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Travaux
Publics (Public Works) is a collection of four mangas
—all entitled Public Works and numbered in their order of appearance—
which depict colossal works at the scale of a landscape. This scale
sometimes blends into the dimensions of the page. We know nothing
of the builders, and the commissioners even less:
Yokoyama shows us only the sheer
mass of rocks, the void of outstretched plains and skies, the clash
of building material, and construction work. Here, the story telling
is pushed aside to return to the core material of the comic strip:
drawing and its function —the design of forms. Yokoyama’s
drawing as well as his characters, their (absence of) motivations,
and their deeds —all of these are alien to the codes and customs
of Japanese comic strips. This is why his works are often described
as neo‑manga.
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