Garo 1964 Title/Author Listing + Notes
Last semester, I took advantage of the fact that a local library had the full run of the legendary underground manga magazine Garo and wrote a little paper on it. I’m not going to torture you with the paper here, but in the process of writing the paper, I found that there really was less than I had imagined about Garo. In order to remedy that in at least some small way, I figured I’d do a little romanized listing of the contents of Garo issues, mostly taken straight from the Monthly Manga Garo Index hosted on the Nagai Katsuichi Manga Museum‘s home page (Nagai Katsuichi was the first EIC of the magazine). A big thanks to Shiraishi-san, who maintains the website, for allowing me to basically copy the index wholesale into English. I’ll also be adding little notes here and there after the listing of each issue until 12/1970, if I have any jotted down in my notebook. I may also stop after 1970, since that’s where my experience with the magazine ends. Any comments or corrections are always greatly appreciated.
Also, I’m sorry that I’m terribly inconsistent about this on my blog, but names will be in the format of Lastname Firstname, and individual stories in each issue will be listed as Author, “Story”.
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September 1964 (First Issue)
Front Cover: Shirato Sanpei
Shirato Sanpei, “Zashikiwarashi”
Shirato Sanpei, “Akai Take”
Shirato Sanpei, “Younin”
Shirato Sanpei, “Kugutsu”
Mizuki Shigeru, “Furou Fushi no Jutsu”
Suwa Sakae, “Unabara no Ken”
Uchiyama Kenji, “Doubutsu Hyaku-Wa”
Ri Haruko, “Douwa, mo Kichi”
Sato Tadao, “Shirato Sanpei-san no Manga”
Kagemaru, “Dakyou Haisu Kokou no Shisouka”
Notes: Suwa Sakae was apparently a pen name for Kojima Goseki, who was then assisting Shirato Sanpei.
Despite being started in order to run Shirato’s Kamui-den, it does not begin running until the fourth issue, and the first three issues instead run collections of Shirato’s earlier short works. “Shirato Sanpei-san no Manga” is located behind the front cover of the magazine, and is an essay by a prominent film critic on the depth and complexity in Shirato’s works. Most, possibly all of the other manga in the issue is also manga about ninjas.
October 1964
Front Cover: Shirato Sanpei
Shirato Sanpei, “Kugutsugaeshi”
Shirato Sanpei, “Mumei”
Shirato Sanpei, “Musashi”
Suwa Sakae, “Unabara no Ken”
Mizuki Shigeru, “Ibo”
Kusunoki Shouhei, “Senmaru”
Uchiyama Kenji, “Doubutsu Hyaku-Wa”
Kagemaru, “Dakyou Haisu Kokou no Shisouka”
Notes: I believe that Sato’s introduction runs once again on the inside of the front cover for this issue. A reader’s corner where submitted letters are printed starts in this issue. Kusunoki Shouhei’s Garo debut. The magazine adopts the subtitle “Junior Magazine” in this issue.
November 1964
Front Cover: Shirato Sanpei
Shirato Sanpei, “Sugaru no Shi”
Shirato Sanpei, “Oni”
Shirato Sanpei, “Myoukatsu”
Shirato Sanpei, “Maboroshi no Inu”
Mizuki Shigeru, “Kunshou”
Suwa Sakae, “Unabara no Ken”
Kusunoki Shouhei, “Senmaru”
Uchiyama Kenji, “Doubutsu Hyaku-Wa”
Doya Ippei, “Jujitsu Kouryuu Hiwa: Tamasudare”
Mura Shigeru, “Manga no Kakikata”
Sanpei Shirato, “Jigou yori Hajimeru Sakuhin ni Tsuite”
I believe that the last title on this list is the back of the front cover of the magazine. In this article, Sanpei talks a little about his new work that will be starting in the next issue, “Kamui-den.” Mura Shigeru is Mizuki Shigeru’s birth name.
December 1964
Front cover: Shirato Sanpei
Shirato Sanpei, “Kamui-den”
Suwa Sakae, “Unabara no Ken”
Mizuki Shigeru, “Nekomaru”
Kusunoki Shouhei, “Senmaru”
Mura Shigeru, “Manga no Kakikata”
Kouyama Hideo, “Nega no Miryoku”
Fujikawa Chisui, “Shirato Manga no Omoshirosa”
Notes: Kamui-den‘s debut issue. Most issues of the manga are around 100 pages, and since the magazine is around 135 pages at this time, it takes up a very significant chunk of the magazine’s pages.