Umibe no Machi

Recommending this feels a bit strange because that's the kind of work that would only be enjoyed by those who love Garo and underground comics in general but those same people are probably already aware of the works of Sasaki Maki because of how unique and instantly recognizable his style is. What comes out of his mind is almost impossible to describe properly and I believe searching for some of his art online will be a thousand times more telling than anything I could tell you about it but I'll still give it a shot.

His stories are basically as experimental as they can get and he is never attached to one specific style. Indeed, his art is in perpetual mutation and ranges from abstract and surrealist, nonsense, hyper realistic depictions of character and sceneries, collages of news article and celebrities like Andy Warrhol or a style close to the picture books that he also published in parallel.
I used the term "stories" but it isn't the right term to use because Sasaki Maki is completely opposed to this idea of having to have a coherent narrative. Instead, each panel on a same page will be farly removed from each other, in form and in substance, and it will only be up to the readers to establish some form of connection between them or to simply contemplate how harmoniously everything is weaved together.

Sasaki Maki is close to the Modernists in this idea of wanting to break the mold entirely and in wanting to erase the traditional and conventional form of manga instaured by Tezuka. It's actually impressive seeing how Osamu Tezuka felt challenged by his works to the point of wanting to stop his publications (although it seems that Tezuka was jealous of every Garo/avant-guarde authors who dared to stray from his model so it's probably not that impressive).
It doesn't have the political ideas and the whole vindications that were part of the whole Modernist movement though. You will find some stories clearly referencing out the Vietnam War, black segregation in the U.S or the student manifestations but they're less here to assert a political stance than as a sort of stream of consciousness. Just like what Seiichi Hayashi did in his Red Colored Elegy, pop culture elements are spread out in most of his stories, including musical or cinematographic references. You'll notice plenty of elements belonging to the USA rather to Japan which is explained by the sudden emergence of the Beatles in the 60s which was a turning point for Sasaki Maki and made him interested in western culture, in particular the hippie culture accompanied with psychedelic art that can be felt all throughout his work. Saul Steinberg and Robert Crumb can easily be perceived as some of his influences as far as comics artists go but so much is borrowed from so many fields that it's hard to be comprehensive.

The casual reader will probably see in this a mumble-jumble of random sketches thrown together but anyone sensible to underground comics will awaken to new sensations he hasn't experienced before. Opening a book made by Sasaki is like opening a gate to another world, a world out of time filled with wonders and curiosities that will never cease to surprise you.



Side note: this review was based on the French anthology called "Charivari" which gathers everything that Sasaki Maki published from 1967 to 1981 and the almost entirety of Sasaki Maki contribution to the comics medium, the English anthology called "Ding Dong Circus" only gathers his publications from 1967 to 1974 which means you won't get access to every chapter of Umibe no Machi but should be well enough to grasp what he's about.