Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Are Most Manga Published in Black and White?
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Otaku Heretic
Posts: 4 |
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My thoughts exactly. I know that manga has always been a cheap form of entertainment for the masses, so for it to be cheap, it also has to be made cheaply. Hence why there's so much of it and why its publication schedule is leagues faster than any comic book market in the world - because its very nature requires it to be made very quickly at a very low cost. However, I would argue that the times have changed. While it originally started out as mere cheap entertainment, manga has produced true masterpieces over the years. Stories became more polished and the artwork became more detailed and refined. We've reached the point where manga is reaching the limits of what it originally set out to be. I think color is the next big step. Don't get me wrong, I don't think all manga should be in color. As Deb said, it would require a massive overhaul of the manga production ecosystem to make all of them in color from the beginning (also, have you seen the paper quality of the magazines they're originally published in? It's just not worth it). However, if the best-selling manga generally get a kanzenban-style release a few years down the line, I think we could one-up that line of thinking and make those collector's editions in color. There's a reason the most important chapters in a series get released in color - because everyone recognizes that color is much richer than black-and-white. While it's true that there are a lot of artists out there that are true masters of the monochrome style (think Miura Kentarou of Berserk fame, for instance), manga didn't set out to be in black-and-white as a stylistic choice - it was so just because it was the cheapest, fastest way to print it. To be perfectly honest, I think the people that actively prefer the monochrome style only do so because they got used to it, not because of its inherent value. I have yet to see a single person complain that anime is in color instead of black-and-white. I think manga as an art form has matured enough that it deserves the color treatment, at least for the masterpieces and the big sellers. I'm currently reading the color edition of Dragon Ball and loving it. P.S: I still don't know why Shuueisha has a ton of Jump manga colorized but only published Dragon Ball in physical format. Come on, Shuueisha, manga is at its best in print form. |
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Gasero
 Posts: 939 Location: USA |
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I think it is better to publish the initial printing of a manga in grayscale, and if the manga becomes popular enough to warrant reprints, there may be more people willing to purchase it in a color version.
For most manga series, the extra effort and cost to print in color would probably be cost prohibitive in terms of garnering a large enough audience to make it worth the production cost. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2027 |
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This is true. But only if you mean Marvel/DC superhero titles. While not exactly mainstream sensations, plenty of other independent titles from Dark horse, and especially Image Comics are doing very well. In fact, one of the most popular series right now is The Walking Dead - and that's entirely in Black and White.
I think this should be left up to creators. Some creators work I think actually looks better in black and white than colour, like Tsutomu NIhei, who is a minimalist even with his coloured stuff. Some artists are better in black and white than they are with coloured work, which a lot of the time is phoned in, or the best they could do, which is not really that impressive. Then there are guys like Shirow Masamune who go all out. But it would add more time one way or another, and the manga industry largely runs on weekly releases to keep people engaged, so we have to consider how that will affect readership, as well as the raise in costs. The better compromise would be to print the weeklies in black and white. And save colour for the collected tankobons. I think the next major colour manga to look forward to is that samurai one Hayao Miyazaki is working on, whenever that releases... |
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Sakagami Tomoyo
 Posts: 941 Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia |
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That's still not really ideal. As nargun notes, certain shading techniques make things look pretty bad if colour is added later, and producing the black and white art without those to begin with means having worse black and white art initially. And it's still time out of the mangaka's busy schedule to colour it, or hiring a colourist, which is more expense and possibly getting results no-one's happy with. And after all that, it's up in the air how many readers actually want it in colour, and if so whether they're willing to pay the extra to get it. |
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meruru
Posts: 473 |
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It's related to their opposing marketing strategies. Japanese publishers focus on making them as accessible as possible. Weeklies and monthlies are available in convenient stores at extremely low prices. Low profit margins, but they sell a whole lot more. American comics are mostly a niche thing, sold only in specialty stores, and catering to fans who want the highest possible quality, and will pay a premium for it. There is, however, one major exception to this rule. Archie comics. Sold in grocery stores, and though they are now in full color, you'll notice they're much smaller than regular comics, have no gradient colors, and are printed on low quality paper.
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Sakagami Tomoyo
Posts: 941 Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia |
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So I had a quick chat about this with a comic artist I know. Definite numbers are impossible to pin down; it depends heavily on the skill of the colourist, the complexity of the art, just how simple or complex the colour needs to be, etc, but the bottom line is that it takes less time than doing the linework, but still a significant amount of time. Under near-ideal conditions, earlier pages being handed to the colourist while later pages are being drawn, the colourist will be done with the last page maybe two days after the artist's done with it. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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I don't really see a need for color, I'm used to the black and white and I love it! And frankly, after so many decades of B&W comics, they are masters at it. If you look at an American B&W comic, most of them don't seem to understand the concept of the color "grey", which is what manga uses so well (in the form of screen tones, shading, etc). For example, as dearly as I love Bone[i/] or [i]Courtney Crumrin (among many others), the fact that they are pure B&W is incredibly straining and taxing on my eyes while manga's use of finer lines and screentones is incredibly easy on my eyes and makes reading quick and easy for me. The fact that both Bone and Courtney Crumrin have gotten color re-releases that are FAR easier on the eyes to read kind of proves my point to me (though it's more likely they were redone in color because of the assumption that comics have to be in color to be taken seriously). But compare Bone to one of the few American B&W comics that does use shades of grey, specifically anything by Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise, Motor Girl). Since he uses tones in between all-or-nothing, it makes his works much more readable to me and a lot more enjoyable for it. I would still say Japan's use of tones is far more mastered, but it can easily be done, so I've never understood why American comics don't do it. I've had to turn away many an interesting looking US comic in B&W because it was very obvious to me that the pure all or nothing style would be too taxing on my eyes to actually read and enjoy.
Come to think of it, when did "screentones" become a thing? Some of the earlier Tezuka series are basically all or nothing with the B&W, but later ones use them. I wonder who even invented the concept of shading and tones in B&W comics? |
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kucinglaper
Posts: 23 |
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Nobody complain about anime in color because anime design is designed specifically for color and movement (including the cost). By different people that's not the artist themselves. Several artist do work better in BW. Yana Toboso for example, nobody deny that her coloring skill is really good but it certainly won't be able to bring the dynamism she created in B/W. Some details has to be compromised, either deleted or... god forbid, added which mean extra work. Sure there are a lot of digital artist nowadays but it's still difficult to capture the same feel. That being said, having an entire manga in color en masse also mean you'll only mostly get either colored by other artist trying to mimic the mangaka or severely simplified version of said mangaka's style. Definitely won't be in the same quality as the color spreads unless the mangaka has simple coloring style or just masochist. |
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