Goseki Kojima (1928–2000)

Goseki Kojima was born on the very same day as the godfather of Japanese comics, Osamu Tezuka.  While just out of junior high school, the self-taught Kojima began painting advertising posters fof movie theaters to pay his bills.

In 1950 Kojima moved to Tokyo, where the postwar devastation had given rise to special manga forms for audiences too poor to by the new manga magazines.  Kojima created art for kami-shibai, or "paper-play narrators, who would use manga play sheets to present narrated street plays.  Kojima moved on to creating works for the kashi-bon market, bookstores that rented out books, magazines, and manga to mostly low-income readers.  He soon became popular among kashi-bon readers.

In 1967 Kojima broke into the magazine market with his series Dojinki.  As the manga magazine market grew and diversified, he turned out a steady stream of popular series.

In 1970, in collaboration with Kazuo Koike, Kojima began that work that would seal his reputation, Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub).   Koike and Kojima were soon dubbed the "golden duo" and produced success after success on their way to the pinnacle of the manga world.

When Manga Japan magazine was launched in 1994, Kojima was asked to serve as consultant, and he helped train the next generation of manga artists.

In his final years, Kojima turned to creating original graphic novels based on the movies of his favorite director, Akira Kurosawa.  Kojime passed away on January 5, 2000 at the age of 71.  [from Assassin's Road, Lone Wolf and Cub v.1  (2000)]