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INTEREST: Scott Pilgrim's Creator Talks With His Manga Mentors




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TitanXL



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 4036
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:56 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
O'Malley added that while he still enjoys new manga, he said "it tends to be very slick and has a corporate feeling."


O'Malley isn't really one to talk about series being too corporate, Mr. Relies Entirely on Forced Pop Culture References and got a Hollywood Movie Wink
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NonoAsumy



Joined: 29 Apr 2011
Posts: 90
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:20 pm Reply with quote
Malley really made good use of the simplistic manga style he adapted.
I just love the use and interpretation of foreign styles.

Scott Pilgrim was both fun to read and has cultural significance.
It´s hard not to get enthralled by its nowness.
I do not regret buying the 6 volumes in a nice practical box.

Edit: I found the "interview" this was both interesting and funny.

Last edited by NonoAsumy on Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:41 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Shenl742



Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1525
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:24 pm Reply with quote
Reall nice interview! Pretty cool to see them talk about comparing and contrasting both the artistic and cultural sides of the industry. LIke how Scott would be considered very unusual in Japan for being an out going nerd with an active sex life.
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lelliel



Joined: 29 Jun 2011
Posts: 43
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:43 pm Reply with quote
TitanXL wrote:
Quote:
O'Malley added that while he still enjoys new manga, he said "it tends to be very slick and has a corporate feeling."


O'Malley isn't really one to talk about series being too corporate, Mr. Relies Entirely on Forced Pop Culture References and got a Hollywood Movie Wink


The movie failed at the box office because it couldn't find a audience though.
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R.G.



Joined: 16 Nov 2003
Posts: 687
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:32 pm Reply with quote
Have the Scott Pilgrim books been translated into japanese?
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TitanXL



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 4036
PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:55 pm Reply with quote
lelliel wrote:
TitanXL wrote:
Quote:
O'Malley added that while he still enjoys new manga, he said "it tends to be very slick and has a corporate feeling."


O'Malley isn't really one to talk about series being too corporate, Mr. Relies Entirely on Forced Pop Culture References and got a Hollywood Movie Wink


The movie failed at the box office because it couldn't find a audience though.


Still, it got made. I won't cry 'sellout' or anything, but it's kind of funny he still acts as if he's some 'indie developer' after all that and bashes 'corperate' series.
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littlegreenwolf



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 4796
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 12:18 am Reply with quote
TitanXL wrote:
lelliel wrote:
TitanXL wrote:
Quote:
O'Malley added that while he still enjoys new manga, he said "it tends to be very slick and has a corporate feeling."


O'Malley isn't really one to talk about series being too corporate, Mr. Relies Entirely on Forced Pop Culture References and got a Hollywood Movie Wink


The movie failed at the box office because it couldn't find a audience though.


Still, it got made. I won't cry 'sellout' or anything, but it's kind of funny he still acts as if he's some 'indie developer' after all that and bashes 'corperate' series.


Just because O'Malley's work became hugely successful doesn't mean the work Scott Pilgrim is any less an indie title, and having pop refrences doesn't make him any less indie in terms of the comic industry. I think you're getting indie mixed with hipster here.

In comics, be it Japanese or American, there is a huge distinct difference between your typical mainstream comics, and the indie crowd. It's the same way on both sides of the Pacific in terms of corporate comics. You get an editor who tells you what you can and can't do, and even tells you where your storyline should go. Read enough omake pages in a manga and it gets painfully obvious in just how much a manga's publisher tells the manga-ka what to do from everything from relationships, story arcs, to character designs. It's not at all that different from how the big publishers - Marvel and DC, control their major titles here.

Indie comics tend to be some person drawing and and writing their own story with absolutely no outside influences. You draw what you want, and your story goes where you want it to. And if you're really really lucky you actually can get it published.

O'Malley is as indie as the White Stripes were with their original White Blood Cells album release. It's what he does with his next work that'll determine if he sells out or stays indie.

R.G. - Yep. O'Malley did different covers for them too, and he happily posts covers of Scott Pilrgim, be it from Japan or any other foreign country, on his blog.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14889
PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:49 am Reply with quote
Murder She wrote:

Last year O'Malley spoke with manga.about.com's Deb Aoki about the manga and anime that influenced his work.


When's the last time a news article URL-linked back to itself? It's like recursive or something. Laughing


Comics Alliance wrote:

Takekuma: I found the depiction of student life very interesting because it was so different from Japanese students' experiences. Scott is pretty much a nerd, but he still experiences romance and has sex. Japanese romantic comedy manga depicting the life and love of a nerd never depict relationships with several women. Adult-only erotic comics being the exception of course.

O'Malley: Oh, yeah, I had an interview with a Japanese reporter recently and he mentioned the same thing (re: nerds being "virginal"). I thought that was very interesting! It's a cultural difference that I never realized.

Takekuma: As an addition to the above, there is a genre in Japanese romantic comedy called "harem stories". These depict a nerdish guy being approached by several women, escalating into a harem situation. Scott on the other hand, while being kind of a nerd, has his own personality, plays in a band, and gets serious about dating. There are a few things influenced by Japanese stories, but I thought the depiction of romance was unique in a way that is very rarely seen Japan.

O'Malley: Scott Pilgrim took some inspiration from "harem" manga (like Ranma 1/2). But I guess he's an incongruous character type to be the hero of the story. On the other hand, I often find myself frustrated with the hero in a manga story. The boy is always timid. I'm pretty shy myself, as I'm sure most cartoonists are, but I guess in America we like to see our heroes take action, especially with regards to women.

Takekuma: In both the books and the movie, Scott has this cute girlfriend in Knives, but dumps her at the first chance he gets after he meets Ramona. In Japan, your editor would probably stop you from writing that. They would say readers would side with Knives, and your hero looks like an ass.


Haha, I thought this was the funniest part of the discussion. In Japan, it's like hooking up is the goal. In America, hooking up is just part of the journey. Laughing

Incidentally, Japanese also don't have this concept called "selling out," as we treat it in the West. That's why J-creators "sell out" all the time, and nobody thinks the better of it. Whether that's good or bad, up to you.
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Gilles Poitras



Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Posts: 480
Location: Oakland California
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:13 am Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
Incidentally, Japanese also don't have this concept called "selling out," as we treat it in the West.

This is often an advantage in that you get major bands doing songs for anime and TV shows as well as small manga authors getting deals for TV show adaptations etc. The response is not "he sold out" but "congrats!"
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14889
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 3:04 pm Reply with quote
Gilles Poitras wrote:
enurtsol wrote:
Incidentally, Japanese also don't have this concept called "selling out," as we treat it in the West.

This is often an advantage in that you get major bands doing songs for anime and TV shows as well as small manga authors getting deals for TV show adaptations etc. The response is not "he sold out" but "congrats!"


Maybe if Westerners get the same treatment.... Confused
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Keiichi-chan



Joined: 22 Oct 2008
Posts: 143
PostPosted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 1:58 am Reply with quote
R.G. wrote:
Have the Scott Pilgrim books been translated into japanese?

http://radiomaru.com/2011/03/28/japanese-scott-pilgrim-vol-2/

Quote:
Mr. Relies Entirely on Forced Pop Culture References

me thinks you're confusing the film version with the comic books. common mistake. a sonic wave of endless pop culture bullshit is more edgar wright's thing than o'malley's. bryan seems to go for obscure, indie shit if he chooses to reference at all.

the whole of the first two volumes are pretty devoid of the pop culture referencing you're describing, and the movie deal was made based on the first two books.

Quote:
Incidentally, Japanese also don't have this concept called "selling out," as we treat it in the West. That's why J-creators "sell out" all the time, and nobody thinks the better of it. Whether that's good or bad, up to you.

although i love it when people who've never been to japan inaccurately guess at japanese social trends..
Quote:
the industry had already developed into big business, and was looking for manga that would make money instead of new forms of expression. So while they were selling well, I felt that these books were starting to lose the spirit and passion that characterized the manga we had read as children. I aimed to pick up "patterns" that had started to develop in well-selling manga, and parodized them.

Read More: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/07/14/bryan-lee-omalley-manga/#ixzz1SRDrredq

takekuma is essentially saying that part of the reason he created 'even a monkey can draw manga' is BECAUSE they felt like many japanese comic creators were selling out..
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