Saw this in the bookstore and read it today - it’s fantastic. You may recognize Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s name from some anthologies of his early work that were recently translated and released in America - amazing short comics that depicted the bleak, melancholy environment of postwar Japan.

A Drifting Life only hints at the themes in his fiction - an exquisitely drawn 830-page graphic memoir spanning 15 years, from the period immediately after Japan’s surrender in WWII to the beginning of the 1960s, the book focuses on his decision to make art as a career, and all the complications that came bundled with that decision. Tatsumi becomes obsessed with manga as a child, idolizing one artist in particular (Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy). Tatsumi works toward the dream of getting published and earning money for drawing manga while simultaneously trying to break loose from the conventions of the medium. It’s not so much novelistic as it is a summary of a period of the author’s life, and that’s why it works - there aren’t any overwrought metaphors or deliberate narrative arc tacked on to his account of this period, just a group of people with a passion for doing what they love and a drive to constantly innovate and improve their medium, interacting and sometimes clashing with the surrounding culture while pursuing their vision.

Tatsumi spent more than a decade working on this book (it was released only days ago), and the effort has certainly paid off. I’m not a huge fan of manga by any means (and frankly try to avoid reading it at all costs) but I just love this guy’s work, and this book is worth more than a casual glance if you happen to stumble across it.