I Wish I Was Stupid

by Yoshikazu Ebisu, Ryan Holmberg (Translator)

Since his debut in the legendary alt-manga magazine Garo in 1973, ugly-but-amazing ‘heta-uma’ superstar Ebisu has been spinning out surreal nightmares that combine the edgiest styles of Tokyo’s artistic counterculture with the absurd and infuriating realities of modern life.

Originally published in 1982, I Wish I Was Stupid surpasses in shamelessness the artist’s cult classic Pits of Hell. With 13 stories about love, family, work and raging frustration culled from avant-garde porn mags and Garo, Ebisu probes dangerously deep into the inner mucosal of the human condition. If you’ve ever considered setting your child on fire, pooping with double buttholes, or windmilling your dingdong, this book is for you.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Japan

184 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1983

Reviews

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ebisu's penchant for an absurdist portrayal of reality is brought to its full nightmarish glory with 13 short stories collected in this edition. Each story is delightfully unpredictable and transgressive, though perhaps a little too much at times. Nothing is out of bounds for Ebisu it seems, but it works primarily because of his patented 'heta-uma' aesthetic that fuels the absurdity above the crassness sufficiently to keep things from getting too edgy. I really loved the first collection of Ebisu stories in The Pits of Hell which isn't nearly as degenerate as the stuff here, but I enjoyed this one just as much, if not a slight bit more.

Favorite stories in the collection include "The Intellectual Report", where an investigative reporter examines life in a poverty stricken area, "Normal People", which features a family trying to blend in by appearing unhappy when walking through a bad neighborhood, and "Death by Penis", which quite expectedly relies on Ebisu's ability to deliver on humor with the visuals alone. If you're into some amount of depravity in your comics, I Was I Was Stupid is definitely for you.

[Javier RC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raw as Hell 🫣

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly good stuff that seems to fall midway between Velvet Glove-era Daniel Clowes and whatever was going on with that Lisa video game (yet better...more poignant than either domestic offering). There's an ineffable sadness to each of these little stories, even if it's something as simple as a family trying to stay miserable to avoid being murdered in Tokyo (a surprisingly great conceit, when one thinks of how families approached trips to the "big city" in your youth) or two men growing distant after one reluctantly reveals to the other that his daughter has two assholes. Highly recommended and satisfyingly dark.

[Billy Degge]

Truly insane comix. The kind of weirdo outsider art you can't fake. Yoshikazu Ebisu is a strange fellow but we're lucky he's willing to put the bizzare shit happening in his brain onto the page.

[Ruby Rue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Շատ դժվար ա էս գործը գնահատել, որովհետև շատ հակասական զգացողություններ ունեմ։ շատ աբսուրդ ա, տրանսգրեսիվ, անսպասելի, բայց միևնույն ժամանակ շատ սուր ա ու քննադատական։

[Grace Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This shit gave me nightmares. Perverted and weird af.

[Peter Landau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best title of the year, even if these tales are years old. Primitive and disturbing artwork, yet more compelling than others who work in a similar adolescent style. Really odd, surreal short stories that have their own logic and are hellbent on twisting your worldview into a rancid pretzel.

[Seven Pesos · Rating 5 out of 5]

(A classroom full of schoolgirls, their teacher stands at the front facing them. Located at the front of the classroom, beside our teacher, is a desk. There is a naked schoolgirl on the desk, lying on her knees and elbows. There is a dog standing outside of the frame, his penis is erect. Today's lesson is hentai and pornography.)

Teacher: Next, let's get a dog involved. Mr. Dog, you're up. Let's put another desk next to the first one.

(Mr. Dog enters the frame. The teacher pulls up a second desk beside the first. Mr. Dog jumps on the second desk. Our naked schoolgirl looks behind her nervously.)

Teacher: Please proceed, Mr. Dog

(Mr. Dog begins to fuck the naked schoolgirl. The teacher climbs on to the second desk behind Mr. Dog. His pants are down. He begins to fuck Mr. Dog.)

Naked Schoolgirl: Oooh!

Teacher: Meanwhile, I will stick my penis in the dog's anus. So is this hentai?

Classroom: OF COURSE IT IS! THAT'S DEFINITELY HENTAI!

Teacher: Sorry girls, this is also not considered hentai. In conclusion, when it comes to sex, there is no such thing as hentai. However you choose to have sex, that's what normal means for you. So, please experiment, enjoy yourself, and never feel ashamed.

[Ryan Mandelbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure what it says about me that the pitch black, unrelenting nihilism and depravity of this book made me laugh more than anything I have read in a long time, but I think given the state of the world right now this feels kind of normal. I don't know. But I will certainly fucking take it! A confused and inappropriate laugh is still a laugh, after all. The afterword from the author talks about how he has always had a habit of laughing in inappropriate situations, including funerals, so I think that makes me feel like I got the right message from this one. The fact that this was written in 1982 is all the more impressive (especially given the relative optimism at the time compared to the seemingly bottomless pit we find ourselves in now) and I can only imagine the kind of unhinged craziness Ebisu would be writing about if he was still putting out stuff today. Truly, this is some amazing stuff. Insane, but amazing.

[Betzim Gdolot · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short stories in “I Wish I Was Stupid” stray from the workplace environment (except for maybe a story or two) that was featured in the previous “Pits of Hell” book, and instead cover more aspects of daily life, relationships, and family in an absurd and bizarre way. Unlike the previous release, this book contains no essays, and I found the stories much more entertaining and less repetitive than those in “Pits of Hell.”

The book is a collection of absurd, violent, and crude stories that offer a pretty fun ride. If you enjoy American alternative comix, you will probably find this book very entertaining. The stories always take bizarre and radical twists that no one could foresee, making the element of surprise a dominant feature throughout the book.

[Grégoire Maillard · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wish i was stupid is what i was thinking when reading this book; this is a compilation of 13 small stories made by Ebisu Yoshikazu (a Japanese tv-host slash managaka) in the 70’s; in some ways I loved how much Japanese it is in terms of humor and thematics and absurdity, and how cool it is in terms of subculture which can finally be discovered once translated; however it’s not THAT funny and it rises more the eyebrows than the jaws; although it’s very unique and worth the try!

[Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was this guy a hidden influence on modern extremity comics? I’m thinking stuff like Hate by Peter Baggee, and the collective work of Johnny Ryan. Extremely sick, depraved and above all, creative, there is also an Id-releasing honesty here that so much other work cannot touch. Also, it’s uniquely only functional in the comics space, and I always love comics that do that.

[Ana Matos · Rating 4 out of 5]

indeed,

[Michael Marchand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly demented

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perversion, death and absurdity. So funny. So brutal.

[AG]

I think if you've found this you probably know what you are going to get. I had a hard time with this one, mostly because I felt left out of its punch. Maybe my threshold for weird is too high, but I found myself mostly wishing for more.

If you are a fan for that ugly-realness I think this is worth a shot or if you want to try something new. I think nowadays there is so much insane yet sincere manga, stories, and even hentai that scratches that 'bad' art itch.