80s Japanese comic strip about Wozniak, Jobs, and Apple

Posted by Lisa Katayama, September 5, 2008 9:00 AM | permalink

Back in 1984, Japanese manga artist Mitsuru Sugaya wrote a fun comic book for kids about the birth of Apple. It was originally published as a two-part series in a popular manga compilation called Koro Koro Comics in May and June that year, but Sugaya published the story in its entirety on his blog on July 11th—iPhone launch day in Japan. "The year before I wrote this, I went to Silicon Valley and stopped by Apple HQ," he writes.

The opening scene shows a young, spiky-haired Steve Wozniak getting slapped in the head with a frying pan by his mom for spending too much time tinkering with gadgets. It then chronicles the naughty gadget-y tricks that gained him infamy in Cupertino, the visit to Lockheed Martin that introduced him to computers for the first time, his fateful encounter with Steve Jobs, and how the two went on to create and market Apple I and II.

The Apple II Story on Sugaya's blog (Japanese)

( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)

Favorite this! ( 8 )

Older MAD About Star Wars: more than your average MAD anthology

Newer Help design a cipher for my crypto wedding-rings!

Discussion

Take a look at this

#1 posted by mishakorea , September 5, 2008 9:08 AM

Aaargh. This looks great and yet I believe I am not fated to study Hiragana in this, current life.
Is there a translation about? Anyone? Anyone?

Take a look at this

#2 posted by Anonymous , September 5, 2008 9:50 AM

This image in the comic raises a big question for me.

http://img01.otaden.jp/usr/sugaya/apple_02_07.jpg

Is there an explanation for why the Japanese tend to use squid-like creatures as their go-to look for alien life-forms — in contrast to "the greys" that fill that roll in the west.

Here's a more concrete example, George W. Bush meeting with aliens in an anime:
http://kurogane.animeblogger.net/image/ninomiya/ninomiya-kun_11_bush_aliens.jpg

Versus George W. Bush meeting with aliens in the Weekly World News: http://astro.wsu.edu/worthey/astro/html/im-ufo/im-aliens/aliens9.jpg

Obviously this is a broad cultural generalization, but I still think it's interesting and worth noting.

Take a look at this

#3 posted by Jonathan Badger , September 5, 2008 10:34 AM

This is particularly interesting in that the Apple ][ series never made much of a dent in the Japanese market as (much like the British) they had their own series of late '70s/early '80s microcomputers...

Take a look at this

#4 posted by citykids , September 5, 2008 11:34 AM

I'm pretty sure the actual events weren't half as exciting as the manga version!

Take a look at this

#5 posted by Not a Doktor , September 5, 2008 1:04 PM

If only Jobs still looked like a pornstar.

CHICK-A WOW-WOW

Take a look at this

#6 posted by Elvis Pelt , September 5, 2008 8:41 PM

"If only Jobs still looked like a pornstar."

You'll have to make do with Woz.

Take a look at this