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Book Reviews: Hergé: The Man Who Created Tintin. By Pierre Assouline. Translated by Charles Ruas. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation of Post–World War II Manga. By Natsu Onoda Power. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2009. Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip. By Nevin Martell. New York: Continuum, 2009.

By: Craig Fischer

Abstract Three recent books—Pierre Assouline's Hergé, Natsu Onoda Power's God of Comics and Nevin Martell's Looking for Calvin and Hobbes—aspire to be comprehensive, accessible biographies/critical studies of their subjects, though these books vary widely in quality.

Fischer, C. (2010). Reviews of Herge: The Man who Created Tintin by Pierre Assouline, God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation of Post-World War II Manga by Natsu Onoda Power, and Looking for Calvin and Hobbes by Nevin Martell, Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 35.3 (Fall 2010), 320-324. DOI: 10.1353/chq.2010.0004. ESSN 1553-1201. Version of record available at: http://muse.jhu.edu/article/396491. +HUJp7KH0DQ:KR&UHDWHG7LQWLQDQG*RGRI&RPLFV2VDPX7H]XNDDQGWKH&UHDWLRQRI3RVW²:RUOG:DU,,0DQJD DQG/RRNLQJIRU&DOYLQDQG+REEHV7KH8QFRQYHQWLRQDO6WRU\RI%LOO:DWWHUVRQDQG+LV5HYROXWLRQDU\&RPLF6WULS  UHYLHZ

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Access provided by Appalachian State University Libraries (17 Nov 2016 14:39 GMT) Hergé: The Man Who Created Tintin. By Pierre including such acclaimed books as Assouline. Translated by Charles Ruas. New Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack and Naoki York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Urasawa’s Pluto. And then I wondered: what other God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation books out there, besides Thompson’s, of Post–World War II Manga. By Natsu Onoda guide parents in their purchases, and Power. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, guide librarians when they order man- 2009. ga and other types of comics for their collections? What books give teachers Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Uncon- the information they need to incor- ventional Story of Bill Watterson and His porate comics into their classrooms? Revolutionary Comic Strip. By Nevin Martell. It seems to me that there’s a dearth of New York: Continuum, 2009. solid, introductory-level critical texts about the comics medium as a whole Reviewed by Craig Fischer and about important cartoonists in particular, though perhaps this situa- Two or three weeks before Christmas, tion has begun to improve. Three re- my friend Beth asked me to go to the cent books—Pierre Assouline’s Hergé, local comics shop with her. Beth’s Natsu Onoda Power’s God of Comics eight-year-old son Beckham had put and Nevin Martell’s Looking for Calvin manga on his Christmas list—manga and Hobbes—aspire to be comprehen- are the Japanese comics published sive, accessible biographies/critical in paperback and available at every studies of their subjects, though these chain bookstore and comic store in books vary widely in quality. the United States—but Beth knew Pierre Assouline is a Parisian that some manga is extremely violent journalist and author whose previous and sexually explicit, and she wanted books include biographies of writer my help in finding a book appropriate Georges Simenon and photographer for Beckham. We ended up buying two Henri Cartier-Bresson. Undoubtedly, books for him: the first volume of Hi- Hergé is a more widely read writer romu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist than Simenon and a more popular (a moderately violent but well-told visual artist than Cartier-Bresson. fantasy tale) and a volume of Kiyohiko The twenty-three book-length comic Azuma’s Yotsuba&! (an all-ages com- adventures that Hergé wrote and edy). I also recommended that Beth drew (with a cadre of uncredited as- pick up Jason Thompson’s Manga: sistants) about the boy reporter Tintin The Complete Guide, a comprehensive between 1930 and 1976 still command survey of manga titles rated for qual- a worldwide audience in the tens of ity and age-appropriateness. I real- millions. An example of Tintin’s clout: ized, though, that Thompson’s book, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson which came out in 2007, is already are collaborating on a Tintin movie, out of date. There’s been hundreds and it takes these two cinematic pow- (if not thousands) of manga volumes erhouses to equal Hergé’s singular translated into English since then, impact and popularity.

320 Children’s Literature Association Quarterly In his introduction, Assouline these receiving capital punishment or writes that he took on the project be- life imprisonment.) Assouline argues cause Hergé’s heirs gave him total ac- that Hergé made poor moral choices cess to the artist’s papers and files. This during the Occupation and, more caught my attention; I’ve read several surprisingly, remained close to the books on Hergé, and I was hoping that incivique crowd after he was exoner- Assouline’s unprecedented access to ated by the courts: the Hergé Foundation archives would result in new revelations, but not so. Whatever the facts, he always In large measure, Assouline’s Hergé is managed to find extenuating circumstances for those defeated a well-written recapitulation of facts by the liberation. [Journalist and already presented in various sources convicted collaborator] Robert (most notably for U.S. audiences, Poulet would say that Hergé was in the documentary Tintin and Me generous toward the inciviques, [2003], which aired as a program in those who were banned and disgraced but whose integrity he the PBS series POV in 2006). All the believed in. Hergé’s generosity chronicles of Hergé’s life, including toward them was greater than Assouline’s, focus on the same for- people would believe. He helped mative influences, including his love not only his friends, and friends for the Boy Scouts, his early work for of friends, but also individuals whom he did not even know. His the Catholic newspaper Le Vingtième reputation as the Samaritan of Siècle (Twentieth Century, edited by collaborators in distress spread conservative priest and Hergé mentor beyond the borders. (115–16) Norbet Wallez), his friendship with Chinese artist Chang Chong-Chen, Assouline’s biography gives us a and his two marriages. Rabid Tinti- portrait of a very complicated, very nophiles may not learn anything new flawed Hergé, which seems to be the from Assouline’s Hergé, but his book truth about the man. I’d recommend functions as a fine introduction for Hergé to anyone interested in Tintin neophytes interested in the artist’s and Belgian comics in general, as well life. as historians of the incivique period. The most striking aspect of As- Natsu Onoda Power’s God of Com- souline’s book is his willingness to la- ics is about Osamu Tezuka, who is bel Hergé a Nazi collaborator. During called the “God of Manga” by fans and the German occupation of Belgium, whose incredible post–World War II Hergé drew Tintin for the French- popularity established manga as both language collaborationist newspaper an artistic means of expression and Le Soir (Evening), and after the war he as a business. Like Assouline’s Hergé, was briefly in danger of being ruled God of Comics covers all the requisite an incivique (a “noncitizen”) by a peaks and valleys of its subject’s life. postwar military court because of his Power discusses the influence of Walt participation in Axis media. (After Disney on Tezuka’s cartooning, the the war, 55,000 Belgians were found unexpected success Tezuka had with guilty of collaboration, with a tenth of early comics like New Treasure Island

Book Reviews 321 (1947) and The Lost World (1948), Black Jack!”) Chapters are devoted to and the first appearance of Tetsuwan Tezuka’s contributions to shojo manga Atomu (or Astro Boy, as he’s known (comics for girls) and seinen manga in the United States) in 1952. (Early in (experimental, violent, and sexual their careers, both Hergé and Tezuka comics aimed at young adult males). created massively popular characters, My favorite is chapter 3, “Movie in and both later found reader demand a Book,” where Power claims that for new Tintin and Astro Boy stories Tezuka was heavily influenced by the a straitjacket—though Tezuka ignored visual aesthetics of Hollywood films these demands and went on to create of the 1930s and 1940s and, begin- works more adult and ambitious than ning with Metropolis (1949), began to anything Hergé ever attempted.) Like incorporate “a more solid vocabulary Assouline, Power avoids hagiography of ‘cinematic techniques’” into his and is direct in her evaluations of manga (54), specifically the deep focus different facets of Tezuka’s career. A cinematography of movies like Citizen chapter on Tezuka’s contributions to Kane (1941) and The Best Years of Our animation ends with the following Lives (1946), which inspired Tezuka to judgment: “Despite his deep love for stage action in his comics panels on all animation, Tezuka was not always planes, from the extreme foreground successful at it, commercially or artis- to the remote background. In making tically. Some regard Tezuka’s influence this point, Power brings in historical on Japanese animation as negative evidence (post–World War II Japanese rather than positive: he is responsible film magazines) and the ideas of film for much of the money-saving (and theorist André Bazin, and brieflyGod quality-compromising) techniques in of Comics becomes more scholarly TV animations, which mark them as than introductory. Most of Power’s a ‘low’ form of entertainment as op- book, however, stays on the gaijin posed to ‘art’” (138). Power calls the (beginner) level and is a helpful guide God of Manga on his mistakes. to the career of the most important God of Comics is less a chronological comics artist who ever lived. biography than a survey of concepts Though not as influential as Hergé that unlock Tezuka’s oeuvre: Power’s and Tezuka, Calvin and Hobbes’s chapters are organized around critical Bill Watterson is probably the best ideas rather than the facts of Tezuka’s American newspaper cartoonist of life. One chapter explicates Tezuka’s the past twenty-five years, and he “star system”—his tendency to use the deserves a better book than Nevin same characters over and over again, Martell’s Looking for Calvin and Hob- even in radically different stories, bes. No doubt Martell had a hard time as if they were movie actors instead researching his subject. Since retiring of endless malleable drawings. (The Calvin and Hobbes in 1995, Watter- “star system” allowed Tezuka to save son has become a near-recluse who time on character design, while serv- refuses interview requests, incentives ing as an in-joke for long-time fans: to return to the strip, and requests to “Hey look! Astro Boy has a cameo in merchandise the Calvin and Hobbes

322 Children’s Literature Association Quarterly characters. (The urinating Calvin Martell brings his book to a suppos- stickers so common on the back of edly rousing conclusion by finagling pick-up truck windows are bootlegs.) an interview with Watterson’s mother, Denied contact with the cartoonist, but I couldn’t get past how this tactic Martell resorts to packing Looking (save the big interview for last!) was with interviews with other people, shamelessly ripped off from Michael some of whom are close to Watterson Moore films likeRoger and Me (1989) (his lifelong friend Richard West, his and Bowling for Columbine (2002). editor Lee Salem) and offer genuine And while Mrs. Watterson seems like a insights into Watterson’s life and sweet lady, I’m afraid she doesn’t have art. Too many of Martell’s interview any earth-shattering insights to share subjects, however, are included just about her son either. When asked because they’re celebrities who share about Watterson’s decision to retire Martell’s love of Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin after ten years, Mom replies, “I but folks like Lio cartoonist Mark Tat- knew he was ready to go on. You want ulli and comedian Patton Oswalt have your children to be happy and to be little to say except predictable encomi- satisfied with their lives. So if that’s ums about the “wonder” and “energy” what he needed to do, then that was of Watterson’s strip. Astonishingly, fine” (223). What’s not fine, however, Martell also spends pages writing is Martell’s treatment of this interview about those celebrities who refused his as some kind of journalistic coup. interview request, including author The most annoying aspect of Look- David Sedaris (“I have never in my ing is Martell’s bloated, cutesy writing. life read a Calvin and Hobbes comic At the end of chapter 5, describing strip” [12]) and American Splendor the moment when he learned that comic-book author Harvey Pekar Watterson’s brother has declined to (who “didn’t feel as though he could be interviewed, Martell writes, “Argh. contribute” [12]). Why do we need Dang rabbit! Curses to the trickster to hear about Martell’s investigatory god Loki! I keep getting close, but not dead ends? close enough. That Watterson is a one The organization of Looking gen- [sic] wascally wabbit” (117). Looking erally follows the trajectory of Wat- ends with a dopey list of “Random terson’s life, though as he writes Tidbits You Might Like To Know But about the Calvin years, Martell also Which Didn’t Make the Book” (but catalogs the elements of the strip in which really did make the book— detail. He mentions such Watterson funny, huh?) and the final item on the jokes as Spaceman Spiff, Choco- list is “I love cupcakes and I’m hungry. late Frosted Sugar Bombs, and “the Mmmm . . . cupcakes.” Argh, indeed. Noodle Incident,” but he never dives The time he spent writing Looking below the surface to discuss the qual- might have been better spent baking ity of Watterson’s line or the timing cupcakes. This is a book that I can’t of his gags. (I didn’t learn any new recommend to Beckham, Beth, or facts or interpretations from Martell’s anyone; librarians, teachers, and curi- summary of the strip.) In chapter 10 ous parties should seek out Assouline’s

Book Reviews 323 Hergé and Power’s God of Comics but with by all parents, eggheads or not, avoid looking for Looking for Calvin and of whatever political persua- and Hobbes. sion” (xiii). The persona of Booker as intellectual-father permeates his Craig Fischer is an associate professor of analysis. Often written in first person, English at Appalachian State University, the book provides a highly personal where he teaches courses on film and comics. His articles have been published in reading of Booker’s and his three the Comics Journal and the International sons’ responses to Disney films and Journal of Comic Art, and he served on the particular elements in them, such as executive committee of the International music, magic, racial and gender roles, Comic Arts Forum (ICAF) from 2005 to humor, or effects. 2007. Currently, Craig blogs with scholar Charles Hatfield at www.thoughtballoonists. The book is divided into five chap- com and is serving as a judge for the comic ters. In the first, Booker considers industry’s 2010 Eisner Awards. the feature animated films that Walt Disney oversaw, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Jungle Book (1967), released the year after Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Disney’s death. In the second, he as- Children’s Films. By M. Keith Booker. Santa sesses the studio’s output after Disney, Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2010. including “the virtual wasteland in the Reviewed by Kathy Merlock Jackson production of children’s animated film” (37) until the release ofThe Little In Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Mes- Mermaid in 1989 sparked a renais- sages of Children’s Films, University of sance. The third chapter addresses Arkansas English professor M. Keith Disney’s relationship with Pixar and Booker revisits familiar material. The foray into digital animation, and the author of Drawn to Television: Prime fourth considers Disney’s competi- Time Animation from The Flint- tors, especially DreamWorks, which stones to Family Guy and May Con- Booker regards as farther to the left tain Graphic Material: Comic Books, than Disney and slightly more subver- Graphic Novels, and Film, Booker sive. Booker concludes with a chapter understands animation and the child titled “The Politics of Children’s Film: audience and lends his expertise to What Hollywood Is Really Teach- uncovering the subtext of the Disney ing Our Children.” Throughout, he oeuvre. In his “Personal Prologue,” emphasizes that children’s films can Booker writes, “I am, among other have a “profound effect at the level things, a professional academic film of promoting certain fundamental scholar and, yes, I should admit up attitudes and basic expectations con- front that I am an unrepentant leftist cerning what the world is like and how egghead intellectual. But I’m also a one should live in it” (175). dad, and I’ve come to understand that Much of the book consists of Book- the complexities and responsibilities er’s synopses of films and his and associated with being a parent to kids sons Benjamin’s, Skylor’s, and Adam’s who watch movies need to be dealt opinions of them, but the book is

324 Children’s Literature Association Quarterly