Masashi Tanaka

Background

Masashi Tanaka is a Japanese manga artist best known for "Gon", his silent manga starring a miniature dinosaur. Gon is possibly his most well known work, famous for being a silent comic throughout its entire run. Gon also gained a enormous popularity in the West after appearing as a guest character in the game "Tekken 3" for Playstation. Born in Shimane Prefecture, he graduated from the Osaka University of Arts in 1985. In the same year he published his first one-shot, "Demon" (邪鬼, Jaki), while still at school. Won Grand Prize in the Kodansha Tetsuya Chiba Awards and moved to Tokyo that same year. Began drawing Gon in 1991. During the 1988 San Diego Comic Convention, won prizes for Best Humor Publication and Best U.S. Edition Of Foreign Material, at the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. In the same year, also won the prize for Best French Edition Of Foreign Material at the Manga Festival in France.