Aberrant: Children of Heaven - [Profile] Eddie Izumi

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Eddie Izumi was born to Japanese parents in Hiroshima. His birth name was Wakiki, but he dropped it after moving to America in his twenties, adopting the name ‘Eddie’ for his American name. It was supposed to signal a change for him, giving him the confidence to be a new person in a new land.

If failed. In Japan, Eddie was terrible at being Japanese; he is allergic to fish, doesn’t like to cut his hair or have a lot of driving ambition. He didn’t really fit in, but he managed to turn his prodigious talent for art into a successful career in the most Japanese of modern art forms: manga. He drew mostly high school martial arts dramas for boys, with stories full of butt-kicking heroes. When he finally had established himself, he moved to America.

There, he was terrible at being American. He is too willing to let others take advantage of him, he doesn’t like American food and he hates loud noises. San Diego is very nice, and he finds it easier to be an outsider in a foreign land than an outsider in his homeland. He remains in his apartment, drawing and attempting to remain out of the spotlight. He is still in demand in his genre in Japan, though his name won’t turn heads in the United States.

Eddie really wants to be more than he is – more forceful, more heroic, just more. But he’s not sure how to do that, and so he plods along in his quiet, uneventful life, laying out his dreams on paper for the viewing pleasure of young Japanese boys.

[z-Wakiki Izumi]

Professionally Published Mangas

Super Tech 5 - Eddie's first comic is ultimately forgettable, but it proved he could attract the core audience of the male 10-18 year-old crowd. This humdrum manga is about six high school boys who find mechas, which they then use to have city-destroying martial arts matches in. It didn't have enough giant guns to attract the mecha crowd, but the martial arts audience saw the giant robots and were turned off. Still, he found his core fan base with this manga, and it was popular enough that he was allowed to create another manga for ADV Manga.

Volumes: 10; Average Stars based on Fan popularity: 2/5

Nurbuto High School - This is a classic martial arts manga set in the fictional Nurbuto High School. At first it started just as a fairly typical fists-and-feet manga, but has branched into the supernatural as the student body finds itself battling evil elves, demons and even a rival mage school!

Volumes: 12 (still in production); Average Stars based on Fan popularity: 4/5

Lorenzo - After Eddie moved to San Diego, he became interested in the history of the area. This short-lived manga was his exploration of this interest. In it, one of the infant sons of the Chinese Emperor is stolen. Though some mix-ups, he is adopted by a Spanish family in Alta California. As the chosen son of the Emperor, the young boy, named Lorenzo, is endowed with mystical abilities and skills, including the ability to defeat grown men in fistfights at the age of six. Eddie maintained a mix of historical accuracy - even learning Spanish to write it - and supernatural oddity throughout, and while it wasn't popular, it is considered to be his best work to date by critics.

Volumes: 3 ; Average Stars based on Fan popularity: 3/5

Self-Published Mangas

Feather Fists - This is Eddie's labor of love. Written in English, this internet comic is angled toward his America fans. It was started as an attempt to draw more American fans to his work, but it has become his pride and joy. In this quirky comic, the main character is a pacifist named Saito. Despite hating fighting, he is cursed by a mystical dragon amulet, which gives him the skills of every martial arts master who ever possessed the amulet. Saito tries to avoid using his powers, but finds himself in situations where not acting is unacceptable.