“manga” vs “comics”

May 21, 2014 09:49


I was looking at a thread on DA started by a girl who wants to make manga. Someone was saying “geeze, you're Western, use the Western word, call them comics”. Which I personally tend to agree with. But I started thinking about who tends to say “I want to make manga!” Instead of “I want to make comics!” and why. This is the response I wrote…

To American kids who grew up reading imported manga, “comics” means “those superhero things sold in those weird shops full of creepy old dudes”, while “manga” means “stories about things I can actually give a shit about”. Especially if that kid is a girl. American comics are really not friendly to women; manga are. You can get manga with female protagonists very easily; this is incredibly rare in American comics, and finding one who doesn't look like a twelve year old boy's porn fantasy is even rarer. I think it is very telling that most of the kids I see saying they want to make manga rather than comics are girls.

And while there are certainly Western creators who are Asian-influenced, if your work looks pretty much exactly like Asian comics, you're not going to have any luck getting published by anyone but a publisher who specializes in amerimanga. Publishers have limited resources, and often tend to focus on a specific sort of work - it's not just “is this great” but “is this something we actually know how to market” and “is this something we, personally, love enough to put our time into”.

That said, it grates on my ears to see American creators calling their work “manga” instead of “comics” too. And if an American who comes from a manga-reading background wants to sell their work outside of anime cons, they'll want to start calling it “comics” eventually. Or maybe a “graphic novel”, which is free of a lot of the superheros-for-little-boys stigma. But then again I formed my opinions in the 80s B&W boom, when “comics” meant more than just “creepy superhero stuff”.

anyway they both suck bandes dessinėes are where it's at :)

Originally published at Egypt Urnash. You can comment here or there.

comics

Previous post Next post
Up