tatsumi wasn’t well known in North America until his work started appearing in English translation several years ago. But he’s apparently been known to Japanese audiences for decades. The Canadian company Drawn & Quarterly has come out with five different Tatsumi volumes since 2005. D&Q appear to be issuing new Tatsumi volumes on approximately an annual basis. The thickest of these books is the 834-page A Drifting Life.
A Drifting Life chronicles Tatsumi’s early development from a manga-crazed schoolboy to an established artist in his mid-20s (a period of about 15 years). It’s divided into 48 chapters of about 16 pages each. I prefer to think of this book not as a unified graphic novel but rather as a 48-issue comic series joined into a single binding. Each chapter opens with a striking splash page. (One of these was used for the book’s cover. See above.) Here’s a sample of some typical panels, so you can see what his drawing style is like:
For comics aficionados, definitely a work to be read, enjoyed, studied, and returned to. For anyone interested, here are the titles of the 48 chapters:
THE BIRTH OF MANGA
MANGA OBSESSION
THE JOURNALIST FROM MAINICHI SHIMBUN
ENTER TEZUKA
SIBLING RIVALRY
TEZUKA VANISHES
BELOVED MANGA
TORN APART
SUMMERTIME DREAMS
THE CON ARTIST
THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
DEBUT
THE SUN SETS ON HIGH SCHOOL DAYS
DESERT TRAVELER
A DREAM FULFILLED
COLD CALLING
HINOMARU BUNKO, RENTAL MANGA PUBLISHER
NOM DE PLUME
AN INFINITELY FREE WORLD
THE MANGA MONSTER
SEARCHING FOR A NEW METHOD
SHADOW
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
LIFE DRAWING
MASAMI KURODA’S PAST
SUMMER TRAINING CAMP
IN THE BALANCE
ESCAPE FROM CAMP
PASSION AND SEDUCTION
A TIME FOR GOOD-BYE
THE JOY OF CREATION
THE FALL OF HINOMARU BUNKO
MANAGING EDITOR
THE SHORT STORY BOOM
DRUNK WITH POWER
TO TOKYO, AND “GEKIGA”
KOTOBUKISO DAYS
THE BOOM CONTINUES
RENTAL MANGA WARS
DRAWING FROM TURMOIL
REACHING TOWARDS GEKIGA
THE BIRTH OF THE GEKIGA WORKSHOP
PROS AND CONS
THE VAMPIRE KILLER BECOMES A VAMPIRE
PASSION FOR GEKIGA DWINDLES
JEALOUSY AND FRUSTRATION
THE QUICK DISSOLUTION OF THE GEKIGA WORKSHOP
FUELED BY ANGER
[EPILOGUE]
acilius
believer1
lefalcon
losthunderlads
vthunderlad
Panther Red 
acilius
/ May 2, 2010I’ve never been into manga, but this autobiography does look very interesting. Surely it would be worth buying exactly six copies of that book.
lefalcon
/ May 2, 2010Yes – it’s certainly worth purchasing exactly six copies of this book. Something I didn’t get into in the post is, Tatsumi was the prime mover in the Gekiga movement. “Gekiga” is supposed to mean something like “dramatic pictures.” The Gekiga label was intended as a way of distinguishing more mature comics from childish Manga. It seems to have been a matter of dispute whether Gekiga was a subtype of Manga or a different medium entirely. In any case, Tatsumi has a reputation as an innovative figure who pioneered an underground comics movement in reaction against the cutesiness of much Manga. He’s got some great short stories about people finding dead foetuses in the sewer system, a traveling porn projectionist, a man that has bizarre erotic relations with dogs, etc. What I have learned is that Manga as a whole cannot be dismissed; it contains within it some compelling currents … in addition to the incredibly annoying “big eyes” aesthetic.
acilius
/ May 2, 2010I remember you talking about the traveling porn projectionist story. That sounds like a fascinating glimpse of cultural history. Surely that’s an occupation that must have become obsolete.