Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics

Japan's output of manga is massive, accounting for 40 per cent of everything published in the country annually. There has also been a boom in sales outside Japan, with the manga aesthetic spreading from comics into all areas of Western youth culture through film, computer games, advertising and design. This book presents an accessible, entertaining and highly illustrated introduction to the development and diversity of Japanese comics from 1945 to the present. The chapters explore topics such as: the career of Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy and originator of manga strip stories; girls' and women's comics; and the darker, more violent gekiga manga, featuring samurais and apocalyptic science fiction.