Now 75, sleuth Nancy Drew looks younger, hipper in graphic novels drawn by S.F. artist Sho Murase
Growing up in Barcelona, artist Sho Murase often felt like an outsider. People were always asking, "Where are you from?"
When she went to Japan, her mother's homeland, she felt out of place, too. People were startled to hear Japanese spoken with a Spanish accent -- particularly a Catalonian accent like hers, with its faint, lilting lisp.
So when she moved to polyglot San Francisco eight years ago, it felt just right.
She landed just the right job, too. At Maverix Animation Studios, she is one of eight wildly talented artists from all over the world working on independent and group animation projects in a bustling space on Potrero Hill.
"Maverix is a little bit like San Francisco itself," Murase says. "Different people, different styles. You can't find that anywhere else."
On a recent bright and sunny afternoon, Murase sat deep inside her dark office -- wearing an acid-green Pop Art halter top, a wide grommet belt, low- rise cargo pants and fawn suede platform boots -- drawing directly on her computer screen with an interactive pen.
With a few bold strokes, her sure hand sketched the face of the new Nancy Drew. Her brand-new Cintiq monitor, with a 21-inch flat screen, is state of the art for computer animators.
Murase has the plum job of creating an updated look for the popular girl sleuth, a character much beloved by generations of fans who collected the books by Carolyn Keene.
The first of the books featuring Murase's artwork -- "The Demon of River Heights" -- came out in April, when the new series of graphic novels was published by Papercutz to coincide with Nancy Drew's 75th anniversary.
Papercutz had sought out Murase for the task after seeing her first book, "Sei: Death & Legend," a witty fable inspired by the Earth creation saga of Japanese Shinto mythology.
Her dynamic artwork, influenced by Japanese manga, was deemed perfect for the updated Nancy Drew series of all-new stories. (The popularity of such "graphic novels" has skyrocketed in recent years; in 2004, sales in the United States and Canada reportedly topped $200 million.)
Manga is the word for comics in Japan. Literally, it means "whimsical pictures."
The type evolved after World War II as Western drawing styles merged with the historical style of Japanese woodblock prints, of which Hiroshige's "36 Views of Mount Fuji" are perhaps the best known.
If there is a thematic through-line in manga, it is storytelling of the heroic kind, identity stories in which a protagonist overcomes hardship to triumph.
It's no wonder Nancy Drew was ripe for the manga treatment.
"Nancy Drew is strong, feminine, smart," Murase said. "She finds herself in difficult situations but always manages to come out on top."
Though not exposed to the books while growing up in Europe, Murase soon became a fan.
"I love stories of girls with strong personalities, stories that are not just romances," she said.
"It's an exciting character to portray, especially in comic form, which mainly has been geared toward teenage boys in the realm of superheroes."
Veteran comics writer Stefan Petrucha is penning each of the all-new Nancy Drew stories; Murase works directly from his scripts.
(Boys, don't cry: The publisher has launched a manga-style Hardy Boys series, too, though with a different writer-artist team.)
Even as a child, Murase made comic books. "My sister was my first reader, " she recalled.
Before getting her college degree in fine art, she studied Rembrandt ("to learn about light") and Goya, Picasso, Munch, Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt in high school.
Her father was a director of live-action commercials in Spain, so film was not a daunting or unfamiliar medium. She became fascinated with animation, spending a year at film school in Vancouver, B.C.
Back in Spain, she began work on an animated educational TV series for children. But she felt she wasn't learning. "You repeat the same style over and over" in such a job, she said.
San Francisco is simply a more fertile place for animation work in diverse styles.
Since coming here, she said, "working with different directors improved my skills." She thrived on adapting, and quickly.
"I've done everything from Kentucky Fried Chicken ads to Japanese anime to Bugs Bunny," she adds with a laugh.
This summer, Murase has been juggling many projects, working six or seven days a week.
She had to skip Burning Man, the annual fantasy week in the desert, though it's a dream vacation for an artist such as Murase, who has gone there three times before. She likes "the friendly creativity."
But Nancy Drew has made stiff demands on her time. For each 96-page volume -- and she's working on No. 4 now -- Murase needs to draw 28 finished pages per month.
Still, she says, "I feel lucky to work with an icon like Nancy Drew." The latest book in the series will be in stores in November.
What's up next?
TokyoPop, the hot L.A. publisher, has commissioned a graphic novel. Watch for the title: "Me2."
"It's about identity," Murase hints. "A teen with a double personality."
Murase may not have a double personality herself, but she can boast plenty of dual strengths.
She's got an unusual match-up of sensitivity and drive. And her artwork, which she calls a hybrid of European and Japanese influences, speaks to an international audience.
Her story is bound to be an inspiration -- to girls, to young artists. In fact, to anyone aspiring to be his or her own superhero.
E-mail Heidi Benson at hbenson@sfchronicle.com.
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