What is the difference between Japanese manga and American comics? A Japanese person who knows nothing about American comics tried to find out. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I think it's hard to make something interesting out of it.

There are manga in Japan and American comics in the US.
The difference between the two may be the difference in Japanese culture and American culture, but

The main difference is that in the US, the copyright is held by the publisher.

In Japan, the copyright is basically held by the creator of the comic, but in the US, it is mostly held by the publisher.

There are good and bad things about that, but I guess it's a cultural difference.

The Difference Between Manga and American Comics

Let's take a look at some of the differences between American comics and Japanese manga.

As mentioned above, American comics are copyrighted by the publisher, while Japanese manga are copyrighted by the manga artist.

There are other differences as well, so let me introduce them.

Reading direction is different.

In Japan, comics are bound on the right, so you read from top right to bottom left, but American comics are bound on the left, so you read from top left to bottom right.

American comics are highly descriptive, like a photograph.

American comics are basically full-color and highly descriptive.

In Japan, deformed characters are drawn with onomatopoeia and concentrated lines to show speed.

American comics draw from an existing world.

Japanese manga is often drawn from scratch.
American comics draw from an existing world.

In American comics, the existing world is used as the basis for a new story, rather than a new world.

American comics are made by teams.

In Japan, it is normal for a comic book artist to have assistants, but in the case of American comics, there are different specialists.

Writer: A person who thinks about the story.
Penciler: A person who drafts the story.
Inker: A person who inserts pens.
Letterer: A person who adds dialogue to balloons.
Colorist: A person who adds color.
Artist: A person who drafts and inserts pen.
Editor: A person who edits.

I get the impression that they don't divide the work so finely.

Japanese manga artists are writers, pen sealers, and inkers.

Assistants are also in charge of drawing backgrounds, inserting pens, applying tones, etc.

If you look at the professions in American comics, you can see that American comics are drawn on the assumption that they can be replaced.

All pages are in full color

In American comics, every page is drawn in full color.

This is because there are professional colorists who can do this.

In Japan, most comics are serialized weekly or monthly, so there is no room for such costs.

When drawing American comics

In the case of drawing American comics such as Superman, Spider-Man, and Batman.

The writer is commissioned by the publisher to come up with a plot based on data such as the previous settings.

The story is set in a shared world (a world drawn by multiple authors) where the publisher is the copyright holder and controls the characters and settings. The story is set in the world of creator-owned work.

This means that multiple people draw the same world, but each creator has a different style of drawing.

The question "Which do you like better, the 00 version of Batman or the □□ version of Batman? The question arises, "Which is better?

Furthermore, foreshadowing in the 00 version of Batman may be ruined or contradicted in the □□ version of Batman, and foreshadowing that was thought to be useless in the ▲▲ version may be recovered.

If the story is not well thought out and shared, there will be inconsistencies.

The good thing about the American comic style is that it always ends.

No, it can be re-serialized with a different author, so why not finish it?

Anyway, there is no such thing as an unfinished story when the author dies.

American comics are drawn in a relay system.

So it's difficult to produce a consistent story.

What about Japanese manga?

Japanese manga is basically copyrighted by the manga artist.

Even if it is a comicalization of a novel or a novelist's novel, the original author has the copyright.

The manga artist who comicalizes the original work of a novel becomes the author of the derivative work.

When drawing manga for a publishing company, each artist is free to create their own characters and stories, and if the manga is popular, it can be serialized in a magazine for a long time.

Unlike American comics, publishers do not have authorship rights, which means that a wide variety of works can be produced.

If Japanese comics were drawn in the same way as American comics, Dragon Ball would still be serialized in Jump.

Dragon Ball Super is not drawn by Akira Toriyama, but that is an irregularity.

It's different from American comics because it has Akira Toriyama as the original creator.

What I'm trying to say is that even if you are a new manga artist, you can become a Dragon Ball manga artist, which is a big advantage.

If you are good at drawing, you can draw Goku in Weekly Shonen Jump, which is more lucrative than drawing new works or original characters.

However, Dragon Ball cannot be drawn without Akira Toriyama's sense of style, and it's a different story.

The fact that each manga artist draws manga based on his or her own ability and sense means that a diverse world is being created.

If there is a weakness, it is that if the author dies, the work is unfinished.

In novels, there are cases where the author dies and the story is continued.

Such is the case with the Guin Saga.

However, when it comes to manga, it's not possible to do the same thing because the drawing style, or rather the atmosphere, changes when the person who draws it changes.

Berserk was unfinished, but I don't think it would be a good idea to have another manga artist continue it.

I mean, that seems like disrespect, doesn't it?

American comics have a lot of hero action.

It is said that 70% of American comics are superhero stories.

I think the reason why there are so many heroic actions in American comics is because of the way American comics are drawn.

In this case, the story is developed without thinking about complicated psychological descriptions or riddles, but with a reasonable setting and consistent development.

It is easy to understand and draw a story in which a hero simply defeats a villain.

There are some non-superhero stories such as Men in Black, but I don't think they have become long-term series.

In Japan, there are also works that are drawn by multiple manga artists.

In Japan, there are also a number of works that are drawn in a shared world.

For example, in the case of the work based on a novel, Magic High School's Inferiority, each story is titled as a "00" chapter.

In the case of "A Certain Magical Index", each story is called "00", and each "00" is comicalized by a different author.

In the case of Toaru Majutsu no Index, there are manga artists who draw the main story based on the original work, and manga that focus on each character, such as Misaka Mikoto and Accelerator.

Sword Art Online (SAO), which is famous for its death game, also has a progressive story set in Aingrad, where the story is told from the first level up, and the manga artist is changed once the story has progressed to a certain extent.

The Fate series, which is based on a game, also has many comicalizations and spin-offs.

If there is one thing that these works have in common, it is that they respect their creators.

In American comics, the work belongs to the publisher, but the publisher has no control over the story.

In this respect, Japanese media mixes are centered on the creators, so there are no discrepancies or inconsistencies in the stories.

Also, there are no multiple manga artists involved in a single work.

Taro-san draws A for the original story, and Hanako-san doesn't draw A because Taro-san is sick and can't draw.

I think this is the difference from American comics.

This is the difference from American comics.

At least in American comics, the writers do not change, so there is no sense of discomfort or inconsistency.

Summary

I've drawn about the differences between Japanese manga and American comics, but I think it's a good thing that the creators own the copyrights.

I think American comics are interesting, but there is not much diversity in the stories.

I am reminded of how great the creators of comics are.

On the other hand, American comics have writers, pencillers, inkers, letterers, colorists, artists, and editors.

There is no central figure, or rather, no director.
It's like making a movie without a movie director.

Maybe Japanese manga is interesting because there is a core for drawing manga.

Maybe this is the reason why Japanese anime is so popular?

So long (^ω^)ノシ