Okubo, Miné, Citizen 13660

Citizen 13660

Graphic novels vary in appearance. Every author has a different way of drawing speech bubbles, panels, and time frames. Artistically speaking, every graphic novel is different. For my first blog post, I will be discovering why Citizen 13660 is a graphic novel, due to the lack of speech bubbles, frames, and time.

Citizen 13660 is an autobiographical graphic novel written by Miné Okubo. This novel was originally published in 1946, and was one of the first accounts of the Japanese-american concentration camps after the Pearl Harbor attack. Okubo took it upon herself to make the public more aware of what happened in these camps. She decided to document her experience by sketching and writing journals. Once she was out of the camps she published her novel in 1946. This novel is important both graphically, historically, and artistically.  It is one of the first graphic novels ever written. However, the novel lacks speech bubbles, panels, and time frames. So what makes this novel categorized as a “graphic novel” without the essentials? This book is a graphic novel because of the stunning sketches that tell a story on there own, historical importance of this novel, being one of the first graphic novels of its time.

Citizen 13660 is a powerful novel that documents history by combining graphics and text. These images by themselves are powerful enough to stand on their own and tell their own story. Okubo documents her historical experience that makes the novel feel more personal.  This novel is the first and only documentary story of the japanese-american relocation camps. However, Citizen 13660 is not a ‘true’ graphic novel; it’s more like a historical picture book. Okubo is more focused on documenting her experience than she is creating a graphic novel. This book paved the way for other graphic novels today as it was one of the first novels to combine pictures and text together.

In the novel, Miné Okubo shares her experiences in the japanese-american concentration camps in the 1940’s. The novel begins when england and france declare war on germany. While Miné is traveling through europe on an art fellowship, she quickly escaped to go live with her brother in San Francisco. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked pearl harbor. This caused many americans to lose trust in Japanese americans. This lead to early curfews, voluntary evacuations, and required all japanese americans to hold forms of identification and citizenship. Eventually, in 1942 a mandatory evacuation of japanese americans and Miné and her brother were sent to the Tanforan relocation camp. Herself and her brother were given the family identification number of 13660. They spent only four months at Tanforan until they moved to a different camp. This novel described the day to day struggles that they had to go through in the camps. These struggles include the crowded living spaces, communal bathrooms, and cold weather.

This novel was written before invention of a graphic novel. Citizen 13660 was a transitional novel that ties text and graphic together. This then developed into a graphic novel. Graphic novels were introduced in the 1960’s by a comic critic and creator, Richard Kyle. He wrote a few lengthier comics and gave them the term graphic story. It was then in the 1970’s that graphic novels became a big hit.

Citizen 13660 was published in 1946, about fifteen years before the actual invention of graphic novels. As stated before, this novel lacks speech bubbles, time frames, and multiple  panels. Almost every page contains one large image and text below it. There are also a few pages with only words on it. This novel is transitional for its time. Before this novel we saw short comic strips. This transitioned those comic strips into a novel. It’s one of the first novels to combine text and pictures. Okubo uses her texts and journals to put together a documentary. This is important historically because cameras, and videos weren’t allowed in the camps. Also, in the 1940’s computers, and cellphones weren’t around. So books were the most useful to get Okubo’s story heard. Okubo is more focused on reporting her story about the camps than she is about writing a narrative piece.

In her novel, Okubo puts herself in every picture. It’s almost as if she were trying to prove that she was there, and actually lived through the  camps. Even in large crowded scenes, or scenes where she isn’t directly involved in, you can always fine Miné peering in a corner. Here you can see Miné peering in a crowded room in the bottom left hand corner. This is an autobiographical statement of power. It’s almost like she is proving that she was there, and experiencing these camps herself. This makes the story seem a lot more personal. Almost like I can say oh, I know someone there in that picture that experienced these camps. Even though, it was back in the 1940’s. 

Okubo does something similar in a different scene as well. This scene shows a caucasian man spying on two japanese-americans in their home, while Miné is spying on him at the same time. This is like Miné’s way of mocking the caucasian guards working in the camps. It’s Miné’s way of saying that she has some control in this situation.

Okubo’s sketches can tell a story by themselves. Each page is so artistically detailed that they can stand alone. The text adds context to this novel. In order to consider Citizen 13660 a graphic novel, you also have to take into consideration that it was published in 1946. This was before any other long graphic novels were created. By wanting to document her experience, Miné Okubo wrote one of the first graphic novels, by combining text and images. Her novel is important both historically, artistically, and graphically. You can find Okubo’s artwork in the Japanese American National Museum.