After the end of the war, manga began as street vendors and has now become a representative culture of Japan.
While monster magazines were born, with major publishers publishing millions of copies, there was one magazine that never forgot its experimental spirit and continued to publish small-scale publications ranging from tens to thousands of copies.
This time, I would like to take a look at some such "experimental manga magazines."
・Garo and COM, the founders of manga's experimental spirit
Firstly, "Garo" and "COM" are the origins of minor magazines. In the 1960s, ``Garo'' serialized Sanpei Shirato's ``Kamuyden'' for a long period of time, while also producing masterpieces of short stories by Yoshiharu Tsuge and Seiichi Hayashi. On the other hand, ``COM'' features experimental works such as Osamu Tezuka's ``Phoenix'' which is a long-running series, Shota Ishinomori's fantasy world ``Jun,'' and Shinji Nagashima's ``Futen.'' It had a great influence on later manga culture and subculture.
Since the mid-1970s after the completion of the first part of the Kamuy story, Garo has been developed by Shinbo Minami, Kazuhiro Watanabe, and others. The direction of the magazine changed to ``entertainment''. ``COM'' ceased publication in December of the same year. Although a new issue was released only once in 1973, Mushi Productions went bankrupt and ended.
・Third experimental magazine “Gon” aiming for “Garo” and “COM”
There was already an experimental manga magazine in the 1960s that tried to follow in the footsteps of "Garo" and "COM."
Gon" was first published by Koshin Shobo in 1968. Mitsushin Shobo is the name after Hinomaru Bunko, which made the debut of many Gekiga Kobo writers and made the short story collection "Shadow" a huge hit, which became the staple of youth manga magazines.
The cover clearly follows the trends of the late 1960s, with the words ``Tomorrow's Manga''.
The published works include Kiyoshi Numata's ``Furumiita Yatsuga ga There'', Kazuhiko Seki's ``Jun'' (derived from Ishinomori Sensei's Jun), etc.
The hard-boiled gekiga style is in line with the hinomaru bunko's gekiga. Even though "Ashita" isn't a kanji character, does it sound like he's better than that hijacker? However, in the end, it ceased publication in 1968, probably because it was no more than an extra (or minus) of the rental book gekiga of the past.
・“Night trip” aiming for the pre-fun style of Garo
Yako was published by Hokufuyu Shobo in 1972. Shinzo Takano, Garo's editor who left Seirindo in the same year, published a magazine that featured Osamu Kanno, Yumekichi Soudani, Yoshiharu Tsuge, Tadao Tsuge, and other writers, and captured the flavor of Garo before its interest in fun. This is a magazine I have with me.
From the July 1978 issue, Susumu Gondo (Shinzo Takano) absorbed the Manga Hyoron doujinshi ``Mangaism'' published by Junzo Ishiko, Sadao Yamane, and Jun Kajii.
Mangaism" has been published since 1967. Mr. Takano was the editor of ``Garo'' at the time. That is why he took on another name, Susumu Gondo.
・The experimental spirit of Fujio Akatsuka, the god of gag manga, “Manga No. 1”
Also in 1972, "Manga No1" was published by Nipponsha, edited by Fujio Akatsuka. The design of this magazine, which is no ordinary one from the cover of the first issue, was designed by Tadanori Yokoo, and it seems to still have the atmosphere of magazines and Sunday underground from the late 1960s and early 70s.
The publishing team includes the pornographic version of "Tensai Bakabon" written by Shintaro Taka and written by Toshio Saeki, a remix made by cutting and pasting copies of "Harenchi Gakuen", Kunio Hase's "Golgo 13", etc., Mitsutoshi Furuya , Keiji Terayama, Yasuji Tanioka, and other teachers.
Perhaps this was allowed because Akatsuka-sensei was responsible for editing the magazine, which overcame copyright issues and developed a page that was too avant-garde. Although it had a cult following, it ceased publication the following year in 1973.
・Custom comics
"Custom Comic" is a magazine published since 1979. The founder of Nippon Bungeisha, which publishes "Manga Goraku," ">Published by Tsutomu Yaku's son, Hiroshi Yaku.
From the first issue, Ikki Kajiwara/Tsuyoshi Kojima The first 100 pages of ``Shinsetsu Yagyu Jubei'' by the Yu-sensei duo! Kazuo Koike collaborated with Hideaki Kitano on the mahjong manga ``Katsumegawa'', Leiji Matsumoto's ``New Sexaroid'', etc. Despite the simple cover, the serialization team is serious.
Flat binding in the first year of publication, saddle stitching in the second year, and transition from bimonthly to monthly publication. In addition to the above-mentioned writers, there are other gekiga teachers such as Masaaki Sato and Hiroshi Hirata, as well as Noboru Kawasaki, Etsu Haruki, Fujio Akatsuka, and Ishii. Although Takashi and Yoshiharu Tsuge and other authors worked on the book, it unfortunately went on hiatus in 1982.
However, the network of editor-in-chief Hiroshi Yaku that was expanded through this "Custom Comic" led to "Comic Baku", which was first published in 1984.
■ 80's
・Tom 80/Ushio Publishing
Comic Tom, first published by Ushio Publishing in 1980, is a very special magazine among the magazines introduced this time. Therefore, it is a little unclear whether it is an "experimental magazine" or not, but I would like to introduce it to you in this special article.
In the early post-war period, Daisaku Ikeda was the editor in charge of picture story writers such as Shigeru Komatsuzaki and Shohachi Yamaoka in magazines such as ``Adventure Shonen'' and ``Shonen Nippon.'' After that, the monthly boys' magazine ``Kibo no Tomo'' was launched in 1964, and the monthly boys' manga magazine ``Shonen World'' was launched in 1978, after which the magazine was republished with a new title.
The main published works are Mitsuteru Yokoyama's ``Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', Osamu Tezuka's ``Buddha'', ``Ludwig B'', which are serialized works from the period of ``Kibo no Tomo'', and
A serialized work from "Shonen World", Fujiko Fujio's "T.P Pon" and Taro Minamoto's "Ukigumojitachi".
After the title was changed to ``Comic Tom'', it became more of a youth manga, and included works such as Hisashi Sakaguchi's ``Stone Story'', Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's ``Rainbow Trotsky'', and other manga for young people, including Yukinobu Hoshino and Daijiro Morohoshi. I don't know where the manuscript fees came from, but I don't know where the manuscript fees came from, but I have published many works by great masters such as Hisashi Sakaguchi, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Ryoko Yamagishi, Yasuko Sakata, and Emi Kurata, such as science fiction, legends, and historical manga. went.
Among them, Mitsuteru Yokoyama's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a work of Yokoyama's life's work in his later years, and even after the magazine went on hiatus, it was published in 1998 to coincide with Yokoyama's recovery. It can be seen that it was a signature work, as ``Monthly Comic Tom Plus'' was launched.
It is unknown where the manuscript fee came from, but it is a strange system where the manuscript fee for the writer comes from somewhere, making it possible to serialize extremely long-term works such as ``Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' and ``Floating Clouds.'' This magazine had a considerable influence on the history of manga. It ceased publication in 2001, when it crossed the century mark.
Currently, "WEB Comic Tom" is being distributed.
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