Yoshihiro Tatsumi & Adrian Tomine in conversation, July 2006

Legendary Japanese comic artist and manga-ka ("rnanga expert") Yoshihiro Tatsumiis credited for establishing gekiga ("dramatic pictures"), a style of alternative comics that blends drama and art in a realistic fashion for an adult audience. A pioneer of the graphic novel, Tatsumi has been drawing comics since the 1950s. His works have been rarely available for American audiences until his collection, The Push Man and Other Stories, edited by Tomine, was published in September 2005.

Comic artist and graphic novelist Adrian Tomine has published many comic books, which include 32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics, She Read the Letter Journal, and the critically acclaimed Summer Blonde. In addition to being featured on many album covers, his works have been included in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Time.