This year Cat Eyed Boy is nominated for an Eisner Award, and I thought we should revisit the classic Manga from 1967. Kazuo Umezu's classic Cat Eyed Boy is a wonderful look back in time to the early days of the Manga/Horror genre. By today's standards this 532 page compilation of stories would be considered naive and almost comical, but at the time it was pushing the boundaries of real gore and the world of the macabre.
Cat Eyed Boy is a early teen who just happens to be half human and half monster. He is shunned by the monster world that he was born into and also rejected and feared by the human world. In these short stories he moves from one situation to the next, getting a first hand look at the worst of both worlds. More often than not it is the humans that are the real monsters, but the monster world is not without its evil ways. In the first few stories Cat Eyed Boy is no more than a voyeur, and is more of a narrator for the story line, but as the stories progress he become much more involved and in the third story "The Tsunami Summoners", we the readers, are provided the historical background of Cat Eyed Boy's birth and early life.
There are 4 and a half stories in volume 1. They are The Immortal Man, The Ugly Demon, The Tsunami Summoners, The One-legged Monster of Oudai and The Band of One Hundred Monster. Each of these stories tell a deep moral tale of the greed and hatred in the heart of both man and monster, but mostly man. The most blatant of these tales is "The One-Legged Monster of Oudai" where a local monster is out to avenge the death of the indigenous insects by a heartless boy and Cat Eyed Boy plays a direct role as the one who will deliver the final nail in the coffin.
As the book progresses the stories become deeper and better developed. Until the final story of "The Band of One Hundred Monsters" where the story ends in a cliff hanger that is completed in volume 2. The quality of writing is at a level more suited for the early teen, but the artistic style is geared toward an older audience. I did find the overall feel of the book to be well suited for a teenaged boy from 13 to 16. The humans reminded me of Astro Boy and many of the earlier animation series offered from Japan. It is clear that this story should be recognized for its importance and the groundwork it laid for much of the horror that we were produced from the 1970's through the 1990's and even today. Umezu does provide a lovely depiction of the grotesque and macabre in the supernatural world. Overall I found this book to be fun and full of fantasy with a great understanding of the natural world and its dark wonders.
ComicsOnline gives Cat Eyed Boy 4 out of 5 One Eyed Seaweed Monsters.
