A Drifting Life

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Over 800 pages, this is an epic masterpiece. It's such an intimate window into the authors life you almost feel like you are impeding privacy by reading. One japan's most influentisl artists, he's unafraid to show his raw emotion vulnerabilities. It's special to witness the beggining of a movement which was born out of passion not capitalism and to see how humble life was just to create. This is part biographical and part historical. An astonishing glimpse into a genius life. A loving masterpiece

I found A Drifting Life in my local library and I was instantly fascinated by it. I've read many biographies and memoirs of creators of American comics and accounts of the birth of American comic books in the 1930s and 1940s. I know very little about Japan and manga. Tatsumi captivated me with his story of his love of manga from his childhood through his development as a professional cartoonist, writer, and editor. It's hugely interesting to read about the world of comics and their artists in a culture that is vastly different from America.I was enchanted by Tatsumi's masterly use of seemingly simple yet deeply revealing art and by the narrator's passion expressed from the beginning of his secondary school years at the start of the book; Tatsumi''s love of comics both as reader and creator shines through. As a teenager I was moved by the dedication and devotion to the medium of comics in Steranko's History of Comics, Jules Feiffer 's The Great Comic Book Heroes and interviews in the Comics Journal with Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez. A Drifting Life also captures the excitement of reading comics, drawing comics, and exploring their potential to tell stories and reach new audiences. I was moved by the epilogue which says little about Tatsumi's achievements in later life (his face is drawn in shadow ) but pays tribute to his hero Osamu Tezuka. A wonderful book for not just for people who like manga, but for anyone who loves art and storytelling.

A truly stunning piece of work. This is thick in appearance but the ease at which the work unfolds means it is very easy to get through. As an autobiography and covering parts of the history of Japan after WWII finishes, it's nearly a masterpiece. The artwork starts as beautifully simple in approach and develops slightly as the story progresses. It's a very impressive black & white graphic novel, beautifully printed and simply written. Highly recommended if you are new to the genre. The style of drawing shows talent throughout but all in all it is a deeply fascinating approach to telling a very interesting autobiography of Japanese life. Well worth buying and highly inspiring to read.

The book starts in 1948 where the author is 13 years old and embarking on single panels of manga and sending it into magazines, and finishes in 1960 when the author is 25 and a successful author of manga and a new style he created, "gekiga". The book is autobiographical, taking in details of Tatsumi's (renamed Katsumi HIroshi in the book) home life, his ill brother, his philandering father, his dedicated mother, and moving him through high school becoming progressively interested and committed to manga, until he becomes a full time manga artist and writer. The cultural and political history of Japan is documented as well but the main focus is on the development of manga in this postwar era and how it developed over these years. This is the best book I've read all year, comic books or otherwise, for so many reasons. The story is so well written and drawn throughout. We see Tatsumi's self doubt and determination to become a strong artist throughout and his admiration of artists he met when he started, particularly the superb Tezuka Osamu, but you can't help but notice Tatsumi today has surpassed Tezuka in skill to a whole new level. He writes ironically about attempting long works (48 pages! he gasps) all the while the reader is holding in their hands an 834 page book. And its not at all a struggle to read through all 834 pages. The story is so compelling that by the end I could genuinely read another 800 pages. The story of the manga artists is well told with its highs, betrayals, sense of adventure, creation, and originality all done by guys in their early 20s. Tatsumi does seem to "drift" into manga. While he wanted to become an artist in high school he quickly becomes a known name and ends up moving from Osaka to Tokyo and then becoming a contributing artist to half a dozen magazines, producing books, editing short story collections, editing magazines, and then starting the "gekiga" movement singlehandedly - he's only 25 years old by the end of the book! Its such a great comic book and deserves to be up there alongside "Maus" and "Watchmen" as one of the masterpieces of the genre. It's certainly Tatsumi's masterpiece. I also recommend getting the recently republished "Black Blizzard", one of Tatsumi's best loved books, and one of his works he writes about creating in "A Drifting Life" so its good to read alongside this book. Even if you're not a comic book fan this is a great book and one of the highlights of 2009 publishing. A virtuoso piece, a career best, a true masterpiece from one of the best comic book writer/artists that ever lived, I can't recommend this highly enough.

I loved the story of Hiroshi Katsumi (Yoshihiro Tatsumi) a school-kid artist and writer obsessed with manga. Growing up in late 1940's post-war Osaka, he and his brother Okimasa begin having work featured in Manga Shonen and other magazines of the time. Hiroshi meets his hero Osamu Tezuka and embarks on a life-long career in the manga publishing world, the book follows his journey from a young mangaka creating short pieces for compilations and longer whole-book works to becoming a seasoned editor. Yoshihiro-san was an integral part of a group contributing greatly to a more modern adult style of manga. He and his artist friends named the movement `Gekiga' (Dramatic Pictures) which was heavily influenced by international cinema and literature. This is the best translated work from Yoshihiro-san i have read. The book is a satisfying autobiography that also manages to be both part history of post-war Japan and an essay on the birth of modern manga. I just wish that some of the early works mentioned in the story were available in English translation - The Civilizing Beast (1955), The Man Smiling In The Dark (1955) and Black Snowstorm (1956) look especially intriguing. The book is a very sturdy object- a 856 page weighty tome with solid binding, quality paper and is very good value for money. Designed and lettered beautifully by Adrian Tomine and well translated by Taro Nettleton. Highly recommended. A+

For those who follow the work of Yoshihiro Tatsumi, this book is a treat. It's a wonderful manga memoir that took almost 10 years to create. The main protagonist is no other than Yoshihiro himself, using another name of Hiroshi Katsumi. In this book, he explores the journey he took to become a manga artist. It's an inspiring tale that looks into his relationship with his family, friend, fellow manga artists and publishers. The book title is apt as we see how Katsumi "drifts" along in his life, making the numerous career moves. Most of the time, you'll feel the doubt and uncertainty as he felt within the panels. The book, at over 800 pages, is smartly inserted with historical events to portray the passing of time. It starts in 1948 and ends, a bit abruptly, in 1960 where Katsumi took part in the demonstration against the Security Treaty. Throughout the book, we also learn how manga has evolved and affected the artists. I'll recommended this book to anyone who wishes to know Yoshihiro Tatsumi a little better, or a little bit of Japanese manga history.

Almost 900 pages of Tatsumi's love of manga and his detailed odyssey of becoming a master of the genre. Interspersed with social, cultural and political events occurring during the years of the author development in his beloved post-war Japan. Well drawn in black and white, although simply and sparsely, the story is somehow one dimensional and drawn out, but I admit I lasted the course, even though the reading was a little boring at times. A gorgeous book to own, beautifully presented and curated with a lot of details by Drawn & Quarterly.