From @debaoki (Editor of manga.about.com and one of the best AX twitter reporters I’ve found!):

okay at manga in US industry panel #ax09

lots of good commentary at manga in the US panel. lillian diaz-pryzbyl, luis reyes from tokyopop, plus robert napton fr. bandai

i can’t keep up with all the incredibly quotable quotes from the us manga panel at #ax09. very frank talk about failures, limitations.

there’s talk about how expensive it is to develop OEL manga – 4x as much as licensing manga from Japan.

Damn, that’s a huge investment difference — no wonder so few companies are willing to put forth the effort! Especially since they at least have an idea of how popular a licensed manga from Japan will do. With OEL, all the risk is on them — they have no idea how much it will sell, which leads into some cyclical failure as far as marketing goes. Seriously, how many OEL titles have you actually seen advertised? If TOKYOPOP pushed had pushed its OEL titles even half as much as they push Fruit Baskets, more of them might have had a chance. I also really get the idea that the talent search isn’t thorough enough — there are a slew of mediocre titles out there that pollute manga fans’ general opinion of OEL, which also contributes to this apparent downward spiral.

I really want to see more traditional US comics publishers to take on OEL projects. The companies that have previously been just licensing Japanese works may not have an incentive or the financial support to experiment with OEL, but at the very least, companies like Marvel and DC have money to play with. And I don’t mean any of the “manga versions” of their existing titles either — manga X-Men and manga Batman don’t count. I guess they still don’t have much of an incentive, but it’s unfortunate if they’re only looking for original projects in a certain style. If VIZ’s eventual original comics line will be willing to accept good pitches in any style, then why can’t Marvel and DC?

lots of talk about how the US system is not equipped to train artists to be better artists, storytellers.

US industry doesn’t allow artists time to develop their skills over time – demand for quick $$ return

at this panel, they’re showing examples of student work from a manga program at a local university. they’re all v. mediocre. #ax09

the very amateurish examples being shown on the screen don’t help anyone think that OEL manga has much to offer.

Exactly. No wonder no one wants to buy OEL! Consider that a vast majority of TOKYOPOP’s OEL titles were picked up form high school and college kids that entered their Rising Stars competition — most of them have never had any sort of formal training, so it’s really no surprise that they putter out so quickly. Their 20-page one shot might be okay, but give them a three-volume series and they have no idea what to do. I really get the feeling that TOKYOPOP was too eager to break into that market since no one else was tapping it at the time. Manga had only been popular for a few short years when Rising Stars was started, so there was only one generation of fan-turned-artists to draw from (admittedly, there were lots of manga fans from before the big boom, but the recent generation is the biggest crowd to take from). If they had started a few years later, there would have been many, many more art school-trained artists that would have been more capable of tackling the challenge of building up an OEL market in the States. Then again, many art-school trained artists still suck in the storytelling department because all they focus on is drawing, as noted below:

korean comics industry is smaller, but seems to allow for experimental comics to be more successful

“very few US manga artists have that fusion of drawing skills and knowledge of how a story flows”

webcomic artists forget that their pace of drawing 3 pages a week is too slow for professional work.

“it’s very difficult to be an awesome artist & an awesome writer at the same time.”

“We’ve met great artists who are miserable writers. There’s only so much an editor can do to fix an awful story.”

“so many 14 year olds on deviant art say “I’ve got a great idea for a manga”

“I say ‘give it 10 years & come back to me when you know how to write.’ – & that’s me being NICE.”

“ive been to many portfolio reviews where the artist says ‘this is not my best work’– so why show it?”

Lillian was frank that they think that they don’t pay artists enough, but the biz structure makes it hard to pay more

“we don’t care that you can draw naruto in 15 poses. Being able to draw a character in a story, that’s what we want”

Ouch. And yet there are so many artists I know that will openly admit that they can’t write worth a damn. But they still want to draw their own comics. There aren’t enough comic-oriented art programs in the United States — most liberal arts universities have a very general art program with most of the focus on traditional fine art. As such, they will have students work on technique and style, but not storytelling. It might be more useful for aspiring comickers to enroll in a film program instead, or at least take a few directional classes on camera and storytelling. It blows my mind that countries like France and Korea invest so much more into the arts and recognize so many more branches of art; no wonder both of their comic markets are ten times as prosperous as the one in the United States.

Interesting bit about the webcomic artists though — what is the professional pace of pages per week? I feel like this is something I should know, but the rate would be different depending on how many people are working together on the pages (penciler, inker, toner/colorist). This really is a ruthless industry, lots of work for very little reward other than your own satisfaction, but your own satisfaction doesn’t pay the bills.

general consensus is that OEL manga development is a low priority for publishers in hard economic times.

“the bookstore model works as consignment: you can sell 10,000 books to these stores, then they can return 9,000.”

“this really plays havok with a business to be stuck with 9,000 books that’s headed to the compactor.”

Bad news for all the recent and soon-to-be-graduates looking for jobs! (Oh snap, that includes me.) I think this is all the more reason to hope that the Longbox really takes off since it’ll make production and distribution much, much easier and cost-effective for publishers, which could theoretically translate into them being more willing to take chances with original projects.

–

Not really specifics from the AX panel, but here’s some good additional commentary from @CBCebulski (Talent scout for Marvel Comics):

The U.S. comic system is equipped to train artists. The problem with OEL is that a lot of them aren’t artists. They’re manga fans who draw.

Many OEL kids were thrown into, and taken advantage of, by a fledgling business they had no education in or understanding of.

Early OEL chewed up and spit out a lot of artists who did have talent and just needed guidance and support. I hope they stick with it.

I know many “OEL artists” who have stuck it out and have successful careers now, but there are plenty more who walked away disenchanted.

Hopefully they’ll go to art school, learn more about the comic form, & give it another go, w/ a company/editor who can guide them this time.

Reading manga is not a proper art education.

The last bit makes me laugh, though while I agree, I also think that reading a ton of manga/comics definitely helps. There was a girl in one of my classes last year that admitted to not reading a lot of comics at all. Everyone else in the class was all, “Then why the hell are you here?”

It has some very Apple-inspired aethestics.

I’ve written about the idea of digital distribution of comics before, but had only considered a web-based platform because that was what most companies seemed to be experimenting with at the time. And really, I think one of the other reasons I hadn’t considered the iTunes model before is because I couldn’t really see the comics (or manga) industry ever agreeing on a universal solution, especially considering how haphazard and all over the place everyone’s digital model is for anime and television streams and downloads. And yet, how convenient and elegant it would be if they could agree? If you could find all your comics in one place for the super cheap price of $0.99/issue? It’s just about perfect.

With all the comics inflation that’s been happening recently, the price point of the Longbox might be the most attractive feature for both consumers and companies. Marvel has raised its most popular titles from $2.99/issue to $3.99/issue. For me, the three bucks I’d save buying a digital version is well worth sacrificing the novelty of a hard copy, especially when those three bucks add up every Wednesday. I could use that extra money to buy more comics! For graphic novels, if we go by prices set by various current web-models, they might go for anywhere between $2.50 and $4.50 a volume — at least half the price of Viz’s new $9.99 standard and TOKYOPOP’s $10.99. And for companies, since there would be zero printing costs, and since the Longbox supports formats already being used, it isn’t unlikely that they’d see an even bigger profit margin from digital sales.

A lot of people already read comics digitally, whether legally or illegally, so I really don’t think that transition will be much of an issue here. With money tight in everyone’s pocket’s these days, it’s hard to argue tradition with cost, and the publishing industry in general has been declining for a while. When Amazon’s Kindle 2 released in February, my feed reader was bombarded with Slashdot and New York Times articles comparing its surging popularity with that of Apple’s iPod with further comparisons with the music industry in general. And indeed, there do seem to be a lot of similarities, including telltale mistakes. The Longbox does seek to interface with the Kindle, as well as the score of other experimental eReaders like the iPhone, WiiWare, DS, and Xbox Live. The graphic format of comics might make it more challenging to adapt than text, but at this point, I see its acceptance as inevitable, at the very least on computer screens.

The last thing is, of course, content. A few studios are already on board, but no one major yet (ie, no Marvel or DC or Dark Horse, no Viz or TOKYOPOP). I am hoping that this will change soon as news of the Longbox makes its way around. Really, I don’t see any reason for it to fail once the major players sign on — iTunes is a proven success, and I don’t think comics or comics consumers are all that different from music and music consumers. Such a dramatic shift to digital comics will be hard on a lot of people and there will be casualties in the process (comic stores that don’t host D&D games will be the first to go), but as Ron Richards over at iFanboy dramatically puts it, “Digital comics are inevitable.  Change or Die.”

Opinion Prone: Hey, Eric! So how goes the quest for original comics at VIZ Media?

Eric Searleman:  We made the announcement at Comic-Con last summer about our intention to publish original comics. And since that time I’ve talked to hundreds of creators and perused a mountainous pile of submissions. The talent and enthusiasm is heartening.

OP: You were working on VIZ Media’s original comics with Marc Weidenbaum, who left the company in February. How much has this unexpected departure affected your work?

Eric:  His departure definitely had an affect on our plans. How could it not? But I’m happy to say that VIZ Media remains committed to publishing original comics. With Marc gone, the venture now falls within the orbit of VP Alvin Lu. I’m confident that along with Alvin, and Editorial Director Masumi Washington, I can get the job done. And I’m confident that our comics will be terrific.

OP: You mentioned at Editor’s Day that VIZ Media would be willing to consider any good story idea, regardless of the attached art style. That’s pretty awesome. All the same, do you think people with a less manga-influenced style would be less likely to pitch ideas to VIZ because of its brand?

Eric:  I’m hoping to publish a wide range of artistic styles. Comics are comics. Why put limits on it? I’d like to encourage anyone with a smart and fun idea to contact me. I don’t care if you draw like Masashi Kishimoto or Gabriel Ba.

OP: The graphic novel/tankobon format has pretty much been the exclusive format for manga-influenced original comics in the United States. Has VIZ Media considered publishing comics in single issues (that may be collected into trades later), as most American comics are traditionally?

Eric:  The format will suit the material. There’s no reason our original comics have to follow the same 5 x 7, b/w format as our manga graphic novels. And if one of our titles works best in serialized form, I’m sure we’ll figure out a way to serialize it.

OP: Has VIZ Media considered publishing original comics online via something like IKKI, which was announced in the wake of Shojo Beat‘s cancellation?

Eric:  Believe me, we’ve considered everything. There are so many options available to us. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I feel strongly that we’ll disseminate our comics in the best way possible that suits the material.

OP:  Over at TOKYOPOP, their submissions guidelines for original comics include a section for marketing. Do you think marketability will play a big role in determining what kinds of titles VIZ will pick up for its original comics?

Eric:  I’m not comfortable comparing VIZ Media with another company. But here’s the bottom line for us: the quality of the comic takes precedent over everything else. Period. If I get a submission that knocks my socks off, I’m going to sit down with Alvin and Masumi and I’m going to champion it. And believe me, I can be a very persuasive guy.

OP: Last summer, VIZ set up an office in Hollywood focused on turning its properties into movies. Do you think it will be viable to turn original comic properties into movies?

Eric:  Yes, most definitely. If we hit the jackpot with one of our original books, I’d be tickled to see it turned into a movie. And I’m sure the creator would be thrilled too. As an editor, however, my priority is on producing good comics. All that Hollywood stuff will come later.

OP: Original comics will, presumably, have smaller established fanbases than properties from Japan—how much of an influence do you think fan support has on the success of a movie adaptation of a comic?

Eric:  A solid fanbase proves that a comic book is connecting with its audience. That’s a fact. But adapting one medium into another is always a tricky business. How many times have we seen a great book turned into a lousy movie?  I wish there was a proven formula for success.

OP: Once you do manage to get VIZ Media’s original comics line off the ground, assuming VIZ Media will end up going with the graphic novel-only format, how many new series do you think you’ll be aiming to launch annually?

Eric:  At this point, that’s an impossible question to answer. But I can tell you this: I can’t wait until the day I see VIZ Media Original Comics on our production schedule.

OP: Even though VIZ Media isn’t accepting pitches for original projects just yet, you told several artists at Editor’s Day that VIZ Media was interested in hiring artists for specific roles, such as penciler, inker, and toner, for in-house projects. What kinds of projects are these?

Eric:  There are numerous ideas floating around the VIZ Media bullpen. Depending on what project gets the green light, we may need to hire a team of artists to get the job done. You never know. My goal in Savannah was to make contacts and see what type of talent level was available. After meeting the students and faculty at SCAD, I came back to San Francisco pumped up to make great comics.

OP: Can you share any examples of what those ideas might be, or is it all hush-hush?

Eric: I wouldn’t exactly say it’s “hush-hush.” I just think it would be inappropriate to reveal projects that are, at this time, still in development.

OP: I think that’s all I have to ask you! Is there anything else about Viz, original comics, life, the universe, or everything, that you’d like to add?

Eric: I’d like to thank everyone for their interest in our plans to publish original comics. Hopefully you’ll enjoy our original stuff as much as you enjoy the manga we bring over.

–

And that’s it! Thanks a ton to Eric for offering to do the interview in the first place and to Evelyn Dubocq, VIZ’s awesome PR director, for making it happen. I hope this interview has been informative to someone other than myself, and I wonder what, if anything, VIZ might be announcing at Comic-Con in a few weeks?

The comic was written by Larry Hama and penciled by Michael Golden. Hama is a third-generation Japanese-American, but that doesn’t really explain why I’ve always thought Bucky O’Hare had a very anime/manga feel to it. The original comic ran in the late 80′s and only had one plotline; more were written to coincide with the TV series when it debuted in 1990. The original comic along with two of the later, additional issues were collected together in a manga-like graphic novel released by Vanguard in 2007. I have no idea why they didn’t include the rest of the additional issues, but it doesn’t really matter. I ordered my copy of Vanguard’s release of Bucky O’Hare when I ordered my copy of Viz’s releaseof DOGS vol. 0, and I gotta say: Bucky’s comic is very disappointing.

Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Wars

STORY - Bucky O’Hare presents an intriguing story. In an alternate universe populated by various anthropomorphic animals, the toads have developed their own Skynet named KOMPLEX which then proceeds to enslave not only their race, but uses them them to begin enslaving the rest of the universe. The mammals are bound together by a haphazard political system that refuses to recognize the severity of the toads’ threat; thus, they are only willing to fund one defense ship: Bucky’s ship, The Righteous Indignation. Of course, there’s also lots of other weird stuff, including your human that’s transported from our world for one reason or another, but hey, it was the 80′s!

For the most part, the first two or three episodes of the TV series followed the comic’s original plotline, which is very engaging and fun. The comic’s conclusion for the arc differs greatly, however, and honestly, I found the comic’s ending to be pretty weak, far-fetched and anticlimatic, but that could just be my bias towards the TV show. The two additional issues that are also included in the volume follow various things that were introduced in the TV show, but they don’t connect very well to where the original story left off, so I really wonder why they bothered? Especially since they didn’t include the other ten issues that were produced and it doesn’t really seem like they have plans to.

The things that struck me most about the story though, was just how it was told in the comic. The “chapters” within the original arc seem to mimic episodes of a television series in that they had recaps at the beginning of every chapter that repeated the same half dozen panels of the previous chapter. This threw me off so much when I read the chapters back to back and saw the repeated panels, which were often reframed so that they were cropped or zoomed in differently. Even if the comic was published in separate issues originally, I find the practice of reframing panels really strange — Western comics don’t do that. You either bought the previous issue or you didn’t! Maybe you’ll have a quick textual recap on the opening credits page, but not the exact panels from the last issue! What kind of lazy filler crap is that??

There were also really, really awkward two-page spreads. Awkward as in, you had to turn the book around sideways because they were giant, vertical panels. It is so incredibly jarring to be reading through and suddenly there’s a huge spread’s sideways. Who’s bright idea was this?

CHARACTER - Most of the characters don’t really get a chance to develop in the original arc. In fact, I found it woefully ironic that Bucky was probably the least interesting of the lot. He’s the captain of the ship! And… that’s about it. There’s very little character beyond that — he takes information offered by his crew and makes predictable decisions, failing to demonstrate any higher thinking or commanding abilities that have him earn our respect. Thinking back, the show’s version of Bucky wasn’t that much different to begin with, but he developed a lot more as the series progressed — should I hold it against the original that it wasn’t long enough to work that out?

Willy faced a similar problem and felt like a huge Gary Stu character admist the animals. Blinky seemed like more of a gimmicky mascot than a character. The Air Marshall and most of the toads were also rather flat, and the creepy mouse was just creepy and unexplainable. The most interesting characters in the comic were Deadeye and Jenny, who actually exhibited personality. They had an interesting dynamic between them that suggested backstory, and in Jenny’s case, she got further backstory via her “witch powers,” which begged many questions and therefore made her interesting. If the duck and the cat could get that kind of thought and treatment, then why not everyone else? Further irony? Deadeye and Jenny are the least developed characters in the handful of episodes of the TV series that mirror the comic.

Vanguard’s release inserted short character files in between some of the chapters that included characters’ full name, rank, and weapon of choice, as well as a completely stupid, pointless, and superfluous “biography.”

ART - Michael Golden’s style is a strange blend of Western and Eastern, which is pretty peculiar considering Bucky’s age. That style conflict is something we talk about frequently now, but back in the 80′s? Most of the animal characters have gigantic eyes and outrageous expressions and the backgrounds, props, and environments are exhaustively detailed. The graphic novel is in plain black and white; the inking job is very Eastern. With minimal spot blacks in most panels, it really seems like it’d be suited for tones. For the most part, the art is enjoyable, but many of the zoomed out long shots are confusing because of the detail.

Here’s the thing that disappointed me the most with the comic though: in addition to the aforementioned repeated panels at the beginning and end of chapters, and in addition the sprawling, awkward vertical spreads, several panels are recycled throughout the volume. These panels were not reused to rehash events in the last chapter. They were flat out reused because the artist was too damn lazy to draw the same or similar expression again. The first time it happened, I did a double take. It was a, “Wait, didn’t I see this exact panel several pages earlier…? Holy shit, I did!” moment. And I would flip back and forth, confirming that it was indeed the same panel, just flipped over, as if that would make it less obvious. And the worst of it? Sometimes panels were repeated not only once, but twice, and for this one shot of Jenny, it was repeated THREE TIMES after its initial debut. Are you freakin’ kidding me??

Not only is this just ridiculous, but it also emphasizes that Golden really didn’t have too many ways to draw the same kind of expression — even when he did actually draw a new panel, many of them were remarkably reminiscent of others previous. It’s like watching a one-trick pony. He’ll perform the trick multiple times and usually there will be slight variations, but you know, at the end of the day, it’s still the same damn trick. Super, super disappointing.

The two issues in the back by a different team of artists don’t suffer this problem and they mimic Golden’s style all right; still, the inks are noticably thicker and there are far less details.

OVERALL - The Bucky O’Hare comic has become one of those things that I’m glad I personally bought and read, but that I would never recommend to others. I was curious and now my curiosity is satisfied; I do vaguely wonder about those other ten issues that were adapted from the TV series, but it’s not a burning curiosity. The best thing that the comic had going for it was undoubtedly its premise and concept, which was successfully adapted into a wonderful TV series, so that’s what everyone should check out. The story in the television show is much better thought out because there was more room; similarly, the show’s characters were more three-dimensional and well thought out. The comic’s art is impressive in its detail and style, but I don’t think I can forgive Golden for his lazy, recycled panels. The cartoon’s art is much simpler and decidedly not impressive to any degree, but it wasn’t terrible, so whatever, eh?

So here are five webcomics that 1) don’t suck, 2) almost always update when they’re supposed to, and 3) are currently running. There are also four runner-ups that occasionally fail to meet one of those requirements, usually the updating thing, but they’re far from being dead.

5. Anime News Nina by Robin Sevakis

This is the Anime News Network’s official webcomic and ventures to mock and satirize various aspects of otaku culture, usually in a good-natured way; after all, otaku are undoubtedly its intended audience. Occasionally, I do see things that some people might get upset over, but I doubt Sevakis ever intends the comic to be insulting towards the reasonable members of society. Each strip is can be standalone, but many strips also tie together in short story arcs.

The art is in full color and pretty simple, but Sevakis doesn’t shy away from grand exaggerations of expression and action, which always results in chaos and hilarity. She also mimics styles from specific series to emphasize punch lines involving art. Good times. ANN updates every Wednesday with few exceptions.

Content: 4/5
Artwork: 4/5
Updates: 4/5

4. Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell

Gunnerkrigg Court, with little exception, will probably remind you initially of Harry Potter. This is thanks mostly to its British-style boarding school setting and magical inclinations, but that’s really where the similarities end. As a continuing story, it starts off fairly whimsically and builds steadily towards a more involved, overarching plot that draws inspiration from an impressive number and range of world myths. The end of many chapters also include silly gag pages or informative explanations, and Siddell’s one-liners that accompany every page are always amusing.

The full color art is unimpressive to begin with, but evolves significantly during the course of its run. Siddell ventures back and forth from very detailed scenes and very simple characters, but the style is unique and really grows on you after a couple of chapters. Gunnerkrigg Court updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and has never missed an update in the time I’ve been following it; in fact, Siddell reportedly works two or three months ahead of the current pages to ensure that he is never late even if he ends up sick or otherwise incapacitated for a few weeks. That’s dedication, man.

Content: 4/5
Artwork: 4/5
Updates: 5/5

3. Today Nothing Happened by Shazzbaa

This is probably the least known comic on the entire list, including runner-ups. Shazzbaa is a friend of mine and will be graduating with her Sequential Art FUNNY BOOKS degree in three weeks. Today Nothing Happened is her journal comic, and as such, all events told are true and real and absolutely hilarious. You certainly don’t need to know her to enjoy it, though you will find yourself knowing her better and better as you read through. Journal comics seem to be a big thing in the department as one of the professors loves and encourages them hardcore, but of all the ones I’ve read, TNH is my favorite, no contest. The life of an art kid! You know you want to read about it.

Shazz’s art for TNH is black and white (with occasional color) and endearingly cartoony while maintaining wonderful likenesses of the real people she’s depicting. If you read her comic before you meet her, you will be able to recognize her at your first meeting based on her caricatures alone. It’s pretty awesome. TNH updates every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and Shazz takes great pains to ensure that this is the case. Even if she isn’t quite done with a comic at midnight, she will upload and post the unfinished page as filler until the final is done. Pretty impressive. What makes it even more impressive though, is that every update also comes with a new voting incentive for Top Webcomics, so you are, effectively, getting two comics per update, three times a week. Rock on.

Content: 4/5
Artwork: 4.5/5
Updates: 5/5

2. Sinfest by Tatsuya Ishida
Sinfest just might be the longest running webcomic strips on the Internet. It is a daily strip and updates every, single, freakin’ day. In the past, there have been a few stretches where he fails to update, but this hasn’t happened again since I started reading it. Each strip is standalone, but Ishida often has week-long series or repeatative themes, very much like traditional newspaper strips, though its unlikely that Sinfest will ever grace the pages of a family newspaper. Sinfest is sacreligious and hilarious, but does not stop only to poke fun at Christianity. Devil worship and all manner of other beliefs and customs are also satirized every day. God is an asshole, but Jesus is a pretty nice guy. And since the 2008 election, Sinfest has also touched on various political subjects, but always in a humorous manner. Honestly, no matter what your religious and political beliefs, if you’re open-minded to any degree, you can enjoy this comic.

Ishida’s style is simple, clean, and very effective. Daily strips are black and white with the occasional tones; Sunday strips are huge and in color. Honestly, there’s not much to say, but for a comedic strip, expressions are wildly important, and Ishida always makes them perfect.

Content: 4.5/5
Artwork: 4.5/5
Updates: 5/5

1. xkcd by Randall Munroe

This is my favorite webcomic. Period. As the site describes, xkcd is a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. That’s a pretty wide range of nerdy topics, and thus, xkcd has covered everything from 4chan to raptors to nuclear physics to flying kites. The comic also consequently covers a lot of esoteric subjects, but the ex-computer science major in me is always happy when there programming and science-related things that I still understand and find hilarious. And they are always hilarious. If it isn’t hilarious, then it’s because you don’t understand enough dammit. Each strip also features a tooltip caption (hover over the image for it); occasionally, this accompanying caption is more hilarious than the comic itself. The comics are generally standalone, but do feature a handful of reoccurring characters and the occasional multi-strip storyline.

I’ve gotten into a debate about this before, but I will stand by my opinion that Mr. Munroe draws the best damned stick figures I’ve ever seen. All the circle heads close and are nicely rounded and limbs are generally of reasonable sizes and proportions. The accessories he gives certain characters to tell them apart are consistent and easy to recognize. Everything is effective and has just enough detail that they are unquestionably what they are. Computers and TVs do not look identical. There are occasionally backgrounds. Mr. Munroe draws some damn sweet diagrams and maps too. The man can draw; he just chooses simplicity.

xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with occasional weeks where there’s an update every weekday in a continuous story (like this past week). It has also never missed an update as long as I’ve followed it.

Content: 5/5
Artwork: 5/5
Updates: 5/5

Runner Up: A Softer World by Joey Comeau and Emily Horne
Content: 4/5
Artwork: 3.5/5
Updates: 5/5

Runner Up: Sin Titulo by Cameron Stewart
Content: 5/5
Artwork: 5/5
Updates: 3.5/5

Runner Up: Lackadaisy by Tracy Butler
Content: 5/5
Artwork: 5/5
Updates: 3/5

Runner Up: Evil Diva by Team Diva
Content: 4/5
Artwork: 4.5/5
Updates: 4.5/5

But Viz showed up after all, represented by Eric Searleman, the senior editor that was working with Marc Weidenbaum (the aforementioned VP) on the original publishing line. So it seems that the venture hasn’t quite died yet. It’s worth noting though, that while Viz’s website declares that they aren’t accepting unsolicited submissions, they don’t say that the original comics program is dead or on any kind of hiatus. It’s also worth noting that several days after the announcement that Weidenbaum had left Viz, there was a post on Viz’s official blog directed towards original creators, suggesting that they still had plans to accept submissions eventually, even if things might be significantly delayed with Weidenbaum’s departure.

The panel discussion covered some pretty general topics, mostly aimed towards artists and writers trying to break into the industry. Mr. Searleman was relatively quiet compared to the rest of the lot, but seemed much more optimistic on subjects like the economy and pitching projects to companies. Some worthy tidbits include his mentioning that any project pitched to Viz should expect to go through heavy editorial input and that women seemed to represent a majority of those attracted to manga. The entire panel was supposedly recorded and should be featured on Monday’s scheduled podcast at SEQALAB, if anyone’s interested.

What interested me the most about the entire panel though was, and the belatedly-introduced, actual topic of this post is, a question someone asked at the end of the panel, in conjunction with something else Mr. Searleman said earlier. Is Viz specifically looking for projects in the “manga style”? Like some, I would would prefer “manga” to be a word synonymous with “comics,” but the general population does not treat it as such, so it isn’t so. But both the person who asked the question and Mr. Searleman seemed to agree that it doesn’t really matter what style something is in as long as it can tell a good story, and Viz is out to “publish good stories.” Presumably, this translates to, “No, Viz is not only specifically looking for manga-styled pitches,” but I have to wonder if that’s a good or bad thing, marketing-wise.

I have always disagreed with those who have labeled American artists drawing in a perceived anime/manga style to be wannabes or rip-offs. The only weakness comes when artists take no interest in studying reality and base all of their stylistic choices off of pre-existing ones. But that isn’t an exclusively American (or otherwise non-Japanese) weakness. Young Japanese artists who surround themselves with manga undoubtedly go through the same steps — they mimic what’s around them. American artists who surround themselves with the same manga are really no different. Similarly, artists of whatever origin who surround themselves with Western comics will mimic the styles that they see and read and admire. If you label one set of them wannabes or rip-offs, you’ll have to label all of them wannabes and rip-offs, but without them, there would never be a new generation of artists.

Nevertheless, most non-Japanese fans of manga still end up drawing quite a bit differently from Japanese natives, probably because it’s impossible to ignore all of the other cultural influences around them, no matter how much they delve into the foreign media. So their styles don’t get be to called straight up “manga,” only “manga-styled” or “manga-influenced.” I have mixed feelings about that since I don’t consider “manga-styled” to be a very specific term. Astro Boy and Akira are both “manga-styled,” but you’d never mistake one for the other. I guess the most significant thing though, is that you’d never mistake either for a non-Japanese-related comic. Everyone expects something when they hear “manga” or “manga-styled” or “OEL.”

Or “Viz.”

Viz publishes manga. If Viz is to finally venture into original comics, everyone will expect that they end up publishing “manga-styled” original comics.

Mr. Searleman said so himself, but as previously stated, he also mentioned being interested in any good story. I wonder what would happen if Viz actually published an original comic that was vastly, vastly different from what people would expect from “manga”? What if Viz published something that looked really American indie? Or even American superhero? It’s easy to say that people will want to read anything that has a good story, but it’s hard to deny that for comics — art is a huge factor and always serves as the first impression. I would like to think that most people are drawn to manga for the stories more than the art, but it is always interesting to see just how big the divide sometimes is between manga fans and Western comic fans. If the stories are equally good, why the hate? Each side stereotypes the other. The stories on the other side aren’t better, they say. The former only see the repetitive and continuously retconned superheros and the latter only see the androgynous gay boys and lolicon. Or something.

Viz is a powerful brand within the community; would people be confused or put off to see a Jack Kirby or even Adam Hughes-esque cover on something with Viz’s label on the spine? Would they be shocked and appalled if Viz published a superhero story? A good superhero story, perhaps, but a superhero story all the same? Breaking down the barrier! Bridging and crossing the divide! Say it ain’t so! Then again, Dark Horse publishes a good amount of both already, and almost all Western comic book publishers at this point have tapped into the “manga-style” in some way. Those announcements all seem to be met with derision and scorn, but I don’t know a damn thing about the sales on say, the shounen Wolverine or freaky shoujo X-Men manga. Do these things actually work? Are people actually buying these titles because the art drew them to it? Or are all these companies’ various marketing departments retarded?

If these adaptations are actually selling, would the reverse work? Would seeing an Western-style comic published by a manga publisher attract fans from the other side? Or would such a venture attract the same kind of derision and scorn?

Or is it all a moot point because no one that draws in such a Western style would approach Viz in the first place? Students had to sign up beforehand to meet with their editor of choice on Friday. Reading over the list, every name that I recognized was someone that had a decidedly “manga” style, myself included. Professors seem to like to say that the top reason project pitches are rejected is because the style of the pitch does not match the style of the company it’s being pitched to. They tell us that Marvel would not look to hire someone with an indie style and that DC would not look to hire someone with a manga style. Those mantras may or may not be true (was all the X-Men manga pitched by an outside newbie?), but it might be enough to keep students away from companies that don’t traditionally publish things in their style. The barriers have been breaking down, but it might not really matter when you’re just breaking in.

Even before I went to see the movie on Friday, I had heard the blasphemous whispers of a sequel. Or at least, I had heard that Zack Snyder is refusing to have anything to do with one, which is certainly reassuring. Watching the movie, I couldn’t help but notice Dr. Manhattan’s ominous line, “Nothing ever ends.” It seemed like it had less to do with his concept of time and more to do with Hollywood’s tendency to milk everything for all its worth. Except that a second Watchmen movie wouldn’t fly, even for non-fans. Seriously, what would you do? Just about everyone involved in the film is confused on that front. Who would want a sequel? Or even a prequel?

This article is pretty hilarious and this excerpt and quote sums up everything I have to say on the matter:

While a possible prequel about the Minutemen — the superhero team that came before the Watchmen — may make financial sense, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays seasoned “Watchmen” superhero The Comedian, says it would be creative suicide.

“The fans would kill us if we tried to go and do something else,” Morgan said. “If we tried to do a prequel that wasn’t written by Alan Moore, we’d get crucified. We couldn’t walk down the street. Unless Warner Bros. wants all of their actors to get killed, I think it’s a bad idea.”

And Alan Moore would never write a sequel, especially not if the entire purpose is so that a second movie could be crafted from it.

There are a lot of movies that should have never had sequels. Among them, the Matrix, Short Circuit, the Wizard of Oz (yes, that had a sequel; I know, right?), and most Disney movies. Watchmen begins and ends. They’re already releasing the cut material from Tales of the Black Freighter and Under the Hood as DVD features, so there’s nothing more to say or do. Really, I think chances of a second movie getting greenlit is slim to none, but it’s still unsettling to know that the actors have a clause in their contract binding them to a potential sequel/prequel, which means that Hollywood, at the very least, thought about it at some point.

(Hey, this poster looks kinda familiar…)

Watchmen

STORY & PACING – Most of the story was intact. Indeed, people will point out that many sequences were filmed panel for panel and that there were large chunks of dialogue lifted directly from the comic. This might bother those that believe the film should be an adaptation and that it isn’t an adaptation if it’s taken panel for panel, but it made me happy. Mostly. Unfortunately, the exactness of some of the scenes also made it really obvious when something was changed, however slightly. Sometimes the small deviations made sense, but sometimes, they were just so trivial that I had to wonder why they didn’t just stick to what had been written. It’s too noticeable when you follow something almost exactly.

One scene that sticks out to me in particular is when Rorschach visited Osterman and Juspeczyk following his visit to Dreiberg near the beginning of the movie — the conversation was a lot longer in the book and touched on the Comedian’s attempted rape of Juspeczyk’s mother, so Rorshach being subsequently expelled from the lab made sense. In the movie, it seemed more like Osterman getting impatient, which doesn’t fit as well, and since Rorshach never gets to mention Dreiberg at all, they reworked it to Osterman suggesting Juspeczyk go see him, which doesn’t make much sense either, even if they tried to use it to touch on his simultaneous time-seeing abilities. It’s the little things. Also, I’m probably the only anal retentive idiot who is slightly annoyed at the fact that Rorshach’s opening lines did not include the “look down” part and was therefore not word for word.

The biggest cut from the story was everything involving the newspaper vendor, the freeloading kid, and Tales of the Black Freighter, but that was pretty predictable. I’ve heard various things about the pirate side story being released with the DVD, and actually, in the commercials/previews before the showing, there was an ad for an animated version of Tales of the Black Freighter to be released on its own? Not sure. In any case, Bernie and Bernie still make various cameo appearances throughout the film, so it wasn’t like they were axed completely.

The biggest change was obviously the ending. I would not have had a problem if they replaced the alien with a nondescripit explosion of undeteremined cause, but I was kind of puzzled as to why they decided to frame Dr. Manhattan. I mean, the guy’s already left the planet with no intentions to return, so it’s kind of pointless to pin it on him — if the threat has left the planet, hell, the galaxy, why should the peace last? Maybe they don’t know where he’s gone, but eh… I dunno. It just seemed pointless to me. They could have just left it as an explosion and the world could freak out not knowing where it had come from. The only plus of blaming Manhattan is the explanation of how Veidt got the technology to do what he did without kidnapping random scientists, but I don’t feel as if that subplot would have been hard to work into the movie (I’m actually a bit disappointed the New Frontiersman didn’t play a very prominent role at all since that’d have made Rorschach’s decision to send them his journal less random).

Also, I didn’t like that Dreiberg witnessed Rorshach’s death at the end. His scream was really weird and unnatural feeling, and his beating up on Veidt afterwards just seemed forced. I think part of the reason I didn’t like it was just because I’m too used to anime pandering to the fujoshi crowd and just couldn’t unsee the slash potential of Rorshach/Nite Owl II that resulted from that scene, and that is just so many kinds of do not want. =_= The “you’re a good friend” scene was fine, but that final angst just pushed it over the line for me. I dunno. Dreiberg should have been off banging his girl again, not watching his buddy get blown up. That said though, Rorshach obviously had the coolest blood splatter ever.

Other random things: so, how about that sex scene, huh? Honestly, I didn’t have many qualms about it other than the fact that it went on for way too long. Seriously did not need that latter half with the awkward thrusting. That was just. Yeah. But other than that? The Hallelujah Chorus and flames in the sky? Sure, whatever, man. The theatre had a great time laughing it up so it was all good. Oh, and Rorshach’s backstory. I think the only reason they changed it was because they didn’t want to seem like they were ripping off Saw with the limb-cutting thing when clearly it’s the other way around. I don’t dislike what they did, but they made it seem like Rorshach just lost it then when I feel like it was a more subtle change than that. The fire was slower-acting and put him in a position to contemplate what he’d done more than just hacking the guy’s head open.

I didn’t like that they made “Watchmen” the name of the second generation superhero group. Sure, it’s infinitely better than “Crimebusters,” as it was originally, but it takes away from the ambiguity of the title, which could be a reference to a number of things, from the Doomsday clock to a quote from Einstein. It’s one of those changes that makes perfect sense but doesn’t sit well all the same. Don’t you hate no-win situations?

Changes aside though, I wasn’t all that fond of the pacing in the movie. It seemed really choppy, especially when we were bouncing back and forth between characters. I never really got a sense that anyone was the “main” character, which is fine I guess, but that made it harder to focus. It was a lot of character and story elements strung together — I didn’t get a very good sense of time passing, which was odd as well. The whole movie could have taken place in two days, but it really should have been more like two weeks. A lot of the logic didn’t follow very clearly for me either. Like, why did Dreiberg decide he wanted to spring Rorshach from prison? Not sure. Juspeczyk’s whole parental subplot? Didn’t feel relevant at all, and honestly, it felt kind of misplaced when it finally dawned on her.

Hum, seems like my disjointed rambling is already leading into the character section, so let’s go there. D;

CHARACTER & ACTING – First off, Jackie Earle Haley as Rorshach was mindblowingly perfect. His voice, his face, everything about him was spot on. I think his face freaks me out the most because of how much it fits even though Walter Kovacs was probably supposed to be quite a bit uglier than Haley. The acting and characterization was fantastic though, and I’m really not even sure how to express how happy I am that Rorshach translated so damn well into live action. I really appreciate that Haley is also a fan of the book and worked hard to get a convincing portrayal down. The black and white nature of his character was clear. I did feel like he was a bit more emotional in the film — there was more feeling in his voice than I’d have expected when he told Dreiberg “[he] quit” and he almost looked/sounded like he was pleading in that last scene with Manhattan. That was fine though, as the point of his character wasn’t lost. Nevertheless, I do wish they could have incorporated more of his backstory and daily life — I don’t feel they were that effective in capturing his philosphies and moral views, and I did not get the impression that there was a stark difference between Rorshach and Walter Kovacs despite various scenes hinting at such. I guess I can understand the cuts to the psychologist scenes; after all, it isn’t Rorshach’s movie, but it was still a little disappointing.

Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg was also pretty good. As far as acting goes, his awkwardness and sincerity was well done, but sometimes his interactions with the other characters felt forced. The characterization also didn’t feel very solid or in-depth, but that’s more a matter of script than acting. I didn’t get as much a sense of his past with Rorshach, and the progression of his relationship with Juspeczyk felt rushed because the pacing of the movie in general felt rushed. I also didn’t get a very clear sense of his inner conflict with superheros and vigilantism, partially because I don’t think anything involving the Keene Act was well explained. The flashbacks and such dealing with the police strike felt jumbled and focused more on the Comedian as a character than the moral questions surrounding the subject. So in the end, I guess this made Dan a pretty flat character, which really is a shame because the acting wasn’t bad.

Speaking of the Comedian, I didn’t like the opening of the movie. I didn’t like that we caught that glimpse of him while he was still alive when he’s otherwise portrayed entirely through flashbacks. Honestly, I think that opening bit was more of a bone tossed at the fanboys than anything substiantial storywise — it was a good place to sneak in references to Nostalgia and other things that I can’t seem to remember right now, but we had that later montage where there were references up the wazoo anyway, so it’s even more pointless that way. Rather than spend those ten minutes watching the Comedian die, I would have preferred they be invested in better developing one of the other characters. Eddie Blake wasn’t badly characterized though. Every bit of him we saw in the film was pretty much taken straight from the comics, so it felt pretty solid. I think his scene with the pregnant woman in Vietnam would have been better if it had stuck more precisely with the book, but that might just be another on the long list of things that stood out because they were done almost exactly.

Malin Akerman was an okay Laurie Juspeczyk. I have to say that I never really liked the character to begin with though, even in the comic, and it seemed like all of her imperfections were more obvious in the movie. As I said before, her entire subplot with her parents seemed frustratingly irrelevant, though this could partially be blamed on Jon Osterman’s poor film characterization. Her conflict with her mother and the fact that she had been raised into vigilantism was not very clear (her mother’s acting and characterzation was great, however). Her relationship with Osterman seemed contrived at best, and the time (or lack thereof) it took for her to come onto Dreiberg just makes her seem like a slut. I’m just a huge misogynist though… I guess it doesn’t help that the only important thing she seems to do in the entire movie is motivate Dreiberg to put on his costume again (and sleep with him).

Billy Crudup really looked the part for Dr. Manhattan, but his character was exceedingly difficult to grasp in the movie. I think part of this is because the format of his lengthy flashbacks on Mars just wasn’t as effective as it was in the comic. The lack of narration made it harder to understand that he perceives all time simultaneously, so you couldn’t really understand that he had been growing more and more distant from humanity because of that ability. The impact of his relationship with Janey Slater didn’t resonate very well; as a result, his relationship with Juspeczyk didn’t hold too great either. Thus, Osterman just comes off as a cold and distant character — since his feelings for Juspeczyk felt contrived, his “sudden” appreciation of humanity near the end of the movie didn’t really connect. Actually, this bothered me in the book too. He “saves” the world by deciding not to do anything about Veidt’s plan, kills Rorshach to ensure that no one else does, but then he jumps ship and leaves the galaxy? Just because Juspeczyk leaves him? Humanity has to mean more to you than just one relationship, right?

And finally… Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt. Am I the only one who thought that he had neon flashing lights over his head proclaiming “LOOK AT ME~! I’M THE VILLAIN~!” from the minute he was introduced? Just everything about him seemed to scream stereotypical supervillain, from the slight accent to the arrogant demeanor. I consider Watchmen’s storyline to be a mystery at its core — this doesn’t work if the “bad guy” is obvious from the second he walks in. I was completely fooled by Veidt in the comic, so what the hell happened?? This is my single biggest gripe with the entire movie. Veidt came off as a much more playful, and even naive, character in the book (his sad little “My display…” comment after the Comedian burns his chart thing in that flashback sticks out in my head); his obsession with Alexander the Great and Egyptian myth wasn’t obvious at all and was not explained until the very end. The worst of it was that they chose to have him ramble about his idols and motivation right before the attempt on his life. They alienate his character and pretty much confirm him as a villain right before the attempt to remove him as a suspect. Yeah, that totally works. -_-

All of the minor characters in the movie were pretty great though. Rorshach’s shrink, Hollis Mason, Sally Jupiter, Moloch (even though I think the pointed ears could have been left out) were all spot on. I really do think they did a brilliant casting job — most of what’s missing in characterization is due more to cuts in the script than anything else. I always feel like they could have invested more in developing all the characters properly rather than spending the time on decidedly less important things such as the intro with the Comedian and the sex scene, but I also know that to the general population, especially those who have not read the comic, shiny things are better than deep things. So what can ya do.

One thing though, my roommate and I both swear we saw Patrick Stewart as one of the generals in the war room with President Nixon (sitting on the far-left in many of the shots). His name wasn’t in the credits, not does it seem to be mentioned anywhere else, but we SWEAR it was him. Anyone else spot him or are we just crazy?

ART & ANIMATION – Rorshach’s face was amazing. Dr. Manhattan also looked pretty good, and I appreciated that they didn’t try to censor his occasional full blown nudity. The doc exploding people was also nice looking. Other than that though… a lot of the movie looked too shiny to me for some reason. It felt too modern. I had a hard time remembering that it’s 1985. I think that’s more due to the format of the film than anything else though — the shiny things on Mars didn’t help either. There were a lot of hints towards the era; I just had a hard time picking them up because 1) my historical sense is terrible, and 2) everything was still so shiny! Is it unfair of me to say that things were just too well-animated? The Comedian being thrown out the window in slow motion was just too sophisticated. I wanted nitty gritty. It’s a dirty, oldschool crimescene; I didn’t want the fancy schmancy effects.

The explosion at the end was also a little disappointing. It felt too overdramatic and staged, which is weird because it should have been dramatic, just not staged. Maybe they’d overspent their budget on Dr. Manhattan by that point. I didn’t get a very good sense of just how much devastation there was either — there was no shot of the mountain of dead bodies tumbling out of the Garden afterwards. Even the newscasts didn’t seem to emphasize that millions of people died. It felt weird, but it’s still a good-looking movie, maybe just too good.

Oh, wait. I forgot to talk about Bubastis. Bubastis looked cheap. Didn’t blend with the scenery at all, and just wasn’t very convincing in general. Really, I wish they had just left her out altogether because without the genetic experimentation angle on Veidt’s plot, she just seemed like a misplaced character. All she did was make Veidt seem even more like a stereotypical supervillain. All the bad guys seem to like to have their little kitty pet. (It’s always a cat. Why always a cat?) The fact that Veidt was lacking in all his rambling monologue didn’t help either because the audience didn’t get a chance to appreciate Bubastis before her death. It’s very sad.

MUSIC - My first thought was that there was way too much in the way of vocal background music in this movie. My roommate pointed out that a lot of it helped put us in the time period — pieces like Nena’s “99luftballoons” and Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” (okay, maybe that one’s a bit old). I guess that’s true, though I suck at pop culture and can’t place these things very well anyway. “Hallelujah” was just exceptionally corny, which is okay, except that they went for corny twice. They’d already used “Rise of the Valkyries.” I did like most of the music choices; it just seemed excessive after a while. The soundtrack itself was pretty neat, though I’d probably need to watch the movie again to get a better opinion.

OVERALL - Hell, I want to see the entire movie again to get a better opinion in general. I already can’t remember a lot of specific scenes, and that really bugs me. I think this “review” sounds a lot more negative than I want it to — it’s always easier to talk about the poorer aspects of something because praising the good parts just feels like finding all the synonyms of “awesome” that exist and spewing them together onto the page. I liked this movie. There are some things about it that I would change if it were up to me, but really? It was a solid enough film; it was fun and entertaining. Some of the changes/additions were pretty neat too (I loved Rorshach’s “It’s your turn, doc: what do you see?”). It’s true that some of the deeper questions that spawned from the book are missing, but the general idea is still there. It still poses the same moral question at the end.

I would probably recommend it to fans of the book as long as they’re willing to accept that changes will always exist. I’m not really sure what to say to non-fans though. I’ve yet to hear many opinions from people who’ve never read the comic. I did say that I felt the pacing was a bit confusing, so maybe the non-fan would be too confused to grasp the core themes. In that sense, it’s a shame, and maybe the movie didn’t really succeed, but for the fan, it’s still a nice treat to be able to see everything in live action.

We’ll see. I will definitely be writing a review of the movie as well, so yeah. In the meantime~.

Watchmen

STORY - Watchmen presents a very good question: superheroes only fight the symptoms of a greater disease that affects all of mankind, so who is there to cure the actual disease? Is it even possible to cure? In a slight alternate universe, the disease has brought us to the brink of a third world war, and as the saying goes, if WW3 is fought with nuclear weapons, then WW4 will be fought with rocks, if at all. There are other themes, though, including the idea of superheros in the real world, and power. Blasphemous as it may be, I’ve read very little of Alan Moore’s other work, but I’ve pretty much fallen in love with his style. The prose is very sophisticated and the dialogue is top notch and natural. New York is recognizable, and this could well be our real world. The story is presented on many different levels and all are interconnected, whether directly, tangentially, or metaphorically. I think a lot of comics have literary merit, but Watchmen is a classic example all the same.

Many aspects of the story openly mock the trends and stereotypes within superhero comics, but even in a world where superheroes exist, Watchmen makes direct references back to real comics in our past, such as Action Comics #1, where the Man of Steel was born. It’s these little things that make the illusion all the more convincing and engrossing, and that illusion is perpetuated by the material in between chapters: excerpts from documents within this universe, including memoirs, reviews, letters, essays, newspaper clippings, notes, and photographs. It reminded me a lot of Stephen King’s Carrie (the novel, not the movie) though I’m sure that King wasn’t the first to use this brilliant storytelling tactic either. All the details, all the thought, and all the angles: everything fit together so neatly, and I appreciated that Moore made everything so utterly convincing that the first time I encountered some of these excerpts, I had to wonder if he actually took them from some source material in our real world.

At its core, Watchmen is really just a murder mystery. The multiple levels at which you can read it allow for tons of little details that hint towards the final revelations. I love stuff like that. You can read it again and again and still go “ahha!” at the things you never noticed before; you can continue to draw connections and parallels between all the different characters and events. You don’t just “get it” once. You get it again and again and that feeling is great. And really, the depth of the political and philosophical commentary is just extra. A very enjoyable extra, yes, but extra all the same. And the ending? I have pretty mixed feelings about it, but regardless of that, I wouldn’t say it’s a bad ending. It just makes me wonder what Alan Moore really thinks and feels about the subject.

CHARACTER - No matter how you look at it, Rorschach is pretty much a badass. Whether or not you actually agree with his principles and philosophies, he is a badass. It’s hard not to admire someone who is so true to himself and what he believes in. It’s also easy for me to appreciate homage characters, and Rorschach is pretty much Steve Ditko (and/or his characters Mr. A and The Question), who has been described to me by a professor as being of a similar personality and philosophy. Annnd… I’ve pretty much always like superhero characters that consider their masked identity their “true” identitiy while their human personality is only a facade. It’s why I like Batman so much. And it’s one of the many reasons Watchmen gives for why people decide to become masked vigilantes — they’re insane.

Despite wild pseudoscience as far as physics and technology go, the realism in Watchmen is persistent, and one of the clearest examples is its cast of characters. With the exception of Dr. Manhattan, none of the heroes in Watchmen have actual powers beyond their personal resolve and technical ability. Motivation for a career in crimefighting is varied and ranges from pureness of character to fetishism, idealistic romanticism, and moral objectivism. The essays and articles that accompany the comic really emphasize this, and it’s easy to conclude that most of the superheros are at least a little mentally unbalanced — still, most are not such overt cases that it feels contrived.

Rorschach does not change much as Watchmen progresses, but more and more insight on his character is gradually revealed. He himself recounts his past to the audience and the distance he places between the person he is in the present and the person he was in the past is profound. I don’t want to exhaustively go through the rest of the cast, but suffice to say that they are all very human. Jon Osterman, Laurie Juspeczyk, and Dan Dreiberg are all exceptionally well-rounded characters, the latter two especially. I had a harder time following Jon’s logic, but given the nature of his character, that might just be an ironic coincidence. Adrian Veidt also felt a little further out there, but I guess not everyone’s perfect (those feel like pretty ironic words too). But hell, even the Comedian was a good, multi-faceted character and he’s already dead on page one.

The supporting cast is also brilliant. The city is populated with many personalities and their lives serve to parallel many themes in the story. Though the sniplets we get of them are small and seemingly insignificant, the way they’re all intertwined and interconnected in the end makes certain events hit harder. It’s always the little things that make the bigger picture seem crazier and more amazing. The newspaper vendor whose name you don’t even get until halfway through, the boy reading comics by the electric car pump — these characters are just as real as anyone else in the story, perhaps even moreso because their lives are so ordinary — it’s these characters that complete the illusion that’s contained within the pages you’re reading.

ART - I’m really not that familiar with Dave Gibbons’s work, but I definitely enjoyed his art in Watchmen. At first glance, it’s pretty generic superhero stuff, but the feel of that style really suits the series, so it’s no big setback. Besides, Gibbons’s characters are chiseled, consistent, and very expressive. Like many American comic artists, his angles and environments are masterful, and his spot blacks are fantastic. I’ve been shown some of his Watchmen pages as plain inks with no color, and honestly, I feel like they would have worked perfectly fine just like that. The nine-grid layout system that’s used throughout the comic allows for very precise control of time and pacing. The story moves along very steadily for the most part, but it’s very easy to tell when a scene is being sped up or slowed down. Occasionally, there will be an oversized panel for emphasis, and since the rest of the structure is so clean, that emphasis is tenfold.

Gibbons also did the letterwork for the comic. I’m usually not drawn to lettering because few people take the time to make it interesting, but I really enjoyed how it was done here. Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan’s dialogue bubbles are very distinct, and it fits great because I imagine both to have very unique voices — the former because he’s speaking through fabric and just has a very quirky speech pattern in general, and the latter because… he’s a freak? There are also different caption types between Rorschach’s journal and the narrative of the pirate story within a story. Once again, it’s the little things that make everything so clear and tightly packaged. I approve.

John Higgins’s colorjob put me off at first, especially when I have Gibbons’s beautiful inks to consider, but it’s definitely something I got used to. While simple, the colors definitely help to set the moods of certain scenes and environments, as well as provide additional clarity when moving between narratives and locations. It’s also worth noting that printers and colors were more limited when Watchmen first debuted. After a few chapters, the simplicity and the clashing of some of the palettes stopped bothering me altogether. Honestly, I would hate to ever see a “remastered” version with a more modern coloring style — in conjunction with the nostalgic, nine-panel layouts, it just wouldn’t fit.

OVERALL - You know, I kind of don’t think the tagline “Who watches the watchmen?” fits as well as it should. I don’t feel as if that question represents the most important theme of the story. I think the words in Rorschach’s journal on the first page are a better representation. Watchmen is a very well written piece of literature. The artwork and visual storytelling is good, but the story and the writing is undoubtedly its greatest merit. I think it’s a great introduction work for people who don’t read comics in general, but especially for manga fans who don’t read Western works because they perceive the superhero-dominated mainstream to be generic and shallow. There’s a very good reason it’s so widely revered. I was not disappointed.

The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists, and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, “Save us!” …And I’ll look down and whisper, “No.”

Of course, there are some American artists that will use Japanese katakana sound effects in their pages even though the comic is in English and reads left-to-right. Off the top of my head, I know Christy Lijewski, a SCAD grad, and rem, a Houstonian, both do this (though sometimes rem draws right-to-left). The difference is that both of them legitimately know the language, and I don’t (yet?), so I guess I’d feel a little pretentious using katakana in my comics even though I could probably pull it off well enough.

So the question of the day becomes… why aren’t there more English sound effects? Why don’t we also have sounds for things like “shock,” “silence,” “rudeness,” “flailing,” or “a quick glance sideways”? Sure, it is kind of ridiculous to have sound effects for things that inherently have no sound, but it certainly is useful. One of my roommates hypothesized that Japanese theatre might have inspired some of their sound effects since it might not have always been apparent what was going on in nondescript genres like shadow and puppet theatre, so they could have utilized a wide range of informative sound effects to help things along? Honestly though, I know little of Japanese theatre and am really just grasping at straws here.

Either way, I don’t really think America has such an extensive, nonverbal theatrical background, so maybe it’s a legitimate guess either way. British and American stageplays relied on wide arm gestures and overacting to get things across. Manga had to have made up a lot of stuff on their own though, and American comics have been around just as long, so again, why don’t we have sound effects like じ～ (ji~) for “silence” or “staring”? Instead, we will just actually use the word “silence” or “stare” or an elipse (“…”) to get the point across, which isn’t nearly as visually pleasing in my opinion. Besides, I’m more inclined to believe that じ can be used in a serious scene than “silence,” which just looks comical (…haha, pun).

I wonder how those sorts of conventions get started. Is it just something that one mangaka decides to do and others eventually understand and implement it also? Who decided that じ should represent “silence”? Or that いそ (iso) should mean “moving happily”? They aren’t real onomatopoeias like ちゅ (chu) or ふふふふ (fufufufu) which actually represent sounds, so they aren’t self-evident… unless the Japanese all just have a hard-wired, instinctual knowledge of sound effects that aren’t sounds. Does the first person to use the sound effect just throw in an editor’s note? How long does it take to integrate in a new sound effect? Does anyone ever sit back and wonder why the hell silence has a sound effect?

Meanwhile, in America, comic book artists are throwing things against walls trying to figure out what kind of sounds they make (seriously, I know people that do this), but once again, those are still real sounds. No one is trying to come up with “sound effects” for actions. I guess logically, it would make sense to just represent actions with the verb for the action, but it’s just so… logical, I suppose. Not exciting. Not interesting. I am interested in these strange Japanese sounds for things that don’t make sounds. Using “knock knock” for knocking is kind of lame. But even for things that do make sounds, I feel like the American library of sound effects is very limited. Specifically, I have a scene where a woman is crying. I was trying to come up with a sound effect for sobbing, but… all I could come up with was “sob sob” — decidedly lame. Very lame. But what else do we use to represent that sound? When I visualize someone crying, I guess it kind of sounds like “hua hua” with the occasional “hmf” for sniffing and “hnn” or something, but that’s only after a lot of hard thinking and trying to translate those weird noises into words. And when I read those words, I don’t immediately think back to “crying.” Why is this so hard?

The amazing Japanese sound effect dictionary linked above describes しく (shiku) as “sobbing” or “whimpering,” and I guess I could hear that as a crying sound. Is it more apparent to the Japanese? (How the hell did these translators figure all this out anyway?) It’s all a mystery to me… but I do still wish that Americans would just make something up for those sounds, even if they don’t make a whole lot of sense. At least then I’d have more options. I wonder if people will just think I’m retarded if I start making up weird-ass sound effects in my comics. Maybe years later, they will eventually adopt “ghnnnnn” as the sound for American silence and a cartoon show will make fun of it by having someone actually say “ghnnnnn” when they are trying to represent silence. That would be kind of awesome.