The Collected Toppi, Volume 6: Japan by Sergio Toppi Review

The sixth (of seven) books collecting the works of master Italian illustrator Sergio Toppi contains his Japanese comics, mostly from the 1980s, with one from the ‘70s and one from the ‘00s. They’re an uneven bunch writing/story-wise but Toppi’s art is incredible throughout.

The six stories all have a folklore-ish flavour to them - the last one, Momotaro, is one of the most famous Japanese folktales - so the storytelling style and morals are simplistic. Like in Kimura, one of the better stories, which is about a master swordsmith who, under duress, crafts a sword for an evil prince, who uses it for bad, and a sword for a noble man, who uses it for good. Guess what happens when they fight? Yope. And the moral? Don’t be evil! Cheers.

In Momotaro (“Peach Boy”, though Toppi dispenses with the peach origin so his name is arbitrarily meaningless), there are sorcerers, talking foxes, and demons; the talking fox knows everything, can do anything, and nothing is explained. So, just like most mythology. I can accept that here, though I don’t usually read folktales because they’re a bit too easy and childish for my taste.

Kimura and Momotaro were my favourite stories here, though The Return of Ishi, about an elderly farm couple whose only son goes to war so they adopt a stranger, and Sato, about a disgraced samurai living the humble life, weren’t bad either. Tanka, about a poet who keeps her eyes closed permanently, and Ogari 1650, a weird revenge story presaging the atomic bombings of WW2, were plain crap - boring and confusing both.

By far the main reason to check out this book though is Toppi’s first rate art. The black and white art is so skilful and detailed, the shading perfect, the character’s expressions so realistic, and the period detail looks authentic - he really takes you to the days of feudal Japan. I also really enjoyed the fantastical character designs of the sorcerer and demons in Momotaro.

I haven’t seen a great deal of Toppi’s art outside of this book so this criticism may not pass muster, but it doesn’t seem like he does action well. There were at least two stories which had some compelling action sequences written but we didn’t really see them on the page - only the aftermath - which is a bit disappointing.

Obviously if you’re a Toppi fan, you’re gonna check out this book, but also if you’re in the mood for some Japanese folktale comics with outstanding art, The Collected Toppi, Volume 6: Japan is worth a look.