Let’s go!
Chapter 160: I guess I'm talking about Manga?
A fun interview!
Art for my wall!
(I am not qualified to answer) questions about Manga!
New comics this week!
The Mixtape!
Hello.
A pretty light week in terms of news from Ashcan HQ. Been planning and scheming on some stuff. Been writing a lot. Been reading a lot of comics. That might be all I can talk about for now. But big news coming soon.
In the meantime let’s talk about other people who are doing big things. Today it’s our friends over at
who announced a big, exciting new phase for the company recently which you can read about here. But a big part of their plans involve our dear friend Courtney Menard. And since we spent a while (rightly) teasing her last week, we’re going to celebrate her this week. Or, more specifically, celebrate an interview she did with our friends over at SKTCHD.
You can read the interview here. It’s interesting and nerdy about comics production in the best way. And while you’re there you should subscribe to SKTCHD. It’s reader supported and has some of the best deep dive comic coverage available now or ever.
I also realized that last week, in my rush to tease Courtney, I forgot to mention one of the true highlights of my trip to Pittsburgh and my whole year. At ComicsPro every year they have a charity auction where stores donate items, everyone drinks a lot, and then stores buy the items back in an auction. It’s a real drunken ouroboros, but for charity. In a previous year I went with friend
and ended up with a page from excellent series GOLDFISH. It was a gift from a wonderful comic shop and is a long and fun story for another time. But the page proudly hangs above my mantle.Now I am not a collector of original comic art. I am always jealous when I get a glimpse of folks like
and collections in their newsletters (or when I sneak into their homes.) But I have a powerfully addictive personality and spent many years with a very not powerful bank account, so I knew from early on that if I were to dip my toe in the original art world it might end with me owning a lot of pages and having no apartment to hang them in. I think I only own 3 pieces. The aforementioned Bendis piece, a piece from Anders Nilsen’s excellent BIG QUESTIONS, and a Mark Beyer strip.So jump ahead to last week and I am once again at the ComicsPro auction. This time with friend Tyler Boss. And what should go up for auction? A page from Brian Michael Bendis’s excellent series JINX. Sitting in the back of the room I started to tell the story of getting the Goldfish page when suddenly Tyler decides to get me to stop talking by bidding on this-
Since that is a photo of the page on my bed, I think you can figure out what happens next. But if not, he wins it, gifts it to me because he’s the sweetest boy, and I am overjoyed once again. Now I need another mantle to hang it on. But in the meantime it does remind me of that old adage “Comics will fill your heart with joy, kid.”
Slow week, so we’re heading to the mailbox to see what questions people have for me.
Ominously named Normie Osborn writes in to ask me something I am not at all qualified to answer, but I won’t let that stop me:
“Hi I have a dumb question— to my best understanding, manga has been selling well. How come DC/Marvel don’t make and sell comics in that format? Is there a reason that’s not path dependency/inertia?”
Hi Normie. I don’t think that’s a dumb question at all. It is, in fact, one a lot of people in this business spend a lot of time thinking about. Now, to be clear, I can’t speak for either Marvel or DC as much as they may want me to. But let’s dive in.
First of all, when you say “why don’t they make and sell comics in that format?” that is a very broad question. Manga, as we use it here, really means Japanese comics. So Marvel and DC don’t make Manga because they can’t. Not unless they become Japanese companies that employ Japanese creators. But I don’t think that’s what you meant. I assume you are talking more about other unique aspects that tend to appear in Manga more than Western comics. So let’s discuss. The more broadly used manga format has a few key features that people generally point to- right to left reading, digest sized collections, usually black and white, and long serialized stories without all the reboots and renumbering we do over here.
I’d start by stating something that I think people understand but bears repeating. The comic publishers we’re talking about here are divisions of the largest entertainment companies on Earth. And more that that, they sell their product to and consult with other giant companies regularly. And what do they all have in common? They all try to make as much money as they can whenever they can. They employ a lot of smart people who do nothing but think about ways to do that. Whether it’s Disney and Warner Bros, or Amazon and Barnes & Noble, they put time, effort, research, and work into figuring out the best ways to make so much money. So if they thought making Manga style books would be profitable, you’d be drowning in Batman and X-Men Manga right now. And every once in a while they do make them, but it’s rare. So that is the actual answer to your question. But we can still try to figure out the “why” here.
Let’s take what we defined as the Manga format piece by piece. Making American comics read right to left wouldn’t really make sense. We only publish Manga that way so the art doesn’t have to be “mirrored”. For a long time Manga in America wasn’t even published that way and it resulted in a way worse reading experience, but they kept doing it because the feeling was American audiences would freak out if the book was backwards. Luckily, we finally came around to it. We’re learning.
As for publishing things in smaller digest size, it’s a little more complicated than just shrinking things down. American comics tend to be denser in terms of text, action, and often even panel count. So when you shrink it down it becomes sort of a headache to read. That doesn’t mean it isn’t done, and sometimes with great success. For years comics like THE RUNAWAYS were only available in digest size and folks loved them. But publishers dip their toes into this format a lot every few years and usually end up with little success to show.
The Black and White thing. It is funny to say this since one of the most beloved comics of the modern era is THE WALKING DEAD, and in many ways the book that kicked off the indie comics craze of modern comics was TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. Add to that the super influential LOVE & ROCKETS, and it would seem that we as a culture love B&W books. But we don’t. Those are all staggeringly brilliant books that are freaky outliers. If you try to publish a mainstream comic in B&W you are going to hear from a lot of angry people, one of whom will be your accountant. In fact when Marvel published Akira in the 80’s they spent a ton of time and money figuring out how to color it because they knew that one of the best and most beloved comics of all time would have a hard time finding an American audience if it wasn’t in color. That challenge still remains for a lot of the audience.
Now the last one is really the biggest point of contention. Longer serialized stories that don’t have the endless renumbering we tend to do. You will hear people beg for this all the time. And it makes sense when a company is publishing two SPIDER-GWEN #1’s in the same year. That can’t help but confuse readers. But here is the inverse that is less talked about. Comics is always trying to find new readers. And as someone who used to work in a comic shop, I can promise you the number of those people who come in thinking you have to start reading Batman comics at his first appearance or X-Men comics at issue #1 is very high. Staggeringly. They don’t understand that although the stories are continuous (sorta) they are also standalone (sorta). So if you kept continuous numbering going on these books that have run for 70+ years it would be a really daunting hurdle to new readers. Let alone the challenge of publishers keeping all of that in print and stores keeping all of it in stock. Imagine saw the movie and now you love him, so you head to the comic shop to read some Spider-Man comics. Do you start at AMAZING SPIDER-MAN vol. 1 from 1963? Or do you jump ahead to the new stuff and read AMAZING SPIDER-MAN vol. 194? If neither of those sounds like a good choice it’s because they aren’t. So renumbering, while a ploy to make the most current thing accessible at the benefit of everything that came before, may not be ideal it is maybe better than the inverse. And for what its worth Marvel and DC do tend to go back and publish their stuff in numbered collections starting at the beginning. Showcases, Epic collections, Masterworks are all attempts to solve this problem. I love those collections, a lot of people do, but they don’t exactly burn up the sales charts usually.
With all that said there are actually two other things I think are worth noting here about the difference between Manga and Western comics. First of all, the cultural difference can’t be ignored. Manga is wildly popular in Japan and read by millions. It covers such a broad range of genres and topics it is almost inconceivable to us here. Mountain climbing comics? Cooking comics? Soccer comics? It’s almost like they treat comics over there like a medium and not a genre and therefore it reflects a healthy variety of tastes and interests. I know that seems like I am answering your question with the very premise of your question, but just stay with me. Because of the mass cultural acceptance of the medium, books can be published for longer, stories can be built bigger, and the delivery methods of those stories can be more diverse. So when you see a book like ATTACK ON TITAN or ONE PUNCH MAN come over here, that is actually something that has already been published for years, and found its audience. So bringing it over here in tons of volumes is easy and comparatively cheap, because it’s been made and paid for and proven to work for at least one audience. American comics don’t have those luxuries, even the big guys. You’re fighting for a share of a small audience and you need to grab them and not let go, and you probably need to be getting $4 or $5 out of them every month. The different audience size allows for different types of stories, different styles of storytelling, and simply wishing for that audience won’t create it.
Also, the use of Anime shows and movies as a gateway to selling the books can’t be understated. A Spider-Man movie doesn’t sell a billion Spider-Man comics because it feels like a self contained thing. Nobody leaves the theater unsure what is going to happen next. But the Anime shows do just that. They get impatient viewers excited. It’s not a formula that always works here, but certainly shows like THE BOYS, INVINCIBLE, and THE WALKING DEAD did a great job of selling books. So some of the change needed would have to not just be in the world of comics, but to our whole entertainment industry and what they make.
But the other thing, and this is something I think about a lot, is the American need to compartmentalize audiences and readership. Manga are comics. Made in Japan. I love comics. I love American comics, and French comics, Italian comics and Spanish comics. And yes, I love Japanese comics. So much time is spent discussing why people like Manga, and I think it reinforces these arbitrary divisions and creates an endless cycle. I love seeing people read Manga because I love seeing people read comics. If they only read comics from one country that sucks for them, they are missing out on some of the best comics in the world. I know there are thousands and thousands of readers who “just read Manga” and they won’t even touch Western stuff that does a lot of the same things as Manga. But for many readers, they read Manga because it’s accessible, there is lots of it, and there is a great network of shows, websites, and people who can help you find the next series to read after you finish the one you just read. It’s a great ecosystem with plenty of content, plenty of variety, and minimal research needed to figure out how to navigate it all. And the more we single manga out and isolate Manga from comics as a whole, the more we create a division that isn’t real and push those readers away. In the same way we would never say “I don’t like food, I just like Italian food” we need to normalize not thinking of Manga as something other than comics. Once we start doing that, maybe we would find more readers willing to cross over in either direction. And that would be better for everyone.
Well that was a long answer. I hope I answered your question, Normie. Or at least seemed like I knew what I was talking about.
As always, if you have a question for me feel free to send it in or hit the little comment button.
It’s New Comic Book Day! Or it was. Let’s talk about some stuff that is cool that I think you should read this week.
GOLGOTHA MOTOR MOUNTAIN #1 by Matthew Erman, Lonnie Nadler, Robbi Rodriguez, & co. If you see Lonnie’s name on a book you can be sure you’re going to get something fresh and weird and fun. And this book about mutant meth dealers, cosmic debris, crazed cops and nasty nazis is all those things. A celebration of grindhouse, exploitation, and the Troma aesthetic, this book will leave you wanting more. Like meth. I’ve been told.
“Join superstar artist Robbi Rodriguez (Spider-Gwen) and the dynamic writing duo of Matthew Erman (Witchblood) & Lonnie Nadler (Age of X-Man) on a high-octane redneck motor massacre! When a derelict chunk of a passing interstellar rock rains down on Elwood and Vernon Damnage's meth lab in Golgotha Knob, Kentucky, their lives are turned into a redneck body horror nightmare.
Still needing to make their deliveries to the buyers, mutations or not, they set off down Golgotha Knob only to be beset on all sides by crazed addicts, cannibal police, and mutated Neo-Nazis. It doesn't matter what waits at the bottom of Golgotha Knob for the Damnage brothers because they must ride through a cosmic hell that they're unlikely to survive... But if these brothers do survive, they'll finally have made enough money to start over in the beautiful utopia that is Cincinnati.”
VOID RIVALS vol. 1 by Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici, & co. There are not a lot of names in comics I will buy without even bother to find out what the book is about, but Robert Kirkman is at the top of that list. And of course Lorenzo’s art is just breathtaking as always. So I bought the first issue knowing nothing and boy was Void Rivals surprising. An engrossing sci-fi shipwreck story takes a wild turn that I was not expecting, but was pretty damn awesome. If you like robots. Which I do.
“The blockbuster Oblivion Song team of Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici launch an all-new shared universe connected to the Transformers and G.I. Joe! War rages around the Sacred Ring, where the last remnants of two worlds have collapsed around a black hole in a never-ending war. However, when pilot Darak and his rival Solila both crash on a desolate planet, these two enemies must find a way to escape together. But are they alone on this strange planet? And what dark forces await that threaten the entire universe. Collects Void Rivals #1-6.”
TORPEDO 1972 #1 by Enrique Sanchez Abuli & Eduardo Risso. One of the greatest crime comics of all time returns, updated (well, sort of), and drawn by one of the best crime artists comics has ever had. If you’ve never read any Torpedo comics you should fix that right away. And once you have a feel for it, I won’t need to tell you to go buy this because you’ll already be desperate for it.
“FROM THE CO-CREATOR and ARTIST of EISNER WINNING SERIES 100 BULLETS comes a reimagining of the crime noir Torpedo! In the 1930s, Lucas Torelli, known as "Torpedo", was a legend of the suburbs of New York. A tough, trigger-happy Sicilian who only knew how to make friends-anyone else is no longer here to say otherwise. Nearly forty years later, the Big Apple has changed quite a bit. Torpedo, not so much. As a persistent journalist prepares to write an article about the Caputo family, the demons of Torpedo's past resurface, along with his dirty old habits...”
NIGHT PEOPLE #1 by Barry Gifford, Chris Condon, Brian Level, & co. I will admit I never read the novel this is adapted from, but I am a big fan of Gifford’s movies like WILD AT HEART and LOST HIGHWAY. But none of that matters because I think Chris Condon is one of the most exciting newer writers in comics and Brian Level is a master artist, so I was all in no matter what. And this did not disappoint. This has definite David Lynch vibes but feels like it’s own thing. Creepy sad America on full display in the best way. A very fun first issue.
“From literary icon Barry Gifford - internationally renowned creator of Wild At Heart and cowriter of David Lynch's neo-noir masterpiece Lost Highway - Night People is a pulsating roadmap of the American subconscious, where neon-lit Southern nights give way to lipstick, sweat, and blood, and the odd, innocent, and evil are all fellow travelers down an interstate of dark, elusive dreams.
Adapted from Gifford's acclaimed novel by breakout writer Chris Condon (That Texas Blood, The Enfield Gang Massacre) and a rotating cast of stunning artistic talents, follow an uneasy company of wanted criminals, cartel killers, and lost souls through four interlocking tales as they travel a path of intoxication, lust, and spontaneous violence from New Orleans to Egypt City, Florida, and back again.”
Now go buy some comics.
Been very excited about the new Gouge Away record so this was my writing soundtrack all week.
That’s it for me.
Stay safe. Take care of each other. Weeks since I haven’t been late with the newsletter: 1 0
-Matthew Rosenberg
NYC 3/7/24
I really appreciate you answering my question!
I love comics, but sometimes when I’m taking public transit I will choose a volume of manga over western comics because it’s less obtrusive elbow-wise.
I asked that question because of elbows, and because Last Man by Balak/Sanlaville/Vives is a different format that I think is more convenient.
Love it! And TBH you're probably better off not being a big OA collector. It's an expensive hobby. That being said, I get a lot of satisfaction looking at the pieces from time to time. Pieces like Courtney's WTFPFH map! And also in the Bendis realm, Torso was my big Bendis book. Started the shift from strictly superhero comic reader to indy reader, and provided 'scripts' for camera tests we would do with our XL1 and various lenses to test them out back in my run-and-gun indy film days. And so one of my pieces I love is a cover to one of the Torso issues. The big toe tag one.