Ichiro

Inzana uses his talents for expressive nonfiction—last seen in the comics adaptation of Studs Terkel’s Working—and to investigate cultural identity through a mix of fiction and documentary. Ichiro, raised in America by his Japanese mother, is left with his grandfather in Japan during his mother’s business trip. Though they’ve rarely been together, the visit is treated as an opportunity to bond and a way for grandfather to introduce Ichiro to the history and culture of his homeland through a series of day trips. Inzana fashions his literary hybrid by moving between grandfather’s lectures about the sites and Ichiro’s personal drama, bringing the wider strokes of history and religion into a personal realm. Framed by a mythological backdrop, Ichiro’s story collides with fantastic tales of Shinto gods and goddesses that begin to engulf his own and offer a reason to fight his way back to a life of day trips and lectures with grandpa. We are all the summation of our personal and cultural histories, and Ichiro reveals how these strands twist together in any of us. Through it all, Inzana mixes the mystery with the matter-of-fact in his lively artwork, creating a mood of enlightenment throughout and offering an insight into Japanese culture with a maximum of imagination. (Mar.)