PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE NOW FROM AMAZON

          















Menko: Art of the Japanese Game Card

MY LATEST TITLE TO BE RELEASED JUNE 2010

MENKO Literally meaning "small object with a face" the game of menko has existed in Japan for over 250 years. Children play it by throwing a card against another in an effort to flip it or knock it out of a ring. Victory is based on who has knocked the most cards out at the end of the game.

The earliest figures depicted on menko pieces were ninjas and samurai; later fighter jets and tanks became popular. As outside influences were imposed on Japan, menko cards reflected Western culture from baseball to Mickey Mouse along with, of course, Japanese popular culture figures. Menko: Art of the Japanese Game Card colorfully documents the graphic history of this traditional pastime, which is still played today and was the inspiration for the wildly popular Pog. This is my latest addition to the growing titles from Mark Batty Publisher and is available now as a pre order and physically in june 2010.

SPOTTING THE DRAIN

pre order at Amazon to be one of the first to receive a copy

                         

A lot of people seem to think that the color on manhole covers is actually paint. After traveling to the foundry where the covers are made we discovered otherwise. What is actually used to enhance and brighten up these metal covers is unsuspecting tree resin which is poured into the covers many grooves and crevices. A wonderful technique for longevity. They last about 20 years... Who would have thought

 

DRAINSPOT OF THE WEEK

Drainspot of the week features a drain from Miyagi Prefecture - Ishinomaki City - The cover features the 1970s TV and Manga Character Robocon. The Ishinomori Manga Museum named in the honor of Shotaro Ishinomori opened in Ishinomaki, Miyagi in 2001. Ishinomori created several immensely popular long-running manga characters and series series such as Cyborg 009 , Kamen Rider Series, Sukaru man, Skull Man and Ganbare!! Robokon.

CREATIVE REVIEW ARTICLE

After receiving my copy of Creative Review I was pleasantly surprised to find that a Drainspot made it to the back cover spread. The image is from the Shiga prefecture and i will feature it here, in the coming weeks as a drainspot of the week. Funnily enough this image did not make it into the final edit of the book, as it did not fit into the format. So you will be able to enjoy it here on this blog and on the back cover of Creative Review - February.

DRAINSPOT OF THE WEEK

Little Red Riding Hood adorns the manhoru cover for Ishibashi in Tochigi Prefecture.

The reason for this is that it is the sister city to the city in Germany where the Grimm Brothers come from and where they wrote their tales of Grimm.

First Look Dummy Cover

The Dummy cover for Drainspotting arrived today, and it looks mighty fine. It has

Gold/Orange foil embossing in the lettering and wonderful Red, Black and orange

color scheme. Next come the pages to fill this cover.