Forum - View topicAnswerman - Are American Comics Popular In Japan?
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ulyssesjoyce89
Posts: 8 |
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Actually Stuart the reason marvel does not sale well it because the put too much politics in their books.They forgot to market it to the fans.Also the major fault for Marvel and DC is their constant reboots and universe shuffling. Those twitter and tumblr writters are employed by actual comic book writers.Comic Book writers and comics have always never sale well .The only time they did was in the 90s when the speculator or collecting market went to roof.The industry justn needs to start catering to the fans and not the progressive left. |
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Primus
 Posts: 2761 Location: Toronto |
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American comics aren't even popular in North America, why would they be in a country that produces loads of its own material?
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Waffitti
 Posts: 55 |
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From the looks of it, Kazuki Takahashi kept up with the darker heroes of the '90s closely. His art exchange with Hellboy's Mike Mignola was a standout case, but before that, some of the pre-Duelist Kingdom chapters of Yu-Gi-Oh (material not adapted for the Toei anime IIRC) featured a pastiche of them - Zombire/Zombyra. One classmate of Yugi's is a huge fan and owns a lot of merch (even that most American of pastimes - the comic character model kit), but its kinda implied that he doesn't have any distribution in Japan: the boy's dad goes to America on business trips a lot & brings back Zombire merch.
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4082 |
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The 50s with WDC & S headlined by Barks selling several million per month... from wiki "By the mid-1950s the title was the best selling comic book in the United States, with a monthly circulation of over three million"... which was just one title. Back then, comics were a big deal but only got smaller every decade since. I hear they're still very big in Europe. Sure, they're not superhero comics but they're still owned by Disney. What do comic books need? Beyond a resurgence of print, a pre-illiterate audience and a non poisonous fan base? Ideas, artists, writers, the usual stuff. It's all been done before, dead and buried but came back to life but this time, I don't think anyone's interested in doing it. |
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EricJ2
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And then there's the factor that the people who most flock to or get attached to superhero movies are those that have NEVER READ them in their lives. I'll admit to reading a few of them back in college, so I at least knew who the Avengers, X-Men or New Mutants were (ohh, that trailer...  ), and I can go to next week's Black Panther movie knowing who that character is without ever having read an issue in my life. Or, more to the point, bought one.
And that's in a country where you can read the comics. The problems with Asian countries is that while the movies look slick, big-budget and American Hollywood enough to be flashy and sophisticated compared to the local output, that's not the same thing as actually knowing who Superman or Captain America is. One of the things that pulled the rug out from Hollywood's "It's all about China!" box-office mania last summer is that while China might flock to Batman v. Superman or Spiderman: Homecoming's opening weekend, they don't stay around as the idea of rogue heroes breaking rules to fix society by themselves without the police simply doesn't resonate in the culture, and the movies ultimately tanked abroad. Tokyo's not as repressive as Beijing, and loves their manga, but they still can't quite get their heads around why some buff beefcake would dress up brightly colored leotards and say "Leave everything to me!" On the contrary, it's considered so ridiculous it's seen as something stereotypically and egotistically "American", and while I haven't seen enough of My Hero Academia enough to comment, it's fair to say that the more "American" style heroes of All Might and Mt. Lady, etc., are not meant to be flattering depictions of the country's culturally imported cape industry. (Especially once our hero is disillusioned by All Might's "secret", which seems to be a deliberate slap at the soaring red, white and blue.) The novelty of the movies, and carpetbagging American comic-book companies, try to tap into anime and manga to sell their product abroad, but it just never quite...translates. Marvel could hire out studios to try to sell anime versions of Wolverine, Iron Man, Dr. Strange or the X-Men, but by the time Japan tries to get their heads around the stories and shoehorn them into their own storytelling contexts, Logan is a generic wandering antihero, Tony Stark is fighting corporate in-battles, Stephen Strange is a maverick surgeon just like Black Jack, and X-Men pretty much focuses on the one Tokyo girl who joined the team. (I haven't seen their Blade version, but at least "Vampire hunter" is one manga concept they already grasp.) Last edited by EricJ2 on Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:56 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ulyssesjoyce89
Posts: 8 |
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There is a lot of good ideas coming out but agin it the far left that is hurting it.Honestly I still believe the reason we are stuck with pleasing the far left and not making book for the actual reader. also I think the main reason the decline started in the 50 is because of the Fredric Wertham;s book.Actually I think I do not trust the Wiki article since that site is use by the far left sometmes.I doubt comics in the 50 were that popular. |
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stowrag
Posts: 47 |
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Aww... I hoped after that amazing Ms. Marvel Japanese cover came out last year it meant some of my favorite books were making a dent in international markets.
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ninjamitsuki
 Posts: 590 Location: Anywhere (Thanks, technology) |
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I know Yasuhiro Nightow is a HUGE American comic fan, and it definitely shows in his works.
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ulyssesjoyce89
Posts: 8 |
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I think the Japaese should just enjoy their books since the comics are much better then the stuff coming form American comics right now.
i Still believe the industry will in the US will come back when we get rid of the idea to appease the far left(and the start of the surgance of the digital comics with print being for the hard core fans only.) Agin I doubt none of you in this site who have far leftest ideas are going to agree. |
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Lord Oink
Posts: 876 |
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Japan made fun of those series. They laughed at how the cover looked completely different from the interior art, especially Squirrel Girl. There was a huge thing on Japanese Twitter about it Seriously though, using Ms Marvel and Squirrel Girl, which not even America likes to promote Marvel in Japan? What were they thinking? At least Gwenpool was originally done by Gurihiru. |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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...Someone's new at this, huh? 
Well, they've got cult-loyalty with readers, just not huge mainstream breakout characters at the moment--But they're certainly so American in their own way, they're just about the last characters you'd send to Tokyo. Unless, of course, you were trying to cash in on the current corporate audience cult-hits, or think "They're Japanese, they'll love it if it's a teen girl!" They would have probably had more luck sending over Ironheart or America Chavez, even though US fans hate that current craze at Marvel offices at the moment. (There's recent been a management shakeup, and fans are blaming either the new "Kick out the Marvel patriarchy" retcon after Agent Carter fangirls started grabbing too much airtime pretending they actually read the comics, or else the board was trying to find whose head could roll for Captain Hydra.) Kamala Khan leads a real US schoolgirl's life in real US high schools, not a dreamy-eyed Japanese one's in Japanese schools, even leaving aside the uniquely Western "Muslim prejudice" issue that was originally supposed to be her big social appeal. And having to explain who exactly the big slobbery alien bulldog is, which has been rather, um...problematic for Marvel at the moment. 'Nuff said. And Doreen Green was supposed to be Howard the Duck-like comic-deconstruction satire, which, like The Tick, you would have actually have to have read comics on a regular basis to get the joke. She may be likeable, and "unbeatable", but she's more of a genre parody than a character, and not exactly a hero you're supposed to take as seriously as Captain Marvel. |
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CastMember1991
 Posts: 858 |
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Just reading this makes me wonder if Fujiko Fujio did their own take on Mickey Mouse before working on Doraemon in the late 60's, that would be interesting. I already know for sure Osamu Tezuka did (or tried to do) a manga adaptation of Bambi.
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TheAnimeRevolutionizer
 Posts: 329 |
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I can't believe that Answerman missed even the godfather of Anime and Manga himself: Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka was a big fan of Superman, and he was the president of the Japan Superman Fan Club up until his passing in 1989.
Not to derail, but honestly, comics and manga in this country find themselves at the core of counterculture and as well as cultural revolution (no, not that cultural revolution, I'm talking about the 1960s in the west). Until writers come to realize the cultural importance comics have in the US, I don't think we'll see any growth in the future. And as for the whole political spectrum thing, I wouldn't point blame at either but every side. Making the Comics Code mandatory was set in by Christian fundamentalists who saw their decline of power into the 1990s, and while I do agree we need diversity in literature and entertainment, Marvel's poor and rather lazy attempts to do so have been so far a big turn off. The reason why manga's done so well with touching such things are the fact that the best of them see through to the base foundation of humanity and virtues we all share as beings on this world. (unlike Gate and The Irregular At Magic School)
You're alone on that battle and I don't even take sides. Godspeed and pray tell you know what's coming ahead. I still have hope though. Comics have proven to me to be a global traversing phenomenon, whatever name it goes under and wherever it manifests itself. If manga has the torch, then by all means that's who's in the lead for this generation. |
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explosionforgov
 Posts: 80 Location: United States of America |
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The far progressive left is the entire reason those characters first started existing in the first place. X-Men began as an allegory on how Jews, African-Americans, homosexuals, etc. were being unfairly treated in the United States, treated as subhumans when we are no different than anyone else. A lot of the 80's Kitty Pryde comics were about that. Captain America was punching Hitler in the face before the U.S. entered the war. Black Panther's entire existence was a political statement. It was always political. And good on Marvel for boosting up young artists and writers from Tumblr. It's so hard to break into the industry, and the old guard won't last forever. Also, it's easier to get non-comics readers into comics with an artist or writer they'll know from elsewhere. It's not just a financial thing. |
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reanimator
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That's because no one is telling young artist to develop storytelling skill over illustration skills. As an avid manga reader trying to get into comics that are NOT superhero genre, there are so many things that American comics seems to be lacking compared to Japanese counterpart. For starter, I find comic strips in newspaper to be more enjoyable than comic books. Of course comic book needs new ideas and artists, but the biggest problem that turns me away from comic books is that a lot of them don't have good visual storytelling to support their long-drawn narrative regardless of subject matter . 1. Too many of them are plagued with unnecessary narrations and monologues which don't make illustration clearer nor make story exciting. Also It makes difficult for young readers to enjoy the story clearly simply because a panel is literally cluttered with narration and monologue boxes. 2. Lack of cinematic visuals. Pictures are just dressing and lack of interesting camera angles and pacing in illustration alienates visual readers to empathize with character' and setting. 3. Telling the obvious: Here's my real life example: I saw this well drawn comic book art of graveyard with crescent moon and there is the description box on the art that states "Graveyard at 12AM". Really? The writer/artist can't trust the reader so much that he had to put a description to explain his art? 4. Nice illustration, but man...story and ideas are boring as hell even with sex and violence. |
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