[Gahg] The Revolving Conversation of Comics Vs Manga

Blackjack Duelist has 4 more days left on Kickstarter!

Hey everyone! Today we’re going to briefly talk about the never ending convo between Manga and Comics, and why everyone gets the discussion WRONG.

But first! BLACKJACK DUELIST #1: I PLAYED BLACKJACK TO SAVE THE WORLD has 4 days (maybe even 3 days) left on Kickstarter! Go check it out, and if it’s something that looks interesting, consider backing it :)

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/woundedherocomics/blackjack-duelist-1-i-played-blackjack-to-save-the-world

Okay! Let’s get into it!

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Everyone Gets The Manga vs Comics Conversation WRONG

I recently saw a tweet from Yanzi Lin (Shane Davis’s wife) about manga. It reads:

When everyone talks about manga, they’re always looking at WHAT they think makes manga successful, but they miss the boat entirely. Yanzi is correct in saying that there are millions of manga titles that are unsuccessful and that the West is only getting the best of the best. This is 100% true.

But WHY are they successful here? This is where people struggle in identifying the problem and the solution.

Yanzi by the way doesn’t deal with this part of it so her portion of this conversation is now done.

Currently people will look at manga and say the following:

Manga is successful because:

• it’s black and white

• the stories are not woke

• it’s cheaper

• kids like simple art

But these factors aren’t necessarily true…

• “It’s black and white” - so was The Walking Dead and it was one of the best selling comics in the last 10 years (we’ll come back to this point)

• “the stories are not woke” - wrong. There are subcategories dedicated to LGBTQ stories and what not. There’s probably more progressive stories in manga than there are in the west.

• “It’s cheaper” - now this point is 100% true.

• “kids like simple art” - that’s an over generalization. Kids (and modern day audiences) like a different style of art then maybe those that you would see in the 90’s.

So Why is Manga Actually More Successful currently?

THREE Points:

• Their are stories are all essentially soap operas and dramas

• They are affordable and easily accessible

• They have media synergy

Let’s get into these briefly!

1. I was watching Yellowstone the Tv Show and was wondering “why do I keep watching this show when there is less action each season!?” It’s because the show is basically a soap opera. If you look at all the most successful TV shows out their, they’re just soap operas. We’re invested in a group of characters, their lives, their relationships, and how their own goals and actions effect the other group of characters. It’s character driven, NOT Plot Driven, which is what you’ll typically find in western stories.

   1. The Walking Dead is a prime example of a story being a Character Driven Soap Opera.

   2. The greatest X-Men run is always pointed towards Chris Claremont’s run. Read it. It’s a soap opera.

2. The affordability of Manga is so nice. With digital releases with most apps that maybe cost $3-10 a month, you can essentially read unlimited stories each month for the price of a sandwich. PLUS, if the series is one that you really like, you can get the physical books which are around $10. AND they are aesthetically nice looking. They can go on a bookshelf and look nice, VS an ugly floppy going in a white box on a shelf. Yuck.

3. Media synergy is something we don’t talk about enough and it pisses me. ADAPTATIONS ARE IMPORTANT. When someone watches the Hawkeye show on Disney Plus, which comic do they read? The producers will say “The Matt Fraction and David Aja run” but that’s not entirely true. Only ELEMENTS of that comic run were used for the show. Just a few elements. Whereas if I watch Demon Slayer Season 1, and have to wait a year for the next arc and can’t wait, I can just read the manga because I know the adaptation will 90% the same. Now I’m consuming the manga and the anime, I’m invested in the story and the characters, and I can talk about it with my friends. Whereas when I talk about Batman with my friends, we’re debating story lines, canon, non-canon, elseworlds, which writer wrote Batman best and why. It’s all up for interpretation and it gets wild (and toxic).

Okay wow. This was quite the essay. Didn’t mean for it to get to this but when you’re passionate about a subject you just go for it!

Okay!

Remember to check out Blackjack Duelist!

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/woundedherocomics/blackjack-duelist-1-i-played-blackjack-to-save-the-world

Tyler