Moonlight Mask | Chapter of Mercy pgs 26&27 | Jiro Kuwata | Takaharu Kusunoki

Page published in the Shõnen club supplement of March 1960

Media : pencil & ink on drawing paper
Condition: Very good condition
Size : 39 x 27 cm (2 pages on one sheet of paper)

Double page where our hero takes the outfit of one of the vilains ! When all the vilains look alike, you can only tell them apart by their eyes :-) 

Moonlight Mask was Japan's answer to American series such as The Lone Ranger, Batman, Zorro... and is considered Japan's first live-action TV superhero.
The television series (1957-58) quickly received the necessary merchandise as well as, of course, manga adaptations - The manga were written and drawn by Jiro Kuwata, after which they were taken over by his student Takaharu Kusunoki (1960) | It is unclear at what point Kusunoki completely took over from Kuwata however we can assume that these pages are by both master and apprentice 

The drawing style in this original page is still far removed from the dark style that Kuwata will use later in the second coming of Moonlight Mask. Here we can still see the cinematic style typical of Osamu Tezuka.

Moonlight Mask is credited as the inspiration for Marvel's Moon Knight