You know how you sometimes buy things for no rhyme or reason? That happened to me recently at one of my favorite auction houses.
I was sitting there waiting for some items I actually wanted when three comic books came up for sale. I don’t read comic books often. I never buy comic books (except for that time I bought “Tom Skinner: Up from Harlem” at another auction). And I certainly don’t collect comic books.
So why was I so curious that I decided to bid on these? Because they were Japanese comic books. The kick is that I don’t speak the language. So, even if I bought them I couldn’t figure out what the heck the story was about.
They were not only “Greek” to me but also “Japanese.”
From where I sat, though, I could see that they weren’t porn because there were no naked couples on the cover (they were being auctioned on a day when several pornography mags were sold and these were lying near them, I guess there’s no need for them so much now thanks to websites that offer cartoon porno). So, I was safe there. The books looked to be in good condition and they were very colorful.
I raised my bid number, but I wasn’t the only one. The bidding went back and forth – with me in it and still wondering why I was in it – and I got the three for $17.50.
I immediately looked them over. Two seemed slightly smaller and thinner than the Marvel comic books I’d seen. But the back of these were actually the front: they had to be read from front to back, right to left. All 32 pages. Neat.
The inside panels – in black and white, four to eight to a page – were clearly defined by dark lines. The dialogue was written inside text balloons and the narrative (or what I assumed was the narration) was written in a box on the side. On the back was the address for a location in Hong Kong (I found out later that Hong Kong was one of the epicenters for publication of manhua, or Chinese comic books).
The third comic book was smaller and fit snugly in my hand. Each page had only one panel with the text to the right and a sprinkling of text balloons.
There was no date on any of them, but I’m assuming they were vintage. The characters looked traditionally Japanese and wore classic clothing. They looked nothing like the figures from the modern Japanese anime I’d come across while flipping through late-night TV. Those always had large eyes with black spiky hair that fell over their foreheads.
From the drawings in the larger comic books, I could figure out a little of the story. This appeared to be a romance tale with a handsome samurai warrior pursuing a pretty young woman. On the cover of one, she was oversized and front and center, and below her was a scene of her rushing to her warrior. On the other, she was perched on the back of a huge bird, and below, she was on a dragon flying away from him.
Since I couldn’t decipher the full story, I decided to find out what I could about Japanese comic books. They are called manga, and the man who mastered and influenced the form (along with anime) was Tezuka Osamu. His most popular anime character was Captain Atom or Astroboy, first created in 1951 in a manga called “Shonen.”
Manga are serialized stories that start in one book and continue in another. After they’ve been running for a while, they are compiled in book form.
The two large ones I got at auction appeared to be part of a serial, and I think I figured out which came first (the one with the bird on the cover. The second book has the couple flying off on two giant birds, which felt like the end to me).
Traditionally, the stories flow from top to bottom and right to left, and some translations follow that format.
Practically everyone reads manga in Japan. The comic book market there is the largest in the world, according to mangaka.co.uk. Its statistics: Manga series average about 300,000 to 500,000 copies per volume. Titles are printed for every age and on nearly every subject. There are about 250 to 300 different manga magazines.
Globally, these comic books have become increasingly popular, even in this country. Most fans here, though, are more familiar with Japanese anime (animation).
I found out that the smaller pocket-sized book was not Japanese but a Chinese comic book called lian huan hua. These picture story books contain one black and white drawing per page, with the text on the right or left. They originated in Shanghai in the 1920s, and were very popular during the 1950s and 1960s, especially to explain government policies, according to china.org.cn. They fell out of favor during the Cultural Revolution, and the industry tried to resurge over the next two decades, but floundered in the 1990s.
Here are some lian huan hua covers in color.
My book seemed to be missing its cover. Since I do not speak the language, I couldn’t translate the story, either. But I could figure out the drawings near the end: Looked like death to me. (The photo below at left is the front of the book; the one at right is opposite the inside back cover.)
Can someone help a sister out?
