A gritty collection of graphic short stories by a Japanese manga master depicting life on the streets among punks, gangsters, and vagrants.
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.
“As a collection of stories, Slum Wolf presents 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
"Tsuge’s 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 character’s 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
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