October 31, 2013

Watching Thunderbirds box art by Komatsuzaki

I enjoyed retro box art illustrated by Shigeru Komatsuzaki (1915-2001) at Thunderbirds Expo 2013 this summer.

Komatsuzaki was known in Japan as a "giant in sci-fi illustrations" whose career arc began during the early-postwar years, its artistic and commercial pinnacle coinciding with Japan's rise as an economic superpower.

He got his start illustrating novels serialized in newspapers and later moved on to paintings used in children's magazines and other media. Among the principal motifs of his works were warrior tales, aircraft and warships, as well as superheroes, robots and other futuristic designs -- all of which helped fire the imaginations of both children and adults alike, inspiring generations of Japanese with dreams of a better future.



























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