Fantastic Four and Iron Man: Big in Japan?
“Big in Japan” is a term in the music biz for a has-been act that feeds off the Japanese market long after their peak. Tom Waits even made a self-mocking song of it.
However, this big-in-Japan is from Marvel Comics who is trying to feed off the Japanese manga boom long after their peak. In pure kitch the Fantastic Four and Iron Man thrash about with Japanese monster-worshipping cults in the Kaiju Museum in Tokyo with plenty of pseudo-tentacle sex thrown in the mix for fun.
According to Marvel Comics press release, Big in Japan is, “Guaranteed Chock Full’O Monsters! There’s trouble in more than just Tokyo now! With the mother of all monsters, the Apocalypse Beast, tearing its way across the globe, the Fantastic Four and Iron Man join forces in a tenuous team-up with the Mole Man! It’s a last ditch effort on Monster Island to save the world from getting squashed—literally!” Yeh ri-i-ight, whatever.
The problem is the Big in Japan comic don’t look like Japan at all: the buildings are wrong, the clothes are wrong and all the Japanese have blue eyes….just like a Japanese manga where Japanese people have pink hair. The artist, Seth Fisher, is trying too hard to be a manga…way too hard as this review describes.
BUZZSCOPE :: Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big in Japan
… monsters that start out on display in the museum and later invade the city streets. Japanese cartooning often seems to display a deeper appreciation of cuteness than its Western counterpart. While he doesn’t by any means copy that visual style, Fisher imbues every one of his hundreds of creatures with an adorability factor … Even the giant millipede whose brain sits exposed on the end of its snout comes with giant googly eyes that that make you smile through the revulsion….by borrowing many elements of manga’s visual language. He employs a wide variety of shapes and icons around the heads of the characters to communicate their emotions (e.g., hearts around the head of a character in love) as well as veering into his own version of the big-head, tiny-body chibi style….
Judge for yourself. Count the number of bonehead errors the artist makes in the first five pages—–My favorite flub is putting a geisha wearing an 1890s kimono serving tea in a museum director’s office (hint: geisha are never employed in offices).
See the following sample pages of Fantastic Four and Iron Man: Big in Japan: cover, pg 1, pg 2, pg 3, pg 4, pg 5, and pg 6.
UPDATE!! The joke seems to be on me. My bad. This comic book is supposed to be a parody (and it has with a sad epilog if you read the comments for the rest-of-the-story about the NAGYOYA based author with a Japanese family here).
- 
January 19th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Wow, I knew about the Japanese screwing up with the transformations of American pop culture into their own but I didn’t think that America would also be able to mess up vice versa. Oh wait…. Now that I think about it… “Shall we Dance”, “The Ring”, “The Grudge”, Gwen Stefani, compact cars… Hmm.. seems the this trade of sad culutural assimilations is going on strong. Keep up the good work you two.
January 20th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Sad to say that the worst part is that Marvel Comics has plenty of Japanese employees who could have saved them the embarrassment releasing such clueless depiction of Japan:
1) Just switch a few colors on the clothes and accessories
2) Steal a few building and architectural cues from real Japanese street scenes (or a Japanese manga)
Hell, I could redo it all in one morning (Actually, I have done the deculturalization of Japanese cartoons in instruction manual for VCRs and whatnot for years here in Japan. It’s not rocket science even for a no-talent hack like me.)
March 28th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
I just want to let you to know that you’re a complete asshole. Big in Japan is not supposed to be a culturally accurate product. It’s just for fun. It has more to do with America’s own otaku fetish than anything else. (ie: Godzilla, anime, etc.) Any cultural slips, are obviously spoofs, like the blue eyes for instance. The authors are fully aware of Japan’s western fetishes, and vice versa. And as far as Seth’s style goes, he’s always drawn that way, and any overtly manga styled-ish things were done to illustrate and encompass the prevalence of otaku culture. (see the following: The Art of Seth Fisher, http://www.floweringnose.com/ )
I find your assumptions and opinions to be vicious, stupid, and lacking any kind of merit. The next time you feel the need to swing around your culturally authoritative bullshit…Don’t. Because Japan misunderstands and misrepresents the West regularly. A good example are the cosplayers parading around in Nazi “costumes”.
What makes it even worse is your complete insensitivity to the fact that the artist died, in Japan, a few days before the series finale was published. You would do well to do your homework before “reporting” on such alleged cultural mishaps.
You are a piece of shit.
March 28th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
Thanks for sharing Jerame.
I always try to provide the best shit, so I am sorry to learn that Fantastic Four and Iron Man: Big in Japan was supposed to be parody of “America’s own otaku fetish”. I would have preferred it was only crappy cartooning job rather than inside joke for the manga elite such as you.
Still, anything that makes fun “America’s own otaku fetish” is gr-r-e-eat in my book.
We heard about his death here in Japan, but that’s not relevant to his funny page’s funniness which is as wonderious as Japanese cosplayers parading around in Nazi “costumes”. Lucky for me that has plenty more shit to enjoy than Nagoya VertigoPlop.
Sincerely yours,
Taro Kuso
PS: I have fallen 7 stories working, not clubbing. From my experience of falling seven stories windowwashing, it is not the way to go. Seth was alive and suffered greatly at his end, which something you cannot understand as you’re not a shit like me. Believe it or not, I’ve already offered my condolences on another forum:
March 29th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
All you 3Yen motherfuckers are gonna pay. You are the ones who are the ball-lickers. We’re gonna fuck your mothers while you watch and cry like little bitches. Once we get to Tokyo and find those fucks who are making that website, we’re gonna make ‘em eat our shit, then shit out our shit, then eat their shit which is made up of our shit that we made ‘em eat. Then all you motherfucker are next.
Love,
Jason N. Robert
March 29th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
where do you gett off dissin big in japan? dude get a clue its the most kickass there is. it rulez unlike you who just sux.
March 29th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
So where does Taro Kuso really keep those remains of 300 fetuses when for the time he gets tired of snacking on his own shit?