Gou Tanabe

Gou Tanabe
田邊剛
Born	1975 Tokyo
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Manga artist
Known for	Adaptation of Lovecraft's work
Awards	Nominated for the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize 2019 and 2020 Best Series

Gou Tanabe (田邊剛, Tanabe Gō) is a Japanese manga artist who is especially known for his adaptations of literary works by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. His manga has been translated into English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.

Career

In Q4 2005, in the midst of a nonproductive period, he was exploring new ideas for "stories about monsters with no positive outcome". His publisher introduced him to the Cthulhu Mythos by Howard Phillips Lovecraft. In a subsequent interview with CNews2, Tanabe said how he was impressed by characters who "lose all hope and appetite for life. It is this common thread in Lovecraft's stories that particularly struck me".

In 2007, he drew the romantic drama Kasane (累) in the magazine Comic Beam, published in the same year by Enterbrain, as well as The Outsider (アウトサイダー), loosely adapted from H. P. Lovecraft's short story.

In 2012, he drew an adaptation of Mr. Nobody in Monthly Comic Ryū and it was also subsequently published in three bound volumes by publisher Tokuma Shoten.

In 2015, he drew Lovecraft's The Color Out of Space (異世界の色彩) in Comic Beam, which was published by Enterbrain.

In 2016, Enterbrain published further Lovecraft's adaptations of The Haunter of the Dark (闇に這う者) and At the Mountains of Madness (狂気の山脈にて).

In 2018, he drew Lovecraft's The Shadow Out of Time (時を超える影), followed by The Call of Cthulhu (クトゥルフの呼び声) in 2019.

On March 12, 2021, he completed Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth (インスマウスの影).

Bibliography

Adaptations of Lovecraft's works

• The Outsider [アウトサイダー] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2007. ISBN 978-4-7577-3580-4. Stories by other authors: Anton Pavlovich Chekhov´s "The House with the Mezzanine", Maxim Gorky´s "Twenty-six Men and a Girl", Marley Caribu´s "A Barnstormer on Pont-Neuf", Sanyutei Encho´s "Kasane Souetsu Goroshi" and Gou Tanabe´s "Ju-ga"
• The Hound and Other Stories [魔犬 ラヴクラフト] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2014. ISBN 978-4-04-729911-5. Also adapted: "The Temple" and "The Nameless City"
  Translated in English by Dark Horse Manga in 2017; ISBN 978-1-5067-0312-1
• The Color Out of Space [異世界の色彩] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2015. ISBN 978-4-04-730804-6.
• The Haunter of the Dark [闇に這う者] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2016. ISBN 978-4-04-730838-1. Also adapted: "Dagon"
• At the Mountains of Madness [狂気の山脈にて] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2016. ISBN 978-4-04-728316-9. 4 Volumes
  Translated in English by Dark Horse Manga in 2019 in 2 Volumes; ISBN 978-1-5067-1022-8
• The Shadow Out of Time [時を超える影] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2018. ISBN 978-4-04-735483-8.
• The Call of Cthulhu [クトゥルフの呼び声] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2019. ISBN 978-4-04-735853-9.
  To be translated in English by Dark Horse Manga in October 2024; ISBN 978-1-5067-4140-6
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth [インスマウスの影] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2020. ISBN 978-4-04-736660-2. 2 Volumes
  Translated in English by Dark Horse Manga in 2023; ISBN 978-1-5067-3603-7
• The Dunwich Horror [ダニッチの怪] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2021. ISBN 978-4-04-737400-3. 3 Volumes
• The Cats of Ulthar and Other Stories [ウルタールの猫] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2023. ISBN 978-4-04-737907-7. Also adapted: "Celephaïs" and "The Other Gods"
• Randolph Carter's Story [ランドルフ・カーターの物語] (in Japanese). Comic Beam. 2024.

Series

• Kasane (累) Based on the rakugo horror story Ghosts of Kasane Swamp by Sanyutei Encho.
  • Volume 1, 2007
  • Volume 2, 2007
• Genius Loci (ゲニウス・ロキ 異形建築家阿修羅帖控)
  • Volume 1, 2011
• Mr. Nobody
  • Volume 1, 2012
  • Volume 2, 2013
  • Volume 3, 2014
• Saudade (サウダージ) Based on Lafcadio Hearn's "The Story of O-Tei", Franz Kafka´s "A Hunger Artist", Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring" and 3 original stories by Marley Caribu: "Fortune Teller Warika", "Hanging "tand" and "Competition"
  • Volume 1, 2015

See also

• Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture