Locke and the "Golden Age of Manga" (page 3 of 5)
Calling the time period during with the majority of Locke's
story was published the "golden age of manga" is probably somewhat
inaccurate. This period did see many titles exploring many different
themes. Yuki has been writing LOCKE now as a
fan and as a professional for just over 30 years. The earliest works
of LOCKE were written as part of a small group
of aspiring manga artists known as the "Sakuga Group." The story of
LOCKE was very popular among this group. Even
now this group has re-published some of these original stories under
the name "SG Kikaku" as part of the "Sakuga Group Series." The
Locke Timeline provides
information about these stories.
There is a story that early on in his career Yuki
had decided to stop writing about LOCKE but a
group of ardent fans formed a group whose sole purpose was to convince
him to write more. They appear to have succeeded and we are all much
richer for the effort. Hopefully Yuki feels some sense of accomplishment
as well.
The bulk of of Locke's story was written in the
late 1970's and the 1980's and published by SHONEN KING.
Comparing it to other manga of the 1960's and 1970's reveals that
CHOJIN LOCKE has some of the traits of this
era. The lines are bold and strong, instead of the finer, wispier
art we tend to get today. Also the art was usually very flat and two
dimensional.
Publishers of the Immortal
There have been a number of publishers of CHOJIN
LOCKE. So far the list includes: OUT
where LOCKE first appeared, then
SHONEN KING which is where the bulk of
LOCKE was printed over 27 collected volumes.
Then there was COMIC BURGER which reprinted
the 27 volumes into 19. They finally went under as well, and
MEGU COMICS picked up LOCKE.
They lasted for a short while and finally went bankrupt in 1997.
LOCKE is now being printed in the comic
magazine ZERO. It seems that Locke is outliving
his publishers just as the character in the stories outlives all that is
around him.
Locke As Art
Yuki's art has matured
greatly since the beginning of his career. There is a very noticeable
difference between his early work in
"Nimbus and the Negative Universe" and
his SHONEN KING work such as
"The
Millennium of the Witch." Here you can see the transition from very
simple scenes and blockish characters with difficult to read
expressions to characters that have full form and line. The
expressions have similarly matured fantastically. Characters showing
anger, tenderness, love and pain are well drawn and it is obvious what
they are feeling. In Yuki's most recent work such as "Mirror Ring" the characters
have achieved a new level of refinement. The lines used to draw all
aspects of the characters have an exact purpose. Each line
contributes a precise amount to the characters bearing.
A Story on a Grand Scale
One of the most captivating things about the story as a whole is that
it draws you in. Stories of this nature are often difficult to pull off.
The artist gets drawn into concentrating too much on the
character, making him too perfect or too flawed and dealing with those
traits. Also one would think that a story of such a nature would be
perpetually serious or stressful. While overall LOCKE
is a serious and moving story, Yuki has a very fine sense of humor.
Readers are given a glimpse of his humor in every story with interludes
that prompt a chuckle or a grin.
LOCKE is not a one-person
story, and other characters get their time on stage as well.
Nagato, who later became the
first emperor of the Galactic Empire founded in 481 was an important character
tracking down Locke and attempting to gain his assistance. At first
Locke and Nagato were very much at odds, but they later ended up working
together. Nagato's actions would set the stage for much that would
happen even 500 years later. The importance of other characters and
attention to the events in the universe as a whole give the story a
strength and staying power that have kept it alive for over 30 years.
Although there is a fair amount of kanji in the
COMIC BURGER collections of
CHOJIN LOCKE, the furigana are plentiful. The
difficulty comes with the complex sentences describing politics or
situations. The reader is usually confronted with these when Locke is
explaining something to a new companion. Readers whose Japanese is
not up to par will end up with a confused expression much like the one
the person traveling with Locke wears. However this does not really
interfere with the story, as there are enough clues and events
to clear up what it was all about.
If you want to sink your teeth in to a story that
will keep you occupied for a while, or perhaps something you can keep
going back to when other sources dry up, you may want to try
CHOJIN LOCKE. It is a well that has not yet gone
dry and hopefully will continue for some
time. 
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