The world’s first digital comic?

On avant-garde, Blade Runner, digital comics and Atari shock

If you come to Tokyo, you should definitely visit Kanda Jimbocho. The wide variety of bookshops makes this place unique and beautiful. I always like to be surprised, but I also look for specific themes. On my trip this year, I was looking for books on artificial intelligence, creativity and historical avant-garde art (Dadaism, Mavo, etc.).

I came across an excellent issue of Eureka (№1, 1983), which deals with a comparison of Russian and Western avant-garde art.

But that was not the only thing that fascinated me in this issue.

It was the so-called digital comic Hengen Zamurai (Tiger Tateishi). It was produced in 1983 (the year the Atari shock began) as a computer game with onomatopoeic visualization of video game sounds (Beginning with PLAY, ending with GAME OVER).

Digital Comics! Henshin Jizai Ryu The Samurai by the manga artist Tiger Tateishi.

デジタル・コミック！ 変幻自在流 ザ・サムライ（タイガー立石）

(変幻自在流 can be translated as “the principle of non-intervention in the use of magic tricks to…