Immediately, Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s 1956 crime classic BLACK BLIZZARD brings to mind the “wrong man” films of Alfred Hitchcock, crossed with the premise of THE FUGITIVE, making it a natural for a reprint edition — its first time in English — from Drawn & Quarterly.
The hero is pianist Susumu-San, who’s tinkling the ivories when a policeman shows up at his door to arrest him for murder. Susumu-San confesses to the crime, even though he has no memory of doing it, and accompanies the officer to jail via train, where he is handcuffed to a hardened criminal for whom behind bars is a way of life.
En route, a landslide on the track causes the train to crash, and our defiant ones flee in the blinding snow. Susumu-San’s cuff mate threatens to cut off the pianist’s hand so he can move faster, but Susumu-San buys himself some time by relating how he got into this fine mess.
Tatsumi writes this manga tale with heavy noir influences, but draws it fairly bright, considering. His style is simple enough, hovering somewhere between cartoony and realistic. There’s a great nightmare sequence in it, the early action scenes burst off the page with motion, and the ending is pleasantly bittersweet. That Tatsumi was able to pull off a work this mature and satisfying at the ripe of age of 21 makes it all the more remarkable.
SHORTCOMINGS‘ Adrian Tomine, who edited this re-release, conducts an interview at the end with Tatsumi, who sheds light on the state of illustrated fiction at the time (such things weren’t sold in bookstore, but rented) and admits that look back after all he’s done since, he feels ashamed of the material. Turns out, he has nothing to apologize for. —Rod Lott
Related posts:
- Black Jack: Volume 10
- Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection — 1987-1991
- Black Out
- The Black Cat
- The Black Train
