Monthly Archives: February 2008

The Future is in the Past

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Artwork from Katsushika Hokusai’s Sketchbook

Hey Blog Readers,
Below is a press release I wrote to announce that I got a Monbukagakusho Scholarship, hence the use of the third person. If the editor of the New York Times is among my readers (and I can only assume s/he is), please feel free to run this in your publication.  –Lars

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The Future is in the Past
American Cartoonist finds Inspiration in Traditional Japanese Art

For Immediate Release

In 1833, the great Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai wrote about his artistic development. Although seventy-three years old at the time, his ambitions were far-reaching; he predicted that by the time he was 110, his artistic skills would be so great that “every line will surely have a life of its own.”

Hokusai may have been overly optimistic about his own lifespan (he died at the age of 89), but in the opinion of Minnesota cartoonist Lars Martinson, he achieved the level of mastery to which he aspired. And Lars would like nothing more than to follow in his footsteps, albeit in a medium that didn’t even exist in Hokusai’s time: comic books. Continue reading →

Tonoharu: Part One–Now Available!!

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Pictured: My darling little comic book 

I’m happy to report that I now have advance copies of my first graphic novel, Tonoharu: Part One in my hot little hands! Want them in your hot little hands too? Read on:

Tonoharu: Part One
Recipient of the prestigious Xeric Grant!

“A fully realized, engaging tale of international alienation.”  
– Francisca Goldsmith, BOOKLIST Starred Review

Tonoharu is a four-part graphic novel that tells the story of a group of foreigners living in Fukuoka-ken, Japan. It was informed by my three-year experience as an assistant English teacher through the Japanese Government-sponsored JET Program.

From the back cover of Tonoharu: Part One

Daniel Wells begins a new life as an assistant junior high school teacher in the rural Japanese village of Tonoharu.

Isolated from those around him by cultural and language barriers, Dan leads a monastic existence, peppered only by his inept pursuit of the company of a fellow American who lives a couple towns over.

But contrary to appearances, Dan isn’t the only foreigner to call Tonoharu home. Across town, a group of wealthy European eccentrics board in a one-time Buddhist temple, for reasons that remain obscure to their gossiping neighbors.


Sample Artwork
Click on an image to enlarge. Color scheme of final book is different than what is represented here.

Japanese Junior High School   Typical Rice Patty Field   Spring Festival

Book Details:
Tonoharu: Part One
5.25″x8.25″, 128 pages, Two-color.
Cloth Hardcover w/ full color dust jacket w/ gold highlights.
ISBN Number: 978-0-9801023-2-1
Publisher: Pliant Press
Cover Price: $19.95

Interested parties can get their own copy in one of three ways:

1) Order it directly from me, via Paypal / Credit Card:
Price: $19.95
Minnesota residents pay an additional 6.5% sales tax.
Shipping: $2.13 for shipping to USA and Canada via Media Mail. $8.00 to the rest of the world, via first class mail.
Click this button to order now:














Bonus: Order by March 23, and you can get your copy signed, if you so desire. Just note that you want a signed copy in “Optional Instructions” box as you checkout, and say who you want it made out to, if anyone.

 2) Pick it up at a convention:
My distribution partner, the great alternative comics publisher Top Shelf Productions, will be on hand at a number of conventions and expos across the country this year. For a list of conventions that Top Shelf will be making apperances at, click here.
My book should be available at their booth, along with a bunch of other great books, such as That Salty Air by fellow Minnesota native Tim Sievert.
 

3) Wait a few weeks, and then pick up Tonoharu: Part One at your favorite retail outlet
Tonoharu: Part One should be available at in comic book stores, bookstores, amazon.com, bn.com, etc., around mid-April or May.
To preorder Tonoharu: Part One from amazon.com, click here.

Hurray! I got the Monbusho!

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As my loyal readers (all three of you) may recall, several months ago I wrote about my application for a Monbusho Research Scholarship to study in Japan [Link to that entry]. Hoping that the Monbusho would become a big part of my life and that I’d eventually write numerous entries about it, I even gave “Monbusho Scholarship” its own blog category, as you can see to the left of this entry.

For months one lone entry inhibited the “Monbusho” category, because for months I knew nothing new to report. The application process was long and there seemed to be no end in sight. But just this week, I received final confirmation that my bid for a Monbusho Scholarship was successful! Yippie!

I’ll be leaving for Japan in April, for a period of two years. I’ll be living in Tokushima City, studying at Shikoku University. This is an incredible opportunity, and I can’t say how thrilled I am to have been selected.

As I mentioned in the first entry about the Monbusho Scholarship, I intend to write in detail about the application process and my approach to it, in the hopes that such an account might be useful to future applicants. But it’ll probably be at least a couple months or so before I get to that, so interested parties should check back later this year for that.

So now I gotta start getting ready to go to Japan–I’ve only got six weeks to get everything in order. Yikes!

In other news, I’ve just recently gotten copies of Tonoharu: Part One in. An entry about that, as well as details on how to purchase it, will come next week.