The mysterious
underground men is my favorite out of the comics that we’ve read so far. While
reading the comic, I was really amazed at how Tezuka is able to fit in a lot of
different genres, such as action, sci-fi, fantasy and etc, into a relatively
short comic. Even though some of these genres are mixed throughout the story,
it seems like Tezuka uses the splash pages without any titles, as a new genre or
chapter is introduced in the plot. For example, the main plot up to page 31 is
about instilling a bunny, Mimio, with human characteristics and Mimio’s
rejection in society. However, the splash page on pages 32 and 33, showing a
rocket train, leads to a shift in plot and introduces the genre of sci-fi. Then,
the plot goes on to show Young John and Mimio’s travel to the center of the
earth up to page 53. Then, the reader encounters another splash page on pages
54 and 55, and is introduced with another genre of fantasy with the introduction
of termites. This structure remains the same for the rest of the comic.
Even though these splash pages introduce the readers with a
new chapter or genre, the splash pages without the titles allow the readers to
connect the scene shown in the splash page to the previous plot. Thus, I
thought it was a very effective and creative way to use the splash pages to
introduce a shift in plot, while still having the readers’ engaged.
I found Tezuka's skill in making a thorough, complex story into such a short manga amazing as well. I could compare this with Tintin where I found it tedious and long as I was trying to follow the story line. The Mysterious Underground Men flowed well even though it had many elements to it. Like you stated, some of these elements were the introduction of a human/bunny in Mimio, John's goal of making a life-changing form of transportation, and the termites! Yet Tezuka kept it simple and connected all these ideas together with a good balance of text and image.
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