Criticism: Osamu Tezuka's Rebellious Fans - The Mysterious Unico Shobō Shinsha
(The front cover of Unico Shobō Shinsha's reproduced works of Osamu Tezuka's Unico . Published possibly between 1979 to early 1980, these works feature innocuously printed textless covers made from simple color-blocked pulp, oftentimes with interior drawings and unrelated compilations of shoujo works. Personal collection.) Among the more elusive materials surviving from the late Shōwa-era manga underground in Mad Angler Press' libary are a small group of crudely bound, oftentimes red-covered books attributed to an otherwise poorly documented circle calling itself Unico (ユニコ), or, in its more elaborate imprint form, Unico Shobō Shinsha (ユニコ書房新社). Dating approximately from 1976 through early 1979, with the possibility of production extending into early 1980, these volumes occupy an unstable position within the history of early Comiket adjacent doujinshi and print culture. While they actively resemble fan publications, they are, in every since of the word, a nod to commercial ...
