Manga art by Monkey Punch

Here is a page by Monkey Punch from the manga Mycom Boy. Kazuhiko Katō adopted the pseudonym Monkey Punch for what was suppose to be a short 3 episode project in 1967 that turned into an international hit, Lupin III. He was not fond of the name his editor had suggested but when that name got tied to a home run series, it kinda stuck. Both the manga and anime from Lupin became hugely popular and cemented Monkey Punch in the patheon of mangaka greats. Lupin III turned into a franchise with multiple manga series, 6 anime series, 7 anime movies, 2 live action movies and multiple other spinoff projects. As for the manga that this page actually came from, I was not able to identify it from the long list of manga he created, probably something lost in the translation.

Kato-sensei was inspired by Tezuka to go into a career as a manga artist but he took influence from others including MAD Magazine and specifically Mort Drucker, Sergio Aragones and Harvey Kurtzman. I think knowing the Drucker influence, you can see it quite easily. In later years. he became a professor of Animation and Manga.

Monkey Punch original art is quite rare and so I was happy to pick up a page. Although the portrait panel is great, there is a level of abstraction in the other panels which I really like. The final 2 panels (remember to read from right to left) are such fun.