Most Popular Character in Comics Today

[badMike]

far and away the most popular character in comics in America today is a hotheaded and literally alienated kid who nonetheless doggedly clings to a belief in his own self-worth and tries to overcome prejudice, loneliness and presumptions about his nature by treating people honestly, sticking to his principles, defending others and never giving up.

Who did you mean? Naruto?

[sehthan]

I read that as Naruto, too.

[sgt pepper]

Scott Pilgrim?

[badMike]

Scott Pilgrim?

That's a good guess, but I think Naruto's more popular, especially among kids. I've tried watching a few episodes with my nephew, who absolutely loves it, but I can't follow the dang thing whatsoever.

[Paul McEnery]

Who did you mean? Naruto?

It's Invader Zim, isn't it.

[bartl]

That's a good guess, but I think Naruto's more popular, especially among kids. I've tried watching a few episodes with my nephew, who absolutely loves it, but I can't follow the dang thing whatsoever.

I find that, for this sort of thing, Wikipedia is an excellent tool.

[Steven Grant]

Naruto.

- Grant

[badMike]

I find that, for this sort of thing, Wikipedia is an excellent tool.

Thanks, that's good advice. The only problem is that I don't care that much.

[mattx110]

Naruto.

- Grant

isn't that the one with the underage naked chicks?

[sehthan]

isn't that the one with the underage naked chicks?

No, that's the other one.

[Steven Grant]

isn't that the one with the underage naked chicks?

Generally that's only Naruto himself who's an underage naked chick in the series.

Though they're fairly common in manga, but...

Oddly enough, despite delusions to the contrary, naked chicks don't really affect comics sales anywhere, with the occasional exception... unless they're naked chicks telling their significant others not to spend money on comics...

- Grant

[mattx110]

Generally that's only Naruto himself who's an underage naked chick in the series.

Though they're fairly common in manga, but...

Oddly enough, despite delusions to the contrary, naked chicks don't really affect comics sales anywhere, with the occasional exception... unless they're naked chicks telling their significant others not to spend money on comics...

- Grant

well, thanks for dignifying me with a response.
and i know i've been turned off from buying manga because of the big eyed bikinied girls. so that's "minus one" on the sales effect side, so far. i know they're hurting.
either way, i think it's smart to wait 5 years before buying anything translated from japanese because there's a 95% chance it's not very good, but if it is, it's name'll start getting around, and people will still care about it in 5 years.

[Steven Grant]

well, thanks for dignifying me with a response.
and i know i've been turned off from buying manga because of the big eyed bikinied girls. so that's "minus one" on the sales effect side, so far. i know they're hurting.
either way, i think it's smart to wait 5 years before buying anything translated from japanese because there's a 95% chance it's not very good, but if it is, it's name'll start getting around, and people will still care about it in 5 years.

Not really. It's pretty much like American comics. There are very good manga that pretty much no one pays attention to, and there are crappy manga that continue to be hugely popular. Also, a lot of manga is closed-ended, so it doesn't keep pumping out story after story year after year, so the popularity peaks at a certain point. Frankly, the "big-eyed bikini girls" obsession tends to be strongest in American manga aficionados who do their own "manga." Japanese manga has a very wide variety of styles and obsessions...

- Grant

[zuludelta]

I wonder if the finite nature of the series in manga correlates in any significant way with the relatively robust sales of comics in Japan. I can't remember the last time DC or Marvel were wringing their hands because their top book was selling "only" 3.5 million copies, as anthology title Shonen Jump was selling in 2005 (from a high of nearly 7 million during the mid-1990s).

far and away the most popular character in comics in America today is a hotheaded and literally alienated kid who nonetheless doggedly clings to a belief in his own self-worth and tries to overcome prejudice, loneliness and presumptions about his nature by treating people honestly, sticking to his principles, defending others and never giving up.

I always take lamentations about how "kids aren't reading comics anymore" with a grain of salt. Kids in North America are still reading comics these days, they just happen to be made in Japan (the comics, not the kids). It just seems that Marvel and DC have shifted the focus of their stories in the last decade or so to cater to the Direct Market crowd (the 18-35 male demographic, for the most part), for better or for worse.

I haven't given the Naruto series more than a superficial read (from "online samples" and forays into the manga section of the comic book shop), but without going too deep into an analysis of it, I think it actually has more in common thematically with early Spider-Man (with which it shares a particular kind of young reader appeal) than any of the current Spider-Man books out there (outside maybe of the All-Ages Spidey book, which basically just retells 1960s and early 1970s Spider-Man stories anyway).

[Dennis]

I wonder if the finite nature of the series in manga correlates in any significant way with the relatively robust sales of comics in Japan.

I remember this funny amazon review by an American teacher in Japan where he says that he's only seen 2 people in Japan reading a real book, they only read comics.

I was wondering if there was any manga that doesn't include, what I would call Weird Japanese Cuteness. Or perverted fetishes. It seem even serious mangaka like the super cute characters...like, you know how when a character gets really mad, their huge eyes turn into slits and their mouths turn into a gigantic O and they're jumping up and down and there's action lines showing how mad they are. I've seen really adult, intelligent stories include this whimsical comic relief. I guess I haven't been exposed to the serious manga.

but it's strange that comics fans think American culture is broken in some way because comics aren't popular. maybe the cultures that worship comics are the ones that are kinda weird. I mean, groping schoolgirls on the subway is a normal thing over there.