Although comic books in America are just starting to go mainstream, they are a mainstay of Japanese popular culture and have been for decades. Japanese comics, or manga (pronounced mahn-gah), are published in weekly volumes the size of telephone directories.
Manga doesn't have the American stigma of being strictly for kids. Grown businessmen can be seen reading manga on the train ride to work. Furthermore, cartoonists — often on the lower rungs of the American entertainment celebrity ladder — can reach a tremendous level of fame in Japan.
A Different Drawing Style
Manga characters tend to have big, expressive eyes, lithe bodies, and Anglo-Saxon features. Their hair is usually quite bizarre — oddly colored and often sticking up in jagged spikes. The quality of the graceful line work is almost as important as the illustration itself.
The manga drawing technique has become wildly popular in America. The process of influence was even brought full circle with the appearance of a manga-style American comic strip artist — Aaron McGruder of Boondocks fame. Today, the art in many American comic books shows the obvious influence of manga artists.
Some distinctions of the popular manga drawing style include large eyes; small, pointed chins and noses; small mouths; and weird hairstyles.
Visual Shorthand
Manga has developed vastly different symbolism to depict characters' emotions. One of the most distinct differences is the use of chibi illustrations to express lighter moments. A chibi is a character drawn in a very cartoony, silly way. For example, imagine reading a Batman comic book in which the characters suddenly look as if Charles Schulz drew them. In manga, the portrayal of reality is more based in emotion than in fact.
A chibi illustration depicts a lighter, silly moment in an otherwise “realistic” comic.
Page Design
A final distinction of manga is based on the way Japanese print is read. Since the Japanese language is generally read right to left and top to bottom, manga pages are designed to be read that way. In Japanese comic strips, the panels are stacked vertically so the reader reads from top to bottom. The top panel can often be a title panel with a short introduction.
As American comic books push into the center of popular culture, it's not hard to imagine a time when Americans will have the same voracious comic book appetite that their Asian counterparts demonstrate. As that happens, artists and writers familiar with the medium will enjoy a greater demand — and earn more respect for their hard work. If you haven't been to your local comic shop in a while, it might behoove you to make the trip. You may be looking at the future of publishing.
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