Twilight Zone! Garo | Tezuka's COM

Page 6
Published in Top Punch (トップパンチ) #8
24 x 35,5 cm

Taro Higuchi (樋口太郎), emblematic figure of alternative manga, represents the radical spirit of the 1960s-70s. Between June 1968 and December 1971, he published 14 stories in Osamu Tezuka's COM before vanishing completely, thereby becoming a cult artist.

Operating within COM's experimental universe, magazine founded by Osamu Tezuka in 1967 to offer complete artistic freedom—he developed a unique graphic style influenced by Akira 'Aquirax' Uno and the American satirical magazine MAD. He also explored other publications like Top Punch and Roman Junior (Shueisha), creating primarily one-shots and graphic novels.

Taro Higuchi explored every style—erotic works, caricatures, animated drawings—with the same transgressive audacity, painting an uncompromising portrait of post-war Japan and its social transformations.

After his death, his work was rediscovered through originals found in a warehouse, finally granting him well-deserved recognition. Taro Higuchi remains the perfect example of those radical creators who pushed manga's boundaries thanks to platforms like COM.