水木茂
is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from junior high school he moved to Osaka and drew manga while working as a billboard sign painter debuting at the age of 17 writing rental comics. In 1966 he published a story called in the gekiga magazine Garo that caught the eye of fellow Garo contributor, manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, who offered him a job as his assistant. Ikegami accepted and moved to Tokyo and worked as Mizuki's assistant for two and a half years.