Art Spiegelman's Maus and Tezuka's Adolf ni Tugu
A Comparative Study between American Comics and Japanese Manga
（ アート・スピーゲルマン『マウス』と手塚治虫『アドルフに告ぐ』：
アメリカン・コミックと日本漫画の比較研究）

49期 II 類 M. O.

Chaptr I Introduction

Art Spiegelman's Maus has two tightly integrated stories. One is a story in which Vladek Spiegelman narrates his experience as a Jewish survivor of persecution of Hitler's Nazi regime from the middle of the 1930's to the 40's. The story how he and his wife, Anna survive Hitler's period is drawn closely along the time. The other story is narrated by the author of Maus, Art Spiegelman. This story is about his tortured relationship with his father, Vladek in the 1970's. The author intends Maus to be a non-fictional work with historical correctness.

In Tezuka Osamu's Adolf ni Tugu three men who have the same name of Adolf and one Japanese male, Touge Souhei are the main characters. The one Adolf is Hitler, and one is a Jew living in Japan, one is a German who worries over his mixed blood because his mother is Japanese. The story is about the three Adolfs and one Japanese's various lifetimes surrounding a letter which reveals the secret of Hitler's non-Aryan descent. People struggle for the sake of their beliefs that are various kinds of justice. Adolf ni Tugu is a fiction which has realities in the story by including historic people and events.

The authors use peculiar style to comics and manga. They create many techniques by using all elements of comics/manga with intentions. Maus and Adolf ni Tugu are works of similar categories, comics and manga. There seem to be many similarities and differences between the two works. To think what the authors want to express and what the authors' intention behind the panels and pictures would be interesting. The various ways of expression and the results in the two works may prove the possibilities of comics and manga as the way of self-expression.

Chapter II Transitions

Scott McCloud identifies six types of panel-to-panel transition. The first type is moment to moment, the second one is action to action, the third is subject to subject, the fourth is scene to scene, the fifth is aspect to aspect and the last one is non-sequitur.

The two books, Maus and Adolf ni Tugu have various types of transition. There are, however, some different characteristics. They bring about certain effects on the story lines. Maus is mostly composed from the second type, action to action. In Adolf ni Tugu, there are far more fifth-type transitions (aspect to aspect) than in Maus.

Chapter III Pictorial Metaphors

The peculiar metaphors in comics and manga are pictorial metaphors. The authors draw visible pictures which have invisible meanings.

The series of pictorial metaphors show the rape scene in Adolf ni Tugu. Tezuka Osamu draws it by using the pictorial metaphors. Innumerable tusks crush a woman's body, and the tusks transform into a snake. She is swallowed by it, and the white thing that appears to be her body begins to melt. The act of violence is shown as the attack of the mighty monsters. The tusks stick in her mouth and eyes, which are already hollow. The face seems to show her hollow mind. The melted white body seems to lose human natures and personalities. It may express her broken mind and oppressed humanity. This series of metaphors is creative because pictorial metaphors seem to make independent story.

Chapter IV Elements to Make Realities in the Works

Maus is a non-fiction. People who appear in the work really existed. Adolf ni Tugu is a fiction. However, some people who appear in the latter work have really existed, like Adolf Hitler, and some fictitious characters have certain realities. There are chronological tables between some chapters along the time of story line. Many chapters contain specific years and events. For example, famous historical event "Ni-ten-ni-roku jiken" is drawn in the work. Such elements seem to have connection with the realities.The author intends Maus to be a non-fictional work. The panels are mainly drawn from the viewpoint of an outsider in Maus. The author hardly uses the viewpoint of a character. He seems to draw this work with objectivity. The readers seem to be not allowed to sympathize them. These panels give the storyline actualities and give the people in the panels reality.

Chapter V Visual Puns

Visual pun is the pun that an image works to suggest different meanings of the word, or the word helps the image to suggest various meanings. Visual puns are peculiar to Maus. Many panels that introduce chapters have them. There are the words "The SHEIK" in the panel. (Fig. 32) The author draws a man and a woman who appeals to him. Sheik means an Arab chief and it suggests the movie "The Sheik" in which Rudolpho Valentino stars. In the panel, the attractive man like the sheik is Vladek Spiegelman, and he deserts his girlfriend to marry Anna in this chapter. The sheik tries to shake off his old girlfriend in the panel. The homophony is turned into as an image.

The visual puns that imply many information succeed to introduce the chapters. They create comical mood and ironical mood in Maus.

Chapter VI Conclusion

There are many kinds of peculiar styles in comics and manga. Both authors create many techniques by using all elements of comics/manga. The techniques produce certain results that authors want to express in their works. The transitions control the speed of passing times, and produce the moods in the story. The pictorial metaphors create atmospheres, and give information for the readers. The backgrounds in the panels also have effects when we try to understand the character's minds. The authors make realities in their works by introducing maps and figures. The viewpoints of the panels play also important roles. They sometimes arouse reader's sympathy, and sometimes give the story objectivity. The visual puns that are peculiar to Maus give ironical and comical impressions in the work and introduce the chapters well.

Maus treats the holocaust as Vladek's personal experience. It has characters of Vladek's biography and Art's autobiography. Art says about Vladek that "IN SOME WAYS HE DIDN'T SURVIVE". The words seem to suggest the fact that the persecution is not easy to become a past in Vladek's family. Adolf ni Tugu tells the reader aspects of the society in wartime. The author draws people who are abused by the justices of states and groups. The author's experience of war is also expressed vividly in the work. The storyline has vast expanse and complicated plot, and the story proceeds dramatically. The two works succeed in demonstrating potentials of comics/manga for self-expression.

Maus and Adolf ni Tugu are works of similar categories. They have many similarities and differences. The differences like the tendency of transitions and the visual puns are interesting. These different tendencies may cause by the story's contents. The transitions which create atmospheres and make much of moments in Adolf ni Tugu, seem to be explained by Japanese culture. The visual puns that are peculiar to Maus may appear by the difference between the alphabet of phonogram and kanji of ideograph. It can be possible to explain these various tendencies of two works as the differences between American and Japanese cultures.

Comics is defined as "A SIGHT-BASED MEDIUM" by Scott Mccloud. Comics and manga are late mediums. They often have been treated lightly. Riyoko Ikeda expects that when the generation that grows with the new medium becomes members of society, the prejudice against manga may change. The potentials of comics/manga for self-expression seem to be worth expecting.

もし、文学で卒論を書くのなら、何度読んでも苦にならない作品を扱うと書きやすいと思います。自分の英語力に合った、自分の一番好きな本を扱うことが理想だと思います。卒論を書いていて、疲れた際にその本を読むことで息抜きができるような本を探してみて下さい。私は、好きな本を扱ったので卒論の合間に、休憩と称しては、その本を読んで楽しむことが出来ました。