Manga vs Everyone Else

[LAGtheNoggin]

I know I say I'm not one for baseless prejudice, but;

I CAN'T FRIGGIN' STAND SUPER HERO COMICS. DIE DIE DIE.

[Bustertheclown]

Given the fact that there's a lot of superhuman abilities and mystical powers and "gotta save the world" stories floating around the realm of Japanese cartoon arts, I often finding myself wondering why these same characters aren't defined as the saucer-eyed superheroes they really are. Hell, I've been around and paying attention for long enough to see Japanese character not only ignored as superheroes but actually distinguished as otherwise by fanpeople.

C'mon, people. Let's all get it out in the open so the healing may begin. You're reading superhero comics. It's okay. You're not being judged! I just think it's time to step out of De Nile. It's cold and wet in there, and the waiting embrace on the shore is so warm!

[Bustertheclown]

being able to create an appealing human with a handfull of strokes is just as noble as being able to make one with masses. Its simple and expressive, wheras a lot of western art is so bogged down with detail it becomes hard to follow (webcomic dominion is IMO one of the worst offenders. wha?)

I prefer to refer to it as "detailing up" rather than "bogging down".

Also, I'm a big fan of Bob the Angry Flower too, although I liked it better when he formatted the strips to the aspect ratio of the computer screen. I thought the landscape layout gave it a better flow.

[Godoftarot]

If you want to read a good Manga, read Mars.
I've had people say it's too far-fetched. And then I tell them that they might think my life is also far-fetched. I love it because it doesn't flinch away from a lot of the horrible things that really happen in the world. But there's still humor and life. The characters and their developement are really fabulous, too. They change so much from the first book to the last, which is something a lot of manga unfortunately lacks.
Plus, the artist is amazing. I've never seen one thing the looks out of proportion, awkward, twisted, anything like that. And it's very clear and easy to see what's going on, even in the panels with motorcycle racing, which can't be easy to do.

Look for Yukinobi Hoshino's "2001 Nights", that one is excellent.

In fact, I lent the books and now they won't give 'em back...

Ooo...someone would have to die!

Kare: First Love is turning out to be pretty good so far, too. Although I don't know if it will be as good as Mars. The artist is fantastic except in some places she does too much drapery. Soryo Fuyumi, who does Mars, keeps her drapery simple but she's good at it.
Now that ElfQuest is coming out in graphic novel size, I'd really like to read them. Any opinions?

[LAGtheNoggin]

Western art is bogged down? Our animation is simplicity itself, we pride ourselves on actual animation and so cut down as much detail as possible to aid movement. We practically made anime.

Given the fact that there's a lot of superhuman abilities and mystical powers and "gotta save the world" stories floating around the realm of Japanese cartoon arts, I often finding myself wondering why these same characters aren't defined as the saucer-eyed superheroes they really are. Hell, I've been around and paying attention for long enough to see Japanese character not only ignored as superheroes but actually distinguished as otherwise by fanpeople.

C'mon, people. Let's all get it out in the open so the healing may begin. You're reading superhero comics. It's okay. You're not being judged! I just think it's time to step out of De Nile. It's cold and wet in there, and the waiting embrace on the shore is so warm!

Ohkay, fine, I'll word that better.

I know I say I'm not one for baseless prejudice, but;

I CAN'T FRIGGIN' STAND PANSY BOY UNIFORMS, SUPERHUMAN ABILITIES, AND MYSTICAL POWERS. THIS GOES FOR ANY GOD DAMNED STYLE. DIE DIE DIE.

[Dotty]

Anyone ever consider that "what if"?

Dno't have to. My comic is based on a series of role playing games from Japan. Guess what the cutscenes are done in?

It also gives rise to people saying my artwork is manga. It shares the same clean-line style but I keep my heads and faces pretty much in proportion, thank you. I don't like it when people say I do manga.

Manga itself, I can take or leave. It's just a style and not in anyway indicative of the quality of the comic. However, I have little patience for anyone who simply tries to draw like "professionals" do and copy the style as much as they can. It's probably a good starting point but people should find their own styles.

Interesting, isn't it, how we have these discussions about manga and never about the US adventure comic style.

And, indeed, it's interesting that I can only name two, maybe three webcomics, that use it. Manga, on the other hand...

Now that I think about it, I think manga's attraction for wanabe artists is the apparent simplicity of the faces. They're easy to copy and although it'd be crudely done, it'd still be recognisable as manga. American adventure comics don't have simple faces. They're stylised, yes, but not simplified. They're still hard to draw.

- Joel Fagin

I've always wondered what would happen if I had done my comic as American/Canadian styled, as opposed to Manga-based. I tried, and didn't get a good vibe. If I had stuck with the original story, maybe.

So I restarted for a third time, back with manga-style, and I'm pretty happy with it, but part of me wonders if I should change my style again, just so I can ignore the taunts of "YOU DO MANGA-ISH WORK YOU ARE TEH NOOB" from people who either don't draw at all, or people who just hate manga, or people who used to draw manga/anime, but switched to something else.

Then I realize that wouldn't be doing what I wanted to do either, cause I'd be doing it for them to shut up, and not for me to grin ear to ear.

So anyway I look about it, I appear to be boned. Unless I start a second/third comic, but I doubt I'd do that.

So, yeah...boned. Manga style. Stuck with it. Don't like it? Enh. Don't care.

[Brockway]

I prefer to describe my style as "bastardized anime/manga wannabe-ish."

...

*runs off crying*

[Paul.Power]

This is only my personal opinion, but the anime/manga style does get on my nerves, probably because I primarily grew up on a diet of Looney Tunes and its offspring, and Tom and Jerry.

I CAN'T FRIGGIN' STAND PANSY BOY UNIFORMS, SUPERHUMAN ABILITIES, AND MYSTICAL POWERS. THIS GOES FOR ANY GOD DAMNED STYLE. DIE DIE DIE.

That may well be my root problem, too. It's probably also why one of the only two animes I've enjoyed watching is Azumanga Daioh!, which aside from the fact that it has an astonishingly silly sense of humour, has neither superhuman abilities nor mystical powers. It has uniforms, but they're at school, so I guess I can handle that.

(The other, for the record, is Princess Mononoke, because a: it was astonishingly well dubbed [Neil Gaiman wrote the English script] and b: it has medieval blast furnaces in it)

[Brockway]

(The other, for the record, is Princess Mononoke, because a: it was astonishingly well dubbed [Neil Gaiman wrote the English script] and b: it has medieval blast furnaces in it)

I totally hated Billy Bob Thornton being cast in that.

[The Zebu]

*inhales deeply

Manga played a huge role in the development of my style. It was good for learning the basics of drawing/computer art et cetera, but in the end finding your own realistic style is the best way to develop your art.

I love manga. I love Japan. I'm even attempting to teach myself the language. But moving there in hopes of becoming a manga artist is ridiculous, especially if you're a westerner who only draws manga. Every artist in Japan is capable of drawing manga style. If you really want to get a job in japan as a comic artist, they're going to expect you to be able to draw "western style".

But if an artist only draws manga and they expect to get a job as a professional artist in america, your chances are equally miniscule. Even those that do draw manga for a living draw for shitty obscure publishers who think they're cashing in on the "manga phenomenon" when nobody reads them. Big cartoon companies with the same motivation only end up producing sub-par deliberatley hackneyed crap that, unfortunatley, a reasonable sum of (idiotic) people think is real manga.

And again, I can't stand western idiots who may be very good manga artists, being capable of perfectly emulating the authentic style, and have the whole deal with all their characters with japanese names / concepts and so on and so forth. "j00r a friggin poser u wanabee!!111!!1!1 ur not japanese u stupid forenner111!11!!1"

What I'm really trying to say is, leave manga to the japanese. If you're a westerner, don't deliberatley copy someone else's style. Real artists try to create their own style.

I hate superhero comics myself. But drawing realistically doesn't mean you have to make a superhero comic. Be creative for God's sake.

[War]

I prefer originality over anything else. If the art of a webcomic looks like something I can buy from a store, then I'll be better off getting it from the store. The story'll be better and I won't have to worry about missed updates. Plus the tactile quality you get from paper comics is something you just don't get with webcomics.

So be original! Be original in your art and your story telling. I want something you can't buy in my webcomics.

[Godoftarot]

I've always wondered what would happen if I had done my comic as American/Canadian styled, as opposed to Manga-based. I tried, and didn't get a good vibe. If I had stuck with the original story, maybe.

So I restarted for a third time, back with manga-style, and I'm pretty happy with it, but part of me wonders if I should change my style again, just so I can ignore the taunts of "YOU DO MANGA-ISH WORK YOU ARE TEH NOOB" from people who either don't draw at all, or people who just hate manga, or people who used to draw manga/anime, but switched to something else.

Then I realize that wouldn't be doing what I wanted to do either, cause I'd be doing it for them to shut up, and not for me to grin ear to ear.

So anyway I look about it, I appear to be boned. Unless I start a second/third comic, but I doubt I'd do that.

So, yeah...boned. Manga style. Stuck with it. Don't like it? Enh. Don't care.

AMEN, sistah!

[Paul.Power]

(The other, for the record, is Princess Mononoke, because a: it was astonishingly well dubbed [Neil Gaiman wrote the English script] and b: it has medieval blast furnaces in it)

I totally hated Billy Bob Thornton being cast in that.

Which one he?

[Bustertheclown]

Ohkay, fine, I'll word that better.

I know I say I'm not one for baseless prejudice, but;

I CAN'T FRIGGIN' STAND PANSY BOY UNIFORMS, SUPERHUMAN ABILITIES, AND MYSTICAL POWERS. THIS GOES FOR ANY GOD DAMNED STYLE. DIE DIE DIE.

I wasn't referring to your post specifically, it just reminded me of a beef I've had for awhile. Still, , that was beautiful!

[Col]

I CAN'T FRIGGIN' STAND PANSY BOY UNIFORMS, SUPERHUMAN ABILITIES, AND MYSTICAL POWERS. THIS GOES FOR ANY GOD DAMNED STYLE. DIE DIE DIE.

I LOVE THOSE KINDS OF COMICS!!! ESPECIALLY AMERICAN ONES!!! THEY'RE BETTER THAN MANGA!!! LIVE LIVE LIVE.

[LAGtheNoggin]

*STAB* *STAB* *STAB*

[Carlin]

The caps... they're everywhere!!! AIEEEE!!

*runs away*

[LAGtheNoggin]

*rugby tackle*

*STAB* *STAB* *STAB*

[Col]

*STAB* *STAB* *STAB*

*MUTANT HEALING POWER* *MUTANT HEALING POWER* *MUTANT HEALING POWER*

[Carlin]

*gets his stabbing knife*

You know nothing of the fine art of stabbing...

*goes stab happy on anyone in sight*
*goes on a city wide killing spree with nothing but his trusty stabbing knife*
*stabs his way to Lag's house*
*stabs Lag*

Now THAT is how one must stab.


... and now the word stab has lost all meaning.