Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White
By Taiyo Matsumoto
o-o-o-o
TEKKONKINKREET is kind of amazing. On first glance, it's not something I would normally pick up, but Ales Kot shoved it my face for my birthday, and my psyche is all the better for it. Manga can be weird, but TEKKONKINKREET is weird even by manga's standards. It doesn't adhere to any industry criteria, neither in terms of story or art. It feels very, shall we say, indie, very ziney, but 600 pages of ziney art and story rather than the handful of pages we're used to from most zines. It's Japan's answer to the underground comix of 60's-70's America.
The line-art is somewhat wobbly, and feels like Matsumoto took a ballpoint pen directly to the paper, sans penciling or any kind pre-planning. This may seem somewhat off-putting at first, but after a couple of pages, it really grows on you and clings to your heart and becomes an inseparable part of TEKKONKINKREET's charm. If I were to reveal the plot to you, you would automatically decree that its a story that should take no more than 150 pages tops, but part of the reason it takes 600 is that Matsumoto allows certain moments to breathe. Something that would take no more than 2 panels in your average Western comicbook, Matsumoto uses an entire page of 7 panels for. This allows certain moments to sink in, be felt, and really helps put you in the story's setting.
TEKKONKINKREET is definitely an outlier, where common wisdom would dictate it should not really exist. If it were pitched, no one would publish it. It's a whimsical, pure, unfiltered passionate output that can only exist in this world by the sheer persistence of its creator, and as such is one of the most inspiring and fulfilling graphic novels you will ever read. Nothing will make you want to make comix –or anything for that matter– quite like TEKKONKINKREET will.
Now I'm jonzing to see the film.