Comics Or Manga?

Quote:

---

Yeah, I'm sorry, I just don't like the fact that it's fake, it's not manga, just america comics with the anime style that's all.

---

I never saw any problems with this. A friend of mine has actually been published for her webcomic, which is very much written in the Japanese style and takes place in Japan. Megatokyo is a great comic, also written in the manga style. Just because it's American and "fake" doesn't mean it isn't good. I mean, it's not like the Japanese are the ONLY ones who can draw that kind of character or have comics with deep and compelling plots (or light and humorous ones, for that matter). My own webcomic has a very deep and compelling plot, although the style is probably more "Americanized", but we generally call it a manga because of the fact that a) manga will generally garner more readers and b) American style implies lack of depth. I would take exception at being told that our comic sucks simply because we aren't the "genuine article".

I'll read anything good, but manga on the whole seems better to me. It's a far bigger industry and thus has far more variety. There are some wonderful American series, but not very many of them... and the good series like Spider-man and X-men are caught in a loop of rehashing the same story over and over again in different 'incarnations'. The only American series that has really stood up and been consistantly wonderful in art, story, and everything else is Sandman and its related stories.

With manga, there is of course a lot of crap. But I've found a large chunk of wonderful series, especially stuff that doesnt run on long after it should have stopped (though there are series, especially by Rumiko Takahashi, that do so). I dont think I've ever encountered a manga series that does a 'retelling' of its principle story once it's run into dead ends in the normal storyline.

I've got a very long list of favorite manga, and only a short list of favorite comics (graphic novels, folks, are collections of comics OR manga. They're just comic issues bound togther, manga is usually initially published in magazines and the like, then bound into the graphic novels we see in America).

Manga and Doujinshi. I like the fact that most japanese writers actually try to make cartoons into more than just children's entertainment. That and megatokyo is a great american manga. I think its the only one though sadly thats good.