Forum - View topicNEWS: Manga Featured in French Newspaper
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Damn, those French get some great manga. Though I rember hearing that their manga was mostly of the seinen fair.
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SilentMoon
Posts: 3 |
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Hmm... not really. we get a lot of manga in all kinds and tastes. I wouldn't want to sound like I'm boasting or anything, but I believe there are currently more manga being published in french than in english. Which actually isn't necessarilly a blessing to the newcomer, who might just be scared away by the sheer number of choices and miss out on the really good stuff. I think "Le Monde" hit right on the spot though. 
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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That's good that France is diverse in their manga. The things I saw online prieviously were mostly seinen, so I just assumed. Right now in the American maarket it's mostly shojo and newer shonen, with other genres lacking.
A quick question (assuming your from France): Are manga fans generally fans of French comics? Just wondering, as lately it seems more and more manga fans don't read American comics. |
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SilentMoon
Posts: 3 |
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I can't tell you about all of the manga fans community... But I think so, yes. At least for the older fans, say above 18 years old or thereabout.
French comics have since long earned a more adult audience, and those are now slowly discovering manga through titles such as those "Le Monde" is highlighting. Now there is also the younger generation, and I'm afraid those might be less knowledgable about French comics - with the exception of a few classics and superhits. They've been basked in manga for something like 10 years now, with the advent of dragonball and sailormoon, and manga clearly are the talk of the schoolyard. As a side note, I think I should point out that the american comics fans community in France is largely being invaded by manga as well. The editors are widely advertising their own manga releases in their US comic books, and launching parallel manga lines left and right. |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Interesting...of late, there is a definite split between comicbook fans and manga fans in the US. Alot of comicbook fans read manga too, but I find alot of manga fans have never touched a comicbook, or don't want too. It's too bad...
But yea, all the French comics I've read have been pretty adult. There's a great company called Humanoids (which is now owned by DC) that published alot of Europian comics here, including Metal Hurlant. I haven't read too many French ones outside MH, but I'll always look into Moebius or Jodorowsky (not technically French, but it seems most of his stuff is published in France). |
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SilentMoon
Posts: 3 |
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Hmmyea...
Actually I've looked into the availabilty of french comics in the US before, and I found that people over there could very well get a false idea about the general production. As you said, it was mostly Metal Hurlant or more experimental stuff from l'Association (Trondheim's work, for example, seems to get quite popular among connoisseurs... whatever that means) The truth is, even though those are undeniably interesting work, they're far from representative of the mainstream of french comics production. There is a huge market for children-aimed books as well, usually humoristic. There is a wide market for classic fantasy or sci-fi, usually with very elaborated drawing styles and scenarii. Or at least, trying to get there. There is a market for all genres inbetween too, to a lesser degree... Those are generally the big hits, far more successful than for example series published over there in Metal Hurlant, and most of them never get out of the country. I'll close this parenthesis by mentioning that I've tried for a while now to help spread those "other" french series to the english market by "fan-scanning" a couple of them... but I can't say success has been overwhelming.
And now i'll stop clutterring this forum before I get banned for shameless advertising. Hopefully you got your information in all this. |
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The Xenos
 Posts: 1519 Location: Boston |
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Damn. I go to the site and what's teh first hting that loads... Blame!. Dman. The French are taunting me. What lese? Gantz. They are taunting me a second time. Plus Monster looks pretty sweet. Why can't we get these more mature mangas over here. These are the type I'm itching for. I noticed Viz and Comics One had some older seinen titles, but those are a pain to find. I hope we start seeing titles like Gantz and especially anything by Nihei over in the US. I remember talking to one of the editors at Dark Horse about Blame! at a con and he said he'd love for them to get it, and not just because of little dialouge to translate.
-Xenos |
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Cowpunk
Posts: 168 Location: Oakland - near the Newtype Lab |
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Sales. If more mature manga sold more would come out. Some of my recent readings in English trans mature manga: Vagabond Worst IWGP Lupin |
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jfrog
 Posts: 925 Location: Seattle |
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What are some good Jodorowsky comics? I'm in love with his movies (craaaaaazy shit, man), but I thought that the first volume of The Incal was really slow and boring. There weren't even any midgets in it! Or rape, which I suppose is a good thing. But I'd rather put up with the occasional rape scene if it means I get the constant flow of bizzare, nonsensical ideas that I loved so much about his other work. |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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The Metabarons is quite good. Aside from the great art, what I love about it is that you never know what to expect. The whole thing is just psycotic sometimes, and that's what makes it great. It's an epic space opera, but it's the most crazy, twisted and downright bizarre space opera I've ever seen.
Son of the Gun is also good. It's a grim tale that focuses on one man's journey through life, starting when he has become a christ-like martyr at the end of his life, being mourned by a crowd of people; then through flashback telling how he got there. It shows his journey from a ruthless killer (and generally horrible, horrible human being) to where he is at the end. It's definitally got that Jodorowsky weirdness to it (he was raised by a transvestite midget), and it quite a compelling tale in my opinion. I'm looking to get his kung-fu (of sorts) comic The White Lama as well. His movies are definitally awesome, but he's now really devoted himself to comics. From what I understand this facination of the medium came from when he was working with Moebius on the failed Dune movie. Of course Giger was also involved with that project, making me all the more sad it never fell through. |
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jfrog
Posts: 925 Location: Seattle |
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And Salvador Dali as the Emperor, sitting on a toilet throne! Besides, if Jodorowsky's Dune actually got made, then that means that David Lynch might have said yes when George Lucas asked him to direct Return of the Jedi.
Thanks for the information, I'll probably check out Son of a Gun sometime soon. Metabarons I'm still a little hesitant about, since it's an Incal spinoff. |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10466 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Ahh, Metabarons, good comic (read it in French, didn't know it was out in English).
And yes, in mid 2004, more manga was being released in France than in the USA. I do not know if that is still true thoough, but suspect it probably is. -t |
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Neilworms
 Posts: 155 Location: Chicago IL |
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All I want to say is that you guys who can read french are lucky as hell. Some of the greatest work in manga is available in your language, since their is so much emphasis in france on the artist. In France I think you guys see a much better representation of the wide picture of manga (which absolutely dwarfs anime- everyone reads manga in Japan, not everyone watches anime).
I really wish that someday someone would actually publish say Satoshi Kon's work, or Yoshiharu Tsuge or more of Jiro Taniguchi in english. I really am envious of you guys :(. |
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