Every reader has blind spots, big and small. For me, manga has always been an area that I was not very familiar with, though I’ve been trying to find ways into the works of some of the masters. “Sneeze” is a new collection of short pieces by Naoki Urasawa, the manga-ka behind “20th Century Boys” and “Pluto.” Not only are those two series that have been long recommended to me, but “Sneeze” also touches on Ursawa’s love of music, and so there is an additional lure for this music-loving writer.
Written and illustrated by Naoki UrasawaCover by Naoki Urasawa
Translated by John Werry
Lettered by Steve DutroUrasawa’s characters confront fantastical elements ranging from psychic powers to attacks by giant monsters. On the flip side, the author philosophizes about his real-world experiences with the wild and wacky international music scene.
Plus, a classic, funny animal tale, in Urasawa’s inimitable style!
There are eight stories that make up “Sneeze,” and they can be pretty easily grouped into three categories: music, sci-fi, and the lone outlier, an animal story. The animal story, “Henry and Charles,” while enjoyable, is probably the weakest in the book. While fun, it doesn’t have either the emotional tether of the music stories nor the space to stretch out that the sci-fi stories have, and so it comes off a bit as an intermezzo, which isn’t a bad thing.
The sci-fi stories make up the bulk of the page count, and three of the four feel substantial. “Solo Mission,” the final story in the collection, feels more like the start of a larger story, or a small sketch, but is filled with a lot of heart and emotion, which helps the story hang on its own. It is also the only story presented in left to right reading instead of the traditional right to left, so it took a minute to readjust while reading.
Of the other sci-fi stories, “Throw Towards the Moon” is the one that is the most unique and fully realized. Urasawa plants a seed that takes the entire story to fully unfold, and even though the pieces are all right there, the ending still feels both surprising and earned. This is also the piece in the book that feels like it is the absolute perfect length. A few of the other stories could use a little editing or some padding out, but “Throw Towards the Moon” is perfectly paced and arranged.
Of the music stories, there are two that stand out, both for very different reasons. “The Old Guys” is a look at the aging rock stars in the world, and how they still challenge and entertain, despite being past what most would say is their prime. This is told in a series of vignettes, with the most effective and hilarious being one focusing on Bob Dylan. For Dylan devotees, there is a ton of information in this strip that will feel familiar, but to a neophyte, it’s all there as well.
Urasawa’s Dylan perfectly captures the aging balladeer period that he’s found himself in since the early 21st century. There’s an impish grin on his face that would seem almost impossible to folks who stopped caring about Dylan after Blood on the Tracks, but Urasawa really embodies Dylan’s late career jolly crankiness. The story also manages to be about Dylan without really being about his music at all. Urasawa adds to the myth of Dylan, which is undeniably based on his music, without referencing a single song or lyric.
The other story that stands out is an adaptation of a tale told to Urasawa by Japanese musician Kenji Endo about a night after a show and a trip to a strip club. While the story isn’t exactly a PG tale, Urasawa doesn’t really make it about the stripper, though she plays a major role, nor is it about her nudity but, again, that’s a part of the story. The story, through nothing more than Urasawa’s brilliantly rendered faces, shows a story of the camaraderie and love that exists between friends, but especially musicians. This story is instantly recognizable by anyone who has traveled, lived with, or performed with the same group of folks for a period of time. It’s a story that is a little bit funny, but is told and reacted to like it is the greatest joke of all time.
Urasawa is able to spin this yarn in such a way that the punchline – a resemblance to a late 60s curio – has some sort of resonance despite most of the people reading this story being totally unaware of all the participants and the album cover the punchline references.
The breadth of Urasawa’s work in this one volume is astounding, from the Tom and Jerry inspired animal comic to the sci-fi romance of “Kaiju Kingdom.” This was a really nice introduction to his work and, to tie it back into music, feels like a collection of b-sides or outtakes. Often times, compilations like that can reveal more of the character of an artist than a proper album, as it allows you to see a career from so many different angles. This look at Urasawa’s work has made me excited to dig in deeper, and also given me a lot to enjoy in this collection of his miscellany.
