Should we call American comics 'manga'?

[The Xenos]

I don't think so, but Tokyopop does. It was recently reported that TokyoPop was abandoning the previous terms of Ameri-manga and OEL (Original English Language). Now they're calling their non-Japanese books 'Global Manga'.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=8822

Global Manga is now Tokyopop's term of choice.Tokyopop is moving away from the labels "OEL" and "World Manga" to describe its properties created by non-Japanese artists. Susan Hale of Tokyopop explained that OEL is innapropriate because many of their titles originate from non-anglophone creators, for example Yonen Buzz, which was originally published in German.

Although originaly proposed by Tokyopop, the term "World Manga" was never extensively used by the company. The term OEL is believed to have been coined by Carlo Santo on his Irresponsible Pictures manga blog.

In an interview for the upcoming issue of Protoculture Addicts, Tokyopop Editorial Director, Jeremy Ross, explains, "The fact that manga fans have largely stopped using the term Ameri-manga (which has negative connotations) and are referring to it as OEL for Original English Language (which is at least neutral) and more recently, global manga (this more respectful and accurate term surfaced on www.pseudome.net, among other places) is but one indicator of the growing respect for our manga creators."

I'm rather furious. I think graphic novel works much better. I am not happy with using the term manga. Manga means Japanese comics. It has a history. Global manga? I guess if a Japanese book was published around the world the term fits or if a Japanese creator worked with someone in another country. A comic book from German is not manga. A comic book / graphic novel by Becky Cloonan, while awesome, is not manga.

Right now, I still see Tokyopop and other using the term manga against its defintition just to get more sales. It's a cheap marketing gimmick that often works. It also hurts the entire industry when, really, we need to get people to accept comics from all over the world and not try to waste time defining them.

I think pretty soon, the term manga or even comics will be rendered meaningless. Collaberation and readership between nations is happening an an amazing pace. Hell, what the hell do you do with some web comics out there. It's crazy and amazing.

I reread bits of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics again the other day. I suggest it for anyone interest in reading or creating comics, Japanese or otherwise. He says there's no real clear definition of what a comic book is. I think one of the best terms for them, one coined by Will Eisner, is sequential art. Within that you ahve the graaphic novel, all in one book, and the comic book, released in serial format.

So, I think this insitance on using the term manga is a joke.

Well, at least they're still not impoperly using ther term yaoi or using the questionable term otaku just to garner cheap marketing buzz. Oh.. wait..

I can't help but thinking Tokyopop is thinking people will judge a book by its labels and marketing than quality sometimes. Why are they scared to use the previously established terms like comics or graphic novels? Pretty much because they aren't as popular a marketing buzz word.

Even last week my local comic shop owner commented how he bought some US made 'manga' and thought it was Japanese. It's a big marketing con game using buzz words. They're not really repsecting the term and history of manga, they're just using it's hype to sell more books.

Now I'm glad Tokyopop is reaching out to US creators, but I feel bad that they have to be labeled as 'manga' artists just to sell more books. Is a book labeled manga instantly better than an indie comic? In Tokyopop's marketing scheme, it sadly is.

Anyway, here's their marketing speech from their Free Comic Book Day giveaway. Gee, they sure didn't mind being lumped in as comics on that day, did they? They're manga AND comics! Or at least they're comics when it provides some good marketing.


Manga ius a broad Japanese term Literally meaning "entertaining visual," though it is most often used to refer to comics and graphic novels created in Japan. However the manga art form is no longer restricted to Asian stores or settings - it's become a global phenomenon.

In recent years, manga's popularity has exploded in the US, lining the shelves of bookstores, filling home libraries, and stuffing backpacks aross the nation. In fact, TOKYOPOP introduced the first extensive manga publishing program in North America, evolving manga entertainment and changing the way people experience pop culture. One of the most common misconceptions about manga is that it's all the same. TOKYOPOP is proud to publish a very diverese selection of titles that appeal to people of vastly different ages and interests.

In this special TOKYOPOP Sneak, you'll find previews from three of our newest series: Kat & Mouse, Mail Order Ninja, and Sea Princess Azuri. We believe that TOKYOPOP's creators are expanding manga's artistic boundaries and creating a new vision for manga entertainment, and we hope you agree.

Learn more about these and other TOKYOPOP series at www.tokyopop.com

Enjoy the Manga Revolution!

[The Xenos]

-continued-


One of those series is by Alex Di Campi.I believe she's up for an Eisner Award for her book Smoke (with Irgor Kordy) from Image Comics. She talks about an upcoming horror book here (http://www.alexdecampi.com/2006/03/phantasmagory-original-sins.html). I belive she uses both the term manga and comic to describe it. She refers to comic writes like Alan Moore as well as horror manga creators like Hino and Ito. Plus she's British and the artist is Canadian web comic artist Dan Kim (http://manga.clone-army.org/). I met him at a US con and bought his book. I also hang out on his messageboards. He's a huge fan of Tsutomu Nihei's manga Blame! and I got a signed fan poster of that he drew of it.

Now, if this is released, is it manga or a comic book or a graphic novel or what? They haven't said which compnay has this new book, but whoever gets it, whatever they call it, I'm buying it.

I like TokyoPop's books. A friend of mine says I shouldn't buy them because I don't like their marketing and I'm still supporting them, but that would be wrong, especially to the creators I like. I just hate their marketing and how it's basically shunning the hard work of decades of American comics artists by making sound like that Japan and their manga is the only place that has been carrying on this artform. It's simply not true. Now it's been most sucessful commercially in Japan and I'm glad their market has let genres and artists flourish, but I still find it insulting to whole generations of artists from across the globe to insist on the term 'manga'.

Of course, knowing national pride and political history, I really doubt Korean artists will be thrilled at being called 'manga' artists. Why should they have to bow down to the Japanese terminology?

Hell, Nihei himself, I belive, was influenced by French artist Moebius. Hell, they're both working on a Marvel Comics graphic novel based on the American video game Halo. Would you call that manga? You wanna call Moebius's decades of work in France 'manga' too? That's ridiculous.

Comics is not a dirty word people. I'm damned sicked of marketing and the public treating it as something immature and illterate. Using the term manga as a buzzword is a shortcut to sales I'm rather not willing to take.

God help us if America is unwilled to be educated on the meaning of words and the nature of books and instead is going to cowtow to whatever marketing dictates will be the new catchphrase. Disgusting.

Will Eisner must be turning over in his grave. If you don't know who he is, then you seriously should not be talking about the comics market in America. It's like talking about animation in America and not knowing who Walt Disney is. Let's not even get into how Wertham used igrnoance and scare tactics to almost eliminate the artform in this country in the 50s.

These kids who use the term are Johnny come latelys who have no idea of history. Then again we live in a country where college students can't even find Iraq on a map (http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/index.html). Why am I not surprised they fail to acknowlage the history of an artform and just follow whatever the newest commercial marketing buzzwords say it is.

Plus, Tokyopop was not the first to import manga and support small American indie comics as that press release makes it sound. They were just the first as the market caught on fire thanks to them sumbling upon the format bookstores wanted for their shelves.

I think we should be disgusted that the size format of a book and not its contents is what caused manga to take off in this country. There has been manga in the states before, just not in that size format bookstores wanted.

Let's not forget Darkhorse who was one of the first companies to bring over manga. Let's also not for get Oni Press with their wonderful mix of genres and creators.

All 'manga' is to Tokyopop is a marketing buzzword. That's it. You go over to Marvel or Oni and they publish comics. Over at Dark Horse they have American and (a few) European comics and Japanese manga. Viz is pretty much all manga. Hell, they even publish Shonen Jump anthologies. You don't see Tokyopop doing that. Even the US Shonen Jump is on better paper and costs more than its Japanese counterpart. If Tokyopop really belived in the term manga, let's see them bring over that aspect of manga from Japan. They won't because it's just too unsure to market.

Please note, I belive that say 90% of marketing in this country is really just professional lying and exageration, mincing the english langauge in ways to con people into buying a product more than they wanted before. I pride myself on being honest and this gets under my skin. I'm sure watching that Bill Hicks DVD the other day didn't help my anger.

[Charles RB]

If it's deliberately done in the same storytelling style as manga by a creator inspired by manga, by all means call it manga.

No, the thing that really bugs me is when I follow the link to Alex de Campi's proposed horror comic, I hear one of the reasons Hellblazer "isn't as good as it was" is because Constantine... is old. Which is bollocks, what does a character's age have to do with whether or not a horror story is horrifying?

[Cam63]

I can remember when they were called " funnybooks. "

[Boldido]

I can remember when they were called " funnybooks. "

So can I. It was three days ago by my father.

[The Xenos]

Yeah, I admit the term comic books does connote the idea of humor. It isn't the best term. It also often denotes the serial magazine format they've appeared as in America.

For what Tokyopop is publishing, I'd call them graphic novels.

One of the best recent examples is over at Oni Press with Scott Pilgrim. That's in the same size format as manga, but I want to slap anyone labeling it as such.

No, the thing that really bugs me is when I follow the link to Alex de Campi's proposed horror comic, I hear one of the reasons Hellblazer "isn't as good as it was" is because Constantine... is old. Which is bollocks, what does a character's age have to do with whether or not a horror story is horrifying?

I got the impression she meant that he wasn't just old age wise, but he was old and tired as a character. Another big point was that he has aged and become mired in continuity thus making it tough for new readers to jump on. As someone already reading too many comics yet interested in Hellblazer, I rather don't know where to start reading the series.

[Weetomuncher]

It is like putting Chilli onto a pizza and calling it Mexican food.

Manga is a strange term. Some insist that it must be totally Japanese and others just look for Japanese style art.

I'm not one of the camp that insist on 100% Japanese produced Manga but at least some level of authenticity.

[Charles RB]

Another big point was that he has aged and become mired in continuity thus making it tough for new readers to jump on.

Possibly, though last I heard, Mike Carey finished off his run by basically severing Constantine from all his constant bits of continuity and leaving him standing alone, and the new creator whose name I can't remember has started a run that's completely seperate from the old continuity. So that's no longer an issue.

As someone already reading too many comics yet interested in Hellblazer, I rather don't know where to start reading the series.

The new creative run seems like a good place to start; tpb wise, I'd say go with Original Sin since it has this first issues and then Rare Cuts to see what happened to John at Newcastle. (For some reason, that wasn't in Original Sin and the conclusion to the story-arc begun in that tpb was never collected. Silly DC.)

[Earthling]

If it would mean that many more people would purchase and enjoy good comics, I would happily refrain from ever using the word "comics" again. Who cares what they're called? I don't understand the "tradition" or "heritage" argument -- how does it disrespect American comics to suggest that we could sell more of them if we referred to them as "manga"? I mean, I don't call my car a "horseless carriage," but I still know and respect the historical importance of the Model T.

[Paploo the Ewok]

Although if more mass market retailers saw a "Manga" label attached to Scott Pilgrim, it would probably help it sell more. I'm not against the term being used. I'd prefer comics or graphic novels, but it's all about marketing to retailers, and to readers as well [even though comics and manga are basically the same darned thing when you boil it all down anyways. Queen and Country, Uncanny X-men, Archie, Spirou, INVU, Ranma, Maison Ikkoku all share storytelling styles. And a lot of US action comics have more in common layout style with Japanese comics then Rumiko Takahashi's comics do, which are all pretty much 100% grid format.]. For that matter, I know people who think of graphic novels as ONLY manga, and have no idea that US publishers make similar books [ie- continuing stories that actually end] as well. Or that they even invented the term. I myself primarily refer to manga as "comics" whenever I talk to people in the "Real World".

If it gets people to read more comics, and exposes them to more new artists, and the concept that comics don't have to be japanese [or american, or any nationality] to be worth reading, it's a good thing.