Comic books in 'Showa: A History of Japan'

1st Edition - 1st printing.

Story and art by Shigeru Mizuki.

Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan is the first volume of Shigeru Mizuki's meticulously researched historical portrait of twentieth-century Japan.

This 560-page volume deals with the period leading up to World War II, a time of high unemployment and other economic hardships caused by the Great Depression. Mizuki's photo-realist style effortlessly brings to life the Japan of the 1920s and 1930s, depicting bustling city streets and abandoned graveyards with equal ease.

With his trusty narrator Rat Man, Mizuki brings history into the realm of the personal, making it palatable, and indeed compelling, for young audiences as well as more mature readers.

Softcover, 6-in. x 9-in., 560 pages, PC/PB&W.

Cover price $24.95.

1st Edition - 2nd and later printings.

Story and art by Shigeru Mizuki.

Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan is the first volume of Shigeru Mizuki's meticulously researched historical portrait of twentieth-century Japan.

This 560-page volume deals with the period leading up to World War II, a time of high unemployment and other economic hardships caused by the Great Depression. Mizuki's photo-realist style effortlessly brings to life the Japan of the 1920s and 1930s, depicting bustling city streets and abandoned graveyards with equal ease.

With his trusty narrator Rat Man, Mizuki brings history into the realm of the personal, making it palatable, and indeed compelling, for young audiences as well as more mature readers.

Softcover, 6-in. x 9-in., 560 pages, PC/PB&W.

Cover price $24.95.

2nd Edition - 1st printing.

Story and art by Shigeru Mizuki.

Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan is the first volume of Shigeru Mizuki's meticulously researched historical portrait of twentieth-century Japan.

This 560-page volume deals with the period leading up to World War II, a time of high unemployment and other economic hardships caused by the Great Depression. Mizuki's photo-realist style effortlessly brings to life the Japan of the 1920s and 1930s, depicting bustling city streets and abandoned graveyards with equal ease.

With his trusty narrator Rat Man, Mizuki brings history into the realm of the personal, making it palatable, and indeed compelling, for young audiences as well as more mature readers.

Softcover, 6-in. x 9-in., 560 pages, PC/PB&W.

Cover price $29.95.

1st Edition - 1st printing.

Story and art by Shigeru Mizuki.

Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan continues award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's autobiographical and historical account of Showa Era Japan.

This volume covers the final moments of the lead-up to World War Two and the first few years of the Pacific War; it is a chilling reminder of the harshness of life in Japan during this highly militarized epoch. Mizuki writes affectingly about the impact on the Japanese populace of world-changing moments. On a personal level, these years mark a dramatic transformation in Mizuki's life, too; his idyllic childhood in the countryside comes to a definitive end when he's drafted into the army.

Softcover, 6-in. x 9-in., 560 pages, B&W.

Cover price $24.95.

1st Edition - 2nd and later printings.

Story and art by Shigeru Mizuki.

Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan continues award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's autobiographical and historical account of Showa Era Japan.

This volume covers the final moments of the lead-up to World War Two and the first few years of the Pacific War; it is a chilling reminder of the harshness of life in Japan during this highly militarized epoch. Mizuki writes affectingly about the impact on the Japanese populace of world-changing moments. On a personal level, these years mark a dramatic transformation in Mizuki's life, too; his idyllic childhood in the countryside comes to a definitive end when he's drafted into the army.

Softcover, 6-in. x 9-in., 560 pages, B&W.

Cover price $24.95.

2nd Edition - 1st printing.

Story and art by Shigeru Mizuki. Translated by Zack Davisson.

Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan continues award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's autobiographical and historical account of Showa Era Japan.

This volume covers the devastation of the Sino-Japanese War and the first few years of the Pacific War-a chilling reminder of just how harsh life in Japan was during this hostile era. Pivotal events like the attack on Pearl Harbor are reframed as part of a larger context detailing the country's brutal military expansion into Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

Softcover, 6 1/2-in. x 8 1/2-in., 536 pages, B&W.

Cover price $29.95.

1st Edition - 1st printing.

Story and art by Shigeru Mizuki.

The penultimate volume of the Showa series continues award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's autobiographical and historical account of Showa period Japan.

This volume recounts the events of the final years of the Pacific War, and the consequences of the war's devastation for Shigeru Mizuki and the Japanese populace at large. After the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, Japan and the United States are officially at war. The two rival navies wage a series of micro-wars across the tiny Pacific islands, and from Guadalcanal to Okinawa Japan slowly loses ground.

Finally, the United States unleashes the deathblow with a new and terrible weapon-the atomic bomb. Showa 1944-1953 is a searing condemnation of the personal toll of war from one of Japan's most famous cartoonists.

Softcover, 6-in. x 9-in., 560 pages, B&W.

Cover price $24.95.

2nd Edition - 1st printing.

Story and art by Shigeru Mizuki.

The penultimate volume of the Showa series continues award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's autobiographical and historical account of Showa period Japan.

This volume recounts the events of the final years of the Pacific War, and the consequences of the war's devastation for Shigeru Mizuki and the Japanese populace at large. After the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, Japan and the United States are officially at war. The two rival navies wage a series of micro-wars across the tiny Pacific islands, and from Guadalcanal to Okinawa Japan slowly loses ground.

Finally, the United States unleashes the deathblow with a new and terrible weapon-the atomic bomb. Showa 1944-1953 is a searing condemnation of the personal toll of war from one of Japan's most famous cartoonists.

Softcover, 6-in. x 9-in., 536 pages, B&W.

Cover price $29.95.

1st Edition - 1st printing.

Story and art by Shigeru Mizuki.

The final volume of the Eisner-nominated history of Japan.

Showa 1953-1989: A History of Japan concludes Shigeru Mizuki's dazzling autobiographical and historical account of Showa period Japan, a portrait both intimate and ranging of a defining epoch.

The final volume picks up in the wake of Japan's utter defeat in World War II, as a country reduced to rubble struggles to rise again. A former enemy becomes their greatest ally as the USA funnels money, jobs, and opportunity into Japan, hoping to establish the country as a bulwark against Soviet communist expansion. Japan reinvents itself, emerging as an economic powerhouse. Events like the Tokyo Olympiad and the World's Fair introduce a new, friendly Japan to the world, but this period of peace and plenty conceals a populace still struggling to come to terms with the devastation of WWII.

The original Japanese edition won the prestigious Kodansha Manga Award; the English translation has been nominated for an Eisner Award.

Softcover, 6-in. x 9-in., 560 pages, B&W.

Cover price $24.95.

2nd Edition - 1st printing.

Story and art by Shigeru Mizuki.

The final volume of the Eisner-nominated history of Japan.

Showa 1953-1989: A History of Japan concludes Shigeru Mizuki's dazzling autobiographical and historical account of Showa period Japan, a portrait both intimate and ranging of a defining epoch.

The final volume picks up in the wake of Japan's utter defeat in World War II, as a country reduced to rubble struggles to rise again. A former enemy becomes their greatest ally as the USA funnels money, jobs, and opportunity into Japan, hoping to establish the country as a bulwark against Soviet communist expansion. Japan reinvents itself, emerging as an economic powerhouse. Events like the Tokyo Olympiad and the World's Fair introduce a new, friendly Japan to the world, but this period of peace and plenty conceals a populace still struggling to come to terms with the devastation of WWII.

The original Japanese edition won the prestigious Kodansha Manga Award; the English translation has been nominated for an Eisner Award.

Softcover, 6-in. x 9-in., 560 pages, B&W.

Cover price $29.95.