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Is Anime/Manga media more mainstream than comic/superhero films, media etc
- Thread starter DragonSJG
- Start date
It's funny how much people actively don't want to talk about that outfit.
Yeah, the biggest irony is how, even if superhero movies are huge now, they cant seem to attract more reader, thus Manga end up outselling DC/Marvel comics by a lot
So you've already gotten a fair number of replies to this but they were mostly focusing on superhero comics which are typically sold to the direct market in a very convoluted and silly system. In actuality superhero comics are a fraction of most comic books or graphic novels sold. The biggest publisher of graphic novels aren't DC or Marvel, it's Scholastic with books like Dog Man that are selling to a grade school audience. These sell more comparatively to manga here in the US because like manga, they are much more accessible to read and purchase.
So the answer is that tons of people read comics. Just not superhero comics.
OP
OP
I do...
But I understand that I am in the vast minority and I read them way less often than I read manga.
OP
OP
More popular than regular comics? Probably.
As for movies, even the movie industry pre-MCU had some big hitters that Anime/Manga would only dream of. I don't think they've ever been close, and the absolute explosion in popularity due to the MCU is making it likely it won't catch up for a while if ever.
As for movies, even the movie industry pre-MCU had some big hitters that Anime/Manga would only dream of. I don't think they've ever been close, and the absolute explosion in popularity due to the MCU is making it likely it won't catch up for a while if ever.
This
But I suppose characters like Ironman, GOTG, BP and MCU fan favorite would be less popular than say Goku or Naruto since mainstream anime/Manga is more popular than monthly comicbooks
I would say in general no, but Dragonball Z alone is probably as well known as any comic book aside from the BIG ones
Pretty much. I read a lot of comics (and manga). I just rarely read superhero comics. The sci-fi/horror/crime offerings are far more varied and interesting
Do you have any recommendations? Don't know much about comics besides DC/Marvel/Vertigo.
Sure. Bolded my favorites
Crime/Action
- Stray Bullets
- Criminal
- Scalped
- Southern Bastards
- Richard Stark's Parker
- DMZ
- Copra
- Deadly Class
- Sheriff of Babylon
- Kill or Be Killed
- Velvet
- 100 Bullets
- Queen & Country
Sci-fi
- Saga
- Prophet (2012 revival)
- Lazarus
- The Metabarons
- The Manhattan Projects
- Black Science
- Descender
- Paper Girls
- Planetoid
- Skyward
Horror
- Wytches
- Harrow County
- Infidel
- Rachel Rising
Seriously, they dominate the Bookscan sales (Bookstores and Amazon)
This was 2019:
https://www.comicsbeat.com/bookscan-2019-analysis/
Also, DC has got after this market hard in the past couple years, launching imprints for YA and kids graphic novels.
DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults
Superhero comics are hard to get into or aren't as consistent as manga and most people don't know very much about non-superhero comics.
A really dedicated yet niche audience. But Hollywood mostly views it as an elaborate writers room for future adaptations.
Manga>Comics and Anime>Comicbook shows, for sure. But Comic book Movies are their own breed. If not for that, then yeah.
I pay $2/mo for an app that lets me pick a series and see a chapter list that starts at 1 and goes to present day or the end, with no crossovers or background reading.
Yes I know specific runs of cape comics are generally standalone enough, but knowing how vast and busy the universe is can be unattractive to some people. I still won't touch most of them unless I get direct assurances from someone I trust that a given release really can be read on its own.
I think in Japan it is usually the other way round. Manga is more popular while anime outside of those played during Saturday/Sunday morning kids times slots are not seen as mainstream. They're usually played at odd timings. Ultimately all media (anime, games and movies etc.) are done as marketing to promote the manga.
When it comes to both western comics and manga, it's important to separate the industries at large from the top dozen or so flagship IPs on either side. For western comics that's the big Marvel and DC stuff that's getting made into movies. People all over the world know those characters like Spider-Man and Batman from the Golden Age and Silver Age when western comics (including cape comics) actually were mainstream. In the case of manga it's the big shounen stuff like Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, My Hero Academia, etc. As I understand it those might actually be the only manga characters most Japanese people recognize.
If you look at the rest of each industry, manga as a whole is probably more mainstream than cape comics, even in western countries. The picture starts to change if you include non-cape western comics like the kids' books that are sold just about everywhere.
Compared to all western comics it's cheaper for starters (especially in Japan, where you can buy hundreds of pages of manga for just a few dollars).
Compared to cape comics manga stories tend to be linear. While some more popular manga might keep going for decades, they still stay under one writer and artist and eventually end, while cape comics are unlimited stories that have been going for the better part of a century and have bounced between a bunch of different artists and writers in that time. Creatively a single character tends to be both inconsistent and chained to the unlimited story format.
I'm not an expert on western comics, but I'm told that in the mid 20th century most cape comics were written for kids and teenagers and were as a result more mainstream (basically where shounen manga and Scholastic books are today), but as time went on those books were taken over by fans who started writing them for other fans. And now cape comics are stuck in a business model where they're relatively expensive books sold in specialty shops specifically for nerds.
A little while back there was an interview with Alan Moore about his recent TV series (did that come out?) where he said he originally got into comics because they were "vulgar" -- written for and sold to working-class people. That kind of describes where manga in general is at now. I see some people who say they don't like "anime" style but that pretty much just refers to the flagship anime and manga I mentioned above. Outside of that the number and variety of manga that get published in Japan is simply gigantic. The same goes for the art style. There are different manga written for pretty much everyone. You can find a manga about pretty much any subject you can think of.
If you look at the rest of each industry, manga as a whole is probably more mainstream than cape comics, even in western countries. The picture starts to change if you include non-cape western comics like the kids' books that are sold just about everywhere.
As people have pointed out, manga is just more accessible in multiple ways compared to cape comics.
Compared to all western comics it's cheaper for starters (especially in Japan, where you can buy hundreds of pages of manga for just a few dollars).
Compared to cape comics manga stories tend to be linear. While some more popular manga might keep going for decades, they still stay under one writer and artist and eventually end, while cape comics are unlimited stories that have been going for the better part of a century and have bounced between a bunch of different artists and writers in that time. Creatively a single character tends to be both inconsistent and chained to the unlimited story format.
I'm not an expert on western comics, but I'm told that in the mid 20th century most cape comics were written for kids and teenagers and were as a result more mainstream (basically where shounen manga and Scholastic books are today), but as time went on those books were taken over by fans who started writing them for other fans. And now cape comics are stuck in a business model where they're relatively expensive books sold in specialty shops specifically for nerds.
A little while back there was an interview with Alan Moore about his recent TV series (did that come out?) where he said he originally got into comics because they were "vulgar" -- written for and sold to working-class people. That kind of describes where manga in general is at now. I see some people who say they don't like "anime" style but that pretty much just refers to the flagship anime and manga I mentioned above. Outside of that the number and variety of manga that get published in Japan is simply gigantic. The same goes for the art style. There are different manga written for pretty much everyone. You can find a manga about pretty much any subject you can think of.
This. I peek at Japan anime ratings charts every few days or so and the most popular shows are the same handful of family-oriented anime that most anime fans in western countries have never heard of or at least never seen: stuff like Sazae San or Doraemon that's more like Japan's equivalent of The Simpsons. Somewhere way down the list you might see MHA or some other Shounen Jump anime. Most other anime (outside big movies like Ghibli and Your Name) is pretty niche even in Japan.
Well personally, I read manga over comics because I prefer the art style more. I like the personal connection with the author, the simplicity of black-and-white art, and the beauty that thoughtfully crafted panels can evoke.
Also, a lot of comics have very complex and realistic character designs. I prefer simple, Anime-esque character designs instead.
Beyond the whole story / procedural issues, art style is what it boils down to the most.
Case in point, I do genuinely enjoy black-and-white graphic novels too. But they are generally a lot more rare than manga...>99% of comics are in color. Like for example, I loved reading Art Spiegelman's Maus.
I was talking only about Pokemon, never see people mentioning the manga.
Let me guess, the in-universe explanation was that Sue was being "assertive" wearing that?
Ah. Ok. Pokemon is one of those kids primetime anime shows. Ultimately I think the anime serves to promote the games and merchandise in the whole chain of things.
Did you only read the thread title?
In other news:
Adult graphic novel sales figures reveal nearly 30% sales jump in 2020
16.2 million adult graphic novels were sold in 2020 (yeah, that's a lot)
www.gamesradar.com
Graphic novel sales up 42% in North American bookstores this quarter
With Dog Man and manga driving the big gains
www.gamesradar.com
Of course not. My grandma knows who Batman and Superman are. She doesn't know who Goku or Naruto are.
Cheaper, whether digital or physical you get a lot more buying manga.
More variety that's easily accessible. The biggedt American publishers have very little outside of cape books.
Easier to follow. Pick up Naruto volume 1 and go. While with say X-Men you need to find the right run of the right volume of the right series if you want to follow chronological order or even just a good run.
Manga also makes a better effort to get kids while they're younger. Scholastic book fairs always have random Viz books in them like Naruto while DC and Marvel flake on that market regularly.
A number of factors- it's easier to follow (series end, unlike comics where one character might have 200 different comic series over the years), it's cheaper ($10-15 USD for a novel vs $4-5 for single issues or 15-20 for a trade), and even factors like "it's easier to read for free" based on the culture of fan translations which doesn't exist for comics
The films and characters? Absolutely not, but popular anime/manga are definitely more popular than the current state of the actual comics themselves
Disney is a titanic media empire and is relentless in putting its superheroes in practically any merchandise you can envision. The movies alone suffice in answering this question. Then you have the flooding of expanded content, the action figures, the theme park attractions, the insane marketing, etc.
This is exactly why their needs to be a Shonen Jump Cinematic Universe. The books are already poppin might as well make some bank with films. Start off with the Dragon Ball movie, then Naruto movie, then have Ichigo in the crossover. Dragon Balls are the Infinity Stones and Frieza is the villain. One Piece is a phase 2 film because our test audience said their were too many jokes and no stakes
Despite being garbage, didn't Jump Force sell fairly well?
Anime movies tends to be awful. And 2 hours can't even start with the story of OP lol.
You know I feel like it didn't. No proof there but I just feel like that's the case.
The One Piece movie starts at the Buggy arc and ends when they enter the Grand Line. We skip ever characters' backstory and release them as DVD extras
Eh, this wouldn't work. Unlike Marvel and DC, where the characters actually exist in the same universe, all the titles you mentioned do not. They are their own worlds and universes, that work on separate rules. Putting them together to try and make a cohesive narrative sounds like a nightmare. it's usually saved for fighting game crossovers like Jump Force, where the "plot" is nonexistent or laughably stupid.
How many franchises would even be able to keep up with DBZ characters for this to even work?
In the same way Hawkeye and Black Widow exist with Thor and dem. And Asgard. This is Saiyan saga we talkin bout
According to the Battle Wiki Goku is Low 2-C/Universe+, so yeah...
You right.
They would just have to stop doing that "we all fight one at a time" shit.
I don't even know wtf that means.