Manifest: I’m going to be at Manifest from 23rd-25th September!

 

Secret Comics Japan
Thanks to Komala The One Who Knows All Things, I have borrowed off her some fantastic “offbeat” manga. First up is “Secret Comics Japan” (editted by Chikao Shiratori), which is an anthology collection of underground comics from Japan. Those tired of seeing mainstream stuff should snap this up – it show cases the truly weird, innovative and bizarre. To showcase who’s in it, I will mention my favourites: Junko Mizuno, Kiriko Nananan, Shintaro Kago, and Usamaru Furuya.

Junko Mizuno most should already know – famous for her cute, pop-art drawings and grotesque, fractured fairytales. This artist has got to be unique because her work is so ker-azy (and scary), though nowhere near as crazy as that of some other artists in this volume. Kiriko Nananan and Shintaro Kago are new to me, but I liked both their stories “Heartless Bitch” and “Punctures” respectively, though they are VERY different. “Heartless Bitch” is a realistically-written piece, concentrating on a conversation between two girls on their one-night stands; whereas “Punctures” is an effective horror story with some disturbing art. But ofcourse, I adore Usamaru Furuya – ever since I read his “Short Cuts” (v1 and 2) I’ve loved his surreal sense of humour and short, satirical strips. He reminds me of a crazed Japanese version of Gary Larson’s “The Far Side”.

 

Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga
Other recommendations would be Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga, by the venerable Koji Aihara and Kentaro Kakekuma. This is a hilarious and often biting treatise on the state of popular manga, and the authors lampoon every type of manga out there is out there – from shoujo manga to mahjong manga. The translation of this work is especially great – it must have been incredibly difficult because the humour in the book can be rather out there, but the translation keeps it intact. There is never an awkward sentence in this book, despite the amount of text. Either way, hilarious and brilliant.

 

“MANGA”
Komala’s also dropped me her huge “MANGA” encyclopaedia-like volume, compiled by Ed Julius Wiedemann and Masanao Amano (Also a DVD attached!!). It’s a collection showcasing prominent Japanese manga artists, both past and present, with 135 of them in total. I’m pleased to report that I recognised up to 70% of the names in here, and while I think some of the artists chosen were not really in the same league as the “must haves”, there’s no mistaking that they DID make an impact in the manga industry. As to what criteria the artists were chosen on – I believe it’s a combination of sales, technique, innovation and amount of influence they had in general society. Definately the “sales” part is important – otherwise, how the heck did Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina) and Minekura Kazuya (Saiyuki) make it in this book?! Some questionable choices, indeed…

NB. This book has a number of misprints – pages attributed to their creators which actually aren’t their’s. I thought it was only MY book, but it turns that it wasn’t.

 

Creators in this book I think should be better known outside Japan:

 

Aoyama Gosho: Creator of “Meitantei Conan”, which I think is okay, but what I want to point out is his unique art style (his work is squarely shounen). If you’ve ever seen Conan’s art then you know what I mean – it just looks like no on else’s. And besides, his first work “Yaiba” is an old favourite of mine.

 

Umezu Kazuo: I recommended “Drifting Classroom”, not only because it’s creepy, but because he had such an incredible influence on the evolution of horror manga. His “horror art style” can be seen in Hino Horror to Junji Ito’s work too – that black and white cross-hatching style and those unforgettable “horrified” facial expressions. That’s why I do my horror manga in grey-shading – to distance myself away from his b&w art style, which has become so pervasive in modern horror manga it’s almost a standard.

 

Egawa Tatsura: You’ll probably never see his work in English – his work can be kinda “out there”. I remember him mostly for his “Magical Taruruto-kun” manga, which was hilarious, and also showcased his unique and somewhat scratchy art style. He’s a difficult guy to place, to be honest…

 

Saimon Fumi: Best young adult drama writer EVER. Her art is not at all flashy, so you’ll NEVER see it in English. Darn it – it’s so great that it’s just sad. At least the Chinese publishing houses recognises how great her work is. I’ve read “Tokyo Love Stories” and “Asunaro Hakusho”, and quite frankly, no other young adult drama manga comes CLOSE in my mind.

 

Natsuki Sumeragi: She does alot of Chinese-influenced art, and I must say that her b&w linework is SOOO beautiful that I am FLOORED. She is one of the most fantastic illustrators around. *worships* She uses barely any tone too – you can sit around admiring her artwork all day.

 

Yuzo Takada: Oh my, how can we forget “3×3 Eyes”? I own the whole set, though by vol 32 I was praying for it to end. That’s nothing on his skills though – he is a master at depicting the bizarre and grotesque. Very unique sense of design and highly recognisable art style. He also did the hilarious “All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku”, and “Blue Seed”, which I only own two volumes of (Darn).

 

Tajima Shou-u: He did MPD Psycho – for the serial killer in us all. Enough said.

 

Hagiware Kazushi: The author who brought about Otaku-dom (the book said), with his SOLE published long-form work “Bastard!”. I have read “Bastard!”, and I must say that the art is utterly amazing (not to mention downright gory and grotesque at times). His art is NOT unique though – it has a rather 80s anime-esque look, and alot of complex linework and toning just THIS side of being incomprehensible… but he still manages to make it work. The story… eh, I keep missing what it’s about – namely an ex-darklord called Dark Schneider, and a priestess called Youko. And… yeah. I forget the story, but I remember the art.

 

Fujita Kazuhiro: Oh my… I own almost the entire set of “Ushio and Tora” (story: a boy, his monster and his magic spear), and it’s the ONLY manga in existence that I’ll say is worth reading through for the ENDING. He’s primarily a horror artist, and his artwork is downright messy, ill-proportioned and even UGLY, but… okay, it’s unique. As for why the “Ushio and Tora” ending is so great, it’s because EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER that has EVER appeared in the series shows up to lend a hand in fighting the final boss. This is a series of short stories, so after 31 volumes there’s an incredible backlog of characters (over 100?) who need to make an appearance. And EVERY ONE of them appears in some way (even the dead ones), and they ALL serve a purpose, rather than just making the stock appearance. It’s a kind of grandiosity and scale on the manga page I doubt I’ll ever see anything quite like again.

 

Furuya Usamaru: Mentioned him in “Secret Comics Japan” already, but go out and buy “Short Cuts” if you haven’t already.

 

Yuuki Masami: Kidou Keisatsu PATLABOR!!!!!! The art is boring-ass (too anime-ish) in my opinion, but Patlabor is probably the best “mecha” manga I’ve ever read. Even better than the Evangelion manga (which I think paled in comparison to the anime anyway). But then Patlabor is probably even better in anime form, so who am I kidding?

 

Manifest: I’m going to be at Manifest from 23rd-25th September!

David of Love Manga pointed out (from Pata) that the cover of the soon-to-be published “Retailers Guide to Graphic Novels #6” by ICV2 has a plug of “The Dreaming” on it!! So exciting!! Check out the image:

 

 

Come to think of it, I need to take lessons in drawing and colouring hands. My hands are often woefully painted in colour pictures.

 

Flipped Column: I’ve spent a few posts at The Engine in the past week or so whinging about how Planetes hasn’t been properly appreciated by the bulk of manga readers. To give it my all: Planetes is a great, atmospheric story – which for once takes a realistic look at life in space rather than from the perspective of ray gun blasters and intergalactic wars. Not that there’s anything wrong with these things – but it’s nice to see a different approach, and one that doesn’t rely on speedlines and action. Perhaps that’s why Planetes didn’t fly off the shelves.

But David Welsh has a Flipped Column Up has a different perspective – and it’s a good one. His column is more of a review on Planetes than an analysis, and on the basis of that I can see why Planetes didn’t quite live up to its expectations. I was originally attracted to Planetes v1 by the lack of hyperkinetic goings-on, so perhaps I should have scrutinised the series a bit more – but now I want to re-read it because of what he said about the characters.

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.