Forum - View topic

NEWS: Publishers Weekly on Tokyopop OEL

NONE of these is about Japan or Japanese people. All of them decidedly take place in Western locations, about American/Western people.

Mark of the Succubus

linlinchan wrote:

Mark of the Succubus

Mark of the Succubus had really competent art but the story was one of the most derivative, lazy things I've ever read. In fact, I'd say if you want a great example concerning what's wrong with the writing in OEL manga, read Mark of the Succubus and the equally nauseating Bizenghast, both of which read like they were written by amateur fanfiction writers.

Having a good idea for a story doesn't mean you have the skill or talent or know-how to write it well. Given that in the biographies of the authors of these two books they never once mention having taken any classes or learning anything at all about how to write for sequential art - hell, even a screenwriting class would help them tremendously - it doesn't surprise me that the writing is chock-full of bad decisions, technical errors, typos, hackneyed plot development and absolutely laughable dialogue.

Again, I'll agree that the artwork was really nice, but that's it.

Zac wrote:

linlinchan wrote: Mark of the Succubus Mark of the Succubus had really competent art but the story was one of the most derivative, lazy things I've ever read. In fact, I'd say if you want a great example concerning what's wrong with the writing in OEL manga, read Mark of the Succubus and the equally nauseating Bizenghast, both of which read like they were written by amateur fanfiction writers. Having a good idea for a story doesn't mean you have the skill or talent or know-how to write it well. Given that in the biographies of the authors of these two books they never once mention having taken any classes or learning anything at all about how to write for sequential art - hell, even a screenwriting class would help them tremendously - it doesn't surprise me that the writing is chock-full of bad decisions, technical errors, typos, hackneyed plot development and absolutely laughable dialogue. Again, I'll agree that the artwork was really nice, but that's it.

Oook... I'll give you Bizenghast, which I didn't find enjoyable at all, but I really liked Mark of the Succubus.
Again, I don't think you can expect everyone to agree that this (or any other) title is good.

I think OEL is just a cruddy way to cash in on the popularity of manga.

If this original "manga" if you can actually call it that is so good, how come I haven't read any of it that's good, I never hear of anybody buying it, and I never hear gushing reviews of any of it?

Almost all if not all of it is crap written by wannabe Japanese people.

And another reason for the existence of OELs in the first place is that they're probably reluctant to pay royalty and licensing fees anymore to Japanese licensors. Typical. With OELs, they can pay as much or as little as they want to aspiring "american" artists. Basically, you get what you pay for, everyone. My two cents.

It's funny how people rash on those who "imitate" manga outside of Japan. I bet there are loads of "imitators" or "wannabes" in Japan too. If you're gonna hate the marketing ploy part, then plainly say it. But, to rag on the artists who simply adopt another style for the sake of drawing it is pretty stupid.

Or it could be that TP and Seven Seas is giving, "manga" style" creators outside of Japan, a chance to publish their own stories.

Honestly though, that probably is the case. It's a lot easier and cheaper to produce content that you have 100% say over, and don't have to deal with the Japanese in the first place. You can always dress it up as something else.

Uh...what? Paying creators to script, pencil, ink and tone hundreds of pages while investing in aggressive marketing campaigns for previously unknown works is somehow cheaper than licensing and marketing series for which stories, art and fan bases already exist? If you can figure out how to do that, call TP (or any publishing company, for that matter) and you'll no doubt be hired in a New York minute. Partial or complete ownership of a property can theoretically become extremely profitable if that property happens to hit it big, but even if there were precedent for that in OEL (which there isn't), it'd still be a huge gamble.