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Drawn & Quarterly to Release Yokai: Art of Shigeru Mizuki Book in October
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The publisher describes the full-color hardcover book:
Yokai: The Art of Shigeru Mizuki showcases his expertise of not only folklore, but celebrates him as a naturalist. Elements of Mizuki's lush compositions—flora, fauna, and everything in between—showcase his mastery of form and love for nature. These popular renderings of a disappearing, rural Japan are his contribution to the preservation of a cultural heritage that would have otherwise been forgotten. The grotesque realism central to his body of work is offset by the ingenuity of his fancy for the macabre. Pieces in this deluxe, full-color edition call to mind the playful pop-sensibility of Maurice Sendak informed by the technical prowess of traditionalists like Dürer and Doré. And like any other Mizuki classic, each oeuvre is a unique snapshot of spirit, human or otherwise, in constant transition.
The book will feature supplementary writing from Mizuki scholar and translator Zack Davisson.
North American publisher Drawn & Quarterly has released many of Mizuki's works in English, such as NonNonBâ, Hitler, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, and Showa: A History of Showa Japan (Comic Showa-Shi), the latter two of which were nominated for a Harvey Award in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Mizuki's Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan and Showa 1944-1953: A History of Japan manga won the 2015 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia. The company more recently published Mizuki's manga adaptation of Kunio Yanigata's Tono Monogatari collection of recorded folk legends in March 2021.
Mizuki is famous for his manga about yōkai — Japanese supernatural creatures. His manga and research into yōkai is largely responsible for the popularity that yōkai stories have today. Mizuki's supernatural manga Kitaro (GeGeGe no Kitarō) began in 1959 under the name Hakaba Kitarō. The stories center on an inhuman boy who straddles the line between the human and supernatural worlds. Drawn & Quarterly has also published a selection of the manga in English.
Mizuki passed away in November 2015 at 93.
