Forum - View topicIndustry Roundtable, Day Two: Can Manga created in the US be commercially successful?
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4555 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Funny that they use Scott Pilgrim as an example of a successful "OEL manga" since Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley wants nothing to do with that term.
Scott Pilgrim also happens to be the only manga-influenced comic I read. |
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Natejka7273
 Posts: 7 Location: Pittsburgh, PA |
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They mentioned, when talking about Megatokyo, that "the online format does create its own problems in terms of how a piece flows, since everything is done page by page instead of as a whole chapter." I agree, but luckily, Megatokyo is also printed in manga books sold by Dark Horse Comics, which in my opinion makes the series much more fun to read.
Just my two cents. |
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rinjichan
Posts: 58 |
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I'll admit prejudice against OEL or whatever. I have never bothered to read any of it because it all strikes me as mediocre knock-offs artistically and story-wise. Not to say that all manga is gold.
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LeoKnight25
 Posts: 319 Location: Puyallup, WA |
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Whenever this subject gets brought up, most everyone fails to mention, in even the slightest capacity, the whole body of work that the fine folks at Antarctic Press have done. They're the oldest and, in my opinion, best at producing manga-influenced comics. Ninja High School, Gold Digger, Tigers of Terra and Twilight X are some of the longest running manga influenced comics. Out of the four, only two are running currently but, Ted Nomura and Joseph Wight (creators of Tigers of Terra and Twilight X respectively) seem to take time off and go back to their stories in one capacity or another. But, again, these guys never get mentioned...I don't know what it is that can't get them recognized but, they do a helluva great job. I'd say that's pretty successful for a supposed "OEL". Not only are they pretty successful, but these guys have been running on and off for the past 20+ years, so I'd say that Ms. Diaz-Pryzybyl is actually quite wrong in saying that they've only started developing OEL in the last decade.
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abstract-alchemist
Posts: 65 Location: Hawaii |
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what the hell is wrong with the term "graphic novel"? Why OEL? I'm more predjudice at the fact that "OEL" artist feel the need to call their art "manga". Art is universal. Manga is graphic novels made by Japanese, for a Japanese public. We get them after they the intended audience gets them. Call your art "comics" or "graphic novels". This stupid "OEL" is a marketing ploy, nothing more because, yeah, there are people who refuse to even look at "graphic novel"s that are not "manga". But these people won't look at OEL anyway, so don't bother.
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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But do all of them do that? If allowing the marketing department to call your comic "manga" gets you published, then it's a no-brainer, really. Not that there aren't some who do, and are even jerks about it. |
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R.G.
Posts: 687 |
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I concur,that is,I agree 100% with that statement. |
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LeoKnight25
Posts: 319 Location: Puyallup, WA |
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I'm glad that someone does. It's a real shame that these guys can't catch a break. An example of just how overlooked they are: Sakura-Con 2007 had no listing at all for Ben Dunn or Rod Espinosa as being on the guest list. Generally, Wes Hartman and a lot of the other AP Crew show up with a really great booth but, it's usually only them and a few volunteers. Most of the time, the bigger name guys don't show up, and if they do, they at least get a mention on the guest list. Well, those two did show up, but there was no information whatsoever about them doing so on the website. For Sakura-Con 2008, there was no mention whatsoever about AP being there. We obviously found out they made it when we were in the dealer's room but, talking to Wes Hartman, he told me that the guest relation folks for Sakura-Con didn't contact them until just a few days before the convention, which left them scrambling to get stuff ready. The previous year, he'd made mention that he wanted to get Rod Espinosa, Ben Dunn and Fred Perry all at the AP booth but, when they contacted him about coming to Sakura-Con for the 2008 show, Ben, Fred and Rod were all working on different projects and were not given enough time to clear up their schedules. Now, the point to all this, from my perspective, is that they didn't care enough to contact them in a timely manner. Needless to say, Wes didn't seem happy about having such a small window to get ready for the current convention but, made it anyway. It was like AP was pretty much just an afterthought. People in both the American comics industry and the American manga industry don't seem to give these guys the time of day. At least the Japanese recognize Ben Dunn, as he has published Ninja High School over there and has had several Japanese artists render some of his characters in their own style. I'm sorry for the rant, but I just want to advocate as much as possible for these guys. They're hard-working and really friendly folks who just happen to like the manga style and format...that's it. |
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KanjiiZ
 Posts: 661 Location: Central Coast |
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I've grown to believe that manga only comes from a serialized Japanese magazine. Jump, Ultra Jump, etc.
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Ramune
 Posts: 34 Location: CT. of Neo England |
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Because that's what Tokyopop, who was arguably the most successful publisher back a few years ago, and with manga being the hottest thing out there, they called their own in house productions manga as well. And if your successful, who's going to argue? Well everyone like us who hate the term; but yet it's still around today. Like LeoKnight mentioned, Antarctic Press has been doing manga influenced comics years longer than Tokyopop, but thanks to marketing their comics as "manga", they seem like they invented manga inspired comics to the unwashed masses. Then you have up and coming studios like Angry Viking Press; a bunch of cool guys who not only publishes their own manga-influenced comics, but also did a break book for Japanese artists looking to get their work out to the West. And they are following in the footsteps of AP. A really talented bunch, but I just hope they aren't overshadowed because they decided not to call their comics "manga". It just gets on my nerves when people label manga influenced comics as OEL or think non-Japanese creating manga influenced comics is something that's relatively new, when it's been around a lot longer than people think. The panel itself seemed very informative and talking to Deb Aoki on Twitter, they did have a video of the panel as well, but no idea when or if it'll be posted. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7584 Location: Wales |
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The thing about most "OEL manga" is that I can almost always tell from a glance at the cover that it isn't Japanese in origin, even before reading the artist's name. If you handed me an OEL and a Japanese manga with the covers ripped off and I couldn't tell them apart then I probably wouldn't care what you wanted to call them, but for whatever reason we don't seem to be there.
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Mr Adventure
 Posts: 1598 |
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Joe Wright's Twilight X is one of my favorite comics ever. Not so much the rest of Antarctic Press though. But you know, I don't like Twilight X because its 'Manga Influenced', I like it because its a good comic. I'm generally wary of any "Manga/Anime influenced western works" because they always seem to be seeped in the worst Japanese fiction cliches. And the ones that don't, well, I rarely lable them as "Manga", just "Good Comics". To me, the word "Manga", in English, means "Comics from Japan (and sometimes Korea, I suppose)" Period. If its not from Japan, it ain't manga. I don't care how digest the format is. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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This stuff isn't manga, it's eastern-influenced comics. I thought the whole idea of turning to Japan for entertainment was to get different outlooks and perspectives in storytellings, not get this usually awfully drawn crap.
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LeoKnight25
Posts: 319 Location: Puyallup, WA |
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[quote="Mr Adventuree]
Joe Wight's Twilight X is one of my favorite comics ever. Not so much the rest of Antarctic Press though. But you know, I don't like Twilight X because its 'Manga Influenced', I like it because its a good comic. I'm generally wary of any "Manga/Anime influenced western works" because they always seem to be seeped in the worst Japanese fiction cliches. And the ones that don't, well, I rarely lable them as "Manga", just "Good Comics". To me, the word "Manga", in English, means "Comics from Japan (and sometimes Korea, I suppose)" Period. If its not from Japan, it ain't manga. I don't care how digest the format is.[/quote] That's a great point that you make and I want to make it clear that I don't care where it comes from, as long as it's a fun read or an interesting one. But, I don't quite agree that manga only comes from Japan. The meaning of the word is basically "comics" so in a sense, it's all manga. To the Japanese, anything can be considered manga. I think only in recent years have they started divvying it up into sub-categories like we do here. But, again it's just a label. It doesn't matter what it's called, where it came from, who draws it or what not. If you enjoy comics, read comics. But, the stereotypes that it's all poorly imitated crap is getting old. I'm not trying to single you out or even necessarily directing this at you, I just want to make it clear my distaste for people's attitudes towards it when I'm sure the majority of people decrying it, have not read it, or haven't read enough of it to give an accurate view of it. |
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