Ding Dong Circus: And Other Stories, 1967 to 1974

by Maki Sasaki, Ryan Holmberg (Translator), Haruki Murakami (Foreword)

Ding Dong Circus collects the best of Sasaki Maki's work from alt-manga super magazine Garo. Drawn between 1967 and 1974, the fifteen stories within follow Sasaki's unprecedented exploration of collage methods in comics storytelling. Weaving through references to the Beatles, the Vietnam War, and Andy Warhol, Ding Dong Circus demonstrates that Sasaki was not only a manga pioneer, but also an essential figure in Japanese Pop Art and the critical avant-garde art scene of the 1960s.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Japan, Graphic Novels Comics, Short Stories, Graphic Novels

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2015

Reviews

[Nate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surreal, abstracted, collaged, nearly non-narrative, yet still creating a sense of story just out of reach. No one else was doing anything like these comics in 1967, and no one has really done anything like them since, in all the years of development the form has undergone.

[Jeff Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Countless pages of DING DONG CIRCUS are worthy of being included in the Walker's "International Pop" art exhibit. Originally created for Garo magazine in the late 1960s, this work remains dazzling and utterly singular, a collision of styles and sensibilities, experimental comix poems more than narratives. Plus it's a beautifully book printed in purple ink. So far, the high point of Ryan Holberg's Avant Garde Manga library, started by the late Picturebox and picked up by Breakdown Press. It also includes a glowing introduction by Haruki Murakami.

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did enjoy this book, but I did so in ways that are entirely different from the way I usually enjoy reading (comics and otherwise). Normally I read for plot, but that's not what you'll find in Sasaki Maki's work. His short Garo pieces, collected here in this volume, are more akin to poetry or even music. The structure of the work is image-based (and not strictly in the usual comics sense), much like poetry, with the repetition and associations being the scaffolding of meaning. Another way to understand the "stories" in Ding Dong Circus is by seeing them as "musical" compositions reliant on various leitmotifs to carry you through the comprehension. I'm glad Shea Hennum, my cohost on the monthly manga show, introduced me to this title. Check out our discussion of this book at http://comicsalternative.com/manga-re....

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Sasaki Maki's gorgeously abstract and cryptic works from Garo magazine. Most of the stories hold limited narrative structure and dip entirely into the surreal, but there is something to be said about the innovative compositions and artistic rigor demonstrated by Sasaki here. Over the multitude of stories collected in this edition, nearly half are wordless and even the ones with dialogue are thoroughly nonsensical and erratic. It's the whimsical abstraction here that really makes Ding Dong Circus and Other Stories a hypnotic affair, and the beautiful riso printing used by Breakdown Press makes this a gorgeous book from start to finish. I can't say for sure I know what Sasaki was about with his comics, but I'm happy to have been able to sample a nice variety of his works.

[Puja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read anything like this in comics before. For a fan of magic realism and surrealism, each page of Ding Dong Circus is an absolute delight. It also pushes what it means to tell stories via images to its extreme in many ways. For me, it was like reading a poet like Apollinaire in comics.

[David Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Triggers the sort of useful confusion that becomes more elusive with each passing year: stripped of all confidence as to where you are and what's going on, you are free to actually read again.

[E. G.]

Foreword, by Murakami Haruki

--A Dream in Heaven
--The Ballad of Henri and Anne
--Seventeen
--Seaside Town
--The Town Horse
--Little Boy, Cute Little Boy
--The Vietnam Debate
--Sad Max
--Summer Course
--Harbour Marie
--Eyeball of the Desert
--Chee-Chee Hat
--Strange Tales of Pickles Street
--Ding Dong Circus
--The Bad Moon

Still a Cartoonist: An autobiographical essay, 2011-14

[pedro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology features Sasaki's early short stories, most of them originally published in the cult magazine Garo during the 1960s and 1970s, before he transitioned to creating children's books. With nearly 200 pages of surrealist, nonsensical, and vanguardist manga, these stories demand way more context for full comprehension than is provided in the book's afterword.

For a deeper dive into the relevance of this collection, I recommend checking out Ryan Holmberg's articles for The Comics Journal: "Back to the Avant-Garde: Sasaki Maki’s Nonsense" and "A Vogue for I Don’t Get It: Hayashi Seiichi vs. Sasaki Maki, 1967-69", they’re both available online.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art style is very unique and will excite fans of surrealism and abstract comics. Most of these “stories” have very little in terms of narrative but are meant to invite meaning through the juxtaposition of imagery from panel to panel. As such they’re a difficult read but each scene is a feast for the eyes.

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone once in a while a book comes along that feels like it was made especially for me. I had seen some excerpts of Sasaki Maki's comics online last year, and I was thrilled to see that Breakdown Press was planning to put out a collection. Every page is a marvel of surreal cartoon poetry, with vivid, crisply drawn images and unexpected emotion exploding between the panels. Definitely a bit "poppy" in its appropriation of ubiquitous Western images and cliches for artsy ends, I feel like the work transcends those influences to become something grander, peculiar and intimate, yet immense. I'm probably overselling it, but still - this is a beautiful book for lovers of 20th-century art, comics, cartoons, design, literature, poetry or anything in between.

[Megan Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, so beautiful. Just constantly visually interesting. This makes me inspired to read and create more comics -- there's so much that comics can do, that I want them to do, and don't even know that I want them to do. This was a really incredible reminder that comics can be and are anything. Including profound, political, silly, nonsensical, absurd, and poetic. Sasaki in particular has a style that I just love. I want to read more and more and make something like this. I love the feeling of it. So glad I was recommended it. One of my absolute favorite comics I've read in a while.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

i don't think its any mistake that maki sasaki's work was the first choice for acclaimed author haruki murakami's cover illustrations on his books. murakami seems indebted to sasaki i/t/o leitmotif, surreal expression, and content, with the essential difference being one of medium

[André Habet]

I'm happy I read this comic, and will come back to some pieces to think more about Maki's comic-making approach which ignores temporal considerations for the purposes of using panel transitions to juxtapose absurd image after absurd image. I think taking it in as quickly as I did was a disservice to the work. These were originally published over years in 'Garo', a comics anthology magazine, and so the work was intended to be seen alongside more conventional work. Collected together like this, Maki's technique loses its luster after a few installments. I envy the folks who got to see these in their original publication but also appreciate having this collection to complement some of the contemporary Western avant-garde comics I have.