Earlier this week, my Manga Bookshelf colleague Brigid Alverson steered readers towards Jason Thompson’s essay “Why Manga Publishing Is Dying (And How It Could Get Better).” I was surprised that Thompson’s article didn’t spark much discussion within the comics community, given his provocative suggestions for reviving the industry here and in Japan. Some of his suggestions make good sense (he advocates collaborations between publishers and scanlators), while others seem a little more dubious: are yon-koma manga really that popular with American audiences? That said, “Why Manga Publishing Is Dying” is one of the most thorough and well-reasoned essays on the subject to date, and essential reading for fans and industry-watchers alike.
Update, 1/29/12: Erica Friedman has posted a thoughtful response to Thompson’s essay at Quora.com that’s well worth reading. (See also her comments below.)
Comics | DC Comics tapped Aardman Studios (Chicken Run, The Wrong Trousers) to produce a trailer promoting its new program block on Cartoon Network. The results are nothing short of delightful: children supply the voices for such iconic characters as Catwoman and Superman, who have been given Claymation makeovers. [The Beat]
Comics | Faith Erin Hicks, creator of The War at Ellsmere, posts a frank discussion about how she makes a living as a comic artist. [Friends With Boys]
Comics | Over at Robot 6, J. Caleb Mozzocco offers a thoughtful critique of race and racism in early twentieth century comics, using Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes as the focal point of his discussion. [Robot 6]
Japanese Culture | In case you missed it: Matt Alt examines the role of demon toads in Japanese print-making. [AltJapan]
Manga | One of my favorite contributions to this month’s Manga Movable Feast was Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith’s discussion of No Longer Human, a manga adaptation of Osamu Dazai’s critically regarded 1948 novel. If their analysis doesn’t make you want to read it, nothing will! [Manga Bookshelf]
Manga | Also new at Manga Bookshelf: Combat Commentary, a regular feature in which Derek Bown (who blogs at Burning Lizard Studios) analyzes how shonen battle manga works on a frame-by-frame basis. [Manga Bookshelf]
Manga | Serdar Yegulalp tackles gender politics in Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight. [Genji Press]
Manga | Over at The Hooded Utilitarian, Tom Gill deconstructs Yoshiharu Tsuge‘s short story “The Incident at Nishibeta Village,” which appeared in a 1967 issue of Garo. [The Hooded Utilitarian]
Misc. | File under Not Manga, But Very Cool: web developer Kelsey Winn outfitted his dog Bishop with a camera, then turned him loose at the local dog park. The results are a lot of fun to watch (slow-mo slobber! 360-degree play bows!), offering readers a dog’s-eye view of the action. [Gizmodo]
I think the people who are in a position to discuss Jason’s ideas have already done so, multiple times. I and so many other people have made the same suggestions – suggestions that are used the wrong way, but companies like DMP and JManga, in order to lower industry rates even lower, rather than increasing the interaction, quality and quality of life for all parties.
At this point, it’s pretty obvious that Japanese companies have no grasp of the global market and are risk- and cost-averse, so that even when they do go digital, they work obsessively hard to clamping down access, instead of opening it up. This leaves one kind of person left who accesses scans – they angry, entitled “fan” who sees the entire industry as the enemy.
I don’t think Jason is wrong, I think he’s too late. 5 years ago, if JP companies – heck, if distribution companies – had jumped into this, they would have found a ready, willing, able fandom. Now…fans are fed up, angry and completely disenfranchised, because they 1) Do not care that they are stealing, 2) Know that their purchases don’t really go to the manga artist anyway (whether that is true or not) ; 3) Are fed up with companies embargoing countries for no damn good reason that they can see (honestly – why does *every* deal leave the UK out? What the heck is that all about?) and their are just tired ad sick of never getting what they want. The fact that what they want is insane, doesn’t bother them, they don’t care.
I don’t agree with Jason that 4-koma are the way to go., They are popular now because they are easier for artists to draw (so take less time) are cheaper and faster to reproduce, take less time and energy to translate and letter and voila! we have a bare-paid, barely skilled set of people working on barely-drawn, not-terribly-funny comic strips. Woot us.
I go into detail about why do I agree with Jason here: http://www.quora.com/Manga/Is-manga-publishing-declining-If-so-why/answer/Erica-Friedman
There is no visible end to this oubliette. The race to the bottom is running fast, and no one – not a single company – is stepping up and saying “STOP. We will not tolerate this dumbing down of art or of industry. We’re paying fair wages for work, we’re requiring fans to support us in this and will not tolerate any other response.”
Hi, Erica! Thanks for directing me to your response. I’ve updated this post to include a link to Quora.com.
You make a lot of excellent points here and in your response, but of all the things you’ve said, this resonates with me the most:
It’s so easy to carp about book pricing — especially in the age of Amazon — but books are a labor-intensive process, and digitizing them is, too. I sometimes wonder how any manga gets published here in the US, especially without any meaningful advertisement to promote it.
Exactly so, Kate.
So basically Aardman Animations are doing a version of Creature Comforts with DC characters – that IS brilliant ^^
Exactly! It’s very cute, if not quite as awesome as the talking zoo-critters in the original short. (The jaguar was my personal favorite.)
YEs, the jaguar and that hen girl and the gorilla lady. I bought both series of Creature Comforts (they made it into a series after the short and the successful electricity adverts) – It’s just so surreal and the accents are so amazing (being a non-native English speaker).
I wish I could work up some emotion abou Jason Thompson’s article other than my fear that Manga will become further “ghettoized” and become over priced to the detriment of some fans. Or that publishers may decide to cash in on “flavor of the week” propireties or court people with no inherent loyalty to what they put out than be left holding the bag after those people bail.
I am just kind of pessimistic and kind of ambivalent if the Manga industry goes down so be it. It was a good run and hey at least we tried by perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself and I make no claims to be a Cassandra but that’s just my two cents take it or leave it.
The bottom line: various forms of popular entertainment often die out as technology and tastes change. Witness the demise of melodrama, which had been popular in the 19th century. (Even Richard Strauss wrote a melodrama based on Alfred Lord Tennyson’s 1864 poem “Enoch Arden.”) Manga may or may not be in the process of being replaced by other forms of entertainment, but it’s not surprising that a print-based genre is struggling to redefine itself right now.
Yeah I’m more disappointed at the potential demise of print media more than anything else good points Kate but I don’t know I’m just kind of melancholic about the whole thing.