Sake Jock

by Adam Glickman (Editor), Imiri Sakabashira, Naoto Yamakawa

You've never seen manga like this before! No annoying speed lines or sappy, neotenic eyeballs here — just pure Japanese counterculture. This anthology of contemporary underground comics from Japan features a wide variety of styles and topics ranging from the humorous to the profound. There's a whole world of comics out there, and it's not all Godzilla and schoolgirls! A great introduction to the other Japanese comics featuring Asia's answers to Robert Crumb, Dan Clowes, and Chester Brown!

List of included Oneshots:
"Horse Horse Tiger Tiger" by Imiri Sakabashira
"A Hooker's Room" by Naoto Yamakawa
"Kisses" by Kiriko Nananan
"Kitty Court Drama" by Nekojiru
"What a Mixed Up World!" by Yasuji Tanioka
"Million Dollars" by Yoshiharu Mitsumoto
"The Abalone Cat" by Naoki and Shunichi Karasawa.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Short Stories, Comics Manga, Anthologies, Comix

80 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

Reviews

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have liked this better if it had been two or three times longer--or more--than it is. As it is, this book feels like it barely scratches the surface. Given the range of styles on display across the few authors represented here, I can only assume that there's even more widespread diversity in the underground Manga scene. Regardless, this collection is a mixed bag. Some of the stories were opaque to me, others quite well-realized, if bizarre. The rape jokes haven't aged well, mind you, even though the strips featuring them are funny in a crass sort of way.

[Ghostea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long oop, and not really worth tracking down besides the inclusion of an aptly offensive short story by Nekojuro. Admittedly, I was excited about a new collection and just found this lacking in quality content. There are some great moments and panels, but track down Comics Underground Japan which is much easier to come back to, and a much stronger collection of "Garo" staples (including Nekojuro).

[Erik Wirfs-Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting artifact from the early 90's. The manga featured is much more like underground comics of the 60's and 70's then most manga (mainstream or alternative) that is translated today, or was ever really translated. American comics have also kind of move away from this kind of stuff, mixing the gross and the surreal isn't what I normally see picking up zines at the local indie comics fest, so it was definitely fun to read something different. Unfortunately nothing really stood out as being especially great either, but again it's an interesting curio from the time when what 'manga' meant for the american comics market was still undefined to a certain extent.