Showa 1953-1989

“There’s just something uncannily, well … wise about Mizuki. In one segment he’ll be an icy judge, in another a cynical gadfly, then a daffy outcast. His drawing style varies wildly: He’ll lavish detail on a jungle backdrop, then put two overtly cartoony soldiers in front of it. But he depicts Japan’s military leaders with more realism, and his re-creations of actual photos of dead bodies – both during and after the war – are utterly somber.” —NPR

“Drawn & Quarterly’s translation of Shigeru Mizuki’s historical epic Showa is perhaps the great achievement in American manga publishing this year…Mizuki’s canny, self-excoriating memoir draws the reader close and into the intimate heart of the 20th century’s worst conflict.” —AV Club Best Comics of 2014

“Showa is literature, illustrated or not, at its finest: a story that sweeps you off your feet only to find, when you return to Earth, that nothing looks quite the same.” —Los Angeles Times

Shigeru Mizuki (1922-2015) was one of Japan’s most respected artists. A creative prodigy, he lost an arm in World War II. After the war, Mizuki became one of the founders of Japan’s latest craze—manga. He invented the yokai genre with GeGeGe no Kitaro, his most famous character, who has been adapted for the screen several times, as anime, live action, and video games. In fact, a new anime series has been made every decade since 1968, capturing the imaginations of generations of Japanese children. A researcher of yokai and a real-life ghost hunter, Mizuki traveled to over sixty countries to engage in fieldwork based on spirit folklore. In his hometown of Sakaiminato, one can find Shigeru Mizuki Road, a street decorated with bronze statues of his Kitaro characters.

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