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[sol_bad]

The very fact that comics sales didn't go up with the rise of superhero movies really should say everything about the state of the industry. Shit was broken a long ass time ago, lol

But yeah, anime often helps fuels manga sales and manga sales help anime get made so it's a really good loop when it's working well.

They are different industries.
Anime is generally a straight adaptation of the manga, sometimes with filler eps to add characterisation, sometimes with story missing from the manga. Either way, Straight adaptation.

Super hero movies and shows are not a straight adaptation of the source material, it's impossible to do that since characters have been around for 60-80 years. Even when they do adapt a specific story it's still quite different to the comics.
As an example someone might love the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie and want to read the comic it's based on. They read the issue and are turned off by the writing styles of 1973, they never read another comic book again.
Or they want to read the start of Spider-Man, X-Men or Avengers, they can't stand to 60's campiness and never read any further comics at all.
Or maybe they hate the 60's and 70's styling but are still willing to try newer comics but they have no one to guide them or make suggestions on where to start. Which issue to start at and what run to read. What TPB or HC/OHC to purchase.

Not a lot of people are willing to read 60's or 70's melodrama and not a lot of people are willing to jump in randomly and use Wikipedia as a catch up guide. Manga does not require you to understand read orders or to look up Wikipedia for information, you start at volume 1 and buy in order, simple.

 

[strange headache]

They are different industries.
Anime is generally a straight adaptation of the manga, sometimes with filler eps to add characterisation, sometimes with story missing from the manga. Either way, Straight adaptation.

Super hero movies and shows are not a straight adaptation of the source material, it's impossible to do that since characters have been around for 60-80 years. Even when they do adapt a specific story it's still quite different to the comics.
As an example someone might love the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie and want to read the comic it's based on. They read the issue and are turned off by the writing styles of 1973, they never read another comic book again.
Or they want to read the start of Spider-Man, X-Men or Avengers, they can't stand to 60's campiness and never read any further comics at all.
Or maybe they hate the 60's and 70's styling but are still willing to try newer comics but they have no one to guide them or make suggestions on where to start. Which issue to start at and what run to read. What TPB or HC/OHC to purchase.

Not a lot of people are willing to read 60's or 70's melodrama and not a lot of people are willing to jump in randomly and use Wikipedia as a catch up guide. Manga does not require you to understand read orders or to look up Wikipedia for information, you start at volume 1 and buy in order, simple.

My god, how many lame excuses for mediocrity can you come up with?
The fact that the billion dollar industry that is American superhero movies cannot sell a couple of frikkin' comics is just sad.

American comics used to be a juggernaut of cultural export. Nowadays manga is running circles around it. And no, it has nothing to do with manga being more accessible, that's just utter rubbish. If that were the case, it would be easy for comics creators to switch to a more accessible format. Just stop it with the lame excuses already and face reality.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I stopped reading super hero comics when I was around 12 years old. I've still got a lot of my old comic books, but I just lost interest in the medium.

I feel like even comparing Manga to American comics is not fair considering the sheer volume and spread of topics/genres covered in Manga. Maybe I'm not giving American comics a fair shake, but nothing has ever stood out as being particularly interesting to me.

 

[sol_bad]

My god, how many lame excuses for mediocrity can you come up with?
The fact that the billion dollar industry that is American superhero movies cannot sell a couple of frikkin' comics is just sad.

American comics used to be a juggernaut of cultural export. Nowadays manga is running circles around it. And no, it has nothing to do with manga being more accessible, that's just utter rubbish. If that were the case, it would be easy for comics creators to switch to a more accessible format. Just stop it with the lame excuses already and face reality.

Mate, your whole argument in post 1 is that manga is better than American comics because of sales numbers. The list you provide is 80% shonen, the shonen genre is nothing soul shattering and is generally far simpler and less complex than American comics, it's written for teenage boys and is very superficial. They are written for a weekly or monthly magazine to get 5 minutes or less of entertainment.

Then you talk about manga not being afraid of taking risks while shitting all over Emilia Clarke's comic. As terrible as her comic sounds, as you mentioned yourself, you can't imagine that their is a big audience for her book. THATS A PRETTY BIG RISK TO TAKE.
And it's a 40 page issue that has to stand on it's own for $6usd. It can't be a part of a larger format magazine that contains chapters of 10-20 multiple manga stories. IE Weekly Shonen Jump, Weekly Shonan Magazine and Young Animal.

Western comics have never been a juggernaut of cultural export. It's just that we were the age bracket they targeted in the 90's so it felt big in our personal world. Our parents knew them because of us. Comic characters weren't a huge worldwide cultural phenomenon until they hit Hollywood.

Take DC and Marvel out of the equation and explain why comics based on The Walking Dead, Invincible, The Boys and Umbrella Academy don't sell in huge numbers like manga? Why isn't Sweet Tooth now taking off with all the positivity surrounding the new show? They are all self contained creator owned stories just like manga and far more "adult" in nature compared to super hero stories on many occasions (but not always)
Also explain why popular IPs like Ninja Turtles, Transformers and Power Rangers don't sell in huge numbers like manga.

 

[Dacon]

Funnily enough, a while back one of the comic pros pointed out that the creators of the films should do more to help promote the comics their films were based off of.

 

[theclaw135]

My god, how many lame excuses for mediocrity can you come up with?
The fact that the billion dollar industry that is American superhero movies cannot sell a couple of frikkin' comics is just sad.

American comics used to be a juggernaut of cultural export. Nowadays manga is running circles around it. And no, it has nothing to do with manga being more accessible, that's just utter rubbish. If that were the case, it would be easy for comics creators to switch to a more accessible format. Just stop it with the lame excuses already and face reality.

Creatively, continuity resets are the main problem. Comics keep rebooting, and rebooting (and rebooting).

 

[Tschumi]

Both media are samey to me, I tend to prefer more stylistic things like, I dunno how to differentiate them, graphic novels?

I prefer this...

To this...

I mean, I consciously chose Ninja Scroll because that's a legit good bit of the medium but I still think the drawing style is hugely derivative and samey.

For the record I'm pretty tired of this too:

 

[sol_bad]

Both media are samey to me, I tend to prefer more stylistic things like, I dunno how to differentiate them, graphic novels?

I prefer this...

To this...

I mean, I consciously chose Ninja Scroll because that's a legit good bit of the medium but I still think the drawing style is hugely derivative and samey.

For the record I'm pretty tired of this too:

What are those first 4 images from!?

 

[Tschumi]

What are those first 4 images from!?

my GOAT, an italian named Sergio Toppi, died a few years ago, tragically, but not before he made some of the most mind blowing graphic novels I've yet read.. Hugely influential over my art style to this day.. i recommend "Sharaz de", as a full novel, though somebody's been putting together nice books of his collected works since he passed

 

[Derekloffin]

Beyond on the all the politics in comics, I think another important thing that is holding them back is just being so heavily tied to the big 2, DC and Marvel. While both companies do experiment, it seems more like an afterthought, and not something they really push. Instead most their energy is spent on their shared super hero universes. By contrast, the JP publishers seem far more experimental and to push this stuff, with pretty much no shared universe to tie them down. Add on the close ties manga has with light novels which is yet another avenue for experimentation, and I think they get way more attempts at finding stuff that has a real audience, instead of desperately trying to change existing stuff to appeal to wider audiences and inevitably losing your existing audience slowly but surely.

 

[sol_bad]

my GOAT, an italian named Sergio Toppi, died a few years ago, tragically, but not before he made some of the most mind blowing graphic novels I've yet read.. Hugely influential over my art style to this day.. i recommend "Sharaz de", as a full novel, though somebody's been putting together nice books of his collected works since he passed

Thank you.
Would it be these books?

Amazon.com: Books

Online shopping from a great selection at Books Store.

www.bookdepository.com

Beyond on the all the politics in comics, I think another important thing that is holding them back is just being so heavily tied to the big 2, DC and Marvel. While both companies do experiment, it seems more like an afterthought, and not something they really push. Instead most their energy is spent on their shared super hero universes. By contrast, the JP publishers seem far more experimental and to push this stuff, with pretty much no shared universe to tie them down. Add on the close ties manga has with light novels which is yet another avenue for experimentation, and I think they get way more attempts at finding stuff that has a real audience, instead of desperately trying to change existing stuff to appeal to wider audiences and inevitably losing your existing audience slowly but surely.

This is one of things that has annoyed me about the naysayers of Marvel and DC over the last 8 years or so. The "introduction of politics" in super hero comics. Fact is, politics have been there the whole time. Maybe not right at the start in the early 60's but by the late 60's yes. Constantly there are issues in Avengers, Sub-Mariner, Iron Man and Daredevil that tackle topics like the oppression of black people, saving the environment, how War is bad, women power and the importance of voting. All right there in your face.

*EDIT*
I know your post isn't about politics in comics but your first sentence mentioned it.

 

[Tschumi]

Thank you.
Would it be these books?

Amazon.com: Books

Online shopping from a great selection at Books Store.

www.bookdepository.com

that's the one there are a whole series of them ,each well worth the price

 

[JSoup]

Comics? Manga? I feel like there is room in the world for both.
Porn comix are better anyway.

 

[LRKD]

Gunnm

 

[strange headache]

Mate, your whole argument in post 1 is that manga is better than American comics because of sales numbers.

No, I said that sales numbers are indicative of comics not appealing to people anymore. While sales numbers are not representative of quality, they certainly allow us to appraise their popularity.
My argument is that manga are more popular because of their creative output and their superior storytelling.

You on the other hand are trying to tell me that manga are more popular because they have a more accessible format. I say that's bullcrap, considering that comics used to be very popular with kids and that they had way better availability in the past. I picked up comics as a pre-teen when I could barely read English, yet that didn't keep me from enjoying them. If something appeals to you, the format really doesn't matter. You don't need to be a frikkin' Einstein to read comics. That's just absurd.

Also you have provided ZERO evidence for your assumption that the comics format is the culprit.

The list you provide is 80% shonen, the shonen genre is nothing soul shattering and is generally far simpler and less complex than American comics, it's written for teenage boys and is very superficial.

So Attack on Titan is for simpletons then? I forgot you had to be such a brainiac in order to read Marvel or DC comics. Superhero comics are basically shonen anyway, so that's a really silly argument to make. Many shonen are thematically way deeper than comics, it's one of the reasons why they have such an enormous appeal nowadays.

Besides you keep side-stepping the real issue that I've raised with comics. The lack of an appealing characterization and moral messaging behind their storytelling. And no, politics has nothing to do with it.

Then you talk about manga not being afraid of taking risks while shitting all over Emilia Clarke's comic. As terrible as her comic sounds, as you mentioned yourself, you can't imagine that their is a big audience for her book. THATS A PRETTY BIG RISK TO TAKE.

Women's issues are about the safest subject you could tackle at the moment. It's checkbox storytelling of the safest order.

Western comics have never been a juggernaut of cultural export.

And that's where you're just wrong. American entertainment used to have a huge impact on the world. The U.S. used to be a cultural leader, especially during the cold war. You had people all over the world dreaming about eating at McDonald's, watching movies, consuming American products including comics. There is probably not a single person on the globe that doesn't know Superman or Batman!

You're merely engaging in revisionist talk in order to make excuses for the dire state of the comics industry.

 

[BadBurger]

Manga moves huge volumes, yea, and I am happy for the creators mopping up. But story wise they're like Fisher Price My First Fiction compared to even the worst Western comics.

 

[strange headache]

Manga moves huge volumes, yea, and I am happy for the creators mopping up. But story wise they're like Fisher Price My First Fiction compared to even the worst Western comics.

The only thing Fisher Price is your comment, since quite apparently you haven't read any manga.
Stuff like Death Note, Monster, Berserk, Uzumaki, GitS, Alita and BLAME! is on par with some of the best that comics have to offer.

BLAME! relies entirely on its visual storytelling and has almost no dialogue at all. If anything it is the pure essence of what graphical storytelling is all about.
I have yet to witness any comic to even try something similar to it.

 

[kurisu_1974]

Speaking from a European point of view and someone who enjoys mostly the Franco-Belgian stuff, manga is much more in my wheelhouse than American comics.

I do own a hardcover of Manara's X-Women and I really enjoyed Frank Miller's Hard Boiled back in the day. But otherwise my US stuff is limited to Clowes, Burns, Drnaso, Thompson, etc. I don't know a lot of people into the superhero comics or any American trade paperbacks at all over here.

 

[sol_bad]

No, I said that sales numbers are indicative of comics not appealing to people anymore. While sales numbers are not representative of quality, they certainly allow us to appraise their popularity.
My argument is that manga are more popular because of their creative output and their superior storytelling.

You on the other hand are trying to tell me that manga are more popular because they have a more accessible format. I say that's bullcrap, considering that comics used to be very popular with kids and that they had way better availability in the past. I picked up comics as a pre-teen when I could barely read English, yet that didn't keep me from enjoying them. If something appeals to you, the format really doesn't matter. You don't need to be a frikkin' Einstein to read comics. That's just absurd.

Also you have provided ZERO evidence for your assumption that the comics format is the culprit.



So Attack on Titan is for simpletons then? I forgot you had to be such a brainiac in order to read Marvel or DC comics. Superhero comics are basically shonen anyway, so that's a really silly argument to make. Many shonen are thematically way deeper than comics, it's one of the reasons why they have such an enormous appeal nowadays.

Besides you keep side-stepping the real issue that I've raised with comics. The lack of an appealing characterization and moral messaging behind their storytelling. And no, politics has nothing to do with it.



Women's issues are about the safest subject you could tackle at the moment. It's checkbox storytelling of the safest order.



And that's where you're just wrong. American entertainment used to have a huge impact on the world. The U.S. used to be a cultural leader, especially during the cold war. You had people all over the world dreaming about eating at McDonald's, watching movies, consuming American products including comics. There is probably not a single person on the globe that doesn't know Superman or Batman!

You're merely engaging in revisionist talk in order to make excuses for the dire state of the comics industry.

Nice how you conveniently ignore my last paragraph. Is it because it's harder to push your agenda there? Super popular IPs and TV shows that should translate to strong comic sales but don't. There is more to it than comics being infested with SJW politics and being poorly written.

Going back to your logic, you said that western comics suck because their sales suck and manga is destroying them in sales.
Your quote:
". I feel like the American comics industry is creatively bankrupt as evidenced by the rapidly dwindling sales numbers. I mean look at this"

If you apply that same logic to Drops of God it must also be a terrible book. Vertical cancelled publishing the series after tankobon volume 5. Then when Kodansha had the license they decided not to publish any physical editions.

Have you read any of these at all? There are heaps of good modern comics.

Best 70 Comics of the Decade: The 2010s!

Welcome to Comic Book Herald’s best comic books of the 2010’s decade! We spent the final months of 2019 finalizing our favorite 70 comics of the entire decade, and have compiled them all together here for easy review. As you’d expect, many of these selections come from Comic Book Herald’s 500...

www.comicbookherald.com

If you aren't reading any western comics at all then it's pretty silly to even make this topic.

 

[strange headache]

Nice how you conveniently ignore my last paragraph. Is it because it's harder to push your agenda there? Super popular IPs and TV shows that should translate to strong comic sales but don't. There is more to it than comics being infested with SJW politics and being poorly written.

What frikkin' agenda?
I used to love comics, that's why I want them to be better.
Right now, manga and BD are just way better and I don't seem to be the only one to think so considering the sales numbers!

Going back to your logic, you said that western comics suck because their sales suck and manga is destroying them in sales.

Again, I said western comics suck because their storytelling went to sh*t. The sales numbers are indicative of that being the case.
It's really not hard to understand.

 

[Robot Carnival]

I've been reading manga for 30+ years now and I've only got into a little bit of comics in those 30 some odd years. I would still say there's strong points on both side. I know for a fact there's some great varieties for comic books other than just super heroes and mystic/fantasy fighting stuff. but the problem is the market simply isn't as big and accepting for those as the main stream super hero stuff. non-shonen manga on the other hand, even thou not selling nearly as much as the shonen ones, still has a very high market support for them. I can think of many manga titles for food, love drama/comedy, slice of life, even helpful knowledge ones. if only comic books can get that kinda support for the non-conventional titles, then the current market would be wonderful. it's in part due to the publishers thou. I feel the big 2 for the most part had pushed for the junk food super hero stuff for so many years, they simply don't know or don't want to change. do they have good ones that's off the beaten path? of course! but the coverage and the popularity of those titles simply is no match for their main stream stuff. thus the loop keeps going. no demand for it > not a lot of resource put into it > drop in quality/visibility > less demand.

outside of that, I also like that only one artist works on a manga title for the most part. manga and comic are a very visual medium, and with the constant change of artist in comic, even if the story is good, sometimes folks simply won't get interested due to they don't like the artwork that much. of course manga has it's issues with mostly 1 artist for each title. overwork/sickness, artist passing away (most recently of course, Miura of Berserk, RIP), cancelation due to no longer popular. all can cut a story short and leave the readers in distress knowing they will never be able to know the end of the story they like. comic have less of an issue on this side.

in the end, just enjoy and support whatever you like. they're both wonderful and when you find something great that you like, make sure to share the info on them.

 

[hyperbertha]

I agree, manga sells more than western comics but western comics are still fun to read.

I'll personally take East of West, Saga, Black Science, Kill or Be Killed, The Fade Out, Velvet, Low or Sex Criminals over any manga any day.

Recently re-read a large chuck of Jason Aaron's Thor, that means Thor: God of Thunder + Original Sin + Thor + Mighty Thor. It's an amazingly well made story pretty much across the board, Aaron totally gets the characters. And the art by Esad Ribic and Russell Dauterman is sublime.

I've been catching up on Marvel post Secret Wars and this month I've also read Chip Zdarsky's Howard the Duck, Dennis Hopeless' Spider-Woman, Squirrel Girl by Ryan North and Captain Marvel by Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters.

Squirrel Girl I read Volume 1 and a bit of volume 2. The book is damn God awful, both in terms of story and art.

But Captain Marvel, Howard the Duck and Spider-Woman have all been great.
Howard is quite drenched in sci-fi which I wasn't expecting, I didn't like the art by Joe Quinones but it works for the story.
Captain Marvel has bad art by Kris Anka and Felipe Smith. Enjoyed the sci-fi derelict space ship that infects their space station story.
Spider-Woman has great art by Greg Land and Javier Rodriguez both matching their story arcs. Greg Land during the Spiderverse arc and Javier when Jennifer quits Avengers and goes street level.
These recent books I'd rate higher than any of the stuff I've read from the 60's, 1970 or 1971.

I'll be honest about manga, I'm currently only reading Naruto which is fine and fun. I'd easily take the above mentioned comics over Naruto any day as well.

Marvel does not have reboots by the way, never have. Their new #1's mean a new story arcs or new creative team but the characters histories are not erased. DC are very bad with this unfortunately on the other hand. There is very little Identity rebounding either, popular characters have constantly changed over the past 60+ years, it's not new.

You gotta be kidding me? East of west? Mediocre. Black science? Okay, but compared to a decent manga its trash tier. The only western that comes remotely close to manga i've read is ultimate spiderman. Naruto is a mediocre manga.
The problem with western comics is that they constantly have the need to reboot or create some huge crossover event to drive up sales, not to mention having to stick to a wide canon which limits creativity. They also tend to change artists every few issues, which is extremely jarring and newer artists tend to be inferior to the starting ones. They could never compete with manga, and now with the infestation of extreme wokeness, all hope is lost. There is a reason sales are what they are mate.

 

[hyperbertha]

Emilia Clarke’s Debut Comic Book Follows a Single Mom Whose Secret Weapon Is Her Period​

She can swing like Spider-Man from her armpit hair.

Emilia Clarke’s Debut Comic Book Follows a Single Mom Whose Secret Weapon Is Her Period

Emilia Clarke discusses her progressive new comic series 'Mom,' joining Marvel and the 'Game of Thrones' show 'House of the Dragon.'

variety.com

I used to like Emilia clarke. Not anymore after reading this post.

 

[hyperbertha]

Both media are samey to me, I tend to prefer more stylistic things like, I dunno how to differentiate them, graphic novels?

I prefer this...

To this...

I mean, I consciously chose Ninja Scroll because that's a legit good bit of the medium but I still think the drawing style is hugely derivative and samey.

For the record I'm pretty tired of this too:

A subjective opinion. I much prefer attack on titan's art style to sergio toppi's. Way more expressive, and beautiful characters. Toppi's style is over detailed imo, not to mention time consuming for a weekly manga. But If you like that kind of work there are options in manga too. I think Berserk, vagabond, santuary, claymore etc would be more your style.

 

[Tschumi]

A subjective opinion.

And fair enough

Edit: his weren't weekly.. neither was my reading of them hehe

 

[sol_bad]

You gotta be kidding me? East of west? Mediocre. Black science? Okay, but compared to a decent manga its trash tier. The only western that comes remotely close to manga i've read is ultimate spiderman. Naruto is a mediocre manga.
The problem with western comics is that they constantly have the need to reboot or create some huge crossover event to drive up sales, not to mention having to stick to a wide canon which limits creativity. They also tend to change artists every few issues, which is extremely jarring and newer artists tend to be inferior to the starting ones. They could never compete with manga, and now with the infestation of extreme wokeness, all hope is lost. There is a reason sales are what they are mate.

I love Science fiction, I'd put East of West, Black Science, Lazerus, Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Gunnm as my top tier. There is no infestation of wokeness in the west, the books that the angry reactionist websites and YouTube channels cover are about 5% of what's available out there.

Both mediums are great, I don't understand the need to trash one of the industries.

strange headache You are still ignoring my questions.
Why can't comics based on very popular shows sell well?
Why can't popular IPs sell well?
Have you read any of the 70 books mentioned in my last link? When I say read, I mean at least 50% and not just an issue or two. I've read through 18 of them and have another 5 on my shelf waiting to be read.

 

[Durask]

I am allergic to anything that involves superheroes so 90% of US comics are an automatic pass for me and the rest, well, since there is so much manga to read (more than I could ever hope to actually read) I can't be bothered to look at US comics.

 

[BaneIsPain]

I grew up with a lot of mangas because it is affordable and cheap in my country compared to comic. Nevertheless, both are enjoyable.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Honestly I enjoy both. It just depends on what kind of mood I'm in and what kind of story I'm wanting to read.


But I will say that I have read far more comics than I have manga for what it's worth.

 

[Konnor]

I don't really care about either but I wouldn't object to reading some good mangas. The pretentious cookie cutter trash that pass for comics nowadays are simply intolerable, you'd have to pay me to read that obnoxious bullshit.

 

[JSoup]

I don't really care about either but I wouldn't object to reading some good mangas. The pretentious cookie cutter trash that pass for comics nowadays are simply intolerable, you'd have to pay me to read that obnoxious bullshit.

The interesting thing about that is manga does that too, but differently. A trend pops up, a thousand and one manga are created around that trend, new trend comes along, repeat. It's a strange situation of always something new but also business as usual. Really strange market.

Western comics are more like soap operas, the point is to keep the same ball rolling for years and years on end.

 

[Neolombax]

Used to be all over manga in my younger days. Less interested in them these days. I only read One Hero Academia, Fairy Tail 100 Year smthg smthg, and Black Clover.

 

[jshackles]

 

[Halo is Back]

DC and marvel lost their audience a long time ago. With Superhero movies and TV shows so popular and accessible why would anyone try to get into comics now? I have always been a movie/film guy so I never got the appeal for graphic novels

 

[Brian Fellows]

Good for Manga I guess. I have no interest in that format though. I’ll go down with the comics ship.

 

[sunnysideup]

Try to do this with a comic. You cant because its all fucking incoherent in its storytelling.

 

[JSoup]

Try to do this with a comic. You cant because its all fucking incoherent in its storytelling.

That's not the standard for manga, though. Not even close. One Punch Man just happens to be well thought out. Try doing the same with any of the last 200 chapters of One Piece or all of Blame!.
This isn't proof against the idea, of course, it's just an example. Doing something like above comes down to what a particular creator is capable of doing multiplied by what the editor will allow him/her to do.

 

[Fbh]

There's great work with both.

But the popular stuff with fixed periodical releases is way more enjoyable in Manga. More straightforward, more variety instead of the same character recycled forever, just one storyline where things matter instead of self contained "runs" with no long lasting consequences, easier to access and follow with many popular mangas offering free weekly/monthly chapters, etc

Also less woke

 

[MvCSpiderman]

Oh you mean graphic novels, comic strips are huge right now.

 

[sol_bad]

I'm going to start Assassination Classroom tonight. Read the first volume and see what I think.
^__^

 

[Karmic Raze]

Manga’s cool, but I’d honestly rather just watch anime. Not much of a print material reading type of guy.

 

[sol_bad]

OK, so volume 1 of Assassination Classroom was not very good. Really weird concept and the story did absolutely nothing for characterisation so I don't care about anyone yet.

Has anyone else read or watched this?

 

[hyperbertha]

OK, so volume 1 of Assassination Classroom was not very good. Really weird concept and the story did absolutely nothing for characterisation so I don't care about anyone yet.

Has anyone else read or watched this?

Its got an anime adaptation that I've been meaning to watch. Season two is pretty highly rated. Each season covers 10 volumes.

 

[JSoup]

Its got an anime adaptation that I've been meaning to watch. Season two is pretty highly rated. Each season covers 10 volumes.

Partner watched it so I saw around half of every other episode. Seemed like it kept with the common pattern. People fail, then they don't fail. Stuff is learned, then put to use in ways that supposedly clever and really stupid. Repeat. With one really funny exception:

 

[Amiga]

Western comics have never been a juggernaut of cultural export.

in the Middle East over 30 years ago we had Batman/Superman/Spider-Man and Hulk translated and sold on newsstands. Also had other stuff like Archie and Disney.

I mean, I consciously chose Ninja Scroll because that's a legit good bit of the medium but I still think the drawing style is hugely derivative and samey.

Anime pre-90s used to have more diverse distinct styles like Leiji Matsumoto, Osamu Tezuka. now only few remain in the mainstream like Akira Toriyama. styles became similar because they are easier to produce.

Beyond on the all the politics in comics, I think another important thing that is holding them back is just being so heavily tied to the big 2, DC and Marvel.

the industry is not as bad as you think. original graphic novel series have a healthy market and are sold in general bookstores. a series like Last Kids on Earth was popular enough to get a show on Netflix. this outside the "big 2" market is finding success because it's published like comics. liner stories contained within one series.

 

[Amiga]

Try to do this with a comic. You cant because its all fucking incoherent in its storytelling.

this is the talent of the actual artists. not a standard for the average Manga. we can also selectively find plenty of amazing art in Comics..

 

[sol_bad]

in the Middle East over 30 years ago we had Batman/Superman/Spider-Man and Hulk translated and sold on newsstands. Also had other stuff like Archie and Disney.

Are you saying they are no longer selling in the Middle East?

 

[Amiga]

Are you saying they are no longer selling in the Middle East?

now it's mostly the lame coloring books, Supermen/Batman main comics at least lasted until a few years ago. never been to a magazine stand in a long time so don't know what is still selling.

 

[Tschumi]

Anime pre-90s used to have more diverse distinct styles like Leiji Matsumoto, Osamu Tezuka. now only few remain in the mainstream like Akira Toriyama. styles became similar because they are easier to produce.

I hear you, my favourite anime are probably the guy in my avatar and 999 from the 70s, so i have been able to track down some special ones, but yeah by and large i stand by my op

 

[sol_bad]

now it's mostly the lame coloring books, Supermen/Batman main comics at least lasted until a few years ago. never been to a magazine stand in a long time so don't know what is still selling.

No comic book shops over there?