How manga conquered the US

Tue, Oct 23, 2007

Wired magazine has decided to take a look at the incredible growth in popularity – and influence – of manga in the USA (and let’s be honest, everywhere else too, even in countries well served by quality comics like France). Rather than a lengthy prose article though, Wired has decided to use the medium to explain the history of the medium, so there is a manga explaining how manga became popular in the West (postmodernist teachers, contain your excitement). It is presented ‘backwards’, in the Japanese reading format of right to left, instead of the traditional Western model of left to right. It has become increasingly common for publishers of English translations of manga to stick faithfully to the Japanese format (some like Dark Horse make a point of it), which can be a little confusing at first – after years of reading it seems very odd to begin at the ‘back’ of a book – but while I usually get into the rhythm of it with print works it seems harder with an online strip, but it is worth persevering with, especially for folks like me who really aren’t up on manga.

On a related note I’ve just seen Keiko Tobe’s With the Light, part of a first wave of manga coming from the Yen Press and Orbit, the top SF&F publishers, which has a nice introduction which explains some common manga terms, such as how ’sound effects’ are employed, Japanese terms like the honorific ’san’ and also a wee pictorial guide showing how the pages and panels should be read Japanese style, right to left, which is a nice touch, especially for new readers. The story centres on a young mother who is struggling to raise a child with autism and facing all sorts of problems, not only with the child’s behaviour but the attitude of other parents and a general ignorance on the part of society. I’ve only just started it but, despite a few hiccups along the way with the different reading style, it seems quite fascinating – not to mention very emotional – and I’m sure I’m going to be talking more about it a bit later. (Wired link via Boing Boing)