Speed Racer Creator's Superman Manga Introduced the Man of Steel to Japan
Before influencing a generation of American comics fans through his cartoon series Speed Racer, mangaka Tatsuo Yoshida illustrated the 1959 manga serialization of DC Comics' Superman. This is one of the earliest examples of cross-pollination between American comics and Japanese manga, two art forms that would continue to influence each other throughout the decades.
In the 1940s, Tatsuo Yoshida was a youngster in post-War Japan who had gotten into comic art largely due to Superman and other comics he was able to get from American soldiers stationed in Japan at that time. According to Lambiek Comiclopedia, it was through that exposure that Yoshida taught himself how to draw in the hopes of one day becoming a manga artist. After working as an illustrator for a local newspaper, Yoshida decided to make to leap to full-time manga artist in the early 1950s. After moving to Tokyo, and with the support of his brothers, Yoshida found success with several manga titles that became popular. Ultimately, that success led to DC Comics' choice of Yoshida to pilot its entry into the Japanese market with Superman.
Yoshida was given considerable control over how to introduce and develop Superman into Japanese manga-comic culture. Naturally, this led to a Superman and Clark Kent manga that exhibited a number of Japanese artistic elements that are absent from the American version, such as showing the full progression of an action that was common in manga. For instance, Yoshida would illustrate the complete process of what happens when Superman punches through a wall, rather than simply showing the initiation of an action and its result, which was common in the American Superman comics. Additionally, comic "issues" in Japan were published in a compendium of comics rather than as an individual title, similar to how manga is currently introduced to the American public via publications such as Viz Media's Weekly Shonen Jump. But generally speaking, Yoshida kept the stories and themes close to those that were being developed and exhibited in the American iteration of the series. That is, Yoshida recreated for a Japanese audience the most popular stories and themes of the current issues of Superman comics being published in the United States.
Interestingly, unlike current manga practices, the first several pages of each chapter of the manga were printed in full color. As with his earlier manga, Yoshida's Superman adaptation was well received. Ultimately, his work on Superman ran between 1959 and 1960, and was later compiled into 14 individual issues volumes. It also provided him with the security that allowed him to branch out and eventually become the manga artist he dreamed he would be. As a result of his success as a manga artist, which was in no small part significantly helped by his exclusive run as Superman's only illustrator in Japan, Yoshida, and his brothers decided to establish the Tatsunoko Production company, which focused on generating quality manga and anime.
Indeed, without a doubt, Superman was a factor that helped Yoshida obtain the fame and fortune to focus on his heart's desires. With Tatsunoko Productions, Yoshida created some of the most iconic manga in the history of the genre. His greatest hits include Speed Racer and Battle of the Planets. Tatsuo Yoshida's work bringing DC Comics' Superman to the Japanese public is the first chapter of a legacy that continues to influence a generation of manga and comic authors, artists, and fans on both sides of the Pacific.
Source: Lambiek Comiclopedia
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