Do NOT Make Mine Manga!

That image above shows you everything I hate in Manga.  I do not dislike all Manga, just that sort. I want to vomit. That could be the migraine, though.

No. It's the art.

You see, back in the 1990s Manga took off in the UK.  Publishers thought "people are buying this -we need to publish Manga" and so an extra bit of rot set into UK comics.  Manga Monthly promoted Manga and Anime and there followed a heap of publications -I have more than a few of them.  And the stuff they promoted was very -very- derivative.  There are some great Manga out there and great Anime but, sadly, 98% of it is crap.  And its the crap that was cheap to buy in and publish.

Compare Manga to the very short-lived (due to events too far away for us to hear about at the time) Jademan Comics -what those comic hipsters like to term "Kung fu comics/manga" (revealing their lack of knowledge and stupidity in a few words).  The covers and interior art so different but HK Manhua had only one person shouting about it at the time and he still does.

But back, six years now, I was told by the manager at Forbidden Planet, Bristol, and Excelsior! Comics that Manga was not selling half as well as it used to.  They were cutting back on books.  Publishers who had specialised in English translation of Manga began to disappear one by one.  Manga is still there but its presence is not as obvious as it used to be -the last couple of Bristol Expos what I saw was "cut price" Manga fans.

Everyone who wanted to be someone in comics jumped onto the Manga band wagon, it was, after all, the "comic book chic" thing to do at the time.  Where are they all now?

Probably the same place all the comic geek hipsters are going -you know, the ones trying to sell off their comic collections fast?  Joe2020  told me about a comic store he was in where there were two comic long boxes crammed with Manga.  Someone looking through it asked what the price was?  The owner responded: "Twenty dollars and they are all yours!"  The guy jumped at it and an assistant helped him carry the long box out "You got a car?" the owner asked.  "I have a truck -that black one across the road" The owner then said "Okay, I'll bring the other box over!"  Apparently the young man responded that he only had $30 left and he'd over spent paying $20 for the box as it was.  The store owner told him "We agreed on $20 dollars -not just for one box!" 

Two comic long boxes full of Manga for $20.  I hope he was a fan.  But the store owner said the assistant after that he was "****** over the moon at shifting that **** load of crap!"

The same will be true with the upcoming comics implosion even if Disney/Marvel are intending to go even more heavily down the sci fi path with their books and movies.  And, folks, it's the movies that make the money!