Rooftop Garden
Good morning, weirdos!
The following illustration started as an idea for a one-shot comic: a girl tending to her home during the day, and at night, climbing into a mech with frog legs to scavenge abandoned buildings and search for life amid existential threats following an environmental collapse. I worked on this to see if I would be happy drawing even more of it. I’m satisfied with how far I brought this one, and now that it’s finished, I’m getting excited about what to draw next.
Worth Your Time
I first heard of this series when I lived in Japan. It is a cultural pillar. Shortly after, a reference to it in Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys kept me curious.
Someone once told me that all of manga could be summed up as "the guy" trying to be the best at "his thing." This dismissal has bothered me ever since. Yes, there's mythic questing in Ashita No Joe; but its pages are also filled with heartbreak, hope, friendship, and community. It weaves a story about struggle so damn well that the reader can see the parallels to their own life, whether or not they have any remote interest in boxing. This comic rules.
Why Does My Face Hurt?
While working on the piece from the start of this newsletter, I realized I’ve had it with rulers, triangles, and perspective templates. They slow me down, turn my thumbnails cold, and don’t build muscle memory. I'd rather keep my imperfections if it meant actually enjoying the process.
I recognized this feeling; it’s the same one I get when I’m stuck lightboxing or tracing photos. For years, I put my nose to the grindstone until I burnt out, not asking myself why my face hurt. I think about Taiyo Matsumoto: an incredibly skilled and raw artist, open with his flawed line, not one to get stuck in realism. His work is so beautiful to me. And then I pull out my drawing triangle. What the heck? My next illustration, I’m leaning on myself more and leaving the precision behind.
I was genuinely surprised to see you mention Ashita no Joe. It’s quietly one of my favorites.
Growing up in the U.S., I never really got into manga or anime. Part of that was probably me trying to assimilate, to avoid leaning into the typical “Japanese kid” stereotype. And honestly, we didn’t have the money for that kind of thing anyway.
Years later, in a very different phase of life, I found myself in jail in Japan. That’s where I came across Ashita no Joe. For whatever reason, it completely pulled me in. I couldn’t read fast enough. Every moment I had, I was working through the series. To this day, it’s the only manga I’ve read from start to finish.
Jail, at least in theory, is a place where you’re forced to reflect. How you got there. What needs to change. That story hit me at exactly the right time. It gave me a sense of perspective and, more importantly, a sense of direction.
I’ve never been into boxing, but I respect a real “rise from nothing” story. Joe starting from the bottom, navigating postwar hardship, leading a group of misfits and overlooked kids, it stuck with me.
I finished the series before my 21 days were up, and I walked out with a very different mindset. I beat the case and never looked back.
Appreciate you bringing that back into my head. Strange memories, but important ones.