Manga destroying American comics for sales of graphic-novels

[FlyingDonut]

My son has grown up in a house filled with comics. He doesn't read Marvel or DC, except for books that look like manga - X-23, a couple of the Runaways titles. He devours Naruto and Godchild, and has pulls at our LCS for both of them.

[joe_collector]

We have seen the future... and it is not us.

[awe4one]

My son has grown up in a house filled with comics. He doesn't read Marvel or DC, except for books that look like manga - X-23, a couple of the Runaways titles. He devours Naruto and Godchild, and has pulls at our LCS for both of them.

 

Naruto is the only comic my kid will read. He avoids "mainstream" comics like the Plague...

 

Jim

[500Club]

We agree on something! I detest manga..... but I do agree with kidcolt as well. I'm happy to see kids reading something that's sequential graphic art. I just hope they move on to the mainstream stuff.

 

Mango is mainstream to kids.

 

What you call "mainstream" is actually a niche, aging and shrinking market populated almost entirely by adults.

I have to agree with you, I guess the new generation finds it quite odd for grown man wearing thier underwear over tights and towel wrapped around neck to fight crime interesting. with internet,ipods etc... I guess the mainstream audience has gotten more sophisticated.

 

I'm not sure if it's more sophisticated.... but it is perceived as being cool. My son occasionally samples comics, but he began with manga. It's what they're exposed to, on TV cartoons, toys, cards etc....

 

The new generation is happy to see the superhero movies though, so it's not a complete disconnect.

[aardvark88]

Manga seems mainstream because (choke) women or girls actually walk into a North American comicshop to buy entire series of books or dvd's.

 

Shojo manga is HUGE in Japan. It is geared towards female readership and their top sellers depict gay male relationships. This is what my co-worker told me, and she is a manga/anime junkie.

[Aman619]

the big impetus for kids to read manga over "our" American SH comics comes down to "rebellion" Manga just aint their daddies comicbooks. Its become their OWN comics for THEIR generation. Kids love that their parents cant even understand how to read them (because they are back-to-front.) They are just cooler than the same old Sh comics we all have been reading and loving for 20, 30, and 40 years.

[Anfield Fox]

I like Manga and find it odd people here are putting it down. Comics are comics after all.

 

Marvel did try to "Manga" a few characters in specialist lines but i don't think it was all too successful apart from Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane which has done very well in book stores to teenage girls.

 

 

 

 

[MR.COMICBOOK]

manga seems more diversed than marvel and dc.(spiderman.x-men superman and batman basically have kept them afloat last 15 years)I just tried reading some new comics on marvel.com and it seems to be retreads of Frank Millers old Dark Knight stuff done 20 years ago.I in fact much prefer the old Kirby and Buscema stuff on thier instead. action and fun while the latest new comics I tried were all grim and dark no fun. oh wonder why the new generation likes manga.

[bug33fouf]

both have great art.but comics can go beyond great in art from.i like the art that makes it look real.

[Bronty]

I like Manga and find it odd people here are putting it down. ]

 

Amen. This thread is rife with hyprocrisy. Just because NA adults didn't grow up with it doesn't mean it can be good. I betcha the same people who are putting manga down here like Lone Wolf and Cub...

 

If I was a kid I wouldn't be caught dead reading the same old same old that they've been putting out since 1961. Time for something fresh.

[kenglo]

I wonder if I would have liked manga as a kid in the 70s--I doubt it

1970s were awesome--so much diversity

2007 not so awesome and not much diversity

[Davenport]

I think some of the Manga art style has a major creep-factor to it, and assumed it was some Japanese fetish-thing accepted in their culture. It's the way they combine childishly young girl looks with Anna Nicole Smith adult bodies. Not for kids imho, and that art style seems to be seeping into American pop culture too.

 

 

 

[szelim]

I think some of the Manga art style has a major creep-factor to it, and assumed it was some Japanese fetish-thing accepted in their culture. It's the way they combine childishly young girl looks with Anna Nicole Smith adult bodies. Not for kids imho, and that art style seems to be seeping into American pop culture too.

 

 

I think it is unfortunate that this is the trend for manga art (has been for quite some time). IMO, modern popular manga art is quite bland and generic - you can practically substitute panels into various strips and not notice them being out of place.

 

There is good manga art out there, but you have to really search to find them. Old school artists like Matsumoto and Miyazaki have special styles, not just with characters but also in the way they use black and white and pointilism to add depth to what they are drawing.