written by Tetsu Saiwai

The life of a Dalai Lama is obviously not an easy one: promoting peace and spirituality in the midst of insurmountable conflict, being thrust into a position of enormous power at a very young age, and living with the inescapable weight of an entire fading country on your shoulders. As a reader who is an outsider to the world of foreign politics, understanding the position of the Dalai Lama in Tibet’s political and spiritual existence definitely isn’t easy, but it’s spelled out here in enough simplified detail to tell a solid story while providing a gateway into a much larger, bloodier scene.

Initially, it’s easy to dismiss The 14th Dalai Lama as a work of manga for the sake of being manga: It’s a popular format that sells very well and, subsequently, is relatively easy to capitalize on. Even as a reader who doesn’t often enjoy or comprehend the appeal of manga, I found that Tetsu Saiwai’s art and storytelling stand up by themselves as pure, excellent narrative. The artwork doesn’t feature the bizarre exaggerations of many fantastical manga stories, or the emotional, hazy dreamscapes that haunt the genre. This particular volume isn’t even read back-to-front. In many ways, this resembles American comic traditions much more strongly than Asian ones, making it accessible to multiple audiences. Manga is thematically appropriate when visually discussing matters of history that have taken place in Asia, after all.

Narratively, the biography is told with the Dalai Lama as protagonist, so the Chinese are consistently portrayed as deceptive, violent, and perpetually angry, making them a cartoonishly nefarious group of characters without actually stepping into racist territory. This biography focuses on many critical events with succinct vignettes, but makes a giant leap through time from 1959 to 2009. Fifty years of the Dalai Lama’s life, which are presumably not as interesting as his first years as leader, are omitted for the sake of space. Of course, the struggle of Tibet is not a story that has ended yet, and the life and work of the Dalai Lama continues, but the lack of 50 years of landmarks implies that he spent half of a century without taking any major initiatives, which is obviously false. Very basic research about Tibetan politics prior to China’s invasion also reveal a much more complex picture of a Tibet that endured practices of slavery and forced mutilation, but the most important aspect of this book is the idea that it provokes a very real interest in a much deeper picture of a fascinating, important subject. Ultimately, it is intelligent and effective.

Because these politics are violent, the death of women and children is prominent, but never graphic. The subject matter skews toward an older audience despite the nature of the art, so don’t be misled by the appearance of The 14th Dalai Lama—keep it in the teen collection, but definitely keep it

-- Collin David

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