Go Nagai is one of the most popular and successful cartoonists in the world today. The stories he writes and draws include the weird, the wonderful, and the whimsical, ranging in subject from children's comedy fare and adult human drama, to science-fiction. In his native Japan ---where cartooning and animation are extremely popular and wall regarded, and commics account for over twenty percent of all publications sold --- Go Nagai's creations have enjoyed outstanding success. So far, over a dozen different animated television series have been based on his comics work. He has had over sixty books published, which at last count had sold over twenty million copies and been translated into English, French, and Spanish, as well as the original Japanese.
Shown here are illustrations from Haizin Nigyumencho and Dororon Enma-Kun, as wall as Space Atlas, a piece done espicially for Epic Illustrated. On the previous page is cover art from The Family of the Abashiris.
Born in 1945, Go nagai was interested in comics and illustration most of his life. When he was twenty, he went to see Shotaro Ishimori, one of the most successful and respected comics creators in Japan, and showed his samples of his work. Nagai was hired and served as Ishinomori's assistant for several years, eventually going on to create series of his own. In 1967, his first stories began appearing in children's magazines, and in 1969, his first book, Horse Caretaker Kinta, was published.
Above is an illustrations from The Satan Dante, and at left is a front cover from an issue of Devil Man, which was one of the first of Go Nagai's creations to be adapted for television. In occult horror stories like these, Nagai combines his strong sense of drama and characterization with energetic visual storytelling to produce comics that are by turns fantastically imaginative, grotesquely violent, and deeply touching.
It is for his work in "giant robot dramas" (generally referred to in English-speaking countries under the blanket heading of "Shogun Warriors") that Go Nagai is becoming known in the United States. At present, in cities around the country, two of his creations are being broadcast --- UFO Robot Grendizer, and Getta Robot G (known here as Starvengers).
In these robot dramas, a human operator rides within an enormous, anthropomorphic shell --- part exo-skeleton and part ship --- and acts as the robot's brain and pilot. There are dozens of variations on this theme, which has been one of the most popular types of Japanese scince-fiction for years, proliferating in comics, television, and films. However, few Americans realize that it was Go Nagai who launched the genre back in 1972 , with his comics and television series Mazinger Z.
Pictured here are cover illustrations for Mazinger Z and UFO Robot Grendizer. (The character wearing the white sweater on the Grendizer cover, Koji Kabuto, was originally the pilot of Mazinger Z, but became so popular that he was later brought back as a supporting character, first in the sequel series Great Mazinger, and then in UFO Robot Grendizer. )
The illustrations on this page show two of the many other types of comics stories Nagai has done. The historically based action in The Black Lion contrasts sharply with the tales of Cutie Honey, a trouble prone young android whose greatest talent seems to be for losing her clothing, and whose adventures combine science-fiction with wild comedy and gentle socio-sexual satire.
In 1980, Go Nagai recieved an award as the cartoonist of the year in Japan, and rom the small sampling of his work in these pages, it is easy to see why. Writer, artist, creator, and entrepreneur, he is an immensely versatile, multi-facetted talent with a future of more and bigger successes before him.
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