Blog Posts - SEAN MICHAEL WILSON

SEAN MICHAEL WILSON

video from Guimet Museum in Paris

11/22/2023

Inko Ai Takita and I made a manga of the classic Tale of Genji book. And an exhibition including our book started today in the Guimet Museum in Paris, the French national museum for Asian art.

They made this rather cool video which is playing in the museum, with myself, Ai and the French publisher.

Nice!

Célèbre pour le raffinement extrême de son art de cour, le Japon impérial de l’époque de Heian (794-1185) a notamment donné naissance à une œuvre majeure de la littérature classique japonaise, le Dit du Genji. Écrit au 11e siècle par une femme, la poétesse Murasaki Shikibu, il a généré depuis mille ans une iconographie extrêmement riche, influençant jusqu’aux mangaka contemporains.
La récente édition de Sean Michael Wilson (2022), illustrée par Inko Ai Takita aux éditions Synchronique en est une illustration.
Ce film est projeté dans l’exposition " À la cour du Prince Genji, mille ans d’imaginaire", japonais au musée national des arts asiatique-Guimet du 22 novembre 2023 au 25 mars 2024.

https://vimeo.com/886774864?share=copy

my 3 fav books list on Shepherd website

11/2/2023

Comics, post-capitalism and The Walker Brothers!

What could go wrong...

https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/sean-michael-wilson

interview on real utopia

10/20/2023

An interview with my wee self at RU (Real Utopia), an excellent group of progressives that I am a member of, which has recently started making videos. This one has myself and Mark from RU talking about my recent book: ‘Clear Away the Clichés: A Guide Book for Students about Communism, Capitalism, Anarchism and Post-Capitalism', going through the 15 cliches one by one, in a rather relaxed way.

“There are various very silly clichés and misunderstandings about anarchism, communism, socialism and capitalism. Many people have almost no idea what these systems are, or believe the most basically inaccurate things. Various studies have shown that only about 25% of people in the UK and USA can give a good explanation of these various systems. If we don't know what they really are, then how can we chose which is best? So, let's clear away the cliches!

This short and accessible book is an attempt to increase basic knowledge about anarchism, communism, socialism and capitalism really. And what a post-capitalist society could consist of. It does so by noting various common clichés and making clear what the views and approaches really are. Written in a plain style, and avoiding academic jargon, this book will be especially useful for students on course of economics, sociology, politics and cultural studies.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaaQpviXecM&t=51s

manga's overlooked problems

8/23/2023

A little piece by me about some of the troubling aspects of the manga industry which are almost never mentioned in the 'state of the industry' type reports and panels.

Key amongst them being: with the strong focus on diversity in comic books nowadays, why is there 99.9% no international diversity among creators in Japan itself? And no interest from Japanese people towards international comics? And why is this never mentioned by international manga fans or commentators?

https://giannisimone.substack.com/p/present-and-future-of-the-manga-industry-c03?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR1sGtO3AIAm2YOIEKWf_518gDeqYRdQHcXzT6vluMM23CnY5jf02f_5yNQ

New book: Clear Away the Clichés

8/1/2023

New book from Hand Readers Press (my new self publishing thing):

Clear Away the Clichés: A Guide Book for Students about Communism, Capitalism, Anarchism and Post-Capitalism

“There are various very silly clichés and misunderstandings about anarchism, communism, socialism and capitalism. Many people have almost no idea what these systems are, or believe the most basically inaccurate things. Various studies have shown that only about 25% of people in the UK and USA can give a good explanation of these various systems. If we don't know what they really are, then how can we chose which is best? So, let's clear away the cliches!
This short and accessible book is an attempt to increase basic knowledge about what anarchism, communism, socialism and capitalism really are. And what a post-capitalist society could consist of. It does so by noting various common clichés and making clear what the views and approaches really are. Written in a plain style, and avoiding academic jargon, this book will be especially useful for students on course of economics, sociology, politics and cultural studies.”

July 2023, 114 pages and only $8 or £6 in the bonny old UK.

Event in ohio, USA

7/13/2023

I enjoyed doing a presentation and Q&A (with lots of good questions from K12 teachers) about our Minamata Disease book at Ohio State University on July 13th, as part of the:

National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), 2023 events

"Join us for a virtual journey that will introduce East Asia’s diverse cultures and environment while building and enhancing your tool chest of teaching resources for the classroom. Focusing on the regions that comprise present-day China, Japan, and Korea, participants in this free online seminar will engage with experts and other educators in the field to explore major trends, global issues, and historic foundations that shape East Asian society... "

NCTA 2023 Speakers and Topics:

“East Asia, Part I” Ann Marie Davis, Associate Professor, University Libraries and East Asian Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University

“What is East Asia, Part II” David Kenley, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, Dakota State University and author, Modern Chinese History

“East Asian Religions” Blake Michael, Swam-Collins-Allan Professor of Religion, Ohio Wesleyan University

“East Asian History” Ann Marie Davis, Associate Professor, University Libraries and East Asian Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University

“East Asian Literature” Seán Michael Wilson, author, The Minamata Story: an EcoTragedy, and others (attending from Japan)

“East Asian Science/Data” Yvette Shen, Assistant Professor, Design, The Ohio State University

“East Asian Popular Culture: K-Pop” Pil-Ho Kim, Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University (attending from Korea)

See more here, it seems to be open to any K12 school staff (not being American i had to look up what K12 means!) in various states across the USA:

https://easc.osu.edu/events/ncta-seminar-2023

new interview

4/2/2023

My latest interview, this time with a lovely professor in India:

https://www.drotaku.in/post/t%C3%AAte-%C3%A0-t%C3%AAte-with-sean-michael-wilson-graphic-artist-extraordinaire-from-scotland?fbclid=IwAR0lCDha4ANvVmZeYBSULQMCaLuWQ_U_0nctkodwt-1mbGS5mWwupSBezN0

new book: systems

3/27/2023

New book from Hand Readers Press (my new self publishing arm):

"SYSTEMS: Reflections on capitalism, communism, anarchism and what a better economic and social system may look like

The book delves into various debates, cliches, conversations and arguments encountered over a number of years. Following George Orwell’s advice to write in a way that is plain, direct but engaging, Wilson avoids academic jargon and getting bogged down in complicated political or economic theory.

All the issues are laid out alphabetically, covering a wide range of aspects of what system we can use to govern and organise ourselves. Throughout the book Wilson uses his own abbreviation of BESS as a shorthand for a better economic and social system. "

March 2023, 224 pages. Click image to go to main page

Orwell on sale

1/11/2023

Our George Orwell biographical graphic novel - included in the new sale event by the publisher, saying:

"We’re all sick of hearing about Prince Harry.

Let’s focus instead on the lives of comrades throughout history – those people who risked everything to force progressive and revolutionary change in the interests of the oppressed.

All books here 50% off until 19th January."

https://www.plutobooks.com/biographies-you-want-to-read/?utm_source=Pluto+Press+Newsletters&utm_campaign=4f1bc1a8ad-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_01_11_05_26&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4f1bc1a8ad-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=4f1bc1a8ad&mc_eid=3d568fa65a

sales increases in the 'real' world

9/7/2022

I just saw the latest report on comic books/graphic novel/manga sales and its VERY surprising. 2021 sales in North America were 60% up overall from 2020.

That is indeed a surprising and pleasing increase from last year. And should bring some positive effects for comic book creators.

However, this is a very unusual increase, not at all normal for the last 20 years or so. and unlikely to happen next year (though I hope it does go up a lot in next year's report too). By comparison the increase level in the 2020 report, by the same group, was only 6% (though thats pretty good for most industries). So what has happened that it suddenly increased to 10 times that? Very surprising. I dont know. Does anyone have an explanation?

Also, a key point often overlooked in all the talk of sales increases: the key thing is that these sales have to translate to actual increase in the money us comic book creators get to help us pay our bills and feed our kids. And it often comes out to a very small real world increase. Just a matter of a few hundred dollars more per year. So such figures of strong growth rates hide the fact that creators are often still in rather poor situations. And we need to face that and help improve it.

https://www.comichron.com/yearlycomicssales/industrywide/2021-industrywide.html