Two legendary New York Review Comics contributors—Glen Baxter, beloved absurdist illustrator and cartoonist, and Yoshiharu Tsuge, essayist and pioneering manga-ka—have died. Baxter was 82, and Tsuge 88 years old.
Glen Baxter, born in Leeds in 1944, trained at the Leeds College of Art. He then moved to London, where he worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum before teaching at Goldsmiths College. In addition to his several books—including The Impending Gleam, The Billiard Table Murders, Blizzards of Tweed, and, with New York Review Comics, Almost Completely Baxter—Baxter's work appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Elle, Vogue, Le Monde, The Observer, and The Independent on Sunday. Baxter is survived by his wife, Carole, and their five children, Zoe, Harry, Jo, Giles, and Gaby. Read Baxter's obituary in The Times (UK) here.
Yoshiharu Tsuge, best known for his surrealist illustrations, was a legendary and hugely influential figure in the world of manga. Born in Tokyo in 1937, Tsuge got his start in the 1950s working in the rental comics industry that was popular in impoverished postwar Japan, but gained significant recognition with his work published in the avant-garde comics magazine Garo in the 1960s. In 1975, Tsuge married the actress and illustrator Maki Fujiwara, who died in 1999 at 58 years old. Tsuge is survived by his son, Shosuke Tsuge. New York Review Comics publishes Tsuge's The Man Without Talent, the first of his books to be translated to English. Read Tsuge's obituary in Comics Beat here.
Glen Baxter portrait by Antonio Parente. Yoshiharu Tsuge portrait by Inaba Kunihiko.