KRAZY!: The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art

by Will Wright (Contributor)

Comics! Cartoons! Anime! Manga! Graphic novels! Video games! This vibrant and engaging book, catalog to a landmark exhibition, celebrates the variety and growing significance of visual pop culture. Stunningly illustrated with eye-popping art, KRAZY! investigates the uniqueness of these forms while considering the ways they interconnect. Curated by many of the artists who first brought these forms to the public's attention, this volume features commentary and interviews with Maus author Art Spiegelman, SimCity creator Will Wright, and Canadian comic book author and illustrator Seth, along with Tim Johnson (codirector of Antz and Over the Hedge ), Kiyoshi Kusumi (a global authority on manga), and media theory critic Toshiya Ueno. This pathbreaking volume crosses boundaries between the printed arts, films, and video games and analyzes the reciprocal influences between fields, highlighting the best of each. The energy and intensity of the images leap off every page, and the full experience of the exhibit itself comes alive in behind-the-scenes commentary by the contributors. KRAZY! is a dizzying introduction to the art forms that will dominate the new century.

Douglas & McIntyre Limited

Genres: Art, Comics, Nonfiction, Art History

276 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2008

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first flipped through this one nearly 15 years ago and it really helped me get started in reading graphic novels and "alternative" comics. I picked up nearly every comic featured here and dove right in, mostly what I'd consider "basic" nowadays, stuff like Chris Ware, Spiegelman, Seth, Lynda Barry. I still haven't dug into the other sections yet although I have played a few of the video games featured - I haven't experienced much of the art, anime, or even manga talked about here. Time to fix that!

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was great getting back into art analysis with this book, and I’m disappointed I missed the exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery which this book accompanied. I frequently stopped reading in order to look up, read, watch, or play many of the comics, manga, films, or video games presented. My only request would be to have had more pictures of the art!

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tie-in book to a gallery show featuring an array of comics, manga, anime, video games and "fine" art, all sort of interconnected (e.g. the fine artists selected are ones influenced by comics, manga etc--such as Lichtenstein). Only a handful of examples from each artist represented are included, of necessity, I guess, or the book would be considerably longer. The show would therefore have been the ideal way to experience this material, especially the film/video-oriented stuff. One gets relatively little sense of how a video game works from a few screen images, for instance, and one of the anime artists discussed is actually a sound person: images of CDs or records really don't give one a taste for the actual work. Nevertheless, an interesting collection, with short essays about each figure covered, providing brief but useful contextualizing material.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came upon this book accidentally when looking for books about Minecraft for the dudes I nanny. Amazing book: well written, great examples of each artists work, so interesting and inspiring. The book discusses the different genres of comic, graphic novel, animated cartoons, computer and video games, anime, manga, and visual art...how they are connected, where they overlap, how they are defined. Each section highlights important and current artists doing work in these genres. Completely amazing!

[Rick Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The show upon which the book is based has come and gone, but this collection remains and has everything you want in an art book: lots of big, colorful, well-chosen pictures and informative yet brief descriptions of the artists and their work - which is to say, something more than a museum caption but considerably less than an academic monograph.

Furthermore, there is little pretention. For example, the curators made no distinction between commercial and non-commercial art, which is commendable.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

im pissed i didnt get to see the exhibit at VAG, but im happy it came out in book form! (its better than nothing)
my favorite parts: Dumbo (105); Toy Story (120); Pac Man (131); Super Mario World (135); The Legend of Zelda (155); Afro Samurai (211)

[Isaiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

So my non-fiction hasn't really been strong. This was super awesome to read! It talked of so many forms of art with a little description and example. That was really cool and it opened my mind to new things. I'll definitely be trying things out based on this.

[Cail Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had fun revisiting my still-favourite Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition from 2008. The write-ups from Seth and Art Spiegelman are things of beauty.

[Dajuroka Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Academic analysis of new wave art. Interesting.