11/26/08
Urasawa does Dylan
I received an email today from a reader and Urasawa fan asking me if I can confirm a rumor about a secret Urasawa comic about Bob Dylan.
I'd never heard of it so, naturally, I did a little digging.
Yup, it's real.
It came out in December 2007 and this is what it looks like:
It's a 307-page collaboration with a singer named Koji Wakui. According to some Japanese blogs I looked at, this book is a collection of work that was serialized in Big Comic Spirits, obviously before Urasawa's apparent split with Shogakukan (likely over the Master Keaton fiasco, which, I assume, is the reason Billy Bat is in Kodansha's Morning).
The comic appears to coincide with the release of a Koji Wakui CD of Dylan covers, which features a cool illustration by Urawasa.
I don't know much about this comic yet, but I do know that Urasawa is a massive Bob Dylan fan. I know nothing about Koji Wakui, though.
Anwyay, I'll give the manga a look if I can find a copy to thumb through, and maybe give the CD a listen, too.
I also want to know what this is all about:
It looks like this Urasawa & Wakui collaboration also involved some sort of concert.
I'm still looking into that so stay tuned!
And thanks to the reader who mailed me.
UPDATE: Although this book is mostly interviews and text of conversations between Urasawa & Wakui about Bob Dylan, there is a 30 page comic included in it called "Bob Dylan's Great Adventure".
- 11/27
9 comments
so you made it into a post. I was well aware about those concerts and the book and Urasawa artwork on the CD, but one problem remain. I couldn't get further then that image and some shitty babelfish translation and even then it's still a guess.
By the way, Dylan fans, Aren't we all.
I sure am, So if the actually manga exists. It would be a dream come true. Há.
Thanks for posting it, That way if someone knows more about it they can inform us.
This afternoon (Europe here) I'll try to make a clear snap of the poster and send it to you.
Bye bye
Since I couldn't find anything about the comic in English, I though I'd toss it out there for other Urasawa and/or Dylan fans who might stumble upon my blog.
The comic was serialized and is definitely available now in book format.
I've never actually seen it, but then I wasn't looking either. I want to see if it has anything of substance on "The Band" around the time Dylan went electric.
Thanks for the heads up and looking forward to the poster illustration!
I'll let you know if I come across anything while I'm looking into the concert thing.
Thanks again.
But besides that, so you did confirm the book includes a manga?
I'll use my parents camera, So I have to wait for a bit.
It's expensive, They are very cautious with it.
Ill keep you updated.
Urasawa is still working with Shogakukan. PLUTO is running every month in Big Comic Original.
Having spent time with the Morning staff for over the late summer and early fall, I can say that there are many reasons why Urasawa would have gone to Morning. Freedom of expression, a weekly audience in a respected seinen magazine and the fact that his co-producer on Billy Bat is a regular editor for Morning (Nagasaki Takashi, also credited on 20th Century Boys and PLUTO, is the editor/writer for Morning's series Dias Police) might have contributed to the decision.
I know PLUTO is still running, but I thought he was maybe just fulfilling a contractual obligation.
Of course, contracts can be broken, as we've seen with "Say Hello to Black Jack" leaving Weekly Morning (I was sorry to see it go because I stopped reading after that).
Thanks again
(Thanks to this comment I also noticed my "Shogakukan" typo. Ouch.)
Cheers!
I haven't gotten my hands on the book yet, but I'll let you know when I do.
I'll try and find a copy this weekend.
Interesting point you make here, but I guess I should clear something up because I don't think most people outside of Japan (and maybe even in Japan) know this.
Contracts in the manga industry are extremely rare. Publishers like Kodansha and Shogakukan technically don't even have contracts with their artists. Shueisha is the only major publisher that does that and now some minor publishers are doing the same. Artists are generally more obligated to their editors than they are to their publisher and when that relationship sours (and mind you, a good number of those partnerships are not amicable, entirely business) then artists might bail or editors might call it quits.
Funny you point out Say Hello because I know the original editor of that series personally (and professionally)... Actually it was a major scandal amongst the Japanese manga community in 2007. The biggest deal was how the mangaka kept the title even after leaving Kodansha. But then again... No contract and no obligation to change the title.
As for "Say Hello" I thought that adding "shin" to the title was dumb and I haven't touched it since - although I am a little curious to see the effect a new editor would have on it, because it was really, really good when it was running in Morning. I think the editor probably had quite a bit to do with that, but I'd like to see how much.
I've heard a lot about really good editors helping to shape hit comics, but they don't get much credit for it it seem, do they? At least outside the industry, anyway.
Thank you very much for the insight.
Much appreciated!
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