Barefoot Gen TPB (2004-2009 Last Gasp) A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima New Edition comic books 2009

Volume 7 - 1st printing. "Bones into Dust!"

Story and art by Keiji Nakazawa.

Cartoonist Keiji Nakazawa was seven years old and living in Hiroshima in the early days of August 1945 when the city was destroyed by an atomic bomb. Starting a few months before that event, the ten-volume Barefoot Gen saga shows life in Japan after years of war and privations, as seen through the eyes of seven-year-old Gen Nakaoka. Gen has grown old enough to think about the legacy of the victims of the atomic bombing. Gen searches for a printer willing to publish an eyewitness account of the bombing written by "Papa," the journalist who serves as a father figure to Gen's war orphan friends. By hook and crook Gen and Ryuta manage to get the book printed and distributed, only to arouse the wrath of U.S. Army censors, who teach them a hard lesson about the politics of memory.

Meanwhile, Gen's brother Koji returns home at last, only to find that their mother is on her deathbed.

Softcover, 5 1/2-in. x 8 1/2-in., 270 pages, B&W.

Cover price $14.95.

Volume 8 - 1st printing. "Merchants of Death!"

Story and art by Keiji Nakazawa.

In 1950, Gen is now in middle school, where he meets both a progressive-minded schoolteacher at odds with his conservative superiors, and a brilliant but cynical classmate who challenges the teacher's - and Gen's - values at every turn. Gen also finds himself confronting the corrosive effects on postwar Hiroshima society of drugs and the arms industry. With the Korean War offering new business opportunities, a new generation of death merchants holds sway in Japan. Gen, his teacher mentor, and other peace-minded citizens are forced to struggle against red-baiting school officials, violent nationalists, and government censorship.

Softcover, 5 1/2-in. x 8 1/2-in., 270 pages, B&W.

Cover price $14.95.

Volume 9 - 1st printing. "Breaking Down Borders!"

Story and art by Keiji Nakazawa.

Gen continues to confront one setback after another when a chance encounter gives new direction to his life. In Volume 9, an impoverished but talented artist takes Gen under his wing and teaches him to paint. Inspired by the artist's assertion that art has no borders, Gen vows to become an artist himself, and takes a job as apprentice to a local poster painter.

Softcover, 5 1/2-in. x 8 1/2-in., 270 pages, B&W.

Cover price $14.95.

Volume 10 - 1st printing. "Never Give Up!"

Story and art by Keiji Nakazawa.

Cartoonist Keiji Nakazawa was seven years old and living in Hiroshima in the early days of August 1945 when the city was destroyed by an atomic bomb dropped by the U.S.A.

Starting a few months before that event, the ten-volume saga shows life in Japan after years of war and privations, as seen through the eyes of seven-year-old Gen Nakaoka. As Volume Ten begins, the year is 1953. Now an apprentice sign painter, Gen has become a skilled artist, while his friends run a thriving dressmaking business. Gen falls in love for the first time, but fails to notice that a good friend has been caught in the clutches of drug addiction. Heartbreak and loss await Gen as the atomic bomb continues to wreak havoc on the lives people in Hiroshima years after the fact. Yet these tragedies also inspire Gen to make the big move to Tokyo to pursue his career as an artist.

Softcover, 5 1/2-in. x 8 1/2-in., 270 pages, B&W.

Cover price $14.95.