kadath
2006-07-07 03:58 pm UTC (link)

I don't know if you also covered pacing differences between American and Japanese comics because of the languages and how they're written (because I am at work and do not have time), but I'd like to read an essay on that. So if you've done that, awesome.

Also, a piece on the very early stuff (Astroboy, etc.) and the influence of the American scene at the time (DisneyOMG) would be cool.

Also also, a piece on Japanese traditional narrative and how it influences the tropes of the genre would be aces.

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	telophase 2006-07-07 04:15 pm UTC (link)
	I haven't done a whole lot of comparison between American and Japanese comics - the one I did concentrated on the visual flow more tha anything else. Thanks! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kadath 2006-07-07 04:19 pm UTC (link)
	I read little manga, because I find the visual style (and the price!) offputting and the artistic conventions hard to follow, but I am a voracious reader of American comics, so "why this is confusing you, you stupid gaijin" articles are right up my alley. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

telophase
2006-07-07 04:27 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, it's all in the visual language, so to speak. There's exceptions in every case of course, but generally American comics hold the text as more prominent and you follow around the page by jumping from text balloon to text balloon in a logical manner, while Japanese comics integrate the balloons into the art and you have to follow cues in the art as well as the text balloons - if you pay attention only to the text when looking where to go next, you'll get confused.

It's especially important in places where the artist takes your eye backwards to normal text-reading order via the balloons and the artwork. Once you've got time, my visual flow essays here and here talk about that sort of thing, although visual flow shows up in just about everything I write. The thing about American comics is here, although that's mostly me scanning a batch of my comics and posting them for other people to talk about.

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	kyuuketsukirui 2006-07-08 10:44 am UTC (link)
	if you pay attention only to the text when looking where to go next, you'll get confused. I don't find that to be true at all, myself. I usually barely look at the pictures... (Reply to this)(Parent)

chibikaijuu
2006-07-12 08:27 pm UTC (link)

It's interesting, as I have the opposite problem. I can't deal with American comics at all, and find the prices on western graphic novels to be too high versus a ten-dollar volume of manga. (Okay, that's an overstatement - there are western comics I enjoy, though I do generally steer clear of superhero comics because there are just too many damned reworkings to follow. I'm still primarily a reader of manga and find the art vastly preferable.)

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pandap
2006-07-07 04:24 pm UTC (link)

Hm. Things like "What's up with all the incest?" or "Speech/thought bubbles and boxes: a comparison"?

Actually I'm interested in those flowers/butterflies/paint splotches/etc. that you often see in shoujo manga, the relationship btw a mangaka and her assistants (how they share work and stuff), the relationship between a mangaka and her editor, and how character designs change or are shaped to fit a story.

I'd also be interested in the business of the magazines like LaLa and Jump that the manga run in before they're collected into books, and about manga that are sold straight to book form.

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	pandap 2006-07-07 04:27 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, and symbolism and the evolution of symbolic shorthand. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	telophase 2006-07-07 04:36 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks! :D I'm interested in those, too, and I don't know much about mangakas' work processes, so ... woo, an excuse to go find out. XD (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sashenka 2006-07-08 05:56 am UTC (link)
	"What's up with all the incest?" That was basically going to be my suggestion, too. I find it to be a interesting theme in some series, but there's a damn lot of it in the Japanese pop media that I've been exposed to and I think it even came up in my Japanese classes, but I can't remember. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	beccastareyes 2006-07-07 04:30 pm UTC (link)
	I'd be interested in character archetypes in manga/comics -- defining traits, how they are used to manipulate the audience, and how perception changes in the overseas audience (which might tie into why certain series are popular here and not in Japan and vice versa). (Reply to this)(Thread)

	telophase 2006-07-07 04:37 pm UTC (link)
	Nice one, thanks! :D (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	beccastareyes 2006-07-07 04:44 pm UTC (link)
	It's just kind of interesting, in-genre. I mean, in fantasy, if you say 'fire-mage', people automatically get an idea about his/her looks/personality (hot-tempered, passionate person with red hair and a pyromaniac streak). You can then surprise them with a warm and inviting grandmother-type with gold-brown eyes and who smells like she's been baking all day. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	phosfate 2006-07-07 04:51 pm UTC (link)
	And along with that, stuff that we totally miss in translation -- meanings of characters' names, multi-level puns, etc. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	charmian 2006-07-07 04:55 pm UTC (link)
	I'd be interested in some stuff about the demographics of the Japanese manga-reading public (by publication, etc.), and the role of marketing and the editors within the manga publication process. Also more information about how manga tends to be produced (like how people become assistants, the procedures through which they're hired). (Reply to this)(Thread)

	telophase 2006-07-07 05:47 pm UTC (link)
	I wanna know that, too. XD put on list Thanks! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	skewed_tartan 2006-07-07 05:11 pm UTC (link)
	How about how female archetypes are portrayed in manga vs. Western comics. Like, you know how manga (esp. shoujo manga) has a magical girl archetype where the girl becomes a heroine through magical means while in Western comics it tends to be more a matter of genetics or a freak accident. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	telophase 2006-07-07 05:47 pm UTC (link)
	That's an interesting take on it - what I usually see is people discussing it along gender lines - boys are usually heroes through innate characteristics while girls get it given to them. Thanks. :D (Reply to this)(Parent)

	khym_chanur 2006-07-07 07:54 pm UTC (link)
	Along somewhat similar lines: fanservice in manga vs. fanservice in western comics. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ladybirdsleeps 2006-07-07 05:20 pm UTC (link)
	I think you should do a piece on the different styles of drawing boobies. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	telophase 2006-07-07 05:43 pm UTC (link)
	A WINNAR IS YOU! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	puipui 2006-07-07 07:56 pm UTC (link)
	I'd read that. Or at least look at the pictures. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	deoridhe 2006-07-07 05:25 pm UTC (link)
	I have fun with comparisons of manga characters and storylines and mythology. A lot of manga draws on different mythological and folk history stories, and it's interesting to see what is change and why. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	telophase 2006-07-07 05:45 pm UTC (link)
	regards Saiyuki* and Dragonball Z, both based on the same mythology* Yup, definitely a lot of material there. :D (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	deoridhe 2006-07-07 06:25 pm UTC (link)
	Hellsing would be an excellent one as well. Personally, I'm fond of all of the Norse-based ones; I'm having a trip with Magical Detective Loki Ragnorak right now; Thor just showed up and he's so much like I'd sort of expect him, only teenage and not visibly muscular. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sharonapple 2006-07-07 06:31 pm UTC (link)
	I'm lazy and don't really read many essays on the topic, so I wouldn't know if this is overdone- but maybe you could look at how female behaviour is portrayed in Japanese vs Western comics? Or even the differences in how women are written and even drawn by male and female mangaka? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	telophase 2006-07-07 06:34 pm UTC (link)
	I haven't seen it in the context of West vs. East - the OMGOVERREACT topic du jour is how that awful shoujo tells girls they should be wimpy pushovers for their abusive boyfriends.* Comparing male vs. female mangaka sounds quite interesting. Thanks! * Mostly from Hot Gimmick, which is at the extreme end of the bell curve as far as that goes. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	chibikaijuu 2006-07-12 08:31 pm UTC (link)
	Oh God, Hot Gimmick. A friend handed it to me, and I just could not stop reading it, while at the same time my mind was screaming "it burns us, my precious! It buurrrnss usssss!". (Reply to this)(Parent)

	khym_chanur 2006-07-07 07:59 pm UTC (link)
	I wonder if manga might have more instances of girls physically assulting their love interests than wester comics. I mean, I hear people get in a snit for Hermione sending attack cannaries at Ron and think that their heads would explode if they read Ranma 1/2 or Love Hina. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	skewed_tartan 2006-07-08 12:38 am UTC (link)
	Actually I have heard people bitch about Kagome "sitting" Inuyasha, but it was a western audience. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	annabelle_lee 2006-07-08 05:00 am UTC (link)
	I'd be interested in what makes a shounen hero different from any other male character outside of any obvious extra-special abilities. (Reply to this)

	kyuuketsukirui 2006-07-08 10:48 am UTC (link)
	This goes along with the mythology suggestion above, but I wrote my thesis on religion in anime and manga (focusing mostly on manga, since that's what I had more experience with). (Reply to this)

	coffee_mug 2006-07-08 03:03 pm UTC (link)
	Omg Bollywood in your icon. is mesmerized, stares (Reply to this)

linadarkstar
2006-07-08 09:46 pm UTC (link)

I want to know about the level of direct interaction manga authors include with readers, and especially whether or not it affects the popularity and how much. Some manga authors answer fanmail in their spare pages, some post fanart, some add little authors' notes but don't respond directly to readers, some do all of the above.

Also, use/misuse of the Hispanic race &/or stereotypes related thereto, whether there are consistent stereotypes or character traits across authors, things like that.

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