Manga & the Japanese Comics Tradition

For this week, I read Phoenix: Karma vol. 4 by Osamu Tezuka. This graphic novel resonated with me in several different ways. My first reaction was surprise: nearly the first half of the book seemed to consist of the protagonist trotting around killing whoever he pleased regardless of who they were or his relationship to them [ex: he slays his wife part-way through the plot].However, things took a turn after he killed his wife and Tezuka introduced some valuable life lessons into the story. I was impressed that such eloquent themes evolved out of such a violent start, which added a deeper level of legitimacy to this genre for me.

But beyond these elements of the graphic novel, what struck me the most were the panel progressions that depicted a short amount of elapsed time, and focused on the images to explain the scene as opposed to words. Any words that were used were onomatopoeias, which retains a pictoral quality despite the inclusion of actual letters. A few examples of these progressions are shown below.

I think that I am attracted to theses kinds of sequences because of my roots as an illustrator. Although my interest of sequential work and the use of text in any art form has always been there and continues to grow, I am most impressed by smart design within pictures that do not rely on another form of language for the audience to respond.