Digital artist Michael Charlow, degreed in art and Japanese, explained the de Young Museum’s “Art of Manga” exhibition to his father — me. Reciprocity for my explaining sumi-e and Ch’an painting to him years before.

“Each culture has its own comics and a visual language as distinct as the spoken,” explained the younger Charlow.

Prepare to be astounded and overwhelmed.

You may want a knowledgeable guide or docent, a preview lecture or an audio headset. There’s that much to see here with so much variance. It’s beyond expectations if you just think comic books.

Pictorial story telling is literally as old as human art. From Lascaux cave paintings to Egyptian tomb frescoes, the Bayeux Tapestry to “George Washington Crossing the Delaware,” stories in pigment have always been with us. Picture

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