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Comics: A Global History

Comics Global History: Nakazawa Shigeo, Shōjo Club 1956

I continue my sporadic exploration of old shoujo manga through obscure (to me, anyway) books obtained through Yahoo Japan auctions.  I got my hands on this Shōjo Club “supplement” from 1956.  It’s a tiny paperback (4′ by 6″), poorly stapled (I basically had to pull the thing apart to get usable scans, which I hate to do).  That contains a single long story, Yukimura izumi chan monogatari  (Yukimura Izumi’s Story).Shojo Club 1956 coverShojo Club 56 -splash 1

The artist is Nakazawa Shigeo (中沢しげお).  I assume artist-writer, since there’s only one name credited.  I don’t know anything about him, but there is some quite nice work here, with that introspective shōjo mood (see my previous post).

Shojo Cub 56  9-17Shojo Cub 56 -70-73

I like the heavy line around the characters, and the nicely detailed settings, with various textures.  Also, I would say it’s a pretty sophisticated use of “camera angles,” for a kids’ comic from the mid-50s.

Also, notice that they were still numbering the individual panels at this point.

Shojo Cub 56 18

Shojo Cub 28And I love the panel with Izumi’s reflection in the teacup as she’s thinking!

 

By Dan

Lives in: Cambridge, Mass.
Does: comics.
Used to live in: Topanga Canyon, California
But grew up in: Cambridge, mostly
Used to do (maybe still?): Screenwriter, journalist, teaches some too

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