Yet Another Original Graphic Novel...Black Blizzard

Technically this isn't an original graphic novel. Black Blizzard was published in 1956, but was never published again though it marked the arrival of a major talent, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, who coined the term gekiga. The book is a noir crime thriller, and if Tatsumi-san's first book sounds familiar-- it is. He goes into great detail in A Drifting Life about the process of creating Black Blizzard and how it was a creative breakthrough for him. The book also features an interview between the series editor and designer Adrian Tomine with Tatsumi-San.

And yes, this book is in color. Or, I should say the first fifteen pages. Now before you go blaming the economy and D+Q trying to institute some extreme cost savings measures, this is the way the book was originally published. Tatsumi-san explains in the interview it was a tradition leftover from the rental manga market.

Adrian also did a bang-up job with the design, as he chose the paperback format complete with dying the edges of the book yellow to mimic old pulp novels.

In stores soon.

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