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A review by ederwin
The Four Immigrants Manga: A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924 by Frederik L. Schodt, Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama
3.0
An early example of semi-autobiographical long-form comic telling the story of Japanese immigrants trying to make a living in San Francisco between 1904 and 1924. It gives a first-hand account of events such as the 1906 earthquake, a visit by president Taft, the failure of the Golden Gate Bank, the Panama Pacific International Exposition, WWI, the Spanish Flu, the start of Prohibition, the Alien Land Act, etc. It is worth reading by anyone interested in early San Francisco or the Japanese-American immigrant experience.
Written in 52 2-page spreads, it was intended to be serialized over a years worth of weekly newspapers, but that never happened. While it was exhibited in 1927 and then independently published, it was largely forgotten until rediscovered, translated and published in 1988. Part of that neglect may be due to the fact that it was written with a combination of Japanese and broken English, and would be understood only by bilingual people.
Each 12-cel story ends with a gag. The humor in these is primarily in the form of Japanese puns, which don't work in English. But more serious themes are addressed as well.
This is probably not the first "Graphic Novel". Nor the first "Gekiga". Nor even the first comic to be made into a musical play (which happened for this book in 2017 in San Jose.) And being unknown, it probably had no influence on later works. But it certainly pre-dates [b:Blackmark|1535963|Blackmark|Gil Kane|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1184871274s/1535963.jpg|1528089] and [b:It Rhymes with Lust|607911|It Rhymes with Lust|Arnold Drake|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403200061s/607911.jpg|594417] and [b:A Contract with God|861023|A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories|Will Eisner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328363057s/861023.jpg|250281] and so will be of interest to historians of comics. For the general comic-reading public, I recommend it only if you also have an interest in San Francisco history.
Written in 52 2-page spreads, it was intended to be serialized over a years worth of weekly newspapers, but that never happened. While it was exhibited in 1927 and then independently published, it was largely forgotten until rediscovered, translated and published in 1988. Part of that neglect may be due to the fact that it was written with a combination of Japanese and broken English, and would be understood only by bilingual people.
Each 12-cel story ends with a gag. The humor in these is primarily in the form of Japanese puns, which don't work in English. But more serious themes are addressed as well.
This is probably not the first "Graphic Novel". Nor the first "Gekiga". Nor even the first comic to be made into a musical play (which happened for this book in 2017 in San Jose.) And being unknown, it probably had no influence on later works. But it certainly pre-dates [b:Blackmark|1535963|Blackmark|Gil Kane|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1184871274s/1535963.jpg|1528089] and [b:It Rhymes with Lust|607911|It Rhymes with Lust|Arnold Drake|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403200061s/607911.jpg|594417] and [b:A Contract with God|861023|A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories|Will Eisner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328363057s/861023.jpg|250281] and so will be of interest to historians of comics. For the general comic-reading public, I recommend it only if you also have an interest in San Francisco history.