First Volume of Manga Adaptation of Steve Jobs' Biography Launches in Japan

The Verge reports that the first volume of Mari Yamazaki's manga adaption of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography has launched in Japan, appearing in the May issue of the girl-focused Kiss anthology.

The first thing you'll notice in these opening pages is that Yamazaki has pulled off the artwork beautifully; far from the spiky-haired caricatures that may come to mind when you think of manga, Jobs has been brought to life in a semi-realistic monochrome style that is never off-putting, but stays in the Japanese manga tradition.

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The Verge summarizes this first volume as including fifteen pages of Steve Jobs trying to convince Walter Isaacson to write his biography before jumping into Jobs' childhood and moving through to his college years.

Once Jobs is of college age, Yamazaki swiftly transforms him into the type of character any schoolgirl reader could fall in love with. In one memorable two-page spread, Jobs goes from accepting a bribe of $5 and candy from his influential teacher Imogene Hill, to replying "Sure!" when encouraged to try LSD by a long-haired peer in college corridors.

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The first volume ends as Jobs meets Steve Wozniak for the first time, setting the stage for their partnership and the formation of Apple.

Yahoo has also posted a preview of the first volume showing Jobs and Isaacson discussing the possibility of a Steve Jobs biography.

Top Rated Comments

Renzatic Avatar
133 months ago
If Steve Jobs doesn't throw at least three energy fireballs at someone throughout the course of the story, I'll be greatly disappointed.

These icons don't have rounded COOORRRRNNNNEEEERRRRS! :fwooshz:
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
phillipduran Avatar
133 months ago
Needs more action hero stuff IMO. Lightning bolts, reality distortion fields etc.

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NemesisR6 Avatar
133 months ago
I'm not seeing nearly enough tentacles in this preview.....
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
133 months ago
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mixel Avatar
133 months ago
So many people's reactions to manga are cringe-worthily ill informed.

"Ho ho ho tentacle rape and dragonball!"

Imagine if every time any (serious) US-made movie was announced people made a joke about Michael Bay explosions and slow-mo running. It makes about as much sense. Would that just be ignorant or would you see it as racist and dismissive of a serious form of art?

Sorry, being a killjoy here. :D
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
liavman Avatar
133 months ago
Wow, why all this negativity? That too about a comic strip? That too before knowing much about it since it is in Japanese. I guess making such snarky comments is considered cool. Twitterific!!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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