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NEWS: Togari's Yoshinori Natsume to Draw Batman: Death Mask

Yay, another manga artist only a few people have heard of here! Go, DC!

Yay, another manga artist only a few people have heard of here! Go, DC!

1) If this is a manga artist publishing in America, then it's debatable that it can be called manga. It'd say it's a manga artist doing a comic book. Otomo's was published in DC's Batman Black and White mini series first. Similarly, Nihei did that Wolverine: Snikt! miniseries for Mavel. Meanwhile, Child of Dreams was published first in Japan and in Japanese (right to left).

Also, no one cares if it's a manga artist no one has heard. It's -!-MANGA-!-. And look, it's even by some Japanese guy, so that makes it more manga than American manga. Please note my sarcasm. I sadly think this is how people at DC and some fans think.

The flip side of the coin is that Japanese people don't make a distinction between "manga" and "comic" as some foreign fans think.

Look up "manga" in Japanese dictionary. It says nothing about it having to come from Japan or having to cater to Japanese audiences. Look up at the Japanese wikipedia entry for manga.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/漫画

All three example pictures of "manga" in the Japanese entry come from outside Japan.

Now see how the Japanese people use the word "comic." Japanese people call everything from Tetsuwan Atom and Ouran High School Host Club to Superman and Sandman "comic."

Saying it is not a manga but "a manga artist doing a comic book" is a meaningless distinction to the Japanese. Any perceived distinction is invented by foreigners.

testorschoice wrote:

The flip side of the coin is that Japanese people don't make a distinction between "manga" and "comic" as some foreign fans think.

You keep telling yourself that. I say look at the sales. When has a forign comic artist done that well in the Japanese market? If anything they have a cult following like manga has here in America. Though I'd say manga now sells better in America than US comics sell in Japan.

Believe me, Japan does make a strong distinction between native Japanese books and gaijin books. Don't kid yourself.

Quote:

Look up "manga" in Japanese dictionary. It says nothing about it having to come from Japan or having to cater to Japanese audiences. Look up at the Japanese wikipedia entry for manga. http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/漫画 All three example pictures of "manga" in the Japanese entry come from outside Japan. Now see how the Japanese people use the word "comic." Japanese people call everything from Tetsuwan Atom and Ouran High School Host Club to Superman and Sandman "comic."

Do you have a Japanese dictionary?

Cause Wikipedia isn't the be all and end all, especially when you can't read the text. Can you tell me everything that page says? (Babelfish doesn't count for s---.) No, you're just looking at the pictures and a few words you recognize.

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Saying it is not a manga but "a manga artist doing a comic book" is a meaningless distinction to the Japanese. Any perceived distinction is invented by foreigners.

Again. Let's see how well this sells. In case you didn't notice. This isn't Japan. We're talking about a book selling in America.

Also, most everything about 'manga' in America is invented by foreigners. The word 'manga' is an invention based on the Japanese words. We're not typing in hiragana or kanji. It's English or romanji. So unless you want to start typing in Japanese, none of it is accurate. Hell, at least I've seen in Japan the use the English word comic or comics. Comictorama is a nice store in Akihabara. Then again in speech they usually say 'comikisu' and that isn't quite 'comics'. Long story short, there will always be something lost in translation.

I could just as well start calling every manga ANN reports on 'Japanese comics'. I don't. I call it manga out of respect of the Japanese author. I could also call this Batman book manga. Really, if it's an American published by a manga author, I can go either way on it.

Also,if we insist on calling a Japanese mangaka working on an American book manga, then by that thinking Americans can never publish manga. They can only publish comics. You can't have it both ways.

Naming it by origin of publication is the only way to go. It's a very literate and scholarly way to do it.

You do realize paying for a big name costs more.

If this is a manga artist publishing in America, then it's debatable that it can be called manga. It'd say it's a manga artist doing a comic book. Otomo's was published in DC's Batman Black and White mini series first.