Slum Wolf

(Paperback, Main)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A gritty collection of graphic short stories by a Japanese manga master depicting life on the streets among punks, gangsters, and vagrants. Though virtually unknown in the United States, Tadao Tsuge is one of the original masters of alternative manga, and one of the world's great artists of the down-and-out. Never before available in English, this new selection of his stories from the late sixties and the seventies depicts the lives of punks, vagrants, gangsters, and other lost souls with gritty lyricism. It is a raucous, exhilarating vision of street brawls and dive bars, shantytowns and brothels, and an unsettling portrait of postwar Japan.

Reviews

As a collection of stories,Slum Wolfpresents a fully realized view of the persistence of defeat and occupation on the Japanese culture. As readers follow the disaffected and maladjusted characters through their worlds, Tsuge consistently prompts the reader to consider the feelings and circumstances by invoking the reader's empathy and fears.Gregory Smith,Pop Matters

"Tsuges art veers wildly from cartoon abstraction to painstakingly detailed drawings of shadowy figures and looming city streets, rendered in harsh, energetic linework that propels the eye from panel to panel. The stoic attitude of these excellent pieces is summed up in one characters reflection: 'Without receiving a dose of pain once in a while, it was hard to remember the point of staying alive.' This period piece holds lasting resonance. Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Tadao Tsuge is one of alternative manga's cult stars. Debuting as a cartoonist in the rental kashi-hon market in 1959, he was a leading contributor to the legendary magazine Garo during its heyday in the late 1960s. He has drawn extensively for magazines like Yagyo and Gento, often pulling from his experiences growing up in the slums of Tokyo, working for postwar Japan's ooze-for-booze blood banks, and daydreaming while fishing. Tsuge currently lives in Chiba Prefecture, north of Tokyo, where he splits his time between cooking for his family and drawing even stranger manga. Ryan Holmberg is an arts and comics historian. He has taught at the University of Chicago, the City University of New York, and the University of Southern California and is a frequent contributor to Art in America, Artforum, Yishu, and The Comics Journal. He has edited and translated a number of books of Japanese comics and is currently a postdoctoral associate at Duke University.