Making Light :: Ukiyo-EC :: comments

Ukiyo-EC

I do believe this Japanese print, circa 1863, qualifies as the earliest known example of popular four-color narrative art featuring...

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #1 from David

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 17:38:04 -0500

Or, as the Vogon Guard said (and he got there first), "Resistance is useless!"

]]>

Posted August 23, 2003 5:38 PM by David

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #2 from Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 18:01:29 -0500

Oooh, what a gaffe! It's "resistance is futile" -- everybody knows that!

]]>

Posted August 23, 2003 6:01 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #3 from Glenn Hauman

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 18:23:35 -0500

Actually (and please bear with me, my Japanese is lousy) it comes across as "Did you truly believe you had the least hope against me, mortal? Am I not the great destroyer? Does my name not mean He Whose Limbs Shatter Mountains and Whose Back Scrapes the Sun? It shakes in the terror, mortal ones, for have I not the arms of a fish, the teeth of a wolf, and am I not the friend of old marvels?"

The less literal translation seems to be, "Tremble with fear, earthlings, for am I not Fin Fang Foom?"

http://www.retrocrush.com/monsters/92.html

]]>

Posted August 23, 2003 6:23 PM by Glenn Hauman

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #4 from Lois Fundis

Sun, 24 Aug 2003 01:08:47 -0500

Ah! The hazards of fast food!

The caption at the LC site says this "depicts a pair of long-necked goblins who have bound a helpless noodle customer, and, judging by their opened mouths and extended tongues, are about [to] make a meal of him. It is unlikely he will survive the ordeal. The caption states, 'Let yourself get bound up by whatever is long,' or, 'Resistance is futile.'"

]]>

Posted August 24, 2003 1:08 AM by Lois Fundis

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #5 from Tom Whitmore

Sun, 24 Aug 2003 01:41:57 -0500

Glenn, that's a pretty esoteric (set of) reference(s); I remember that issue (and the acronym) without the link, but I'm not sure how many others here will....

And as Teresa will tell you, when I think a ref is obscure, you're playing to the edge of the fringe (as the manager of the Flying Karamazov Brothers said about SF convention audiences laughing hardest at the phrase "With Byzantine simplicity...").

Cheers,
Tom

]]>

Posted August 24, 2003 1:41 AM by Tom Whitmore

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #6 from Tom Whitmore

Sun, 24 Aug 2003 01:53:24 -0500

Actually, climbing on the High Horse of Arrant Pedantry (which is notoriously difficult to stable, or put up), the chance that this was "four-color" is pretty minimal. Color Japanese woodblock prints can use (literally) hundreds of blocks, and it's much more likely that this was in the 20-50 block range (each the equivalent of a different color) than that it was in the four-block range. Not having seen the original, and not being an expert, I wouldn't hazard a guess as to the actual number -- but I'd bet you at lottery odds that it was more than four "colors".

I'll climb back down now.

Cheers,
Tom (tired now, need sleep)

]]>

Posted August 24, 2003 1:53 AM by Tom Whitmore

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #7 from John M. Ford

Sun, 24 Aug 2003 01:56:39 -0500

"...are about to make a meal of him. It is unlikely he will survive the ordeal."

No, that trick only works with big fish.

]]>

Posted August 24, 2003 1:56 AM by John M. Ford

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #8 from Glenn Hauman

Sun, 24 Aug 2003 03:03:05 -0500

Tom, it has to be an esoteric translation-- by 1863, Japan had gotten past its futile era.

]]>

Posted August 24, 2003 3:03 AM by Glenn Hauman

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #9 from David Elworthy

Sun, 24 Aug 2003 20:11:16 -0500

I like the way the people in the top left hand corner are watching a flat panel, wall mounted TV. I hadn't realized the Japanese electronics industry had got going so early.

]]>

Posted August 24, 2003 8:11 PM by David Elworthy

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #10 from Kip W

Tue, 26 Aug 2003 08:49:33 -0500

David, I always liked the first panel of a "Herman" Sunday page I once read: two cavemen are staring at the fire, and one says, "I wonder what people did in the evening before they invented fire."

]]>

Posted August 26, 2003 8:49 AM by Kip W

Ukiyo-EC -- comment #11 from Cassandra

Mon, 01 Sep 2003 00:30:56 -0500

Lois, that sounds like narrative for a Discovery-Channel-type nature documentary.

]]>

Posted September 1, 2003 12:30 AM by Cassandra