I always feel a little gross writing these press releases, and yet… I do it anyway. Enjoy!

*****

NO LOVE FOR MANGA
American Cartoonist finds inspiration in Japan, but not in its comics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Among comic fans, mention of Japan instantly brings to mind a very specific art style. A staple of Japanese comics (or “manga”), it features hyper-expressive characters with neon hair and huge sparkling eyes. Manga has become increasingly popular around the world, and has influenced the work of many non-Japanese artists.

One might expect American cartoonist Lars Martinson to be among them. He has lived in Japan for more than four years, and it is the setting of his graphic novel Tonoharu. But despite Japan’s prominent role in Martinson’s life, the influence of Japanese comics is noticeably absent from his work.

“I’m not much of a fan of the manga art style.” Martinson said. “It tends to be a little too flashy, and distracts from the story rather than compliments it. For my own work, I wanted something more subtle.”

Martinson’s Tonoharu tells the story of an American who moves to rural Japan to teach English. With its leisurely pace, somber art style, and weighty themes of isolation and cultural identity, Tonoharu is not what one generally expects from a Japan-centric comic.

But it seems to have struck a chord. The first printing sold out less than four months after its publication date, and the book has garnered coverage from mainstream publications such as the Wall Street Journal and Entertainment Weekly. Not that Martinson has had much of an opportunity to brag about these accomplishments.

“I was in Japan when Tonoharu was released, and none of my friends here have heard of the American newspapers and magazines that covered it.” Martinson said. “They were more impressed when a local school paper did a little blurb about me.”

More information about Tonoharu can be found on Martinson’s blog at:
www.larsmartinson.com

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This blog entry is going up as I reach the end of a two-week stay in Fukuoka, my old stomping grounds and the setting of my graphic novel Tonoharu: Part One. I’ve been busy attending a language school, taking photos for use as reference in Tonoharu: Part Two, and seeing old friends and going to old restaurants. So as with last week’s entry, this week’s entry is being phoned in at the eleventh hour, by-and-large only to fulfill the promise of weekly updates that can be found on the lower right-hand corner of the masthead for this site.

Beginning next week I should be able to return to more “substantial” blog updates of thinly veiled self-promotion & narisicism. Next week will be a press release (oh boy!), and the week after will begin a series of posts in the form of an informal “how-to” guide about my experiences self-publishing. So see you then, dear readers.

I’m in Fukuoka this and the following week, studying at a Japanese language school and seeing old friends. I didn’t really have time to prepare a blog entry, so I’m jotting off this half-assed one at the eleventh hour. Please enjoy the following three pictures from Fukuoka:

Flower names, on the side of a cafe. The second word is probably just to see if you’re paying attention.

Finally! A butter-margarine mix with the least appetizing name imaginable!

The bathroom lock where I’m staying looks like a smiling metal duck.

Er… that’s it! See ya next Friday!

I’m lazily pawning off a bunch of links as my blog entry this week:

I recently conducted an e-mail interview with Tim O’Shea for his blog Talking with Tim. Check that out here.

I was also recently interviewed by Paulo Patrício for his blog Entrevista Súbita, which can be found here. Included is the original English version (halfway down the page), as well as a Portuguese translation. I just get a kick out of the fact that someone bothered translating what I have to say into another language.

Additionally, I recently updated the “Press” tab of this website to include a listing of all the interviews, profiles, and reviews Tonoharu has received (that I’m aware of). So check that out here.

The critical reception for Tonoharu has been positive (overall), but in the interest of painting an honest portrait of the response to my book, I’ve included the negative reviews as well. (I’m not going to tell you which ones are negative, though, you’ll have to muddle through them yourself.)

Also, if anyone knows of any media coverage that I’m missing, please let me know. For example, I think Giant Robot had something about my book, but I don’t know what issue #, and it doesn’t seem to be online…

Pssssssst… (I like you.)

In last week’s blog entry, I wrote about the first of two cultural surprises I encountered during my current stay in Japan to study calligraphy at Shikoku University. The subject of this entry is the second surprise, which involved…

Attitudes towards Dating
A while back I was talking with a friend/classmate, and during the course of our conversation he offhandedly mentioned that two people in our class that were dating. He saw I was surprised to hear this, and inquired “Well at least you know that So-and-so & So-and-so have hooked up, right?” This piece of what was apparently common knowledge was also news to me.

I wasn’t so much surprised that I was out of the loop; my Japanese comprehension isn’t exactly perfect so I miss a lot, and my classmates have several other classes together that I’m not in. What really surprised me is that I can’t remember ever seeing the respective boyfriends & girlfriends so much as even talk to each other. Like, ever. [Read more →]

Prior to coming to Tokushima to study calligraphy earlier this year, I had lived in Japan on four separate occasions. With more than three years of experience under my belt, I figured my grasp of Japanese culture was pretty solid, and didn’t expect any real surprises this time around. Having been here for just four months now, I’ve already seen this assumption get proven wrong twice (and counting).

It was pure arrogance to assume that my knowledge of Japanese culture was somehow comprehensive (or even could be), but especially considering the narrow scope of my previous experience. I was unable to communicate beyond caveman grunts for most of it, and my contact with Japanese people my own age was all but nonexistent. Working as an assistant English teacher, most of the people I met were either students or teachers, so everyone was either ten years old, or in their fifties.

This time around I’m in a university setting, so I’m surrounded by people my own age (actually most of them are five or ten years younger than me, but as I’m a cartoonist & blogger, it’s probably safe to assume we’re at about the same maturity level). And my Japanese is just starting to approach the level where I can actually make friends with people who don’t know any English. So I’m getting a glimpse of Japan I didn’t have access to before, leading to the two before-mentioned instances of mini-culture shock.

The first one being… [Read more →]

For some time now I’ve been meaning to write about my progress on Tonoharu: Part Two. Just this week I finished the artwork for the first quarter of the book, so I figured now would be a good time to devote a blog entry to how things are going.

Out of Tonoharu’s four parts, Part Two is looking to be the longest of the bunch. It’s a good 40% longer than Part One, and is filled t0 the brim with hard-to-draw crowd & city scenes. *Sob*…

Just to clarify, when I say the artwork is 25% done, I mean that I’m 1/4 of the way through the drawing, inking, and computer stuff for the actual comic itself. I have not yet so much as even started any of the final edits/tweaks, nor have I started the dust jacket artwork, nor any of the incidental design work. And even once the book is 100% finished, I’ll still need to deal with production and promotion issues, which will tack on another couple-few months on to Tonoharu: Part Two’s release date.

So the million dollar question is: when will Tonoharu: Part Two be done, printed, and available for sale? The honest (but unhelpful) answer is: I don’t know. It’s still too early to say with any confidence. I’m shooting for a release in the second half of 2009 , and if I’m able to stay on schedule, that could/should be possible. But an accident I suffered earlier this year reminded me in no uncertain terms that things don’t always go according to plan, so for the time being, I’m not going to commit to anything more concrete than maybe 2009.

My apologies to those who would prefer for the book to come out sooner, or to have a firmer release date. Trust me when I say that no one wants to see Tonoharu: Part Two come out in a timely manner more than myself, as my dream of making a living as a cartoonist is contingent on me, y’know, actually having comics available for sale. Rest assured that I work on this comic seven days a week, and make a little progress everyday…

I should hopefully have a slightly clearer sense of the release date with the next progress report, which I’ll write when the artwork is half done. If I’m able to stay on schedule, that update should occur in three to four months. We’ll see…

I just received word from my distribution partner Top Shelf Productions that the first printing of Tonoharu: Part One is almost sold out!

A second printing is in the works, but due to the time it takes to produce a hardcover book, Tonoharu: Part One may be unavailable in stores for a couple/few weeks. So those who want a copy in the very near future (or those who want a first edition) should get it from their favorite retailer now!

 Or if you can’t find it anywhere else, you can always buy a copy directly from me.

A big thanks to all those who helped to make the first printing of Tonoharu: Part One a success: the folks at the Xeric Foundation, Chris, Brett and Leigh from Top Shelf, the blogs and publications that give it coverage, my friends and family, and especially to the people that bought a copy! Whether my foolhardy dream of eking out a living as a cartoonist will pan out over the long haul still remains to be seen, but I’ve off a good start, and can’t begin to express my thanks to those who helped me get to where I am today.

This is a short entry, but since I’m busy prepping the second printing, I’ll leave it at this. Tune in next Friday for a new web comic.

Pictured: Tonoharu’s protagonist, before and after graphical edits

This is the tenth (and final) entry in a series of posts describing my process for creating my graphic novel Tonoharu. This post deals with the “post-production” edits (for lack of a better term).

I’ve been drawing comics since I was in junior high. I’ve experimented with all sorts of formats & sizes, drawing styles & materials. Most of these experiments were dead ends, but little by little (by the process of elimination if nothing else) they helped me to realize what sort of comics I wanted to make. By the time I started working on Tonoharu in 2003, I had a fairly strong sense of what direction I wanted to go in, not only for Tonoharu, but (presumably) for the works that will follow it.

But that isn’t to say that I had all the fine details ironed out. Daydreaming and theorizing about the comics I wanted to draw only took me so far; only by committing something to paper was I able to see what worked and what didn’t in practice. For the things that didn’t work out, I did my best to make them right after the fact, via graphical and textual edits. [Read more →]

Pictured: Adjusting the levels of the artwork. What fun! 

This is the ninth post in a series describing the creative process behind my graphic novel Tonoharu. This installment offers an account of all the computer related stuff I do once the artwork has been inked. I’ll try my best to avoid technical jargon, but to explain this in a totally layperson-friendly manner would make this entry way too long, so I’ll occasionally use the technical terms (with wikipedia links for those that actually want to know more about some of the technical stuff) and hope that the accompanying pictures make what I’m talking about at least somewhat clear. Note: all artwork shown is from the work in progress, Tonoharu: Part Two.

[Read more →]

Pictured: Shikoku U

Last week’s entry was about what a typical week is like for me as a Monbusho Research Scholar in the Calligraphy Department of Shikoku University in Tokushima, Japan. This week I want to write about the people I’ve meet here, and about my surroundings.
[Read more →]

Pictured: Me interperting an ancient text

At the beginning of April, I came to Japan on a Monbusho Scholarship to study Japanese Calligraphy at Shikoku University. Previous blog entries about exactly what the Monbusho Scholarship is and how I got involved in it can be found here.

Now that I’ve been here in Japan for almost two months now, I think I have enough of a sense of what the experience is shaping up to be to write an overview of what a typical week is like.

[Read more →]

There’s a paragraph-long review of Tonoharu: Part One in this week’s EW (the magazine with the GROSSEST initials in the publishing world). May 23 cover date, page 126. As always, I can’t seem to find a weblink to it…

They gave me a “B”. That’s pretty good, right? I wouldn’t even want an “A”, because then it’s like I’m the teacher’s pet or something.

Anyway, check it out. The same issue also features a cover story about Sex and the City, all the more reason to take a look at EW this week…

Thanks to EW reviewer Sean Howe for the writeup, and to Lemel Williams for letting me know about the review.

*UPDATE*:  I just found a link to the review online:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20200850,00.html

I just wanted to quick mention that there’s an article about Tonoharu in today’s (Friday May 16th) print edition of The Wall Street Journal. I can’t seem to find a link to it online, but if you happen to subscribe to or have access to the paper itself, look out for it!

Also, thanks to WSJ reporter Jamin Brophy-Warren who was kind enough to cover my book and interview me, despite having to navigate the irritating eleven hour time difference.

*UPDATE*: Here’s a link to it: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121089762572397267.html
The part about Tonoharu is about halfway down the page.

This blog entry is about my trip to Japan at the beginning of April, to study calligraphy at Shikoku University as a Monbusho scholar. At that point my ankle was on the mend from an injury sustained in January, and I could put weight on it and get around with a cane. But it was still quite tender.

It was a long trip; I flew from Minneapolis to Chicago via American Airlines, then Chicago to Tokyo via Japan Airlines, and finally flew from Tokyo to Osaka. I spent the night in Osaka, and then took a bus to Tokushima, where my school is located. [Read more →]

Welcome to the fourth and final entry in a series about my successful application for a Monbusho Research Scholarship. If you haven’t already, I recommend reading parts one, two, and three first. This final entry deals with the interview process.

In June 2007 I received word that I had passed the initial application stage and had been selected to for an interview and a series of language proficiency exams. [Read more →]