5by8, #9: Books vs. Comics vs. Magazines vs. Manga. Cage Match.
originally written for and posted on Comicsnob.com [Dec ’06 – May ’08]
A lot of us talk about “manga” as being this singular thing, especially in the context of manga vs. comics. Well, make that Japanese manga vs. American superhero comics, because that’s what quite a few of us really mean when we talk about the supposed conflict.
That’s what I mean, anyway. Other commentators can clarify their own statements.
It’d be more precise to argue the point as books vs. magazines, because manga isn’t a single faceless mass of seething anti-comics out to destroy the industry. “Manga” isn’t even a genre, it’s just one type of graphic novel. (A type and format of graphic novel I happen to like, but no different in basic concept from most comics.)
Deeper storytelling and characterization are a function of length, typically, so a trade paperback is going to read more like other novels than a floppy will. There just isn’t time or space for more in only 20 pages. As Bob has pointed out in I ♥ Comics: Maintaining Control there are a number (dozens?) of publishers putting out graphic novels that feature the work of American artists –- and these are excellent; the best of these are perhaps the very top examples of both art & storytelling in the comic form. Anything good that I might say about manga — longer, deeper, more fully realized, the result of a single creative vision as opposed to heroics-by-committee — can be applied equally and equally well to most “indy” graphic novels, if not more so.
But I’m reading a lot, so I need not just quality, but volume. And Japan is generating a lot of comics. The analogy I’m going to draw is between manga and your local newsstand: take a look at the magazines on the rack. How many topics are covered, how many genres, and how many different markets? And how thick are those mags? I mean, it’s 90% advertising, but it makes those paltry 24 page rags seem even slimmer, now doesn’t it.
Manga is a dark, comic-y reflection of that magazine rack, in that there is a manga out there for just about anyone. Ninja comics for boys? Naruto. Ninja comics for girls? Tail of the Moon. Ninja Comics for dark brooding adults who just want to see things get beat up, with a historical backdrop, a touch of the mystical and the grotesque, and with a strong romantic subplot? Basilisk, there ya go. Replace “ninja” with your favourite genre, and I think we could still come up with a list. Maybe I couldn’t, off the top of my head, but a little research will show, yes Virginia, there is a manga for that.
Here’s where the newsstand analogy breaks down (or perhaps, breaks out): we’re talking books, not floppies. At least, the manga published here in the States are all trade paperbacks (with the de rigueur nod to Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat, but I don’t know of another publisher following Viz on that front yet; and Viz is backing up the serials with the usual collections anyway…)
Even if we were to classify a few of these manga as “superhero” comics (because, well, they are) the question then might be: what kind of superhero did you want, and in which time period? The one genre that manga lacks is One Special Guy Fighting Crime in the Present-or-near-Future, and it’s obvious spin off, One Special Team etc etc. But since DC and Marvel have been printing those for ages, no one really feels the lack.
So manga is combining a smorgasbord of genres and titles for nearly all target audiences (old, young, male, female, and various polarities and preferences, along with the pervy middle aged men with uniform fetishes), with the storytelling possibilities of long format books and extended (but still finite) series… that end. Woohoo! No matter how long the series, stick with it long enough and you get a payoff, an ending. Even if we love sequels, we also like happy (or cathartic) endings.
…and wait, was there a debate again? I think it is clear why the manga format is growing by leaps and bounds, while the Big Two are still selling their niche-market pamphlets to, well, a niche market. I hope American graphic novels, that share so much with manga in many regards, can find a few extra sales with the expanded marketplace that manga is creating.
There is a potential poison pill that may still put the kibosh on the whole shebang, but we’ll see if it crops up in the next five or ten years. I gave (one aspect of) the looming problem a glance and a nod in a previous column, but I’ll save the rest for some other Monday.
