My, I haven’t written a serious essay for a long time, and do I miss my two-fisted style of writing. I HAVE been on alot of discussion threads though, and while the amount of information I’ve posted up would be more than several essays, there is one particular thread reply that has made me swing into academic mode (today). This comes from the death throes of the infamous Comicon thread that’s been doing the rounds for a while, and now that it’s gone completely off-topic I thought it would be useful to write something up.

The discussion had turned briefly into this subject, and while I made my reply there, I decided to do an independent evaluation on manga art VS mainstream western comics art, and how big a difference this makes in consumer spending.

 

Introduction
It’s no secret that manga often has poor draftsmanship in comparison to superhero comics, and that alot of mainstream Western artists think that manga artists can’t draw. Even Japanese manga artists think so, though they can rest on their laurels knowing that their works sell alot more than superhero works. But before this blossoms into a full-scale debate, we should first define “draftsmanship” and ensure that we are looking at the concept with an international and not merely a Western perspective.

“Draftsmanship”, as defined by dictionary.com, merely means someone who can plan and draw, and perhaps that’s where the biggest differences of opinion comes in. What does it mean to “be able to draw”? I’m assuming it means drawing well, and that good draftsmanship means structural and anatomical accuracy of the art, and the amount of semblance to realism in the linework and composition. At least, that’s what people trained in Western art consider “draftsmanship” and “good art” to be, and it’s an attitude that has a long-standing Western tradition. It’s also a mildly Orientalist attitude, because it almost automatically discounts any form of art that doesn’t consider anatomical structure to be important.

 

What Exactly is “Good Art”?
If you’re not trained in Western art theory, you’re going to have a field day with this one – not least because it tangles with out-dated colonial attitudes. All non-Western cultures have their own artistic traditions, and if you were to argue that good art means Raphael-like attention to anatomy, you’re dismissing the entire artistic output of several civilisations. In relation to manga, this historical and cultural aspect is particularly important. Because manga is the inheritor of Japanese art traditions, its emphasis has always been on highly-stylised art and abstraction over realism. Besides, most people would know that Japanese art has had a hand in influencing 20th century art movements (such as Impressionism).

But even so, to say that most manga has bad draftsmanship will be overlooking the artists that are truly skilled. Manga art emphasises different things to superhero art, and many artists find ways to work abstractions to their advantage – to the extent that many manga artists have no formal art training. Now, certainly alot of people believe that you should learn to draw “real” first before you “simplify” – but that’s outside the scope of this essay. What’s important is whether manga art is at a disadvantage on the bookshelves in the minds of general readers. And perhaps that’s the one thing that most people over look when discussing manga art VS superhero art – the reader response.

 

Comic Readers and the Art
Well, this one is really a no-brainer. I vouch that superhero art is drawn better than alot of manga art, but if the sales charts are a sign, the vast majority of readers simply don’t care. It’s much like anime compared to Disney animation – Disney is by far the better animator, while anime doesn’t even MOVE in many circumstances – but it’s easy to tell which one is getting the sales. You can probably argue that diversity is the real selling-point of manga, however, even if Western comics were as diverse as manga, there’s no guarantee that it will sell better than manga because the art is superior. In fact, alot of manga with excellent art isn’t selling as well as manga with not-so-fantastic renderings (Planetes’ unspectacular sales comes to mind).

This may have more to do with the age range of the current manga audience, but I also wonder whether there is another side of the equation. It’s established that more anatomically-correct art is GOOD, though it doesn’t affect general sales by much – however, is there something about highly-stylised art that gives it an ADVANTAGE over more anatomically-correct, realistic art? Does highly-stylised art tap into something in a typical manga reader’s mind that more realistic art does not?

 

Stylised Art
Stylised art can be anything that is simplified or not realistic – be they exaggerated art styles on purpose or just by plain bad drawing. And most manga work on a simplified form – even the more realistic ones (Berserk springs to mind) – which despite an incredible amount of detail, is still just really detailed cartooning.

I was pondering whether there is an advantage to having a more simplified art style, and perhaps there is. There is one thing simplified art does that realistic art doesn’t – it encourages readers to attempt to copy the art. Because stylised art has such simple linework, it gives the impression that a total non-artist can copy it and draw their own favorite characters in their spare time, which in terms of popular appeal is incredibly important.

 

Stylised Art and Popular Appeal
How many (young) people, Japanese or not, started off drawing manga by doodling in their favourite artist’s style? Many, including myself, and now I draw professionally (and not having formal training is beginning to bite me in the butt). It’s something that explains why most manga artists don’t have art training – they work in a readily-accessible stye that is understood by their peers, and which all their friends can join in even if they can only draw heads. The simplified manga art-style is something that encourages self-practise, not least because it gives the IMPRESSION that it can be mastered without a fine arts degree. It also heightens the degree of interactivity between the fan artists, and the art. It’s no wonder that manga has more fan artist communities drawing it than anything else in the world.

In terms of pure artistry, this must sound horrible. But perhaps from a commercial perspective, it feeds into and somewhat explain the success of manga-style art, both in and outside Japan. It’s “pandering” to popular tastes and preferences – much like highly-successful TV shows such as Australian (American) Idol. If World Idol is any indication, no idol winner will ever sing as well as Ray Charles. But that matters little to the core audience of the show, who watch it mainly to feed into their fantasies of the so-called 15-minutes of fame, but also because they enjoy seeing people who are only a little more talented than they are gain fame and fortune. If you’re looking for mainstream blockbuster appeal, then the commercialised aspect is something you cannot ignore.

 

In Conclusion
Looking at the current Western manga landscape, you’re already beginning to see this form of mass-appeal boomerang back in terms of money. TOKYOPOP’s Rising Stars of Manga is a good example – like the talent-scouting competitions run by the Japanese manga zasshi, it’s a competition that encourages its readers to enter by offering them a shot at stardom. The people who buy the book are the same people as those who enter it, and the competition encourages total mange newbies by hinting that you DON’T need to be a grand art-whiz to score a place. In comparison, if there was a superhero fanart contest going around, I wouldn’t enter it even if I was a total fanatic. Largely because drawing superhero art takes a fair amount of training, and the superiority of the art is apparent to the random reader who won’t even try to copy the art because it’s so well-done.

All in all, I’ve mused about the commercial aspects of stylised art and why it’s appealing, but I haven’t talked about the aesthetics of manga – that which makes it appealing to young children. This is a cultural and age difference that’s probably best for another essay, not least because it harkens back to what you’re exposed to when you’re young. But for the time being, I think I’ve pointed out that stylised can score an audience advantage and how.

I’m going to the city again today for live-drawing “classes”, so here’s a good opportunity to unload reviews of all the work I’ve read in the past FEW days. Granted, all the stuff that I bought in the previous entry, and thought it would be good to share my views.

 

First Up – Scholarly Works on Manga

 

The three “academic” works I bought off Amazon last week were all good reads, though some more relevant to my interests than others. To re-cap what they are, they are “Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics” by Frederik L. Schodt, “Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga” by the same author, and “Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics” by Paul Gravett.

Out of the three, “Dreamland Japan” was the one I found most useful. The book itself is a sequal to “Manga! Manga!”, so people who have read that book would benefit greatly. Not only does the author write with an insider’s view of the Japanese manga industry, but it illustrates some aspects of manga culture that other scholarly works don’t brush upon enough. Case in point would be the introduction to the best-selling and most influential manga zasshi, which like it or not, is what defines the type of work most manga-ka creates. Another would be the overviews of several influential alternative manga-kas – unknown outside Japan, but who has created incredibly influential works inside their country’s borders. This blows away the cliche that most manga are aimed at the shoujo and shounen market. That may be true of the commercial manga world, but the number of alternative manga works being created in doujinshi markets are also staggeringly high. Overall, a highly recommended book – the only drawback being that it was published a decade ago, and so only covers the manga market up to 1996.

The other two, “Manga! Manga!” and “Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics” are pretty much equivalent in their content for the newbie manga scholar. Both serve as an introduction into manga, outlining both history and recent trends, though “Manga! Manga!” is much disadvantaged in that area since it was published in 1983. If you’re looking for pretty colour pictures and coverage up to 2002, I suggest you go for Paul Gavett’s book. If you’re looking for a more in-depth history and an insider’s perspective (and manga shorts in the back), then go for Schodt’s book. There is no reason to get both, because they cover the same ground. I would recommend “Manga! Manga!” over the other book though, due to the quality of its sequal “Dreamland Japan”.

 

Western Comics – Preacher: All Hell’s a-coming (Vol.8)

 

I’m attempting to shore up my list of Western Comics purchases, and is making good headway with my current “Great Hits” shopping list (nearly all Vertigo books). However, I wish I didn’t randomly buy the second last volume of “Preacher” the other day. It was my first “Preacher” book, and not only did it explain quite wonderfully what went on in the previous volumes, but it also negated the need to buy any of the previous volumes to understand the plot and the characters. Not that it’s going to stop me from sampling the previous volumes, as “Preacher” is a pretty good read.

It belongs in a genre I like to call the “Apocalyptic Texan Rebel” genre – a genre that came to fruition by collision of 60s and 70s genres. It comes complete with an anti-hero, a tough-chick love-interest, apocalyptic visions, powerful and secretive religious cults, every Hollywood Western ever made, the seedy underside of “this great country of opportunity we live in”, and… alot of Texan “stuff”. There aren’t any zombies popping up in this volume, nor are there any commies to shoot at, but I’m almost certain they show up in the other volumes (unless you count Cassidy). So yeah, I like stuff like this, and “Preacher” is a wall-done example of something that is familiar to me, whether from the movies or other comics. There isn’t much else to say about it, other than the fact that if this is your cup of tea, then you should go and buy it, beause you’ll have a good-time. And the way the author gets to vent his hatred of pop-music is also pretty funny.

If there is anything that bothered me about “Preacher”, it would be something that alot of people don’t care about. Namely, the confessional way complete strangers talk to each other. Most of the character interaction is well-done and realistic, with good dialogue (some satirical) and sharply-drawn personalities, and yet, for some reason, hitch-hikers and bar-tenders see no problem in revealing their intimate life-stories to people they met just two minutes ago. You shouldn’t ask for realism from a story like “Preacher”, but I was… bothered when a bar-tender revealed to a stranger that he was once mistaken by police for a pedophile and had his family jewels dissolved as a side-effect. I know you hear all sorts of strange stories from bar-keepers, but (1)bar-keepers talk about others alot, but almost NEVER about themselves, and (2)I wouldn’t mention myself and the word “pedophile” in the same sentence in any place where alcohol is sold. Not especially when you run the bar (unless you hate your boss), because you would want to avoid anything that may POTENTIALLY spook your customers and make them leave. Once again, none of the content bothered me – just the way it was revealed. So I have a soft-spot for fictionalised bar-keepers. It’s actually a fantastic basis for a story – because the role of good barkeepers are to listen to your sob stories, keep you drinking, make sure you leave before you’re so inebriated you’ll make a mess, and inspire some hope in you (from the stories they here from other people) so you’ll come back for your next drinking binge. It’s a delicate social act, much more delicate than most people realise. Oh, I see a plot bunny running around in my head.

That said: Preacher = good read.

 

Manga – Random Snippets
Both “Bizenghast” and “Van Von Hunter” were pretty much what I expected, and I enjoyed reading both. Bizenghast can benefit from more consistent art, but already I want to do fan stories for the book. I like Edaniel and Vincent, moreso because Vincent seems like the ideal boyfriend and you can always have someone like that around. And “Van Von Hunter” follows on somewhat indirectly from the amusing webcomic, so perhaps it’s better to read the webcomic so you can better enjoy the story in book 1.

 

Manga – “Death Note”

 

I’m going to get flamed for. Takeshi Obata’s my favourite artist, but I was very disappointed by this and I hated the first volume. I may check out the next volumes but I’m in NO hurry. For those who don’t know, “Death Note” is about a boy who finds a special notebook dropped by an Angel of Death – if you write a person’s name in it (along with all these complicated side notes), then that person will die. Sounds like a good premise? Yes, it’s a good premise, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Since our hero Raito Yagami (aka. Kira) ends up killing a whole lotta people (namely criminals) in a twisted bid for global justice, you would think the story would question the morality of his actions, and the guilt he should be feeling for this. Good psycho-drama coming up? But no, Raito remains a pretty apathetic guy for much of the first volume, even when he’s being chased by… Interpol? So, it’s going the thriller route, especially when Interpol gets involved. Sounds good, eh? A good psycho-thriller concept.

Nah. It wants to be a good thriller, but fails miserably because of the author’s failure to ground its supposedly real-life sections in reality. Interpol gets involved because of… 52 criminals dying in the space of one week from heart failure. Why something like that is relevant to Interpol is beyond me. Angels of Death and Notebooks I can believe, but not Interpol becoming fixated on heart failures in Japanese criminals. Has there been any actual sign of criminal activity? And aren’t international terrorists, gun-runners and human traffickers more important (why aren’t any of those guys dying)? If I were Interpol, I would post a list of all the Most-Wanted criminals on prime-time news TV and hope they drop dead too. But wait, there’s more. Interpol, to solve this apparent lack of criminal activity and evidence, decides to call on a mysterious figure known as “L”, who somehow has solved many criminal cases Interpol has been unable to solve over the years. If I were Interpol, “L” would be the first person I’d arrest in conspiracy with said criminal cases. “L”, is ofcourse, a teenager, and more brilliant than any of the top minds that work at Interpol. And so on and so forth.

“Death Note” will appeal to Obata art fans, anyone looking for handsome bishounen to pin on their walls, people who want a real “Death Note” themselves to kill off their classmates, and people who don’t care for realism in a supposedly realistic thriller. Anyone who wants a good thriller to read, go look elsewhere.

Talking about realism, “Ghost in the Shell” by Shirow Masamune has it in spades. We have realistically-drawn robots and cyborgs, realistically-drawn weaponry and buildings, not-so-realistic naked women, enough technical sidenotes to fill another volume, and complicated plots firmly grounded in reality. Perhaps too complicated, because I constantly have to read over the previous pages again to know who is who and doing what and why (I still don’t quite get it). Other than that, “Ghost in the Shell” is a collection of short stories (I think) about Major Kusanagi, a touch female cyborg in charge of a crack squad of government special forces. And… yeah. People used to Western comics will like Shirow’s style – it’s pretty removed from the 10-second a page reading of many manga and much closer to Western comics. If you’ve seen the anime “Ghost in the Shell”, now you know where it comes from.

I can’t believe how busy I’ve been in the past 2 weeks. I don’t think I’ve ever been as busy when I’m doing “The Dreaming”, even though I’m just doing promotion work right now. I also have to work on vol2 for “The Dreaming”, as well as a plethora of other things NOT related to “The Dreaming”. For some bizarre reason, the most common reaction I have towards overwork is to take on MORE work. That said, perhaps I’m just stressing out because I’m juggling so many smaller things at once.

 

Buying Binge: I finally got the orders from Amazon – may I pipe in for 3 books I’ll recommend about manga, especially in regard to its history and diversity. This will help me write future essays, so that is fantastic – except that it’s more to add to my reading stack. These 3 books are “Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics” and “In Dreamland Japan”, both by Frederik L. Schodt, and which I read a while back. The information for these two are a tad outdated, especially considering Tezuka did the forward for the former, but they are still a valuable resource for people looking for a one-stop insight into manga AND especially its role in Japanese culture. I bought these book on discount, which explains the third book, by Paul Gravett, called “Manga, 60 years of Japanese Comics”. I have not read this book, and I admit I bought it off Amazon for the pretty pictures, but here’s hoping it will be as good a resource as the former two books.

 

Comics/Manga shopping list: I bought “Bizenghast” this week, and “Van Von Hunter” too. I also bought a volume of “Ghost in the Shell” by Shirow Masamune, because for some bizarre reason, I don’t own anything by Shirow, though he does fantastically complex art and murky political-thriller type stories. I adored AppleSeed (the anime anyway), so hopefully I can get back into Shirow again after a long absence. This is despite hearing from other sources that he’s gone bonkers lately and is concentrating almost solely on CG art. Ah well, as long as he draws well (meaning his technical drawings, not so much his nubile women).

I also bought the Chinese version of “Death Note”, which I WASN’T dying to read despite it being drawn by my favourite artist Takeshi Obata, but it was for $8.00, so why not. The best thing about Chinese version manga is that it’s print quality is great, but the price is about 60% of English manga. A matter of print runs, so you can’t fault Western companies for that. Now if you can get more people reading manga. I also bought a random volume of “Preacher” from Vertigo – looks good to read.

 

On CMX: After my blabber on CMX in the last post, Love Manga had a different opinion and it was a good one.

This again is one of the things I think that CMX could succeed at. A handful of their titles are not modern works, and their wanting to pick good Manga from previous decades is a specialised niche to fill. In my case where I like to have as many options open to me as possible when it comes to picking my Manga, seeing past titles available is extremely cheering. Whilst that is a little black and white view of licensing, I would like to applaud CMX’s willingness to do this amongst all the less then happy press they have received, justly too.

Good point. I was looking at CMX purely from a money-making point of view, as was the article I read, so I didn’t take into account the historical value of what CMX is selling. I can’t speak for the other titles, but From Eroica with Love IS a seminal shounen-ai work, so the fact that someone providing a throwback to earlier manga is definately not a bad thing. They may not make as much money as the other companies, but perhaps that’s not their goal. If this is the route CMX has chosen, then I’m really surprised, but not ungrateful. But then again, I’m only speculating – but talking about older manga, you’ve gotten me interested. There is SO much good stuff in the older manga stables that would SOOOOO both worth translating. More of Tezuka’s work is a good start – there’s already his seminal works, but I really want to see Hyakkimaru, one of my favourite Tezuka heroes. Not his best work, but I LIKE Hyakkimaru. How about Doraemon, or Sazae-san, or even Tetsujin-28? Any more Leiji Mastumoto… especially Galaxy Express 999? When are we going to see “Candy Candy” by the way, which I love, and “Rose of Versailles” and other works by the Magnificent 49s? Now if only someone would translate “The Heart of Thomas” and “The Song of Wind and Trees” as well, at least in relation to the shounen-ai genre.

 

Artwork: I did a pic of Amber for “The Dreaming”, and an Opera Singer pic is required for the art exhibition coming up for Electrofringe next month. I’ll be posting the opera singer pic by stage, to see the progression of colour *weeps*, so watch this space.

I couldn’t resist posting up all these bits and pieces of news today. There’s alot of work that needs to be done, but ofcourse I’m online scanning article headlines. What will we all do without the Internet? I’m also working on a Block 6 page – or I’m SUPPOSED to be working on one, but instead ended up contemplating The Meaning of Life. Here we go again…

 

Article on CMX: For those paying attention to CMX’s misadventures in the manga market, there is a new article detailing the successes and failures of the manga market. It’s analysis of CMX is pretty good, and I can understand the author’s frustration. A few entries ago I posted up a brief essay on the direct market and the manga market, namely on the cluelessness of the Big Two to come up with any valid response to manga. But ofcourse, I’d completely forgotten about the CMX label from DC, which IS an actual attempt by one of the big ones in the manga market. So you can’t fault them for trying – though you can fault them again for their cluelessness.

If it weren’t for this article, I would have completely forgotten CMX existed, if it weren’t for the Tenjho Tenge fiasco. Their CMX line of manga has failed to make any big splashes, despite being backed by DC (and therefore Warner Bros). It’s not necessarily because they’re releasing bad work, though perhaps the reasons for this is related to my essay on the J-pop culture community. You can’t discount the power of anime and fan-community tie-ins when it comes to moving volumes of manga, and currently none of their works released has the associated paraphernalia that accompanies alot of manga series. It’s harder to appeal to the casual manga fans without it, and if you were to appeal to the hardcore manga fans, you will have to be hanging around scanslation sites to know what the fans are reading (not what CMX has put out). And if you want to appeal to the normal bookstore browsers, then you’ll need a huge, smart marketing campaign. Currently, CMX doesn’t seem to have that either.

But perhaps the releases of CMX seems to point to another problem with the growing manga market – the shrinking pool of good manga in Japan available for translation. The article mentions Viz and Del Ray (aka Random House), and the fact that they’re aligned with Japanese publishing giants. Good move. Certainly being affiliated with a giant publisher will ensure you get the cream of the crop that publisher has to offer – namely work that has a fanbase already and several anime/game tie-ins. Who is CMX associated with? No one, as far as I’m aware; but with DC and Warner Bros behind them, striking a deal certainly can’t be difficult.

Perhaps the lack of a deal itself says something – that DC/Warner Bros isn’t fully committing themselves to publishing manga. That they’re only testing the waters and toying with the idea, to see how things go. Well, if this is the case, then it’s an approach bound to fail. There are already alot companies in the manga market, many with better reputations and contacts than CMX. If CMX wants to be a serious competitor, then not only will it have to throw its full weight behind its manga releases, but DC and Warner will have to as well. And right now it doesn’t seem to be happening.

The author of the article is right to be frustrated. There ARE alot of resources CMX has that aren’t being used, or used properly.