The manga invasion is among us! What do these Japanese comics have that is
so appealing? What do people think of "American Manga" in titles like X-Men
or Shi? This is the item for this...

23 responses total.

i have mixed feelings about this "American Manga" art style.. 
sometimes it looks good, but other times I think the artist momentarily
forgets that he's drawing manga-style and it starts looking realistic..
i guess i like the style as long as it is spread equally thru the whole comic
and is done well...

I have loved Anime ever since I was young and watching Robotech on channel
20. Since then I have become a little bit of an expert on Anime.Now, it's good
to see Manga influence in art, but there are some limits. Dave Johnson is one
of my favorite artists. He is able to mix both American and Japanese style
into his comics like Superpariot. I love to see those Shirow type robotics
in Dave's comics. Since this book was a cyberpunk type story it fit. Now when
I see Adam Warren in many of his book (most recently a Titans Mang special)
I see it really the closest to Manga with adding American style without it
looking bad. When I see Kevin Lau I just have to barf. His style is bad in
both American and Japanese quality. They put him on books like X-Force and
Cyberforce just because he's "Manga". This example shows you how bad this
"American Manga" can be. The rush for companies to get artist just for this
craz and in the rush they don't think, "is this good?" I saw this to in Manga
Shi. Companies in Japan were talking to Tussi about doing a comic and he
refused to get real talent in Japan and he wanted an American style Japanese
comic he could control. 
   This is just bad. No matter good an artist is, if he is from America you
can tell it in the work. It just won't look like real Manga. I say if they
really want their comics done in Japanese style, go all the way. Hire real
artists from Japan. Don't go half way and have it suck. It good to have
influence in your style (Joe Madureira improving on his style) but don't have
it your only selling point.

I'd have to disagree with you David. Athena, by AM Works, has a good manga
style that looks like real manga.

Okay, there are a few that actualy look like Manga... That is when they do
it right. I'm talking about when they do it wrong and get "American Manga"
for X-Men comics... Another story: I was at Anime Expo '94 and I was walking
through the dealer room. I walked across a table that was promoting a
"American Manga" book. The art was hack and a really pour excuse for Manga.
Here this guy was whiter then snow and he was handing out ash cans for his
comic. Next to him was a guy was selling Shirow and Takahasi and he was
selling this thing that just stunk American comic. I laughed in his face and
through out his ash can. That comic is Warroir Nun Areala and it's now worth
about $50. You know what, even though that comic made it hot in America and
is making big money, I still wouldn't pick it up. Antarctic Press is a poor
excuse for comics, American or Japanese.

Sorry to throw something in here. You asked what makes manga so appealing.
Not only does the art style make people actually look human and not so
stupidly disproportioned they give you a story line that is sometimes just
really fun and other times well rooted in Japanese Mythology that is
fascinating to a lot of people because we are not Familiar with it. Not only
do I tend to be able to care about the characters it can be fun to watch their
follies unfold.

What is everybodies favorite Manga?

I've been a fan of manga and anime since Robotech aired 10 years ago. I've
tried to read every translated manga I can get my hands on.

Favorite untranslated manga: anything by CLAMP. I try to buy anything by this
women`s collective since I love the artwork and the stories are fascinating
(when I can read them. My knowledge of Japanes sucks.).

I also enjoy the X-Files manga. Each volume adapts 2 episodes into manga form.
The artwork (except for "Beyond the Sea") is far better than Chris Adlard's
hack job. Most of the time the characters look more real than the Topps comic.
If only Topps would hire better artists...

Favorite translated manga: I would have to say Crying Freeman is my favorite.
It's the story of an assassin who is programmed to kill and can only break
free of his conditioning after he completes his mission. He cries when he
regains control. So far I've read the first four Perfect Collections. I hope
I can get a hold of the rest of it. After reading the Crying Freeman graphic
novels, I've tried to find everthing by Kazuo Koike (the writer) and Ryioichi
Ikegami (the artist).

Other manga I enjoy: Nausicaa, Gunsmith Cats, Spirit of Wonder, Blade of the
Immortal, Super Taboo, No Need for Tenchi.

There is a X-Files Manga? What company publishes it? Is it translated? Can
I order it in Previews? Bring a copy to the next club meeting (along with City
Hunter Live Action). BTW the rest of the Foshugi Yugi tapes are just now
getting to Wihdy, your next.
   Oh for all those other people, Animania is a Japanese Animation socitey
which shows 6 hours of Anime free one and month, plus club meetings.

Re #8: Shonen Captain Comics publishes the untranslated X-Files Manga.
They won't translate it since Topps was supposed to adapt the episodes into
comics themselves, but only released the pilot issue before giving up.
I don't know if you can order it in Previews, but if I see it listed, I'll
let you know.

A new magazine is coming out serializing Salior Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth,
and many others. It's called Mixx (or Mixxzine) and I get more info about that
later.

Magic Knight Rayearth?!? That's news to me. I have subscribed to Mixxzine
and will let you know what it's like when the first issue comes in this
month.

Cindy's got a VIP subscription to it... she got a discount and Mixxbucks
(whatever those are...).

Mixxbucks are coupons good for future purchases through the magazine.

BTW, I FINALLY got my issue of P-City Parade, a spinoff of THB by Paul Pope.
The issue includes an essay on the difference between manga and comics and
how he tries to integrate manga influences into his work. He considered the
P-City Parade to be a failure since he feels he hasn't learned the proper
pacing for the story. He hopes to eventually expand the story to 500 pages
to capture the feel and pacing of manga. You can tell he's done his research.

Can I barrow it?

Sure. You can borrow P-City Parade. I'll bring it to the con if you're going.

As a good example of American manga, I don't know if Kabuki has been
mentioned. David Mack has created a futuristic Japan where deadly secret
agents called the Noh try to balance to power of politicians and criminals
so that noone has too much authority. When a personal battle takes place
between Kabuki, a member of the Noh, and the head of a crime organization,
the balance is destroyed. The comic is still dealing with the ramifications
of this battle. The artwork is superb and the story shows a good
understanding of Japanese culture (more than I know).

Pick up the graphic novels "Kabuki: Circle of Blood" and "Kabuki: Fear the
Reaper" to understand the story as it stands now.

Chirality #1 (CPM Manga) came out recently. It's about a future where humans
fight against a machine virus than infects humans and turns them into
killing machines. The artwork is great, but I'll have to read more issues
before I can say too much about the plot. Good first issue!

Well I read Chirality not realizing that this is the same guy who made Plastic
Giggle... I mean Little. Can you say henti. Although there hasn't been enough
story to pass judgement, I'm not impressed.
   Yep, manga is the new gimmic of the late '90s. Forget the foil and chromium
covers... manga is something effects the inside too. And nobody will know that
the artists are the worse people to ever pick up a pencil because they all
think it's suppost to be like that because it's Japanese and they never read
real manga... The only manga that most of the comic industry have read is the
stuff that comes out from Dark Horse, or maybe Viz and that in no way refects
a whole industry in Japan. What can we do about American Manga? People keep
buying it...

Some of the stuff that comes from Dark Horse and Viz is wonderful. I know
that the titles they put out barely scratches the surface of what's out
there, but why do you knock what's been translated so far?

I wasn't trying to knock it really... I'm just saying that Americans have no
idea what real manga is... I love Dark Horse for bring us good Manga, but
until somebody translate a book like Jump (or any other of those phonebook
sized manga) I will continue to bitch at what Americans see as Manga...

Hopefully, Mixxzine, with its 200+ pages per issue will remedy this. The
British put out phonebook sized collections of Akira, Gon, Domu, and
Memories (all but Gon were done by Katsuhiro Otomo). I'll try to pick up
a couple in England. Otherwise, try Little Professor Book Shop in Westgate
mall on Stadium. They carry British import books.

Mixxzine is only going to have four stories (while Jump has over ten) being
Salior Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, Ice Blade, and Parasyte.

The Spawn web page has some nice drawwings of the Manga-Spawn. They were cool!

Those are prototype drawings of the toy line. The real Manga Spawn looks
better.

I started reading Death Note and got sucked right in. Neat stuff.

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