Tadao Tsuge is one of alternative manga's cult stars. Debuting as a cartoonist in the rental
kashi-hon market in 1959, he was a leading contributor to the legendary magazine
Garo during its heyday in the late 1960s. He has drawn extensively for magazines like
Yagyo and
Gento, often pulling from his experiences growing up in the slums of Tokyo, working for ooze-for-booze blood banks, and daydreaming while fishing. He currently lives in Chiba Prefecture, north of Tokyo, where he splits his time between cooking for his family and drawing even stranger manga.
Ryan Holmberg is an arts and comics historian. He has taught at the University of Chicago, CUNY, the University of Southern California, and Duke University, is a frequent contributor to
Art in America,
Artforum,
Yishu, and
The Comics Journal, and has edited and translated books by Seiichi Hayashi, Osamu Tezuka, Sasaki Maki, and others.