Forum - View topicJason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga: The Rose of Versailles
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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Hey, look what I found. I've read atleast half of the stories on that page! I wish I still had my old Debbies and Tinas. It'd be fun to compare Britisch comics to their Japanese equivalents.
That's even more than I expected. It's kinda funny how people are aware of how popular certain weeklies are in Japan, but have no idea Britain (and several other European countries) had comics for girls that sold just as well. |
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Michi
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 741 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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A long time ago I received "Manga! Manga!" I believe as a Christmas present. I think maybe 1997. I remember being very fond of the English excerpts of some great manga in the back of the book. Since I was freshly 12 years old at the time I wasn't much for actually reading the very in-depth text of the rest of the book. Haha. The bit of Rose of Versailles there absolutely captured my heart. The rest of the manga being near impossible to find was so sad, but I did get to watch the whole anime series via VHS fansub in 2000. The series remains a fond favorite, and someday I hope to get to read the whole manga. I'd even venture to read it all in Japanese if I had the opportunity!
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vanfanel
 Posts: 1246 |
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I've only seen the anime, but the feeling I had at the end of it was one of pure satisfaction, like after you've finished a good, hearty meal. The 1970's was a great decade for manga. There were so many good *stories* -- filler free, with something to say, and sometimes really uncompromising.
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Adonisus
Posts: 20 |
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Man...I've been waiting for something like this from ann for quite some time!
I'm obsessed with old manga, and I love the older art styles for some reason. Hey Jason, are you taking suggestions for future topics? Because I can think of a few classics that deserve a bit more attention. |
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Parsifal24
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I liked the article but The Rose of Versailles seemed like a pretty obscure but worthy choice.
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nargun
Posts: 926 |
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There were girl's comics in the US too. Conventional histories of US comics dramatically overstate the importance of superheroes prior to the "Silver Age", when the Comics Code Authority effectively banned anything that wasn't a superhero comic or a mediocre melodrama. |
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diligent sesame
 Posts: 57 |
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I think I'll like this column, since I really liked Shaenon K. Garrity's Overlooked Manga Festival.
Also, I basically purchased Frederik Schodt's Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics when I saw that it had excerpts from Phoenix: Karma and Rose of Versailles. That being said, I found this first column a little difficult to read... |
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Tamaria
Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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Could you name/show me some examples? I know there were some comics out there, but I thought many of them were more like gender neutral or were simply a girly take on the superhero genre and could still be read by boys because the girls were so sexy. I also know there were plenty of romance comics, but were they specifically written for girls/young women? Britain, the Netherlands and several other European countries had multiple popular weeklies, monthlies and annuals dedicated to bringing girls their dose of comics together with fashion tips, quizes, an advice column and other fun stuff. |
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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American romance comics had a huge share of the market in the late '40s and early '50s (over 150 different titles in 1950) but between being attacked by the various campaigns against comics and the competition from cheap paperback novels, radio shows and TV soap operas they didn't stay all that popular for very long. I think they mostly skewed towards a slightly older demographic than the British titles and they didn't often (if ever) have long, ongoing storylines. David Hajdu's excellent book The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare And How It Changed America is well worth reading if you're interested in finding out more. Oh, and Carol Lay did an absolutely brilliant parody of old American romance comics that was collected a few years ago as Goodnight, Irene - The Collected Stories Of Irene Van de Kamp by Last Gasp. Buy it - you'll love it. |
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Tamaria
Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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Coincidently, I'm currently halfway through The Ten-Cent Plague. Very informative, but it's not very clear on who read those comics. It's usually 'everyone', 'kids' or 'teens'. I guess that makes sense since the publishers didn't really care who read their comics as long as they sold well enough. If crime sold, everyone made crime stories. If romance sold, everyone published romance stories, if Archie sold, everyone tried to come up with an Archie clone.
It's very different from the British publishers who knew who they wanted to sell their comics to: pre- and early teenage girls. Plus, even though these were also drawn by men, the girls are usually a lot less sexy than the ones in American comics that were read by girls. I wouldn't want to imagine what Betty and Veronica would look like if they were real! 
Do you know anything about From Girls to Grrlz : A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines and The Great Women Cartoonists by Trina Robbins? When I started looking for information about American comics for girls these two titles came up. |
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Moomintroll
Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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I'm afraid I haven't read any of her stuff. I keep meaning to pick up the Brinkley Girls collection she put together for Fantagraphics though - if you want early (pre-war) American comics for women, that should be a good starting point. You can see a 12-page preview here that shows some of Brinkley's stunning cover art. |
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 598 |
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I was just about to suggest that book. According to Robbins tons of girls read comics in the 50's (I think... I read her book like ten years ago). There were loads of romance titles. Only a few characters survived, like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, who enjoys perennial popularity to this day.The book ends before the manga boom of the 2000's. In the interest of full disclosure I should add that Robbins is writing a comic for the company I'm interning at. Robbins has been a comic writer for 30 years, according to her website. |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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My question exactly! What is its Spanish title? BTW, while Erica rarely points to reviews in the Yuri Network News, the combination of Rose of Versailles here and Maka-Maka at 365 Days of Manga snared a mention. |
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slickwataris
 Posts: 1334 Location: Carol Stream, Illinois |
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Nice article. Here's to 999 more.
I picked up Manga! Manga! at a used bookstore last week, mainly for the excerpts. There's still a few new copies on amazon, I'm surprised it's still in print. |
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Hellfish
Posts: 391 Location: Mexico |
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I went to France once, and one of the things I regret the most is never buying the Rose of Versailles manga there. It has never been published in Mexico and I can't get an import of any other place.
Great column, I expect more delighful suprises like this in the future 
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