Charles Schulz’ beloved characters of Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang have been enjoyed around the world for decades, but how did one man create such enduring characters?
Manga Biographies: Charles M. Schulz The Creator of Snoopy and Peanuts is a biographical manga about Charles M. Schulz, the creator of Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, and more. The manga spans Schulz’ life from his childhood to his death in 2000 soon after he drew the final Peanuts strip, with the emphasis being on Schulz’ inspiration for his characters and his determination to become a cartoonist.
From sharing in the love of newspaper comic strips with his parents to the rejection of his coworker Donna, who became the catalyst for the Little Red-Haired Girl, Charlie Brown’s unrequited crush in the Peanuts comic strip, the manga showcases how interwoven Schulz’ life was with that of his creations. The manga keeps the focus on Schulz’s career toward the eventual success of Peanuts as well his creations that ultimately led to Peanuts characters, such as his sketches of his family dog and his first comic strip Li’l Folks: early work that pioneered Schulz’ vision for Peanuts.
The manga’s art is adorable. Yuzuru Kuki’s whimsical style is suited for this take on Schulz’ life and career. Even though the style is sweet and straightforward, Yuki conveys serious scenes with nuance and care. All of the principal characters are expressive, most notably Schulz himself. Yuki’s art manages to convey a correlation between Schulz and Charlie Brown as well, such as when Schulz endures awkward situations or he feels shy and nervous. It is a subtle but effective touch. Panels that depict Schulz drawing feature his actual work, which is a delightful touch.
At the beginning of the manga, a brief history page touches on major events during Schulz’ life. The events mentioned, such as the introduction of newspaper comic strips, World War II, and the Apollo 11 landing, are described in great detail beyond how they impacted Schulz’ life. For example, the Schulz family’s love of newspaper comics instilled a fascination in Schulz at an early age, and Schulz’ military service is described as cultivating his discipline and grit that allowed him to persevere in getting his comic strip published.
The publisher age rating for Manga Biographies: Charles M. Schulz The Creator of Snoopy and Peanuts is ages 12-18, but Peanuts fans of all ages can enjoy this take on Schulz’ life and determination to become a cartoonist. While the manga touches on more serious aspects of Schulz’ life, such as his military service, marital issues, and family death, it glosses over the details other than how these experiences may have influenced his creative process.
The manga includes extras in the back such as various Peanuts trivia, quotes, and more that gear to a young audience. Readers looking for a more in-depth biography of Schulz won’t find it here, but anyone wanting to read an inspirational and light-hearted take on Schulz’ journey as a cartoonist might enjoy this.
Manga Biographies: Charles M. Schulz The Creator of Snoopy and Peanuts By Yuzuru Kuki UDON Entertainment, 2024 ISBN: 9781772943443
Publisher Age Rating: 12-18 NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Tween (10-13), Teen (13-16), Older Teen (16-18), Adult (18+)
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Middle Grade (7-11), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13)
Eight hundred years ago an artist, whose life story is now lost to time, created what would become a national treasure in Japan. This was the first of four scrolls that now comprise the Choju Jinbutsu Giga, which translates roughly to “Caricatures of Animals and People”. This particular scroll is known for its anthropomorphic rabbits, frogs, monkeys, and other animals jumping, dancing, engaging in archery tournaments, having wrestling matches, and preparing feasts and prayers. Manga artist Fumiyo Kouno, probably best known to English-speaking audiences for her moving manga-turned-anime In This Corner of The World, brings the essence of this incredibly popular medieval artwork to Giga Town: A Guide to Manga Iconography!
Kouno’s art is, as always, gentle and captures the spirit of the Choju Jinbutsu Giga well, drawing the well known medieval animals in a more modern, pastoral setting. The reader follows the daily life of a small rabbit family and their frog and monkey neighbors. While most characters are not named, they wear items of clothing as identifiers, which utilizes some gender stereotypes. Female presenting characters are mostly denoted by aprons, bows, or skirts and are often seen doing domestic activities that male presenting characters do not participate in.
Giga Town is more of a reference book than a story readers should experience cover to cover. Each page is devoted to a symbol commonly found in manga that might represent a sound effect, time or seasonal context, or situations and emotions that would otherwise be difficult to fully depict visually. Along with a brief, clear description of the icon and its possible uses is a four panel vignette demonstrating the use of the symbol. Kouno’s work successfully increases the reader’s understanding and deepens their manga reading experiences. Some of these brief vignettes flow together in a short sequence, but most stand on their own. There is no overarching plot in Giga Town, just small slices of life illustrating common manga situations.
Originally published in Japanese in 2018, there are references to cultural situations that might be unfamiliar to English speaking audiences. The translated version solves this with cultural context boxes where necessary, briefly explaining what characters are doing or what item they are using so that they can be better understood by all readers. Making the guide even more accessible, a visual table of contents that includes just symbols and page numbers makes searching simple and straightforward. Tokyo based writer and reporter Matt Alt provides the book’s introduction, with a brief but helpful history of the Choju Jinbutsu Giga, along with a short overview of the manga industry and Kuono’s work as an artist.
There are a few depictions in Giga Town that some readers might find insensitive, beyond the rare, mild cartoon violence. In one of the vignettes, a female coded character requests and is shown being dragged across the floor by her hair. In another, a usually white rabbit returns from a trip with completely black fur and what seems like a large belly. As her friends comment on her size and dark complexion, it becomes clear that she was actually holding a sack and covered in dirt. Situations like these are rare, and are meant to comedically illustrate how a specific icon is used, but they could rub readers the wrong way.
Overall, Giga Town is a delight to read and learn from. As a reference, this would be at home in any tween, teen, or even adult focused manga collection. Regular and new manga readers, as well as aspiring manga artists will find the deeper understanding of manga iconography and cultural context valuable.
Giga Town: The Guide to Manga Iconography! By Fumiyo Kouno UDON, 2024 ISBN: 9781772943085
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Teen (13-16), Tween (10-13) Creator Representation: Japanese,
Oscar François de Jarjeyes is a young noblewoman raised as a son by her father. As commander of Marie Antoinette’s palace guard, Oscar is brought face-to-face with the luxury of King Louis XVI’s court at Versailles. Joined by her servant André, Oscar is privy to the intrigue and deceit of France’s last great royal regime.
(Publisher Description)
Rose of Versailles By Riyoko Ikeda ISBN: 9781927925935 Udon, 2020 NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16) Volumes available: 4
The Rose of Versailles helped define shoujo manga when it was originally published in 1972. Creator Riyoko’s original plan was a biographical manga about Marie Antoinette, but this historical manga tells the story of Oscar Francois de JarJayes, the last of six daughters born to a nobleman of France, raised as his heir—educated and trained as a man in military and weapons, to serve the French king at the Court of Versailles. Lady Oscar is serving as her father’s successor in the royal guard when 14 year-old Marie Antoinette arrives to marry the king’s grandson, the dauphin. Oscar is brave, intelligent, and loyal to the new dauphine, who is fated to become the future queen of France.
Shoujo manga, geared towards young, teenage girls and featuring large, sparkling eyes and lush character design, finds its full bloom in The Rose of Versailles. The young, flighty princess is thrown headfirst into the cutthroat world of royal intrigue as she runs up against the first of many historical characters who will shape her future, the king’s royal mistress, Madame du Barry. Oscar, raised in the French court, is astute and protective of the young queen. She does her best to advise and protect Antoinette, who is honest, sweet-natured, and chafes at the strictly enforced etiquette in the royal palace. They are outnumbered by the grasping nobles, scheming courtiers, and courtesans.
Udon Entertainment is releasing three deluxe, hardbound omnibus versions of The Rose of Versailles, translated into English for the first time, starting in January of 2020. These books feature colored pages and include the original covers from the 1972 serialization of the manga in Margaret Magazine.
The artwork on this 48-year old work holds up. The classic shoujo style and effects are simple but gorgeous. Oscar is androgynously beautiful. The story flows from one chapter to the next with decent historical accuracy, although the context is entirely unnecessary. This could be any intense teenage drama. The main characters are literally teenagers, so their actions and feelings are entirely relatable to their audience. The first volume covers the first years of Antoinette’s time in court and introduces some important historical characters, including the Cardinal de Rohan, Jeanne de la Motte (a conniving lost heir to the House of Valois), and Count Axel von Fersen.
These volumes seem made for library manga collections. They are historically important to the medium, and their binding makes their high price worth it to circulating collections and manga collectors in general. It seems to be a recent publisher trend to release new versions of classic manga, like VIZ Media did with Kazuo Umezz’s Drifting Classroom and Junji Ito’s Uzumaki, and I would encourage libraries to take advantage, if their budgets allow.
There is no publisher age rating on The Rose of Versailles. The steamier historical details are glossed over in volume 1 and this is age appropriate for middle-grade through young adult manga collections.
The Rose of Versailles, vol. 1 By Riyoko Ikeda Art by Riyoko Ikeda ISBN: 9781927925935 Udon, 2020 NFNT Age Recommendation: Teen (13-16), Older Teen (16-18), Adult (18+)
Eight hundred years ago an artist, whose life story is now lost to time, created what would become a national treasure in Japan. This was the first of four scrolls that now comprise the Choju Jinbutsu Giga, which translates roughly to “Caricatures of Animals and People”. This particular scroll is known for its anthropomorphic rabbits, frogs, monkeys, and other animals jumping, dancing, engaging in archery tournaments, having wrestling matches, and preparing feasts and prayers. Manga artist Fumiyo Kouno, probably best known to English-speaking audiences for her moving manga-turned-anime In This Corner of The World, brings the essence of this incredibly popular medieval artwork to Giga Town: A Guide to Manga Iconography!
The Rose of Versailles helped define shoujo manga when it was originally published in 1972. Creator Riyoko’s original plan was a biographical manga about Marie Antoinette, but this historical manga tells the story of Oscar Francois de JarJayes, the last of six daughters born to a nobleman of France, raised as his heir—educated and trained as a man in military and weapons, to serve the French king at the Court of Versailles. Lady Oscar is serving as her father’s successor in the royal guard when 14 year-old Marie Antoinette arrives to marry the king’s grandson, the dauphin. Oscar is brave, intelligent, and loyal to the new dauphine, who is fated to become the future queen of France.
