Baby Boom

Breakdown Press is proud to present Baby Boom by influential Japanese artist Yokoyama Yuichi. With a cover design by Jean-Philippe Bretin, an essay by manga academic Ryan Holmberg, and an interview with Yokoyama himself, this new English language edition, masterfully printed using six Pantone spot colours, brings together Yokoyama''s most ground-breaking work to date. Yokoyama''s comics are entirely unique: free from the traditional modes of narrative, his practice explores motion, sound and structure, generating striking, beautifully graphic stories that propel the reader into a world of onomatopoeia, speed, and visual noise. Collecting 39 short pieces, each drawn with brightly coloured markers, Baby Boom uses polychromy in symbolic and rhythmic ways, to separate figures from the background, to highlight important details and objects in the narrative, and to divide scenes in the story. What results is almost a flickering effect- a musical, visually extraordinary experience. In Baby Boom, Yokoyama''s vibrant, sometimes overwhelming style focuses on a new subject: the beauty and delight of childhood. In each episode, a bird-like baby and father figure expressively act out everyday father-son activities such as eating, playing catch, going to the playground and taking a walk. There is a comic, almost slapstick quality to each scene and plenty of humour and tenderness, making Baby Boom an uncanny yet joyful read.