I’m no expert when it comes to manga but I have read the Akira series in its entirety. What attracted it to me in the first place was its complex storyline, which most classical Western superhero comics have never had(although cool, Marvel/DC superhero comics weren’t exactly thought provoking reads…). However, that being said, the Western graphic novel is making a come back with titles such as Watchmen, Sin City, Wanted, etc. This probably due to the recent Hollywood craze over graphic novel to movie adaptations. While not exactly manga, they share some of the same allure for me.

Hate to say it, but I long ago figured out that the true problem is that the US comic industry Just Doesn’t Get It.

I grew up surrounded by people within it — I was handed my first comic book when I was in preschool, mainly in an effort to get me to sit still while visiting my dad at work at a comic book store. I’d looked at covers before, but what was safe for them to hand me that was on the new-release shelves was superheroes and Archie comics. (Well, there was also Ranma 1/2 and Usagi Yojimbo…) I was handed a copy of Tintin, a European series released in the US as graphic novels…

I eventually started reading the more common comics — my favorites were Batman and Legion of Superheroes (LoSH from here on). I did not read Marvel, because I’d started at a time when to figure out what was going on in the soap opera that Marvel was would require asking a fanboy…and listening to him for about an hour.

I no longer read either series for one very simple reason: they’ve become soap operas which happen to involve super heroes. Plot twists happen because the writers get bored or lazy, or perhaps they — or some editor — feels that it’s been too long since the last Big New thing. A lot of the writers whose work I enjoyed back then because they avoided this — or, at least, did a good job of keeping it from being too obvious when the plot twist came out of nowhere — seem to have entire left writing for comics. Only a couple are still working on comics, as far as I know, and I’m not sure how to count Usagi Yojimbo anyway. (Admittedly, Eisner counts here as well, but he’s a touch dead, so…)

The thing that drew me to manga is the quality of story-telling. It’s not that it lacks cliches or anything, but one knows with the first volume of a good series if you’ve picked up a soap opera, and even then the plot twists don’t have the same tendency to drop out of the sky except in the literal sense. (A new character appearing and adding to the complexity is not the same thing; it’s when he turns out to be, say, the only-child hero’s long-lost ebil twin and the hero confirms this claim that it is a touch absurd.)

I do not actually find its ‘foreignness’ any appeal, and the only reason I don’t read US comics more often is because of the few titles I liked that didn’t go bad, there’s around three that are not complete yet. It doesn’t even really confuse my parents any — at least, I strongly doubt it does given that my mother reads manga as well.

The essential thing here is that the mainstream comic book publishers have lost sight of what the non-fanboy market is looking for.

Incidentally: Watchmen is around 20 years old. Sin City has been around for years, but I can’t remember exactly when I first saw it. Wanted I’m not familiar with. Beyond that, I’m sure somebody can look up when Maus won the Pulitzer, too…and Eisner did a series of graphic novels before he died. It’s not making a come back, it never went away, it’s just that regular book stores are finally giving up more than a single shelf or two to graphic novels so you don’t find yourself having to visit comic book stores to buy ‘em.

ghoti: About as many who’ve got a parent working in one, I would think. It was a neat place, and most of the people who own comic book stores locally still know me, even though I rarely go visit.

great commentary from those who have never had to make the decision between buying shoes,clothes,educating,medi-cating,dentists,school trips..and a mountain of other accumulated expenses known as – Kids

and you are pissing on about Comics

grow up.

remora

I’m gonna agree with sputnik — especially since handing me comics turned out to be vastly cheaper than using medication to achieve the same effect…not to mention that comics lack all the various possible side effects of the medications required for that. In my case, that included a really nice chance of an OD that, if not fatal, would earn me a trip to the ER followed by a nice hospital stay while they figured out that what happened was that some idiot thought you could dose people purely going by their age. (This killed one girl in England, who is perhaps the sole human to ever manage to be terminally short…)

It’s much harder to OD — fatally or otherwise — on comic books. I think it’d take a truly dedicated fanboy…and a bad shelving system. Possibly also an earthquake, as I suspect that most humans do make sure that their shelves with not fall over with a simple shake…

I stand corrected remora (that’s what I get for writing a comment without proofreading), apologies. Maybe you could clarify what you meant, because it seemed come out of nowhere… As a cultural comparison I think it’s very relevant to be discussing manga and Western comics. Your response rem?