My wife and I spent the weekend in New York City. Basically for the hell of it. Just to get away, wander around, see new things, and visit some familiar haunts. It was a very good time, really. My only regret is not tracking down Mordicai to properly introduce myself and maybe get lunch with him. As always, I found some amazing and delightful books that I would never have had access to here in central Ohio. A rundown, then...
Volumes 1 and 2 of the manga Sunny by one of my favorite artists Taiyo Matsumoto. Unfortunately, all in Japanese. But the art is so interesting I couldn't pass these by...
A sample of the art...
Aquirax Uno: Posters 1959-1975, a collection of Uno's early graphic work. A really lovely book...
Uno's art...
Blow Up and Blow Up 2, both phenomenal collections of Keiichi Tanaami's posters and graphics...
And Tanaami's mindblowing art...
Digging even deeper into the past...my own and otherwise...a surprisingly crisp copy of comic artist Walt Simonson's 1982 Marvel graphic novel Star Slammers. I remember buying this one from the Newsstand in Quaker Square in Akron, Ohio when I was 13. It was good to see this again...
Three DVDs, one of which I had seen many times and two of which I had been anxiously awaiting for years. The common thread with each of these DVDs is the presence of artist Leiji Matsumoto and his beautiful "Leijiverse." From left to right, Interstella 5555, a musical collaboration between the band Daft Punk and Matsumoto, Galaxy Express 999 and Adieu Galaxy Express 999, anime adaptations of Matsumoto's heartbreaking manga series Galaxy Express 999...
Here is the original trailer, in Japanese. The DVDs have subtitles though...
I've been ardently devoted to Leiji Matsumoto since I was in middle school and watched Star Blazers, the American bastardization of his Space Battleship Yamato stories every morning before breakfast. These DVDs were a real treat, and someday I hope to see Captain Harlock too.
An incredible treat was finding these four Legends of Arzach portfolios in St. Marks Comics. Ostensibly arranged around short stories, these are really just collections of art by some of the top comic talents of the 90s, all themed around Moebius' character Arzach. Apparently there were at least six of these, but I was only able to find four. Still, they were very reasonably priced and even though the folders were a little beat up, the art inside was all in mint condition. Some of these will probably end up framed on the studio wall...
Also from the Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya, this big, beautiful and very very pink book of photographs by Nobuyoshi Araki of his muse Izumi Suzuki titled Izumi, This Bad Girl. Not nearly as pornographic as it looks, although in general I don't have any issue with pornography at all...
And finally, saving the best for last, another surprise...Genga: Original Pictures, a massive 11" by 14" and 300+ page collection of art, manga, paintings, animation, storyboards, sketches and more from Katsuhiro Otomo, the man responsible for the manga and anime Akira among many other things. Apparently this was an exhibition catalog, and you can see a lot of Otomo's art, much of which is in this book, here. And here is the book...
But all of this makes me wonder...do I spend too much time looking backward? Do I not look forward enough? After all, Leiji Matsumoto's prime years were the 1970s, Akira is from the 1980s, the Aquirax Uno book collects work from the 1960s and 1970s, most of the work in the two Tanaami books is from the 1970s, and most of Araki's photos of Suzuki are from the 1980s. Why is it that I seem so drawn to the aesthetic of decades long past? Am I making a terrible mistake, or am I just overthinking this all?
New York was, and will always be, a blast. I'm posting lots of odd photos...impressions, really...of the trip over on Tumblr so take a look. And next time I'm in the city? We're getting together for lunch Mordicai.
6 comments:
"Sunny." Wow. Incredibly evocative. You can feel the muggy air.
Yes RF! Incredibly evocative! Have you read "Tekkonkinkreet" or GOGO Monster" yet? I remember mentioning them to you but would certainly not be offended if you haven't read them. I am so curious what your thoughts would be, especially since you've read (and enjoyed) "Death Note," which seems to me to be at the opposite spectrum of manga.
No, actually, but I've just submitted the library request.
Ah, very good then. I truly am curious as to what you will think. Matsumoto seems to polarizing. I though "GOGO Monster" was brilliant and very very powerful, but others whose aesthetics I trust very much despised it. I suppose in some sense both stories are heavily oriented toward "boys" but still, they are so well done that there are some universals. Anyone who struggled through childhood should find some touchstone there. And the art! Oh my God the man can draw!
I found this post somewhat randomly- gotta say- you found an INCREDIBLE assortment of books! It's like you took my wishlist out of my brain and bought it! I live in NY and i dont know where to get this books- where did you go besides St Mark's?!
Josh
Hey Josh, thanks for the comment and the kind words. I am sometimes embarrassed about my book obsession, so it's good to share this kind of thing and realize I'm not the freak I worry I might be.
An awful lot of these books came from Kinokuniya, a Japanese bookstore near Grand Central Station. That's where I found Sunny, Aquirax Uno, the Tanaami books, Izumi: This Bad Girl and the giant Otomo art book. The Star Slammers graphic novel and the Arzach portfolios all came from St. Mark's Comics, and the Matsumoto DVDs are from the new Kim's. Those are all the places I tend to hit the most when we visit the city, and I generally spend all of my money there so it's good I don't get to many other places.
Post a Comment