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https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/aib/reader.action?docID=743924&ppg=1

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What are the characters like in this world?

Are there more than one sentient species?

Do they all speak the same language?

Is this a planet just like Earth? Or a desert planet of some sort?

Does magic exist?

What’s the technology like?

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both comics deal with heavy themes. Does the absurdity of the characters/ scenario mimic the human reaction to difficult events in real life? Possible making of a situation?

Are we able to suspend ourselves in disbelief due to similar coping mechanisms?

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Relatable characters but absurd scenarios and events. Bright colours contribute to a more dreamlike, hallucinatory experience however small motifs of familiarity suggest otherwise

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a fantasy story with very relatable characters. The characters are personable but ambiguous enough to be anyone.

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relatable characters with relatable conversation. Strong visual metaphors that most people can relate to.

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the death of the master draws on this idea. The world consists of simplified isometric shapes and all the characters look like blobs in cloaks yet you can still relate to the story. It follows the reaction of a powerful leaders death. This is something I think a lot of people can relate to.
.what is death?
.will we ever see them again?
.what do we do now?

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As strange as the world within a comic can be, for a narrative to be coherent there must be a sense of order and logic. Maybe within an incredibly convoluted world, strong relatable themes have to be drawn upon to keep the reader invested?

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View of Too Subtle for Words: Doing Wordless Narrative Research | Art/Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal

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'Narration is the process of crafting a story into a coherent logical flow

of events that includes the elements of storytelling such as plot, rising action, climax,

falling action, and conclusion (Kim, 2016; Leavy 2013, 2015a). To develop these stories

involves narrative thinking, which

“is a method of making a story by organizing

experiences around our perception, thoughts, memories, and imagination” (Kim, 2016,

p. 156).'

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.context plays a big role in the reliability of a narrative. what context cues can be given to help create a clear image in the readers head?

A wordless narrative may allow for a larger array of individuals to relate to its contents. Language plays a big role in decoding a story,  so if there is an absence of text does the meaning behind imagery become more significant?

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Will Eisner Theory of Comics and Sequential Art : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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Will Eisner Theory of Comics and Sequential Art

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Worldbuilding is the process by which authors create a fictional world, inventing its history, geography, politics, and economy, as well as any religions or power structures. They might also consider the demographics and ecology of the world, including the existence of fictional or non-human races, unusual flora or fauna, or other magical properties of the world.

Since creating a fictional universe is a daunting task, you might want a bit of help. Here's how to worldbuild in 7 steps:

We've also created a template to help you in your process, which you can download for free.

1. Define your world's name and setting

Broadly speaking, the setting of your story will either be our own world, or an entirely fictional world - what's known as "second world" fantasy. Before you start work on your backstory, it's essential to know which of these categories your story will fall under.

Create second worlds from scratch

George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar cycle are classic examples of "second world" fantasy: they were able to create worlds untethered by historical paths or laws, which gave them a lot of freedom of choice.

This creative freedom is exciting, but it also requires a lot of world building work to invent a fleshed out and textured fantasy world. A strong starting point in order to define your world as "other" to our own is selecting your world's name. You can make it as cool as you like; think Discworld, Middle Earth, Zamonia, etc.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld has many similarities with Earth, but a few major differences. One big one? Discworld flies through space on the back of four elephants, who are themselves perched atop a giant turtle. (Illustration by Josh Kirby)

Set your story in an Earth-like place

Not all fantasy writers, however, wish to create an entirely new world. You can always set your story right here on Earth. For example, the vast majority of literary fiction, mystery, and romance novels are set on a place called Earth that bears a striking resemblance to our own world. This kind of world creation may require less invention on behalf of the author, but may require just as much preparation as they are constrained by historical specifics, technology, and politics.

Within "real world" fantasy, however, you will see two broad subgenres: alternate history fantasy, and historical fantasy.

For historical fantasies, while some amount of historical license is accepted (and encouraged), your readers will notice something's wrong if your book has Atilla the Hun kidnapping Florence Nightingale without the help of a time machine.

Alternate history fantasy gives you a little more freedom; as the name suggests, you're inventing an alternate version of history. Still, you'll want to think carefully about the changes you're making, and the way they might impact the day-to-day life of your characters.

Once you've selected between first and second world settings, you can begin building it in earnest. This is where the fun really begins.
Watch: How to create your worldbuilding bible
2. Create a map of the territory

Once you've named your world, it's time to fill it. That means having at least a broad sense of its geography and ecology, so that you know what the landscape looks like, and what beasts your characters are likely to encounter.

You can consult our worldbuilding guide for a full list of prompts, but some questions to consider include:

What sort of environment can be found in different areas of your world? (Deserts, oceans, mountains, forests, etc)

What wildlife can be found there?

What is the climate like?

Where are the cities? How large are they? What are they called?

Take inspiration from real countries

You can draw from the real world when imagining these aspects of your fantasy world. For example, Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse takes inspiration from the geography of a number of real-world countries, often at another point in their national history. You can find analogs for Tsarist Russia, the Dutch Republic, China, and Scandinavia in Bardugo's books.

A map of Leigh Bardgo's Grishaverse (Image: Netflix)

As well as drawing from the past, another approach could be to imagine a future iteration of our world. NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy is a masterful example of speculative worldbuilding. The trilogy takes place on a supercontinent called the Stillness, which is wracked by massive climate events every few centuries which reshape the entire world's geography. Colson Whitehead's Zone One is set in the familiar but decimated remains of a future New York, a cityscape that has been devastated by a zombie apocalypse.

Maybe set your story in two different places

Another possibility is to create a dual setting, locating your narrative in part in our own physical world, and in part in another. Erin Morgensen's The Starless Sea tackles this expertly, using the classic "magical door" trope to connect her real-world locations (Vermont and New York) with her fantastical world, the honey-filled Starless Sea and the magical harbors that sit upon it.

Imagine an entirely new environment

You may, of course, wish to create a landscape entirely alien from our own. Frank Herbert's Dune is set on the desert planet of Arrakis, a world entirely devoid of natural water and inhospitable to most forms of life. Noteworthy exceptions to this are sandworms, giant and dangerous worm-like creatures that Fremen, the planet's inhabitants, have learned to ride.

Lots of fantasy readers like referring to a physical map when imagining a world that is unlike our own. Maps are not always necessary, but they're a useful foundation to define a sense of distance and space - and they can help you visualize your world as you're building it.

Draw a map to help the reader

Reedsy illustrator Leo Hartas designed this fantasy map.

For a personal and expert approach, it's definitely worth hiring a professional illustrator to develop your fantasy map. Here at Reedsy, we have rigorously curated the best freelance illustrators in the publishing business - and they're just a click away from helping your work stand out

3. Populate the world with people

Now that your physical landscape exists, let's drop some people into it. To create a textured and believable setting, you'll want to populate your planet with a variety of races and cultures - which can be either created, or based on real-world cultures.

You may wish to pull species from the rich traditions of high fantasy (elves, dwarves, trolls, etc), but you can also invent entirely new races. Our worldbuilding template will help you nail down the details of your inhabitants.

Be careful with tropes and stereotypes

Make sure to research thoroughly before settling on any attributes or characteristics for your characters. Even in the imagined worlds of fantasy and science fiction, harmful stereotypes can be perpetuated, especially when drawing on real-world cultures.

Some research is therefore required to ensure you are handling your source material in a respectful way, and to avoid retrograde stereotypes when portraying the characteristics of imagined races (including "classic" fantasy characters like dwarves, which have long been influenced by antisemitic tropes).

An example of real-world cultures informing fantasy cultures is the setting and characters of Children of Blood and Bone. Author Tomi Adeyemi draws on African mythology and her own Yoruba heritage, setting the story in a fictional version of pre-colonial Nigeria. Her imagined country, Orïsha, is inhabited by two peoples; the magical divîners with distinctive white hair, and their non-magical oppressors, the kosidán.

How to Develop Characters

Invent an alien species

Of course, your characters don't need to be human. Octavia Butler's Xenogensis series is an example of an invented non-human race. In the series' first installment, Dawn, a human woman Lilith awakens alone in a prison cell, only to learn that she is one of the last survivors of the human race. She has been abducted by the Oankali, a humanoid but thoroughly alien three-gendered species covered in sensory tentacles. The differences between the humans and the Oankali, and the Oankali's unusual biology and reproduction, form the driving force behind the novel's plot.

Come up with a new slang or language

When we talk about invented languages in fiction, most of us might imagine devotees of Tolkien whispering Elvish love poems - or Star Trek fans barking threats in Klingon. But language is something that applies to books across the board. Your decisions here will affect how the story develops and can make the difference in whether your book is believable.

Languages can be an interesting and exciting avenue of worldbuilding. The spoken word is a reflection of the cultures that spawned them, and the evolution of the language will often indicate some societal change.

For example, the youths in Anthony Burgess' 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange speak a dialect called "Nadsat" which mixes Russian and English words. That choice alone implies a lot about the dystopian world of the book, suggesting a future where Soviet culture had spread further West.

Tolkien invented an entire language and alphabet for his Lord of the Rings series. This sample of Tengwar is the beginning of the universal declaration of human rights. (Source: Omniglot)

Our worldbuilding guide will help you develop your ideas about language, but as a start, it's worth considering how many languages are spoken in your world, which language is most prevalent, and any common phrases or greetings which might come up a lot.

If your story is set on Earth, you can play with idioms and slang to create a unique dialect for your characters, that sets your fictional world apart from our own. Writers of historical fiction will also want to pay close attention to dialect, to ensure that any vocabulary being used is authentic.

So while language building isn't essential, any little details like these that you can add to your worldbuilding will help create a richer and more immersive setting for your story.

4. Elaborate your civilization's history

Civilizations are defined by their history. That might be a very broad statement - but it contains a kernel of truth. Writers should have a solid grasp on the history of their world, regardless of genre, and should be familiar with the key events that matter to the story they're telling or the culture they're exploring. So, how can you go about this?

Once again, a popular way to flesh out the history of your world is to borrow from our own. The line between historical fiction and fantasy is somewhat blurred, and with good reason. A good fantasy world will have a history that's every bit as interesting as the one we have here on Earth Prime, so why not draw inspiration from it?

Going back to A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin famously patterned his book's central conflict after The War of the Roses. Using a veiled version of English history as his starting point, Martin then fills in the rest of his rich history with dragons, mad kings, and ice zombies. Similarly, RF Kuang's The Poppy War is a fantastical reinterpretation of 20th-century China, and contains a fantasy drug-driven conflict inspired by the real-world Opium wars.

Speculate on history-altering moments

Let's say you're dealing with a futuristic version of our reality: there's still plenty of work to be done. You need to have some idea of what's happened between now and the time when you set your book. Start by speculating on developments in technology and society. Then, crucially, figure out how these changes have affected the characters and cultures in your book.

If your book is an "alternate history", it may stem from a single "what if" question. Think of a single point of divergence: a moment in history that shifted ever-so-slightly, leading to changes that ripple forward through time.

In Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, the point of divergence comes with the assassination of President Franklin Roosevelt in the early 1930s. It results in a continuation of the Great Depression and American isolationism, allowing Germany and Japan to win World War II. The book then answers the question: "What would 1960s America be like if the Allies lost the war?"

5. Create systems of technology and magic

Perhaps the defining feature of any SFF book is its systems, whether they be magical or technological. It's important to consider the details of how these things work carefully; just waving your hand and saying "and there's magic" won't cut it. You'll have to define the magical or supernatural elements of your world.

With both science fiction and fantasy worldbuilding, you're likely to come across the phrases "hard" and "soft" frequently. These labels are a (somewhat arbitrary, but still helpful) way of distinguishing between different types of SFF. Let's take a look further, so you can decide where your world falls on the spectrum.

Spell out the rules of hard magic

A hard magic system is one defined by its rules, and which has clear and explicit boundaries on when said magic does and doesn't work, and what the consequences of using magic are.

A great example of this type of magic system is Brandon Sanderson's Mistbornseries, set in a world where the primary form of magic is allomancy: a system whereby users swallow different metals, and metabolize them to different effects. Dedicated fans have been able to catalog all the possible variations of allomancy, and have discovered a clear cause-and-effect relationship between the actions of allomancers and their consequences, making for a true hard magic system.

As you can imagine, designing a hard magical system is a pretty significant undertaking that may involve a lot of variables. For that reason, it's often worth dedicating a good chunk of your worldbuilding time to making sure your system is watertight.

Play with mystery and soft magic

You can choose not to explain how magic works and allow it to retain some of its mystery. After all, as soon as you explain all of magic's secrets, it almost ceases to be magic.

Some magic systems, like the one in the Harry Potter series, straddle the line between hard and soft magic. Certain aspects are explained, but the rules of the system are not always clearly defined. (Image: Warner Bros)

One example of a "soft" magic system, one which doesn't have hard and fast rules, is the one in Belgariad. The sorcerers in David Eddings' Belgariad manifest their willpower through a system he calls 'The Will and the Word'. It doesn't require any potions or scrolls, and the so-called "rules" are able to be broken. As such, the limits to magical powers in this world are more conceptual than they are practical, and you'd be hard pressed to describe exactly what can and can't be done.

While the flexibility of a soft magic system may be appealing - after all, you can't break a rule if you haven't established it - it certainly isn't a get-out-of-jail free card. If you have an 'anything goes' approach to magic, your characters' actions may cease to have consequences: you can bring anyone back from the dead, time can be reversed, your hero can escape from danger just by 'magic.' Be sparing with your use of soft magic, and don't use it as a deus ex machina that miraculously solves your plot issues.

Explain how magic impacts the world

As well as defining the rules of your magic system, consider what it means to have magic. What are the consequences on both your world and the people using it? Maybe it takes a physical toll on the user, or perhaps there are emotional, mental, or social implications to exercising magic.

Who can use magic? If your protagonist is the only person with their gift, how does the world around them react to it? Are they revered or reviled for their abilities?

Conversely, what happens if someone who should have powers, doesn't? For example, in Codex Alera by Jim Butcher, the people of Alera bond in childhood with one or more "furies" - elementals of air, water, fire, earth, wood, or metal. Everyone, save the protagonist Tavi who happens to be the crown prince of Alera. This lack of bond comes to have major consequences as noblemen around him begin to eye his ultra-powerful father's throne.

Disney's Encanto explores the implications of a non-magical person living surrounded by people who do have powers. (Image: Disney)

If, as in Codex Alera, magic is widespread, how do people learn how to use it? Trudi Canavan's Black Magician trilogy has a Magician's Guild, where people work their way up through a structured hierarchy. Wizards in Harry Potter attend boarding school and end up with soul-crushing jobs in magical middle management. By imagining how magic would function practically in your world, your book will become all the more believable and relatable.

Now that we've discussed magical systems, it's time to turn our attention to science...

Be precise if you use hard science

This is a brand of writing with a particular basis in technological fact. Best known for his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke is one of the greatest pioneers in this field, whose fictional inventions bear close resemblance to everyday items in the 21st century.

One great contemporary example of the hard science is Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem, a novel which explores a real-life phenomenon in orbital mechanics, and imagines a three-star system containing a single Earth-like planet which experiences extreme destruction as it passes between the three.

The important point is this: if you choose to write about technical science and technology, you should get your facts right. Many fans of the genre will likely know more about science than you do. If you get the details wrong, they will call you out on it; take for example Larry Niven, who was mercilessly teased by readers for having a character in Ringworld teleport eastward around the Earth to extend his birthday, when doing so would have actually shortened it.

You can always seek advice: the internet is a wellspring of information. If you're shy about contacting people, Wikipedia is not a terrible place to start your research.

..or give yourself some slack with soft science

We know what you may be thinking - "Dammit, Reedsy, I'm a writer not a physicist!" If you're not exactly science-minded but still want to write in the genre, you can always take the lead from writers like the late Iain M. Banks. His beloved science fiction novels are about The Culture, a post-scarcity society where all work is automated, and the citizens leave all the big decisions to a benevolent A.I.

The original Star Wars trilogy is an example of both soft science, and soft magic: the rules of the universe and its mysterious magical energy the Force are not explicitly explained. (Image: Lucasfilm)

Banks' universe is full of science fiction tropes like droids and spaceships - but he doesn't really explain how any of it works. It makes perfect sense from a storytelling point of view: novels set in the modern day rarely explain how iPads work. To us, they're simply a function of everyday living. Banks makes a conscious decision to focus on story and character and he proves that you don't need to know much science to write great science fiction.

Whether you go hard or soft, it's important to establish your system ahead of time, so that you can remain consistent and logical throughout your work. Knowing how involved you want your systems to be will also mean you can plan how and when to deploy your exposition to maximum effect.

6. Distribute resources with a working economy

It may not sound too exciting, but considering something as fundamental as the economics of your world can be extremely helpful in making it a believable one. This isn't essential, but having an understanding of the economy can help you imagine how your characters will move through the world.

Take, for example, Anne McCaffrey's iconic fantasy series, Pern. While the dragons are probably what most readers come away remembering, those who play close attention to the mechanics of the world are rewarded with a fascinating system to wrap their heads around. In Pern, the wooden tokens used for trade, "marks", hold no intrinsic value - they don't correspond to, for instance, a measure of precious metal, but are simply worth what they are traded for. So, your mark may be more or less valuable, depending on simply how well you are able to haggle to trade it.

Your economy may also be a speculative one, like the post-scarcity economy in Iain Banks' Culture series. The series explores the implications of a world where most goods can be produced abundantly with minimal or no human labor, something Banks describes as "space socialism".

As a minimum, it's good to consider what the main valuables are in your world, how trade takes place (is it a barter system? Do people trade with money?), what the currency is called if there is one, and where your heroes come in the financial pecking order.

7. Determine your world's power structure

As well as creating the history and economy of your world, you may also want to consider other institutions and power structures, such as religions, governments, or political ideologies. Again, this might be drawn from reality: Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series features a society dominated by the Magisterium, a religious body modeled in part on the real-world Catholic church.

You might also want to borrow from the past, like the feudal system of Dune, or extrapolate into the future, like the theocratic, totalitarian state of Gilead in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

It's worth reminding ourselves that stories set in other worlds have always actually been about the world we live in. Some of the most enduring works of science fiction and fantasy are profound commentaries on human culture and, in particular, our relationship to power and powerlessness. So even if your story takes place in a galaxy far far away, always remember to ask yourself what are you trying to say about society or the human condition and try your best to be intentional with how you use real-life source materials.

And with that final point, it's now over to you: remember to download our free worldbuilding guide for tips on how to create your own fantastic lands and customs. We can't wait to see your brave new world. Qapla'!*

*Klingon for "good luck"

- Originally published on Aug 30, 2018

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Worldbuilding: How to Create a Fascinating New World [+Template]

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Worldbuilding is the process by which authors create a fictional world, inventing its history, geography, politics, and economy, as well as any religions or power structures. They might also consider the demographics and ecology of the world, including the existence of fictional or non-human races, unusual flora or fauna, or other magical properties of the world.

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13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

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13th Dimension teams up with another free MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) to enrich the comics experience! This week from MAKING COMICS: World Building.

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Freedom comes at a heavy price in No. 5, by Taiyo Matsumoto ( Ping Pong, Tekkon Kinkreet), a sorrowful story of revenge and intrigue. In the distant future, the powers that be created a team of genetically engineered super soldiers known as the Peace Corp Commandos, with the Rainbow Brigade being the cream of the crop. Rainbow Brigade members cast off the names of their old lives in favor of numbers. Our titular anti-hero, No. 5, breaks from the group, taking a woman named Matryshoka with him, and now he must fight off his former comrades in arms. No. 5 is one of the most skilled members of the Brigade and many of the fighters know that going after him means suicide, but they do so anyways out of a sense of duty or revenge, all while it seems like the Rainbow Brigade itself may be unraveling from within as public trust in them sours. The story moves back and forth between No. 5 evading or hunting the Rainbow Brigade, and the other members contemplating the importance or futility of this mission. The psychedelic visuals bely the relative simplicity of a story about duty and betrayal.

If I had to give a pithy elevator pitch description of No. 5, it'd be Cyborg 009 (Shotaro Ishinomori's manga about an international team of super-powered cyborgs) meets El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky's psychedelic western about a quest for bloodshed and enlightenment). During an extended sequence in No. 5 the art style shifts to a faux Ishinomori style as we watch an in-world commercial for the Rainbow Brigade itself. There's a simplicity and efficiency to Matsumoto's faces combined with a kinetic energy. Matsumoto makes use of distorted angles, almost as if the pages were filmed with a fish-eye lens, lending fluidity to the world and characters. At a glance, one might be inclined to compare Matsumoto's character art to that of Moebius', and while there's definitely some of Jean Giraud's DNA in this book, Matsumoto creates a unique look for his characters.

Matsumoto has many strengths as an artist, but his environments for No. 5 really stand out. The world of No. 5 is composed of sprawling deserts, silent mountaintops, and tropical islands, but also cacophanus cities that look like Beijing, Rome, and Tokyo all collapsing into a blackhole. The Rainbow Brigade is meant to be a task force from around the world, and the world they inhabit does look like it's condensing in on itself. This blending of aesthetics is also reflected in the unique environments for each member of the Rainbow Brigade. The leader, No. 1, lives in a simplistically stylish apartment adorned with posters of John Lennon and blockbuster movies. Meanwhile the enigmatic No. 4, who is actually a pair of twins with strange psychic powers, lives in an extravagantly opulent manor isolated in the wilderness, and the gruff No. 6 is quasi-nomadic, traveling on horseback. At a glance it may seem like Matsumoto is creating strange environments just for the hell of it, but it communicates a lot about the characters.

Even on a narrative level, there's a blending of motifs. As each member of the Rainbow Brigade takes their turn hunting down No. 5, the story takes on a different flavor. We see the story go from quiet moments of spiritual reflection, to John Woo style shoot-outs, to Vietnam war-like marching, to spaghetti western heroism. There are multitudes within No. 5, though these tend to be all related to combat and adventure for the most part. Even the story of a member of an elite fighting force going rogue feels evocative of Kazuou Koike or the more politically tinged ninja parables of Sanpei Shirato.

No. 5 originally ran in Japan from 2000 to 2005 in Spirits Zōkan Ikki (later Monthly Ikki) alongside action manga with unusual visual flair such as Q Hayashida's Dorohedoro. For the English speaking world two volumes of No. 5 were published by Viz in English in 2002 and 2003. Unfortunately only those two volumes were ever translated, leading the manga to fall into obscurity in the US and its volumes closely coveted by manga collectors. Now in 2021, Viz is re-releasing the title and hopefully seeing it through to completion. In my years reading manga I have seen many titles go out of print too quickly or never even see completion in the states, so this is a very welcome surprise, and a chance for you to get acquainted with Taiyo Matsumoto's strange tale of revenge.

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Taiyo Matsumoto's No. 5: A Psychedelic Tale of Revenge

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Freedom comes at a heavy price in No. 5, by Taiyo Matsumoto (Ping Pong, Tekkon Kinkreet), a sorrowful story of revenge and intrigue. In the distant future, the powers that be created a team of genetically engineered super soldiers known as the Peace Corp Commandos, with the Rainbow Brigade being the cream of the crop.

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In October of 1995, the online fan website "Tokyo Cool" published the first, and one of the only English-language interviews with manga creator Taiyo Matsumoto. At some point in the last 13 years the whole website was taken offline, interview included. With a little help from webarchive.org I dug up as much of the original website as was left, including this interview and some bibliographical information. I then spent the last few months re-writing it into slightly more grammatical English, annotating it, and filling out and updating the bibliography. Why? Because Matsumoto is a real talent and I figure the more people are interested in him, the more people will buy the work, the more work we'll get...! Enjoy!
INTERVIEW: TAIYO MATSUMOTO
By Kansai Takita
Conducted October 1995
Translated into English by Kansai Takita
English re-write by Christopher Butcher Since when have clever writing and bold art styling become so appreciated? TAIYO MATSUMOTO emerged like a penetrating black hole of negative space into a sandstorm of tiny details. The brilliance of intense pitch-black darknessâ€"like a photo-negative of the sunâ€"assaults our eyes. The entire spectrum of Matsumotoâ€™s world is focused in this interview, a sum of words. ## The Beginning of Taiyo Matsumotoâ€™s Manga Career
TAKITA: Have you been drawing manga since childhood?

MATSUMOTO: I have always enjoyed drawing manga, but I was more of a soccer player as a child. I started drawing manga seriously while in University. When I was at Wako University, I saw an illustration in the book that introduces various clubs at school, and then joined â€˜Comic Study Groupâ€™. Up to that point, I was definitely a physical type. When I asked the other club members when we started practicing, I was told there was no such thing as practice! At that time, I had absolutely no knowledge of how to create comicsâ€"not even about toning. I had to be taught the basics, like not drawing on both sides of the paper.

TAKITA: You made your debut in Comic Morning Magazine [with the series STRAIGHT].

MATSUMOTO: There was a special edition of â€œComic Morningâ€ called â€œAfternoonâ€ which was just being issued. It was in â€œAfternoonâ€ where my first work appeared. I was a university student then.

TAKITA: Who were your favorite comic artists at the time?

MATSUMOTO: I was a fan of Comic Morning contributor Seiki Tsuchida, I decided to apply there with my work because of him. 1
## Taiyo Matsumotoâ€™s Cousin, Santa Inoue
TAKITA: Did you start drawing comics at the same time as your cousin, manga artist Santa Inoue? 2

MATSUMOTO: Santa was born in France, and I used to bully him because his Japanese was terrible. I think it was into our late teens when we became close friends. He was very bright. He has been contributing his manga to Shueisha and other publishers since his early teens, he started very early. His style is not "tardy" and very sharp, you know. It may be because Santa was born in France that his comic has no "wabi-sabi" (an expression derived from the Sadoh, Japanese tea ceremony, implying simple tranquility). 3

TAKITA: Do you regard him as your rival?

MATSUMOTO: I do have a sense of friendly rivalry with himâ€¦ I wouldn't want to do anything unseemly.
## Moving from STRAIGHT to ZERO.
TAKITA: Next you moved onto the "Big Comic Spirits" magazine from "Comic Morning".

MATSUMOTO: I had a lot of freedom working with "Big Comic Spirits." I wrote my manga ZERO as I was asked to do a drama featuring a boxing story.

TAKITA: You made a dramatic change in your drawing style between STRAIGHT and ZERO.

MATSUMOTO: I was covering the Paris-Dakar Rally when I was 22. I had little interest in the Rally itself and spent a lot of time at bookstores. The drastic change in my drawing may have been the result of the comics I came across in the French bookstores. 4

TAKITA: Does that mean that you were influenced by French comics artists like Moebius and Enkil Bilal?

MATSUMOTO: Yes, I was. The number of really great comics artists in France were fewer than I had anticipated, but those who were great were exceptionally marvelous. They had a tremendous impact on my work.

TAKITA: Did you work out the story of ZERO before you began drawing it? Traditionally a boxing manga portrays the character growing up and coming of age, but that isnâ€™t the case with ZERO.

MATSUMOTO: Yes, I had my story prepared. ZERO starts with a 30 year old boxing champion as the main character. At first, the publisher was against beginning the story that way.

TAKITA: In ZERO your line had changed, but the fundamental story resembles that of STRAIGHT.

MATSUMOTO: Yes, that's true. With ZERO, I had completed what I could not accomplish in STRAIGHT. Although STRAIGHT was originally about a 40 year-old relief pitcher, I was asked to change him to a 19 year-old relief pitcher because I was young myself then. I had a specific desire to draw a story about a middle-aged man.
## Background on Matsumotoâ€™s works BLUE SPRING and HANA-OTOKO (A Boy Meets A Papa and Baseball).
TAKITA: Your manga BLUE SPRING feels new, in the sense that it observes punk kids from an objective point of view, normally comics about punks are done by punk artists themselves. Was your high school like the one depicted in BLUE SPRING?

MATSUMOTO: Well, my high school has been closed down. The students really only became rough after it had been decided that the school was to be closed. I love drawing teenage punks, they became my dear friends and I was a fan of them. Although I felt that the story in BLUE SPRING â€œThe Family Restaurant Is Our Paradise!â€ was pretty well done, I had written â€œThis Is Badâ€ 5 to complete the book. I was amazed by how I could rapidly change my work. I thought I had an unbiased attitude to my subjects, but I found it impossible to be impassive. At the end I was forcing myself to draw punks objectively and the consequence is â€œThis Is Bad.â€

TAKITA: "Revolver" is based on an original story by Carib Marley (a writer and a great fan of Bob Marley!). How did you two collaborate on the work?

MATSUMOTO: He had finished the original story as one piece and kindly said that I could cook the material as I wished. I was a fan of Carib Marley, and it happened that we had the same editor. â€œRevolverâ€ was the very first work I did based on someone elseâ€™s story.

TAKITA: Your manga HANA-OTOKO is set in Shonan, a seaside area.

MATSUMOTO: I used to live in Sagami-Ohno. But I had a feeling, while I was strolling through the Shonan area, it might just be the right environment for creating HANA-OTOKO, so I had moved to Fujisawa. It was pretty lonesome living by myself, so I asked Kazunari Eifuku 5a and Santa Inoue to move there with me.

TAKITA: HANA-OTOKO resembles Kei Nemotoâ€™s manga NATURAL. 6

MATSUMOTO: I found out about that afterwards. Santa is a fan of Nemoto's works and seems to be on good terms with Nemoto. I am a fan of Yoshikazu Ebisuâ€™s 7 works, particularly TEACHERS IN HELL and NO MORE THINKING. I think theyâ€™re great manga.
## TEKKON KINKREET and Action Comics
TAKITA: You are particular about the movements of a human body. Do you like action comics?

MATSUMOTO: I like comics with action especially in a serialized comic. Specifically, I prefer to draw sports stories where the action can be depicted more naturally, as compared to something like a gangster action comic. Another reason I prefer to draw sports comics is that I enjoy drawing the little details that belong to sports, like a catcherâ€™s mitt or the number on a playerâ€™s back in a baseball manga.

TAKITA: How about a soccer comic?

MATSUMOTO: Doing a soccer comic is hard. 22 players need to appear in one game. I would need 20 volumes to do a soccer comic, but I feel most comfortable with work thatâ€™s about three volumes long.

TAKITA: Did you pick the setting for TEKKON KINKREET as the near-future because you had action comics in mind for this particular work?

MATSUMOTO: It would have been more effective to see a boy running down a building wall in animation, I couldnâ€™t achieve the effect I had envisioned in a single drawing. 8

TAKITA: Even though itâ€™s a single drawing, your expression of movement is so rich. You use techniques like abbreviating dialogue and very specific framing and composition in TEKKON KINKREET, did you do that all on instinct?

MATSUMOTO: If I try to write all of the dialogue, the story would be too long. Even when I read other people's comics, Iâ€™m inclined to skip some of lines of dialogue. So I abbreviate it as much as possible in my work.
##The Vector Of Creation
TAKITA: What are you interested in creating next?

MATSUMOTO: The next material that I am interested in is table tennis. Iâ€™d like to do a high school version of Shinsen Gumi in Ryotaro Shimaâ€™s "Burning Sword" (a historical novel where a group of samurai called Shinsen Gumi have risen to protect the Emperor toward the end of Edo Period). 9

TAKITA: There is already Monoru Furutaniâ€™s GO! INA JUNIOR HIGH TABLE TENNIS CLUB!

MATSUMOTO: Whenever I mention that I want to do a table tennis manga next, Iâ€™m always reminded of that. What Iâ€™m going to do is a story with a main character who is a genius. Iâ€™ve been researching and the series will appear serially in â€œBig Comic Spiritsâ€ magazine.

TAKITA: It may sound trite, but why have you chosen to become a comic artist and not a novelist or a film director?

MATSUMOTO: When I was deciding what I should do for life, there were so many comic artists that I had incredible respect for, like Minetaro Mochizuki 10, Seiki Tsuchida and Katsuhiro Otomo 11. Under the circumstances, I could think of no other way to tell stories than becoming a comic artist.

TAKITA: Mochizukiâ€™s FLUTTER GOLDFISH is really funny.

MATSUMOTO: When I read that, I was relieved that I don't have to draw women. Many people had said that my weak point was that I couldnâ€™t draw women in the same way that, if I were a pitcher, I couldnâ€™t throw a curve ball.

TAKITA: TEKKON KINKREET has become a play directed by Makoto Sato in a black tent. What do you think of the play? 12

MATSUMOTO: I had expected more changes from the original, but on the contrary, it was loyal to the original work and most of lines used were exactly the same as those in the actual comics. Having seen that play, I wanted to write a play myself.
## The Future
TAKITA: What do you think of multimedia, personal computers, and so forth?

MATSUMOTO: Currently, I am working on a CD-ROM 13. At first, I was asked to make a CD-ROM of TEKKON KINKREET, but I did not want the comic which was meant to be read as in two-page spreads to be conformed to a style where every panel had to be clicked and read one-at-a-time. So I am doing an original work for a CD-ROM. I still donâ€™t have a feel for it, but Iâ€™m flattered that many young people have an interest in my work.

TAKITA: The art book 100 and manga NIHON NO KYODAI (Brotherhood of Japan) are your newest works. Could you tell us about your future plans?

MATSUMOTO: Manga creator Mr. Aihara 14 has already done a ninja comic. Iâ€™d like to do a ninja comic myself, using vivid contrast without toning, possibly in a monthly or bi-monthly serial. The world of ninja is so cruel and dirty, yet it has a strong aesthetic. When I am a little older with more drawing ability, I would like to draw that world of wabi-sabi. 15
##A message for the readers
TAKITA: Would you like to leave a message for the readers?

MATSUMOTO: Please do not believe in comic artists' words. I think comics are like fake magic. To keep itself entertaining, it creates a secret device, and we are not creating comics out of supernatural power. Sometimes there are readers who have false idea about drawing comics are about using supernatural power. (^^;;)

TAKITA: Indeed, that may happen, as a manga leaves the hands of an artist once it is published and starts to walk by itself. Thank you for joining us today.
END October,1995
INTERVIEWED by TAKITA KANSEI
The original interview may be available online by clicking this link.
-

END NOTES

1. Seiki Tsuchida has not yet been published in English. For more on him though, check out these links.

Links on Seiki Tsuchida:
A fun post on his series â€œKING OF EDITORSâ€: http://community.livejournal.com/mangacast/514236.html
Biography of Seiki Tsuchida: http://users.skynet.be/mangaguide/au1959.html .

2. Santa Inoue is best known in North America for his series TOKYO TRIBES, published in English by Tokyopop. A sensational Japanese gangster fantasy, the series has legions of dedicated fans in Japan, and has led to an anime, fashion lines, and many other licensed goods. Unfortunately it looks as though TT has been cancelled by the publisher, with only six of 11+ volumes translated. Santa Inoue is no relation to manga-ka Takehiko Inoue, author of VAGABOND.

Links on Santa Inoue:
Santastic! The official Santa Inoue store: http://www.santa.co.jp/
Tokyopop Publisher Stu Levy interviews Inoue in a video interview: http://youtube.com/watch?v=85XTK8kJUwA (Apparently this is just part 1 of an 8 part interview, but I canâ€™t find parts 2-7 anywhere. Sigh. Tokyopop.)

3. This description of â€œwabi-sabiâ€ comes from the original interview, however the actual idea is much more complex and nuanced. For more on â€œwabi-sabiâ€, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi .]

4. I feel it important to note that Matsumoto created the action tour-de-force NO.5 (Number 5) in the early 2000s, which has a very deliberate and acknowledged tip-of-the-hat to the comics of Moebius and Enki Bilal.

5. In the original Japanese version of BLUE SPRING, the story referred to here is called â€œOh, I Give Upâ€, and is the last story in the book.

5a. Kazunari Eifuku: I couldnâ€™t find any information on this person, save a thank-you credit in Usumaru ( Short Cuts) Furuyaâ€™s SUICIDE CIRCLE. It is interesting to note however, that Matsumoto would later go on to work with a fellow named Issei Eifuku, and Issei Eifuku seems only to be credited with being the writer on Matsumotoâ€™s newest work, TAKEMITSU ZAMURAI.

6. I can find no record of this manga anywhere. However, the artist that they seem to be referring to here is likely â€œTakashi Nemotoâ€ who is sometimes mistakenly referred to as â€œKei Nemoto.â€ Nemoto is a seminal, influential figure in underground comics in Japan. His first published work in English appeared in the now hard-to-find collection COMICS UNDERGROUND JAPAN, and his first major work, MONSTER MEN BUREIKO LULLABY, will be published in English by PictureBox Inc. in Fall 2008.

Links on Takashi Nemoto:
The official English Takashi Nemoto website: http://www011.upp.so-net.ne.jp/TOKUSYUMANGA/text/genre14.htm
Information page for PictureBox Inc.: http://www.pictureboxinc.com/product/id/306/

7. Ebisu Yoshikazuâ€™s work is generally untranslated in North America, except for a short story in COMICS UNDERGROUND JAPAN. However, a panel of his work graces the front cover to Frederk L. Schodtâ€™s seminal book on manga, Dreamland Japan, and an appreciation of the artist appears in that book.

8. Obviously, this interview was conducted far before TEKKON KINKREET was animated. The animated version of TEKKON KINKREET was released in 2007 by Sony Pictures.

9. The work described here would eventually become Matsumotoâ€™s biggest hit, the five-volume manga series PING PONG. The PING PONG manga spawned a live-action movie that has been released in North America by Viz Pictures Releasing. The manga has not yet been translated for North America, but is available in scanlations.

10. Minetaro Mochizuki is the author of DRAGON HEAD, published in English by Tokyopop, and it is quite good. Mochizuki is better-known in Japan for his comedy series FLUTTER GOLDFISH, though, which is untranslated.

11. Katsuhiro Otomo is the creator of the smash-hit manga and anime AKIRA. AKIRA manga was until-recently available from Dark Horse Comics, and the AKIRA animated film is available on DVD from Sony Pictures. In addition, Otomoâ€™s STEAMBOY and MEMORIES animated films are available from Son Pictures, and his manga DOMU was until-recently available from Dark Horse Books.

12. Sorry folks, I couldnâ€™t find any more info on this stage adaptation, or even much about what a Black Tent play is. HOWEVER! It looks like Matsumoto actually DID write a play. I found a book on Amazon Japan that seems to be a combination of the comic that the play is based on and the complete script for the play. Itâ€™s called, and I quote, â€œMezasu hikari no aru saki / or Mono, moshikuha, paradiseâ€. He also created the script for an original black tent play in comics form, which became the graphic novel HANA. Both plays have been performed in front of an audience, and published as books.

13. CD-ROM? No idea. I couldn't find any info on this.

14. â€œMr. Aiharaâ€ here may actually refer to Koji Aihara, the author of EVEN A MONKEY CAN DRAW MANGA (released in English by Viz, out of print), as Aihara did create a well-regarded Ninja comic.

15. â€œIâ€™d like to do a ninja comic myself, using vivid contrast without toning, possibly in a monthly or bi-monthly serial.â€ Matsumoto did adopt a very edgy and high-contrast style later in his career, and heâ€™s using it to illustrate his current manga series TAKEMITSU ZAMURAI, with author Issei Eifuku. Itâ€™s very interesting.

Japanese book display featuring the work of Taiyo Matsumoto. Photo by Christopher Butcher.

-
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JAPANESE WORKS BY TAIYO MATSUMOTO I've compiled as thorough a bibliography of Japanese language releases by Taiyo Matsumoto as one can without a thorough grasp of the Japanese language. I've also tried to find cover images for each entry, and made specific note of if and where these books are available in English, by hook... or by crook. I should also note that Matsumoto has begun illustrating book covers and interiors for various prose stories, and a search of his name on Amazon Japan will bring up 3-5 books not listed below. In general, he has just provided cover illustrations for these work, and so I haven't included them here (they're real pretty though...).
STRAIGHT Volume 1
Publisher: Kodansha, January 1989
English Availability: No
420 yen

STRAIGHT Volume 2
Publisher: Kondansha, December 1989
English Availability: No
430 Yen

Tekkon Kinkreet Volume 2
Publisher: Shogakukan, May 1994
ISBN-13: 978-4091847324
English Availability: Print Edition (as Black & White Volume 2), Viz, Out of Print
English Availability: Film Adaptation, Sony Pictures, http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/tekkonkinkreet/
850 Yen

Tekkon Kinkreet Volume 3
Publisher: Shogakukan, July 1994
ISBN-13: 978-4091847331
English Availability: Print Edition (as Black & White Volume 3), Viz, Out of Print
English Availability: Film Adaptation, Sony Pictures, http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/tekkonkinkreet/
850 Yen

Edit: In February 2009 Viz Media announced that they would be doing an all-in-one edition of GO GO MONSTER, to be released November 2009 for $24.95. Format is unkown at time of posting.

Hana
Publisher: Freestyle, December 2002
80 Pages, Oversized, Hardcover, Dust Jacket
ISBN-13: 978-4939138096
English Availability: No
1,680 Yen
ABOUT: Matsumoto created this script for a black tent theatre performance as a penciled comic story, and then revised it into a full length 80 page graphic novella.

Tekkon Kinkreet All-In-One Edition
Publisher: Shogakukan, December 2006
611 Pages, Oversized, Dust Jacket
ISBN-13: 978-4091810335
English Availability: Print Edition, Viz, http://www.viz.com
English Availability: Film Adaptation, Sony Pictures, http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/tekkonkinkreet/
1,600 Yen

-

Thanks to Abhay Khosla for looking this over and for the kind words of support. And if you're Kansai Takita, thank you very much for conducting this interview in the first place. I'm sharing it here in the same spirit that you originally conducted and posted it; so that people will read good manga. That said, it's quite clearly your work, so feel free to tell me to take it down if it isn't to your liking.

Thanks for reading,

- Christopher

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In October of 1995, the online fan website "Tokyo Cool" published the first, and one of the only English-language interviews with manga creator Taiyo Matsumoto. At some point in the last 13 years the whole website was taken offline, interview included.

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does suspension of disbelief work by relating to main protagonist or becoming lost in the story?

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.we see ourselves in everything
we assign identities and emotions where none exist
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.when a realistic face is drawn you see that identity however if you draw a 'cartoon' or simplified face you see yourself.

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Suspension of disbelief in film or animation... How could this link?

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The Death of the Master

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Gleem

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What techniques are used to create a convicncing narrative?

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What techniques are used to create a convicncing narrative?

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What gives comics the ability to be convincing? Is it the absence of real-life photos or imagery? How is it possible to push the boundary as to what is real?

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In

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No.5

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Window Pane

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Samuel Taylor Coleridge whos states:
‘semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment'.

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The process of releasing strong feelings, for example through plays or other artistic activities, as a way of providing relief from anger, mental pain, etc.
(Oxford Dictionary)

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Alan Nathan in The Washington Times, "is a literary term of art referring to one of Aristotle's principles of theatre in which the audience accepts fiction as a reality so as to experience a catharsis, or a releasing of tensions to purify
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Temporarily allow oneself to believe something that is not true, especially in order to enjoy a work of fiction.
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I define suspension of disbelief within narratives as a story that has the ability to allow you to get lost in the world of the author. You emphasise strongly with the characters and feel a sense of relatability. This particular is evident in fantasy or made-up lands where there is a skill in presenting a new environment but still connecting to real-life struggles and experiences.

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.Suspension of Disbelief
.Believable/relateable narratives