context: comics > Some works

Barefoot Gen

Keiji Nakazawa was six when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Years later he depicted his experiences and what he witnessed, on that day and in the days afterwards, in a comic for boys' weekly Shonen Jump. I find his art a touch crude and awkward, but that does little harm, and probably adds to the impression of a simple and honest approach - and it's the comic's completely unflinching eye that is so impressive, that made it like nothing seen before. It was also one of the very first Japanese comics to get an English translation, albeit initially in a very condensed version. (And by the way, the G of Gen is hard.)

forwards: Lone Wolf & Cub