There’s invariably a rather tense moment in my house when unsuspecting friends come to visit. At some point during the day, they’ll peruse my bookshelf and pick out a slender paperback volume of something-or-other. “What’s this?” they’ll ask, holding it out – sometimes gingerly by one corner as if it’s something nasty the cat left under the bed. I’ll glance over and recognising the character drawn on the front say something nonchalant like, “Oh, that’s Azumanga Daioh. It’s very funny, you should read it.”
At this point, they’ll thumb through it, and then look up with a look of surprise on their faces. They’ll take in my greying hair (and, I’m sad to say, crows’ feet – although I’ve promised the SPCA to stop collecting them) and generally grown-up surroundings – ok, apart from the Sabre figurine on top of the TV – and say, “But it’s a comic!”
It’s around this point that the tension rises, as I struggle to fight both my inner otaku and the Fist of Death, whilst retaining a calm exterior. However, I can’t help but sound like a terrible snob when I reply, “It’s not a comic, it’s manga.” There’s always a standard reply to this – “What’s the difference?” and to be honest I’ve never really sat down and thought about what the differences are between “comics” and “manga”, normally preferring to crush a glass in my hand in frustration and silently wish a painful death upon the Philistine I invited into my home. http://www.blogsurfer.us/
So, then I decided to sit down think about the differences between “comics” and “manga” and what makes one readable to somebody of my age and leaves the other strictly in the realm of kids. (And before everybody jumps on me – “graphic novels” are not “comics” ok? Sandman is still one of the greatest things ever drawn and written.)
After a bit of research, it came down to the fact that the Japanese have never had a problem with using manga as a valid form of entertainment for readers of all ages. It’s also been around for a very long time. Some say that the tobae of the 11th century are the great-great-great-etc-grandfathers of modern-day manga, so they’ve had a lot of time to practise. They’ve also been able to operate without a great deal of regulation. Outside of the pornography law, which prevents the display of genitalia (often overcome by the tiniest of black stripes over the offending organ… er… so I’m told); they’ve been pretty much left alone. This has resulted in its own problems, especially amongst the doujinshi market, which is a hydra the authorities are going to have to tackle.
Now don’t get me wrong, there used to be some wonderful comics floating around. I still remember sitting in dusty swap-shops reading things like Tales from the Crypt and even Superman – who seriously kicked ass in those days, unlike the wimpy namby pamby we have today. So what went wrong? Well, here’s my take on it.
The Golden Age of comics was the early 1950s. Around that time there were around 100 million copies of various cartoons being printed every month. To put it into perspective, 12% of teachers admitted to reading comics – find me one that will admit to that today. There were over 650 various titles available. Things were good in Comic Publishing Land.
Then came the real advent of TV, which by the 50s had evolved to the extent that most households could now afford one. Suddenly people could watch their heroes on TV, instead of having to read about them, with the effect that sales plummeted. Within two years, the 650 titles had become 250 – and the publishers were getting nervous. So what did they do? Turned to what sells – sex. The comics were seriously sexed up and heroes like Captain America suddenly found themselves fighting evil alongside the curvaceous and nearly naked Atomic Lady.
However, at the time this was happening, along came Dr. Frederic Wertham, who clearly had a thing against comics – and probably against teenagers too. He published a book, called Seduction of the Innocents, in which he accused comics of “promoting violence, torture, criminality, drug-taking and *ahem* rampant masturbation” although one hopes – as Bill Bryson so wonderfully said – not all at once. Clearly sex was on his mind; as he went on to describe Batman and Robin as being the “wish dream of two homosexuals living together.” Then again, I’ve always been worried about superheroes running around in tights.
At the same time, you had a Senate Committee on Juvenile Delinquency (at which Wertham testified), as well as somebody called Robert Linder accusing teenagers of suffering from a “form of collective mental illness” thanks to Rock ‘n’ Roll. Clearly comics’ days were numbered and indeed it wasn’t long before the Comics Code was introduced in 1954 and by 1955 the publication and distribution of comics was being regulated by law in most US states. The sole purpose of this Bill was to suck the soul out of the comic industry. I’ll publish the points at the end, but just reading them gives you a pretty clear indication of why when you think “comic” you think Archie & Jughead, Richie Rich and Scrooge McDuck and when thinking “manga” you come across such gems such as the gentle melancholy of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, the human drama of Gunslinger Girl, the disturbing Bradherley’s Coach, the charming Azumanga Daioh etc, etc. – all of which are clearly aimed at an older market, which thanks to the Comics Code, barely exists outside Japan. There, for every gawky teen hanging around Akihabara, there’s a tired salaryman reading the latest chapter of his favourite manga, as his train rattles home.
Simply put, their creativity was not stifled at birth and they went on to create some of the most entertaining, thought provoking, intelligent visual media around. And strangely, people on both sides of the Pacific still engaged in violence, torture, drug-taking and – no doubt – rampant masturbation too.
Just looking at the list below, it’s clear why manga stands head and shoulders above comics. Criminals can be sympathetic creatures. Why shouldn’t they be? They’re people too… although in comics they’re more apt to look like Doc Octopus than the guy next door. Just another way to dehumanise the bad guy, I guess. Sometimes the good guys aren’t necessarily nice people either. Gunslinger Girl’s Social Welfare Agency is there to fight the bad guys, but the way they do it hardly qualifies them as innocents. Likewise, it’s very hard to feel sorry for Satou, the recluse shut-in from Welcome to the NHK, yet you do, especially when you realise that those around him are even more messed up.
Crime is sordid, and more often than not, is depicted as such in manga. After all, even if the world in which the manga story takes place isn’t real, it still takes place in “reality”. Actions have consequences; if the hero is going to blow up a building, people are going to die.
Likewise people have sex in manga, just like in real life. It could be graphic, without being pornographic (like Believers), funny (like Owari To Hajimari no Miles) or even delicately danced around (as in the wonderful Mysterious Girlfriend X).
Even social issues don’t escape attention – from the phenomenon of the shut-in in Welcome to the NHK, to a whole raft of Japanese social ills covered in Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei. Hell, even the girls’ names play around with things like stalkers, shut-ins, illegal immigrants, anime fangirls, etc, etc.
That’s what makes manga special – it operates in a world that people can relate to. No matter how great the hero of the tale, at the end of the day they’re people too, with their own flaws.
Even if it’s sci-fi, like Plantes (which is about trash collectors in space) or Moyashimon, the science is sound. In Planetes, space is silent – no rocket ships roaring off into the distance – and Newton’s laws work. Moyashimon will teach you everything you need to know about microbes and the art of fermentation (ok, and cross-dressing and loli-goths). Even the largely silent and gentle picturescapes of The Walking Man or Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou are there specifically to transport the tired salaryman away from the troubles of his working day and crowded subway into a world where he can stop and smell the sakura.
I’m by no means saying it’s all good. Believe me, for every Hidamari Sketch, or K-On!, there’s a dozen Narutos and Dragon Ball Z’s. After all, as somebody once said, 95% of everything is crap. It’s just that much of the 95% of crap manga still has far more to offer – both story and artwork-wise – than the top 5% of comics. And the top 5% of manga is, frankly, peerless.
1954 Comics Code (pinched from here)
- Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals.
- If crime is depicted it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity.
- Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates a desire for emulation.
- In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds.
- Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gunplay, physical agony, gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated.
- No comic magazine shall use the word horror or terror in its title.
- All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.
- All lurid, unsavoury, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated.
- Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly, nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.
- Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.
- Profanity, obscenity, smut, vulgarity, or words or symbols which have acquired undesirable meanings are forbidden.
- Nudity in any form is prohibited, as is indecent or undue exposure.
- Suggestive and salacious illustration or suggestive posture is unacceptable.
- Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities.
- Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at nor portrayed. Violent love scenes as well as sexual abnormalities are unacceptable.
- Seduction and rape shall never be shown or suggested.
- Sex perversion or any inference to same is strictly forbidden.
- Nudity with meretricious purpose and salacious postures shall not be permitted in the advertising of any product; clothed figures shall never be presented in such a way as to be offensive or contrary to good taste or morals.
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