Oooooh boy, my favorite kind of thread! Hmmm....I've got a few, so bear with me.......
Osamu Tezuka-The most obvious one. The man invented modern manga, plain and simple. He was a terrific storyteller whose incredible prolific output and unsurpassed storytelling skills is still unmatched in modern manga. His work is incredibly profound, and even his simplest of stories have an element of social commentary. Everything he created is a classic. And his simplistic art-style is perfect for his stories.
Keiji Nakazawa- The author of
Barefoot Gen, the only comic to ever make me cry. His ability to convey the sorrows of his tragic youth allowed him to construct what is quite possibly the most profound anti-war comic ever published in the history of sequential art. His use of the somewhat simplistic 70s-style manga (no surprise considering it was drawn in the 70s) somehow worked
beautifully.
Toshio Maeda-One of Japan's most succesful, and one of Japan's most infamous, hentai artists. He is most famous as the creator of
La Blue Girl,
Demon Beast Invasion, and his most famous work,
Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend. Despite the fact that his dialouge can sometimes come off as corny when transliterated into English, his artwork is absolutely GORGEOUS to look at. His unique combination of manga symbolism and sensibilities with American Silver Age of Comics-style naturalism, plus his unique and ingenious character design, are absolutely brilliant.
Shotaro Ishinomori- Probably the second most prolific mangaka in history (after his mentor, Tezuka), the "King of Manga" was truly influential. Not only was he the creator of various fantastic manga (such as
Cyborg 009), he was also one of the innovators of tokusatsu televisions shows, being the creator of both the manga AND the television show
Kamen Rider, one of the most popular television programs in Japanese history. He was also the inventor of the sentai (hero team) concept, which in the States is best conveyed through
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. A brilliant and prolific artist, he drew in several different genres, from science fiction, to adventure, to romance, to comedy, to one of the longest history manga every published. And with
009-1 , he was also one of the pioneers of erotic manga. Truly a master.
Yu Asagiri-One of the best examples of an artist changing from one genre which she had worked with for several years, to a completely different genre and not only become
wildy popular, but internationally succesful. Asagiri-sama had worked in the realm of shojo manga for over 15 years until a near-fatal car accident forced her to reanalyze her priorities, and decided to draw manga that SHE wanted to draw. She then created the four volume
Midnight Panther, a soft-hentai post-apocalyptic adventure manga that brought her both acclaim and popularity.
Moto Hagio-Hagio-sama is quite possibly the single most influential and beloved shojo manga artist in Japan. She invented the modern shonen-ai/yaoi manga in the late 60s. Furthermore, her use of hard science fiction in several of her stories has gotten her an audience with boys as well as girls, making her doubly popular. Her artwork is probably some of the most beautiful I've ever seen in the shojo demographic, and her experimentation with layouts and visual effects makes for some of the most striking images in the world of sequential art. She is rightfully considered by many to be the female Osamu Tezuka.
Yumiko Igarashi-Although Isagari-sama rarely writes her own stories anymore (not to mention that she seems to be a tad on the egomanaical and greedy side), she is still one of the most talented artists in shojo manga. As the artist behind the manga
Candy Candy, she helped create one of the most internationally famous and popular manga/anime franchises in the history of the medium. She also helped create the
Sword of Paros manga trilogy with Kaoru Kurimoto, author of the super-popular
Guin Saga series of Japanese fantasy novels. Although her artwork is filled with some of the trappings of 70s shojo manga, her scenery and renditions of flowers, insects, etc. are gorgeous. I truly hope that I get to see her work in the States one day.
Ryoichi Ikegami-Probably one of the most talented artists in not just manga but ANY comics period. Ikegami-san's artstyle is not only realistic and sexy when it comes to humans, but his depictions of animals, scenery, plants, fish, insects, etc. are so beautiful that they virtually crossover from comics into fine art. With his friend and frequent partner, Kazuo Koike, he created
Crying Freeman, one of the most popular and famous crime manga in history. He also drew AND wrote the stories (a rarity for him) for
Spider-Man: The Manga, a unique and awesome adaptation of the American hero into the Japanese world. He also created
Mai the Psychic Girl, one of the first manga to become translated and popular in the U.S.
Go Nagai-Probably my favorite manga artist after Tezuka, Go Nagai is one of the most influential, most popular, and most controversial manga artists in the history of the medium. In the early seventies, he virtually OWNED the manga/anime industry, producing hit after hit. His manga are often filled with large doses of sex and violence, making him perfect for a seinen artist. However, because such a thing didn't exist when he first started out, his works were published in boys' comics, making him a favorite target of the PTA in Japan. He invented the piloted-mecha story with his popular super robot manga,
Mazinger Z. Also, he created the legendary
Devilman, a horror/supernatural/super hero tale that has been a cult hit in Japan for over 30 years. He also created one of the first magical girls with
Cutey Honey. He even created the transformable, combining mecha with
Getter Robo! Truly talented, truly ingenious, truly a treasure.
Well, that's it for me. Sorry if I bored you all.
