.
I was fortunate enough to go to the San Diego Comic Con this past summer and unlike my first trip there in 2006, I decided to do this more as a “working” vacation than a “fanboy” one. I spent more time waiting to talk to vendors and distributors than I did waiting for sketches and signatures. In turn I had quite a different experience (natch).
Out of the several things I did was to make sure I attended more panels that discussed the craft of making comics; writing classes, discussions on theory and religion and so forth. At one very unique panel discussing religion, featuring Christian, Jewish and Witch followers, I came across a sample of a comic book on the chairs in the room. It was a flip book featuring “Serenity” on one side and “Goofyfoot Gurl” on the other.
“Serenity” I had encountered before as a sample copy had been sent to the store in 2006. Shawna and I reviewed the book and decided that the quality just wasn’t there in the writing or art that we could justify purchasing copies. I won’t get into detail but we know our customers and we judge ALL books against the fancies of our clientele.
“Goofyfoot Gurl” intrigued me more as the art style, while unpolished, was neat and I liked it. But as I read the story I quickly realized that it was pretty typical North American, decompressed storytelling and I was less impressed. However, the thing that really turned me off was the fact that “Gurl” and “Serenity” were both billed as Manga.
Now I am not an expert on Manga but I’ve learned quite a bit recently as it’s an essential part of my business and one of the first things I’ve learned about Manga is that it comes from Japan. Realbuzz Studios, the company home to both comics and a few others, as near as I can tell is American based. There’s no information about the writer or artist but I suspect they are American also.
Bucking the Manga trend further, these comics are in colour and read left to right. Seeing all these things countering my knowledge of what Manga is supposed to be, I went to Realbuzz’s booth and decided to talk to the company why they thought their books could be considered Manga. Sadly none of the talent was there but the woman working the booth was kind enough to engage me in the conversation which lead to her asking me, “What do you think Manga is?”
“Well, at a basic level it’s black & white, read right to left and it’s usually made in Japan.” I went on to say that the art in “Goofyfoot Gurl” was far more NA than Asian except for one page that had a chibi character on it. The people at the booth couldn’t wholly grasp what I was saying and said I would be better to contact the company and discuss it with them.
Now, why does this bother me? I mean, it’s not the first time a company, ANY company, has branded a product as something not quite what it was. Marketing is an ugly, tricky, corrupting being that often makes good people say misleading things and I fall into that category as well. Kid Drew has on more than one occasion challenged my wording of certain events that I put on the sandwich board outside the store. “That’s not entirely correct,” he would say. “We’ll educate them once they get upstairs,” I would reply. I need to bring people in or pique their curiosity and sometimes I use selective wording that may seem misleading with the hope that people will want to know more. Sneaky? Maybe. Effective? Usually.
In my mind, Realbuzz Studios is clearly making “comics” and labeling them as “Manga from Heaven”. Oh yeah, they’re a Christian publisher. That’s kinda making it a bigger issue for me.
So, what makes Manga? Is it colour vs b&w? The storytelling? Speedlines and big eyes? Direction for reading? What do you think? According to Wikipedia, Manga refers to comics published in East Asian countries with certain other criteria that none of Realbuzz’s books seem to follow.
Do you think that this Christian publishing company is out to lunch, unknowingly crediting their product as Manga or did they sink to the capitalist level in naming their product something it isn’t just to help sell books? Or, is it actually Manga and I just missed it?
The Shepherd
Keshia said
September 28 2007 @ 7:58 pm
I don’t think religion factors into this. Though, as a pastor’s kid, I’ll admit that when you walk into a Christian store like Blessings or Christian Publications, you DO have to wade through a lot of cheesy stuff - be it comics, novels, or music (it’s not QUITE as bad with the music) - before you find something good
Realbuzz is just another company trying to buy into the whole “manga” craze. We sees kids in Naruto headbands and such (I hate those headbands SO MUCH D: ), and they see dollar signs, so they call their comics “manga” and give them a vaguely Japanese-ish look for sales. It’ll pass. I hope.
Rudi said
September 29 2007 @ 12:59 am
i’m pretty sure they just wanted to riff off the “Manna from Heaven” concept when they came up with their slogan, thinking themselves oh-so-clever that they were able to tie into a popular bandwagon.
Happy Harbor Comics said
September 29 2007 @ 9:57 am
Keshia,
The religion is from a personal perspective. I tend to hold people of relgious faith to a higher standard. In this case, I feel they are misrepresenting a product for the purpose of trying to sell more copies. It’s unethical, in my opinion.
K Tizzle said
October 4 2007 @ 8:17 am
I read about this somewhere else too and I find it pretty odd that the term “Manga” can be so mis-used. It shows an ignorance to what they are producing. Why not simply call them comics? Manga fans are simply not going to accept such an obviously un-manga-esque publication as manga, and so the whole thing hurts both the publishers of this material and their objectived to spread “the word”, and the minds of manga fans who will see these publishers and their religion as being less than genuine.
Bizarre!
It is too bad that things like this happen. Ignorance should not be tolerated.
Lee said
October 5 2007 @ 12:45 pm
I always thought manga was an art style and not a geographic point. With the art style intended to place a high emphasis on the emotion of the eyes and mouth.
But besides that, doesn’t the word manga just mean comics? I mean, that’s what I picked up from the wikipedia link. So arguably, you could say there is no need for English speakers to use the word manga ever, even in reference to Japanese produced material.
But, if you are saying that the company is trying to play off an idea that the work is asian based, okay you have a point. Using manga gives an impression of something being imported and if it is all american based, well lets just call it old fashioned marketing… everything seems better if its different and exciting.
I guess what I’m saying is, I think the “is it manga” debate is silly and ridiculous. IMO, if manga is just the japanese word for comics, then who cares what you call it, it means the same damn thing.
In fact, I think I shall just refer to manga as comics from now on. LOL!
Happy Harbor Comics said
October 6 2007 @ 4:29 pm
Lee,
I wish it were that simple. Many Mangaphiles tend to get a little defensive if you don’t use the proper term. In the past I have spoken to some and when I say, “Oh, you like comics?” they generally respond with, “No! I read Manga.”
To many readers there is a clear difference between the generally asian-based, black & white, big eyes, big mouth comics and the generally North American-based capes n tights comics.
However, I agree with you. They are all just comics. The debate we continued over on the forum was trying to determine if Manga is a genre or type of comics like country and rap are types of music.
Anime Girl said
October 7 2007 @ 1:20 pm
Hi there, Nice blog posting about Comics, Movies, Music and, well, Geeks.. I would have to agree with you on this one. I am going to look more into manga. This Sunday I have time.
Michael said
October 10 2007 @ 11:56 am
Manga = comics.
It’s what they called comics in China, Japan, Korea and some other Asian countries.
Because of the huge Japnese comics industry, manga is gernerally known here in the west as Japanese exclusively.