Manga vs. Comics

[JoeGKushner]

Just went to the Comix Revolution in the Randhurst mall the other day to pick up Berserk #4, brought to America by good old Dark Horse. They also had the Grey collection for like $10 and some other good sets on sale.

It got me to thinking why I buy more manga than I do comics these days. Part of it, like with Ragnarok and Chronicles of the Cursed Sword, is that I just like fantasy. I was a big reader of Conan when he fought the Devourer and Red Sonja got whomped on before they 'redid' Conan again. I've been buying the new paperbacks of the old stories, once again brought to us by Dark Horse. Heck, I loved Sojurn and a few other titles that involved the Sigil like Way of the Rat.

However, I like other aspects of manga. For one, they tend to have a wide vareity of material. They read almost nothing like standard comics. I'm not a snob. I love Superman, Batman, Spiderman and the rest. But how many times can Spidey fight the Green Goblin? NO matter how adult they make the fight or how psychological the warfare, it's still Spider Man vs. t he Green Goblin. Superman doesnt' call it the Neverending Fight for nothing. It's one of the reasons I'm glad we have Trade Paperbacks. I can just pick up a whole section at once.

Anyway, I think both are great and highly underestimated as both art and literature (heck, Grey has the whole Skynet thing down years before Terminator I think...) and both offer something to the people.

What are your reasons for liking one over the other or are you like me, and enjoy certain things from both?

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

What are your reasons for liking one over the other or are you like me, and enjoy certain things from both?

In general, I don't read manga because I don't care for the artwork. I've read a few stories (but I couldn't tell you what they were), and I was distracted by the artwork to the point that the story was lost on me. Can you recommend one or two really great classics of manga that I should give a try? I'm willing to try it again, but I have a feeling that it's something I'm not going to overcome.

As far as traditional American comics go, I like lots of different things. I follow several different titles, some for the character, and others for the writer. I really like Sojurn, Ultimate Spiderman, the new Conan book, and many more. But the one thing that will turn me off on a book more than anything else is the art. If my favorite writer was working on a book and an artist came on board that I couldn't stand, chances are I'll drop the book. Not because I don't want to read the stories, but artwork that I don't like distracts me too much, and I find the books sitting on my shelf, never to be read. I currently have 10-15 books right now that are over 6 months old that I haven't read because after a few pages I found myself getting restless and put them down.

 

[Umbran]

If you look around a bit, you'll find that there's comics out there that aren't about people bashing baddies in their BVDs. George RR Martin's Hedge Knight got turned into a comic, for example. And there's also things like Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio, which isn't in the standard superhero line.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I strongly recommend Berserk manga, published by Dark Horse, to anyone who likes Conan.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Fantastic material.

Chronicles of the Cursed Sword

Ragnarok

Bastard!

Record of the Lodoss Wars (couple different ones there)

Yusagi Jimbo (probably spelled the name wrong) It's animals in human shape (forget the name for this) but its serious stuff and is damn good.

There are numerous others out there that aren't too bad but those should satisify most Conan fans or fans of sword & sorcery.

 

[JoeGKushner]

If you look around a bit, you'll find that there's comics out there that aren't about people bashing baddies in their BVDs. George RR Martin's Hedge Knight got turned into a comic, for example. And there's also things like Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio, which isn't in the standard superhero line.

Exactly, but these aren't standard comics. They're not what the mainstream think about when you talk about comics. Take Too Much Coffee Man. I love that stuff but how many other people even know it's something beyond a shoe ad? Knights of the Dinner Table? In comic format but... is it really a comic? Probably.

 

[WizarDru]

Exactly, but these aren't really comics. Take Too Much Coffee Man. I love that stuff. Knights of the Dinner Table? In comic format but... is it really a comic? Probably.

Girl Genius isn't a comic? What is it, a hat rack?

There is a pretty diverse american comic medium, but the readership for the more diverse material is much smaller comparatively than Japan for non-Superhero stuff.

Take "Y the Last Man", which may be one of the best written comics of the last five years. No superheroes, one possibly fantastic element, and a whole lot of story...and a whole lot of women, for that matter. The plot, essentially, is this: one day, all across the planet every Male dies. Not just men, but apparently all males. With two notable exceptions: Yorrick, an amateur street magician, and his helper-monkey-in-training, Ampersand. It's an interesting social commentary, and a darned good adventure tale. It has great crossover potential, having been reviewed in Entertainment Weekly and Time, and probably will be made into a movie, I'd bet. Or an HBO series, which would be cooler.

How about 100 bullets? The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? From Hell, by Alan Moore? Stuff like Fire, Torso and Jinx from Brian Micheal Bendis? And even when superheroes are present, that doesn't mean it can't be different and interesting: titles like Powers, Planetary, Wanted and Invincible put new spins on old saws, and redefine the genre even as they dissect it.

I really enjoy Manga, particularly Beserk!, Gantz, Parasyte/Kiseiju, Fist of the Northstar, Kare Kano, ARMS and a host of others. But manga is much more a visual medium, and less given to introspection (which is not the same thing as not having, btw...there are plenty that do, many listed here). That's not bad, but different.

Manga, however, can get the blood pumping in a way that american comics sometimes can't, and can tell a story much more readily by showing it, rather than telling it. Manga also can let the author tell his story with much less interference, and tell it to fruition with interruption or variance. There are no Gantz-One Piece crossovers, and Blame won't suddenly change, having Killy suddenly falling in love with a human girl on Level 3245 and becoming very talkative. The art style for a title doesn't change radically, and the editors won't dramatically change a direction or idea for a title.

Right now, we live in what my friend Scorch calls 'Anime Babylon'. As we prepare for a trip to Otakon in two weeks, I reflect on the fact that I can go to Borders and find three shelf-units of Manga, now...but only a third of one unit for american comic collections. The idea that a title like Berserk! is coming out at all, let alone as well as it has, is awesome beyond words to a guy who once had to drive two hours to buy a manga in NYC for twice it's value in Yen, knowing it wasn't available anywhere else (and there was no web to help).

Me, I see it as a win/win.

 

[JoeGKushner]

That's an interesting note about Y. It's true that certian titles tend to grab the mainsteam in ways that regular comics don't. I know that Watchmen is still talked about in many circles for example.

 

[CrusaderX]

If you want to read a good manga title, read Blade of the Immortal. Great art, great characters, great story, great action. I can't imagine any comic fan not liking Blade.

 

[Benben]

The only Manga I'm reading right now is Iron Wok Jan. It's the maddness of the TV show Iron Chef turned up to 11. At first I didn't think that a manga about a bunch of teenagers cooking Chinese food could be interesting, but the author has made it enthralling.

Here are reviews from The Fourth Rail, and Comics Worth Reading.

 

[Krug]

I love both formats. In Manga, there's more space for the writer/artist to tell their story. Western comics often feel hurried in comparison. I'd definitely reccomend Lone Wolf and Cub; Blade of the Immortal I'm not so crazy about. Great character design and art, but story is kinda lacking.

There's some great manga horror stuff out there. I just finished reading the 3rd book in the Uzumaki series and it's totally bizarre.