Manga vs. Comics

[Rackhir]

The lack of diversity in american comics was something that my students commented on when I was teaching English in Japan and I passed around some american comics for them to look at.

The american comics market was at one point far more diverse. For example Jack Kirby for example did a lot of work on romance comics and of course there were the horror comics like "Tales from the Crypt". I believe it was a combination of the WWII paper shortage and the whole "Seduction of the Innocent" flap that caused a catastrophic collapse in the range of the comics market. The Superhero stuff wound up as the sole surviving species.

However, the range of what's available in the US has been gradually widening since the introduction of more adult oriented titles like "Batman : The Dark Knight" and Watchmen. So given another 20 years or so we might yet see a broader comic range, but we will have to see.

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.

Grey is a lot closer to something like "Colossus :The Forbin Project", the idea of a computer taking over the world was not new long before Grey was ever conceived. What "The Terminator" brought to the mix that was original was the time travel aspect of things and the unstoppable juggernaught humanoid killer robot, combined with Cameron's feel for technology and Arnold in the roll he was born to play. Nothing about that is really mirrored in Grey.

 

[Kesh]

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight was one of the titles that really drew me into comics as a teen. Those early issues were some of the best stories I've ever seen in American comics. "Prey," "Heat," and "Venom" being the most memorable.

I haven't really gotten into manga yet, but the ones I've picked up impressed me. I like having the longer stories they contain. I'm also the kind of guy who'd rather get a trade paperback of American comics, than the monthly ones.

 

[Umbran]

Exactly, but these aren't standard comics. They're not what the mainstream think about when you talk about comics.

So? What does that have to do with it? Are only mainstream media considered good, or something? If it has good art and a good story, who cares how mainstream it is? Who cares what the mainstream thinks about? The mainstream like "reality TV", stock car racing, and movies like "Dumb and Dumber". That hardly qualifies the mainstream as an arbiter of quality, hm?

Think of it this way - 90% of everything is crud. Thus, the mainstream, standard stuff is generally crud. You have to look outside the standard to find excellence.

 

[Nightfall]

Mainstream is always cruddy. That's why people have stuff they feel is better than what Joeshmoe average reads. (If they even read at all. Reality TV folks keeps me wondering...)

For my own tastes, I have read SOME manga (though it's been mostly scanlations of the latest Inuyasha over in Japan.) I also have some old comics. (Most of it Spawn and Pre to after Onslaught stuff from Marvel.) What I find is that what people want is something akin to old style Homeric epics combined with a need for "Hey get us some killing and action!". Thus it has become manga along with anime that has drawn the interest of the average, more educated to see what other cultures do to entertain themselves. The written, drawn, spoken words/works of places we aren't always familiar with but have a unconscious collective as Jung would say, is what we draw on for ourselves. It's a world, in this reality, where stuff makes sense or doesn't. Where it's not always clear but it is focused. Unlike real life, where stuff is just stuff some times.

In any case what do I like if asked? I like Spawn, Inuyasha and Spidey. In that order.

 

[haiiro]

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.

Do you mean the "Big Eyes, Small Mouth" sort of style? That doesn't do much for me either, but there's plenty of great manga out there done in other less-cartoony styles.

- I'll second Joe's recommendation of Lone Wolf and Cub -- it's a classic, with detailed, old-school samurai action and realistic artwork.

- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, by Hayao Miyazaki, is fantastic; great story, great artwork (stylish line drawings, very evocative).

- Akira, by Katsuhiro Otomo, is also a sci-fi classic. Again, I'd put the art into the "fairly realistic" category, but with a style all it's own. The anime is also excellent, although it cuts out a lot, to the point that it's almost a different story.

- Also by Otomo, Domu is one of the best comics I've ever read, period. Same style as Akira artistically, but a wonderfully described (and very creepy) modern tale.

All four of these are among my favorite comics overall, manga or otherwise.

 

[Alzrius]

Oi gevalt, why does it have to be "vs"? I like manga, and I like comics; while the debate is all well and good, I don't think of myself as liking or disliking any particular style, and try to judge based on the merits of the title itself.

Negima is a manga that I enjoy reading. Same can be said for the Thanos comic from Marvel, etc. Saying "I love manga but hate comics" or somesuch, is just judging books before you've even seen their cover.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Oi gevalt, why does it have to be "vs"? I like manga, and I like comics; while the debate is all well and good, I don't think of myself as liking or disliking any particular style, and try to judge based on the merits of the title itself.

Negima is a manga that I enjoy reading. Same can be said for the Thanos comic from Marvel, etc. Saying "I love manga but hate comics" or somesuch, is just judging books before you've even seen their cover.

Well, as I noted in my own response, I like many elements of both. Just wondering what drew people to the different styles and characteristics of each.

 

[JoeGKushner]

And one thing I can think of that Manga has managed to do longer than standard comics, is accept blood and death and carnage and not try to mask it all behind little light rays via G.I. Joe. I mean I just picked up a few issues of Fist of the Blue Sky and while the storyline isn't as tight as some others, and its not as ultra violent as other Manga's, it still handles violence in a way that only some of the comics in the Marvel Max line are strating to. Not saying ultra death is necessary or even a good part of a comic, but sometimes, you just look at the charactes in a comic and wonder, "Why haven't you been killed yet?"

Ah Scourge, where are you when needed? The Marvel Universe is in desperate need of your skills again!

 

[Arnwyn]

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

Nope, not like you - I like manga exclusively. There are 4 main reasons for my preference:
1) artwork.
2) I prefer technology (think Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed, Adam Warren's Dirty Pair) as opposed to any superhero/superpowers garbage.
3) Story. I've found much more engaging storylines (with far more consistency as opposed to the whole "retconning" crap) contained in manga.
4) artwork.

(All the above are my personal preferences and opinions only.)

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Ah Scourge, where are you when needed? The Marvel Universe is in desperate need of your skills again!

Amen to that!