Comments on: Our Frindles. Oh, Wordplay!

By: Kiriska

Kiriska — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:55:00 +0000

Well, there will always be further genre splitting when you come down to it. We already have terms for all those things though, “superhero,” “mystery,” “noir,” “daily strip,” or whathaveyou. Those subcategories are all fine because they are all umbrella’d under “comics.” My problem is just that “manga” and “OEL” aren’t accepted as being contained under “comics,” which is stupid.

I also think the DC v. Marvel debate is severely outdated considering how much artist crossover there is there. And these days, the smaller and indy companies are getting more and more marketshare.

I’m sure there’re a lot of really good OEL works out there that haven’t been able to find publishers. There’re a good number of webcomics, anyway. But you’re right — the state of that industry seems to be floundering right now since TOKYOPOP was the forerunner and they’re cutting titles, which definitely won’t be encouraging anyone else to do what they did any time soon.

Coming up with stuff to talk about isn’t hard. Finding the time to write everything is what’s hard. D;

By: Miyu

Miyu — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:10:00 +0000

No, more words – because “comics” is already split into “funnies” and “superhero stuff”. Within “manga” there are “4-koma”, “shoujo”, “shounen”, etcetera. The American comic industry is used to one main genre, and that’s why there isn’t much variety in their descriptions. Now with the influx of titles for girls, mecha, drama (even porn), can you really have one blanket word encompass it all? Even I find myself trying to clarify when I inevitably degrade “Sequential Art major” into “I draw comics”, because the next question is not “eastern or western”, but rather, “Marvel versus DC”. (And my response is an awkward, “err, no, I draw other stuff. Like Japanese stuff.”)

There are a few decent OEL titles, but that’s the thing – only a few, out of many. “Princess Ai” didn’t do much for me, but I appreciate the collaborative effort. I like “Mark of the Succubus”, personally, and I really loved the artwork in “Sea Princess Azuri”… *sigh* But those are really diamonds in the rough. It needs more time to develop into something good, and I’m not sure if that window of opportunity will be kept open long enough for that to happen. At this point, it’s not looking good at all. (Time for a career change…?)

I think I’m impressed that you can keep coming up with topics to discuss. :3 I think if I started a blog, as witty and amusing as I am, I would completely run out of things to ramble about…

By: Kiriska

Kiriska — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:08:00 +0000

I find the terms for Korean "manwha" and Chinese "manhua" pretty pointless considering the kanji for all of them are identical (well, Chinese and Japanese use the same characters; Koreans are weird). They all mean COMICS, goddamnit. Just call them COMICS. We don't need new terms, we just need to realize that our old ones have always been pretty inclusive.

And I dunno. There are a few OEL titles out there that are pretty decent, I think. Like Vampire Kisses, which I haven't read myself, but it's illustrated by rem, who is um, amazing. And Princess Ai, which is in that weird grey area right now, is also really pretty looking. (Unfortunately, both of the stories there seem much less immpressive.) It's just that most manga-influenced artists still fall short of looking genuinely Japanese, which is fine, really, since they aren't, but that's what makes them look like wannabes. I just think it's stupid that people come down so hard on them, but when someone fails at trying to be Michael Turner, no one says anything. :/

And... yeah, I need to write a post about TP's killing half their OEL line, lololololol.

By: Miyu

Miyu — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:52:00 +0000

^^ There needs to be a new terminology, since there's already such a split between the main groups. I mean, think about Korean manga - it is "manhwa", because it too has a distinct style of layouts and such (but is still more Eastern than Western). I've also heard the somewhat derogatory term "amerimanga", which is also too much of a mouthful to be anything but an insult... -_-

I tire of the divide too, because as artists, it basically halves our audience whichever way you go, and it's already a pretty specific target group of people. The only way I see to really bridge the gap is to actually produce some good manga-influenced stuff, so that both sides will be happy and make up. Kinda like with superhero movies - if it's well done, you don't have to be a fan to enjoy it as a film, but if you are a fan, it will mean that much more to you.

It's an interesting topic, and I love language so I like to ramble about this word and that. In older publications, there was a much more distinct difference between Eastern and Western styles. Modern stuff is starting to blur those lines, and it's about time they diffuse a little. I just hope that the bastard children of "comics" and "manga" grow up to look a little better than the current RSoM titles.

(Oh wait, Tokyopop is killing most of those anyway. =_= So much for the revolution. Or evolution?)