Forum - View topicOEL manga jumping the shark
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Maryohki
 Posts: 526 |
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I really hate most OEL manga. I haven't really bought any, because I don't trust it to not be terrible. I'd be fine with the stuff if Tokyopop or whoever would just put out GOOD OEL manga, but most of this stuff is crap in art, story, character, etc. It's to the point that, whenever I feel like starting a new series, I ALWAYS check to see if the creator is Japanese or Korean before I even dream of picking it up.
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The Xenos
 Posts: 1519 Location: Boston |
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Maryohki, there are some good books laveled as 'OEL manga'. Of course even more so, I suggest checking out American comics in general. (Or European or South American comics if you can find any in America.) Try to make the jump out of Japan or Korean books.
Try to find a comic book store and look around. I wouldn't suggest monthlies, but if you find a book and you can't wait for the trade collection, they are there. Some good titles? Well I guess it all depends on what manga, books, movies, and stories in general that you like. Re-Gifters or My Faith in Frankie are great books. Though I hate the collection of My Faith in Frankie because they removed all the color from the original comic. Did DC / Vertigo really think that black and white would con people into thinking it's manga? Bah. I myself love Hellboy. It's full of wonderful international mythology and folklore. Carla Speed McNeil's Finder is brilliant. An independent comic that's got some great world building in it. Then there are great American authors like Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Neil Gaiman, and Alan Moore.  (Like that great American band, The Beatles.)
Neil Gaiman's Sandman may be a bit mature, but that too contains a lot of literary and folklore references. Brian K Vaughn has some great books. Y The Last Man. Ex Machina. The Pride of Baghdad graphic novel. Runaways. Oh dead crap, Runaways from Marvel is awesome. Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan's Demo is amazing. Slice of life stories sometimes with a hint of paranormal. Cloonan's also worked on the sadly canceled title American Virgin. Wood has the interesting Oni Press book Local, which is more slice of life. Oh and David Mack's Kabuki is brilliant. It's seeped in Japanese culture as well is a mind bending book that twists and experiments with the art form of comics.
Actually, if you're in France, shouldn't if be Japanese bande dessinée?
AMEN! I am simply dumbfounded and infuriated by the morons who print original English works right to left. Plus the argument that manga is an art style is just like you said, a stereotype. Not quite a negative one, but any stereotype is confining and only serves to confine an artist and audience. Though I really can't blame Avatar. I don't think it's the show itself as much as the fans. Kinda like Invader Zim fandom. Many are anime fans who somehow liked an American show, but they're almost ashamed to admit they like something that's not anime, so they just call it anime to appease their weeaboo mentality. They insist upon it. |
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KyuuA4
 Posts: 1361 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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And the same stuff keeps going on and on again, huh?
Says who? Americans? Westerners? I love how Western culture has the right to coin cultural terms - as if - their terminology is the end-all be-all of terms. We see the same sort of argument in the Sub vs Dub debate. Somehow, too much "stress" on the "importance" of preserving the original Japanese content. In this case, we have Western culture producing its own manga. By the way, there exists GERMAN manga artists. Under the German language, the material produced here is "manga". |
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Andrue
Posts: 79 |
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The term Manga wasnt coined by the US. Its a term for Japanese Comics. Just like Manhwa is a term for Korean comics. Hell, we used to call it Japanimation. You cant call an OEL manga because Its not a japanese cartoon. Just like you cant draw in the style of Disney and call it a disney cartoon. It just isnt. |
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Rika-chama
 Posts: 87 |
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I don't really see why anyone should care if it's called manga or not. It does say OEL in the name as to show it's not japanese but american. Western artists are being influenced by manga artists and therfore producing their own manga. |
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KyuuA4
Posts: 1361 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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Best to find out WHO attributed Manga as "Japanese comics". It's certainly not the Japanese. I'm curious as to what Frederik Schodt's book, Manga Manga: The World of Japanese Comics has to say. Here, I used the JWPce to look up "manga". I don't see anything in there describing Japanese explicit. Instead, it's a general term. http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7706/mangauy4.jpg If "manga" were to refer to Japanese comics, then "hon" should then refer to Japanese book. Does that make sense? No, because we all know that a book is a book. |
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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Technically you're right. However, you are rather missing the point. Do you call American or Russian or French tanks "panzers"? No, of course you don't. Why? Because we already have the word "tank". Hence, if we use the word "panzer" it's because we want to draw attention to the fact that it is a specifically German tank. The fact that the word "panzer" could be applied to tanks from any nation and not technically be wrong is immaterial. Same goes for "manga". Yes, it just means "comic" in Japanese - but why on Earth would you use a Japanese word in place of the perfectly good English one we already have if not to draw attention to its nation of origin? Moreover, since the vast majority of English-speaking people would associate "panzer" with German tanks and "manga" with Japanese comics (regardless of how universal the terms are when used by Germans or Japanese people respectively), why would you want to confuse things by applying the words differently? |
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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Hon'ya-chan
 Posts: 973 |
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Thats been bugging me for sometime. Aside from Megatokyo and Aoi House, most of the other offerings are pretty much a miss. Having Ai Yazawa ink and pencil Princess Ai never helped it (in before arguments about Crack Whore Courtney Love and Mid-life Crisis DJ Milky). It can't escape the fact that yes, it's American Bred and Born. Plus I'm seriously doubting theirs some quality control, or the Marketing Department isn't doing their research. IIRC, TOKYOPOOP released an OEL about a DDR Clone masquerading as a Fitness Trend. Now what genius in marketing thought that would sell like hotcakes? |
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Bu:Ru
 Posts: 10 |
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Most of the ideas are so unoriginal its not even funny. Most OELs are horror/comedy/romance mangas, like "I Luv Halloween", or "My Dead Girlfriend", or "Blood Relatives". They're all just overused ideas. But some of them are not that bad. I found "Dramacon" to be quite amusing, and "Off*Beat" sounds pretty interesting.
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Bu:Ru
Posts: 10 |
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It all really depends on what ideas you have. If you do a horror like millions of other people have done, you have a bad manga. It's all about originality.
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Rika-chama
Posts: 87 |
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The thing about OEL manga is you have to sift through all the bad just to find the good stuff. 12 Days was really good and very different from most OELs I've seen. The Dreaming is kinda cliche but I would say worth a read. Also Sokora Refugees is pretty good if you get past all the fan-service (which I must say this is one of the few mangas where I actually likes all the fan-service) and while I haven't read it I've heard Sea Princess Azuri is pretty good also. For me I won't buy an OEL unless I know it's going to be good. I almost forgot I also haven't read this but Steady Beat looks like it might be good.
Bu:Ru I though you were joking about the title I Luv Halloween but I'm sad to say it does exist  [/b]
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The Xenos
Posts: 1519 Location: Boston |
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Considering how crappy TokyoPop is looking to treat its original creators, I'd say their OEL 'manga' trend has more than jumped the shark.
http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/05/28/tokyopop-hey-dude-totally-bad-contract/ Many of these creators would be better off with publishers who called their books comics still. |
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croakinglizard
Posts: 14 |
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To be fair, OEL manga hasn't even reached it's prime. It's still young. I'm a big fan of what Ayokillyou recommended back on page 3. King City (Brandon Graham), East Coast Rising (Becky Cloonan), Sharkknife (Corey Lewis), and Wonton Soup (James Stokoe) are all worthy of purchase. |
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nhat
Posts: 922 |
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It seems like OEL is using the word manga instead of comics to ride the popularity of mangas nowadays.
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). Anyway, the term manga shouldn't even exist, it should be "Japanese comics". Okay, I'm leaving. 
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