Monday, September 28, 2015
It's All About Perspective
Reading Osamu Tezuka's The Mysterious Underground Men was a huge visual treat. I found myself really enjoying the drawing style and pace of this manga more than any other graphic novel we've read so far. Tezuka's use of clean lines reminds me a little of Hergé's ligne claire style. But, Tezuka's subtle use of shadow gives The Mysterious Underground Men more visual depth than The Adventures of Tintin, despite the minimal presence of color and detail in the background. The best part of Tezuka's drawings, though, is their sheer diversity in perspective. For example, the two-page spread on pages 32-33 gives the reader an incredibly awesome, dramatic view of the rocket train. By drawing the rocket train at a diagonal, Tezuka allows the reader to immediately grasp how large it is in comparison to Mimio and John. Then on pages 60-61, each of the six panels here illustrates a different perspective of the men driving underground, ranging from what's going on in the front seat of the car, in the backseat of the car, and outside of the car. Tezuka's ability to create such diversity in perspective and panel sequencing speaks to how clever and unique of an illustrator he was.
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Alongside Tezuka's mastery of perspective, I think his use of color contributed to the appeal of this manga. My favorite example, is the two-page spread where Young John, Uncle Bill, and a disguised Mimio enter the massive underground volcano that decimated the termites. In any other work, I expect, this would be a violent, chaotic, scene with characters yelping and lava churning. Yet, Tezuka creates some semblance of peacefulness in his water color (at least I believe it to be water color) that is seemingly at odds with the violence of the volcano. This tact, which can be seen in other panels as well, gives the entire backdrop to the narrative a sense of fluidity, like it's nowhere in particular. Unlike Tinitn, whose narratives more often than not hinge on location, Tezuka creates a piece that could happen anywhere and has a magic quality, even in illustration, that the audience can't get enough of.
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