"Oresama Teacher," the Shoujo but actually Shounen made for Girls

Last time I posted about "Kimi ni Todoke," which I would place as an absolutely girly-girl comic. But this time, we're going to the opposite end of the shoujo genre as we take a look at "Oresama Teacher," a shoujo jam-packed with so much action and bromance I consider it a shounen for girls!

"Oresama Teacher" is a manga about a girl, Mafuyu, who used to be the leader of a band of high school delinquents in junior high but goes into high school hoping to become a girly girl and have lots of female friends. However, her facade quickly drops and she is once again thrown into a bunch of fights, making delinquent friends, all male, all over again. Oh, and did I mention that her homeroom teacher is her childhood friend, and a large influence on how she grew up to be a delinquent in the first place? This manga is chaotic, fun, and will bring you to tears with its funny and memorable scenes. What I really like about this manga is how the author focuses on developing the friendships between characters rather than the romantic complications that might result from a girl being surrounded by a bunch of guys, which would probably happen in a more conventional shoujo manga. It is this focus on "brotherhood," along with the large amount of fighting scenes, that really separates this manga from other shoujos and blurs the line between shounen and shoujo. In addition, the gender-bending that happens in this manga is absolutely hilarious, as Mafuyu often dresses up as a guy (a very convincing one I may add) to fight, and the girls that fall in love with her along with a couple guys who start getting confused about their sexualities always make such scenarios an amusing read. The role reversals that happen in this manga are notable as well: for example in one scene Mafuyu, in her masked fighting identity, proclaims to one of her close guy friends, Hayasaka, that she will be his hero, and we get a sense of her strong desire to protect him, a departure from the convention where girls are depicted as the ones that want to be protected. What makes this even more interesting is that her feminine side, little of it that there is, is revealed every once in a while as well: when Hayasaka, who doesn't know of Mafuyu's fighting abilities, always scolds her to be more careful and always insists on protecting her, Mafuyu always appears very happy. Also, at times we'll see manifestations of her desire to make female friends, a desire so strong she seems to be going gay for women (a sentiment I understand very well haha)!

At 13 volumes and ongoing, "Oresama Teacher" is still as enjoyable, if not more so, than it was at the beginning, and I hope the author can continue keeping up the pace. I do think romance will develop in the future, and I am interested in seeing how the author will handle this. While most fans are rooting for the teacher (yes, teacher/student relationships are very common in shoujo manga), I really hope the author decides to pursue the relationship between Mafuyu and Hayasaka. Whereas a relationship between the teacher and Mafuyu would develop along the more conventional lines of a romance story, a relationship between Hayasaka and Mafuyu could potentially explore new territory as both seem to stand on equal ground and will have to work things out in terms of who takes the lead in what arenas of life in order to make their relationship work. The author's insight into gender dynamics does seem to shine through every now and then, and if she really is as perceptive as these scenes display, then I think she will find developing a relationship between Hayasaka and Mafuyu much more engaging as well. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!


This manga is out in English, so please support it by buying here!

The aww so adorable "Kimi ni Todoke!" [slight spoilers near the end]

When you think of fiction targeted towards young girls, romance is probably one of the first things that pops into mind. Japanese shoujo comics targeted towards young girls are no different and are chock full of all kinds of romance from "pure love" to provocative and sexy. "Kimi ni Todoke" by Karuho Shiina is an example of the "pure love" kind, the story of a sweet, shy, innocent high school girl's quest to make friends and while in the process falls in love.

This story is a huge success in Japan, and it is rather unique for a shoujo manga in that it is popular with both guys and girls. One can attribute this to the author's attention to the details of making friends and falling in love as well as the deliberately slow place and setting of a heartwarming atmosphere for the piece. Additionally, the female and male lead are just absolutely adorable and irresistable to both sexes. The female lead is presented as a pure, honest, but lonely girl who's never been able to make friends due to her gloomy looks, and yet she is still happy and optimisitcally continues helping people in her attempt to make friends. Kazehaya, the male lead, on the other hand, is a popular boy who is genuinely kind and recognizes Sawako's efforts to make friends and helps her on her quest (who wouldn't fall in love with a boy like that?!). Often times shyness can come across as fake or an overdramatized problem caused by some childhood trauma in manga, but the light-hearted tone and senstivity with which Karuho presents Sawako's personality really adds a layer of believability and genuineness to the manga, keeping the tone of the manga pure and child-like, and reminding readers that it's ok, and even attractive, to be shy <3!

In addition, the relationship between Sawako and Kazehaya is rather unique and unusual within a manga, as both characters struggle to honestly express their feelings to one another and treat each other with love and respect. The largely unnecessary and overcomplicated drama of love triangles and make-ups and break-ups of other manga is replaced with the inner turmoils and miscommunication that occurs due to Sawako's shyness, and in this way this manga is an interesting study of social anxiety and nervousness around crushes, something I'm sure most if not all of us can relate to.

I am personally very excited to see where this manga will go. It is currently 15 volumes and ongoing in Japan, and it's gotten veeerrryyy innnteresting currently because [spoilers!] Kazehaya has been aloof with Sawako lately, it seems because he doesn't want to taint her innocence, but he doesn't know how much longer he can control himself from moving to the next step of the relationship <3. I myself am very interested in seeing how this author will handle the blooming of their sexualities and hope she will write and draw something just as sensitively and purely as she handled Sawako's attempts at friendship.


So click here to buy and read the manga right now!!!!!

The Inspiration of "Hikaru no Go"! [Spoilers]

This review WILL have SPOILERSSSSS, you have been forewarned!!!!!!!!!


During winter break I finally got a chance to read the critically acclaimed series "Hikaru no Go" and boy as it worth the wait! I can see why this manga spurned a new wave of Go players in Japan with its inspiring storyline and honest display of passion for a game.

"Hikaru no Go" is about a boy named Hikaru who finds a cursed Go board in his grandpa's attic and sees the ghost, Sai, that inhabits the Go board. Sai then proceeds to become Hikaru's friendly and silly companion, and being the Go genius that he is, attempts to teach Hikaru Go. Hikaru is reluctant to learn at first, but after a visit to a go salon where Hikaru meets young prodigy Akira Toya, Hikaru is inspired to play and chase after Akira to become his equal in the future. I love this manga because every character's pure passion for the game is clear, and unlike many manga focused on particular expertise of pursuit, this manga does not sensationalize the experience or add any unnecessary side complications such as love triangles to make the story more "interesting" for readers. Around Vol. 9-10 I was involuntarily rushing through the manga because I literally felt Hikaru's impatience to pass the exam and rise through the rankings! This manga is an honest portrayal of a young boy's passion for the game of go, and the friendships he makes along the way as he strives to gain acknowledgement from Akira Toya. This manga just gets better and better until Vol. 17, when the conclusion of the major climax in the story, [spoiler!] Sai's disappearance, occurs. The event is dealt with very well as Hikaru's emotional turmoil and desperation to find Sai is portrayed beautifully over the course of several volumes, but unfortunately things go downhill after this. I would say part of the reason is Hikaru's shift of focus, after his "coming of age," from playing the game just for fun to playing because he wants to win and be the best. In addition, after the loss of his ghostly mentor Hikaru becomes just like every other Go player, and admittedly a story purely about ppl battling it out over a Go board isn't the most exciting thing. I think what could've made the series more interesting is if the author, after dealing with the loss of Sai, started showing more of Hikaru's relationship with other players, especially Akira Toya, since he finally gained acknowledgement as a worthy rival shortly after losing Sai. From the beginning this manga was driven by Hikaru's relationship with Akira Toya and Sai, but unfortunately after losing Sai Hikaru's relationship with Akira is left largely unportrayed as well. It would've also been interesting to see Hikaru and others becoming cognizant of Hikaru's shift of focus as well, as his desire to win seemed to affect his relationships and game both negatively and positively, but unfortunately his loss of pure love for the game brings about the reader's loss of passion in the manga as well. If the author had brought this up and tried to deal with it in the manga I think it would've made a very interesting plot line, but unfortunately, we'll never know what happens, except in fandom.

With that being said, "Hikaru no Go" is definitely a manga worth reading and will ignite your passion for Go (I, myself, picked up the game after reading the series and can say I am a decently ranked amateur now that still plays every now and then). In addition, this manga inspires you to discover your own passions and/or revitalize past dreams and passions.

So what are you waiting for?! Go read this manga right now!!!

Thoughts on "The Turquoise Morning" and Boys' Love Manga

The Boys' Love (BL) genre is full of stereotypes that BL manga artists generally adhere to as they create often times less than average manga, but with the rise of authors such as Hidaka Shoko, Yamashita Tomoko, and Takarai Rihito, what I see is not only a rise in the quality of the works but also a departure from the conventions of the BL genre. I would like to talk about one short story in particular called "The Turquoise Morning," from Yamashita Tomoko's collection of short BL stories "Bara no Hitomi wa Bakudan."

"The Turquoise Morning" is a story about a photographer, Jed Knox, reminiscing about his time with the man he loved after heraing about his death. Jed was sent to the Middle East to document civilian soldiers through photographs, and while there he met and befriended Sabah, the leader of one of the soldier groups. The piece is told poetically in both visuals and words, with brief snapshots of their time together interluded with Jed's thoughts and feelings and their dialogue, all which clearly depicts the fondness they held for each other. The black backdrop, which is common for scenes depicting flashbacks in manga, also helps set the painfully nostalgic and depressing mood of the piece. Jed's yearning and unrequited love are clear from his thoughts and the way the memories are portrayed, and Sabah's love for Jed is clear as well, although it is perhaps not the same as Jed's love. The seriousness and tenderness with which the piece is told provokes one's thoughts and feelings, and by the end of the piece you will want to read it again to fully grasp what the author is trying to convey.

Yamashita Tomoko is part of what I consider to be a "new wave" of BL authors that seem to be adding a new layer of depth the the BL genre through their storytelling techniques and willingness to break from convention. What I love about this work is that her characters have a depth and substance to their feelings and thoughts that is, perhaps not realistic, but certainly plausible to any person, man or woman, in that character's given situation. Too often BL uses the fact that the two characters are men as an excuse for sex and fickle worries about dating because oh my gosh, they are both men!!! But I think one of the true and largely unused strengths of BL is in portraying a romantic relationship between equals full of not only love but respect for one another, and "The Turquoise Morning" is one story which, although short and brief, grasps upon this beautiful notion.

The rest of Yamashita's collection, although strong, is not nearly as insightful; most of them are light-hearted, fun, and unique in their own way, but "The Turquoise Morning" was definitely the most powerful of them all. Unfortunately, this manga has not been brought over to America yet, but you can buy the Japanese language version here and find more information about the manga here!

Thoughts on "Hamburgers for One" and Slice of Life

In the 2011 annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Oscars of comics, "Hamburgers for One" by Frank Stockton was nominated in the Best Short Story Category. Although it didn't win, it left a deep impression on me. So deep, in fact, that I decided to dig it up and write this blog post on it one year after I read it.

"Hamburgers for One" is a slice of life comic about an obese man's visit to a hamburger joint, and his attempt to hit on the new waitress. One can see the influences Stockton takes from Japanese manga through the slow pacing of each panel that takes you from moment-to-moment, almost second-to-second. There were times it was a little overdone, but Stockton's attempt to mix Japanese influences into his own personal storytelling and art style was definitely admirable and created an interesting and unique atmosphere for his piece. In addition, the attention paid to small details such as the man feeding a squirrel scraps to show his kind nature and the visual depictions of the suburban town really set the lazy, relaxed, and somewhat depressing mood of the piece. The dominant orange and gray color scheme added to this mood, and definitely made me like the piece more, since orange is my favorite color and that color scheme creates a nice vintage look that I really like.

What I like about the story is how it depicts an event in the day of an ordinary person and makes it interesting for the reader. Stockton displays the event with striking honesty and objectivity, which allows readers to sympathize with both parties and make their own judgements at the end of the comic. In addition, actions speak louder than words in this comic, as Stockton focuses in on certain details from facial expressions and close-ups to body stances and positions which indicate the man's interest and the woman's disinterest as they seem to hold a normal, although somewhat awkward, conversation.

The waitress goes about her business and appears disinterested as the man converses with her.

I really like slice-of-life comics because I personally find it much more interesting to read about the lives of ordinary people than superheroes or famous people. Although Japan has a lot of slice of life comics, America, unfortunately, has a significantly less amount (I can't think of any others besides this comic at the moment!). Thus this comic was a rare treat for me to come by, and I jumped at the chance to read it as soon as I found out about it!

I definitely think there's a lot of great comics waiting to be drawn in this genre from America, and the short story format would make it really easy to take just a glimpse into the life of an ordinary American, a slice of life, so to speak. Although I have nothing at all against a long continuous story in this manner, and would be highly interested in reading something along those lines as well. In any event, I think this comic shows us that everyone has their own stories to tell and share, and the ordinary can be made into something just as interesting, if not more interesting, than the extraordinary. It's a short read and free online, so you can read it by clicking here right now!

zzot, my Social Bookmarking Soulmate

zzot was the first user I ran into while searching for my social bookmarking soulmate (on delicious.com), and we clicked right away. Being the careful and picky person that I am, I looked around a little (and by a little I mean a lot) longer to see if there was a more perfect match, but after several minutes (hours), I ended up back back where I started. Which just goes to show, if it's good, take it first time around!
Luckily for me, zzot was not going to go anywhere, or be soulmated to another person (gasp!), so now we are happily living our social bookmarking lives together. But sadly, my partner seems to have been MIA for a while: he has not socially bookmarked something since October 27, 2011! Oh no, it seems I was too late for him afterall! Our interests were so in sync as well: he seems very crossdisciplinary with tags in design, art, music, games,culture, writing, to marketing, entrepreneurship, and technology as well. In fact, what he is missing is exactly what I would be missing: tags in science and engineering. I love that he has an "inspiration" tag; that is something I would totally do as well. His most prominent tags are design with 240, blog with 186, food with 146, art with 146, and music with 143. He has many many many tags: I believe he was trying to stay very organized but the effect of this is that it creates so many tags that the organization is questionable. But this is very similar to something like I would do as well..... It would have been useful if he organized his tags and bookmarks into stacks as well. This guy is, or was, a very prolific bookmarker: he has 1708 links in his name! He joined a while back though, in September of 2007. That's around 600 bookmarks a year!

What I especially like about zzot's bookmarks is his one and only stack: storytelling. This stack seems to have been created right before he stopped bookmarking, and there are only 8 links in it, but the links are very informative and interesting. I especially liked a link to an article called "Storytelling in China and America", which briefly compares the differences between the cultural mindsets of Chinese and Americans through interviews with children and examining how the children answered the questions about their lives. In addition, looking through his comics tag, I find that most of them are links to webcomics and some interesting comics blogs as well. One of the links I found really interesting was a link to a website called "What Things Do", which seems to be basically an online periodical for new comics to come out every month. I love the layout of the page and the comics on it seem very interesting as well, I hope to be reading them some time soon.  

All in all, zzot seems like a very artsy type of guy with an interest in a wide spectrum of things. He seems to use this site only as a collection for his links, although he does follow 9 users, he doesn't make any comments on his links or seem to interact extensively on this website. That's probably how my social bookmarking websites will end up as well...

Restrategizing: No Wonder all these Comic Blogs do Comic Reviews!

OK, so remember how I said at the beginning I wouldn't be doing comic reviews? CHANGE OF PLANS. Now I know why so many comic websites to comic reviews!

And it totally makes sense too. I mean, if you love reading comics, naturally, you're going to want to spread the word, and what better way than by writing a review of them?Well duhhh girl what were you thinking when you started this blog? So from now on I'll try and start incorporating more of the comics I read into my posts. It'll be good for me as well, since it'll "force" me to read comics I've been wanting to read but been putting off for god knows what reason. It'll also force me get more personal with you all and share my interests and passions within comics. My niche within the comics niche. Oh boy here we go!

But while I will be doing more "comic reviews" of sorts, they won't exactly be comic reviews. Rather, I hope to analyze the comics I am interested in and find the broader implications they make about the author, society, the world, etc... Sort of like writing an English paper on a comic, yeah! Except hopefully not as boring. Hopefully...

So there will most likely be spoilers in my posts. Major spoilers. So before you read my post I recommend you go and read the comic(s)! I will make a list of the comics I will be going over at the very beginning of my post so that you can decide whether you want to read my post or not.

Hmm I had a lot less to say about this than I thought I wanted to say. But I just wanted to let y'all know that I will slowly start to figure out where I want this blog to go! I'm already miles ahead of where I was weeks ago when I first started this blog. And slowly I am starting to decode the formless and wordless thoughts and ideas in my head into English I can actually put down and communicate to others. Feels good, feels good, to be doing this! Although I have to admit it's a booger to do this as well. I definitely wouldn't have been able to do this if it wasn't for the blogging class which pushed me to start this, and it's still a struggle to try and write something every week, but hopefully by the end of this semester I'll be motivated enough to continue this blog on my own. One tends to languish in comfort and apathy, even when it makes them more and more miserable...

That's enough about me, and enough for this post. From now on look forward to more talk about comics and their awesomeness! The whole reason for my starting this blog was to proliferate the idea that comics were just as valid a source of serious thought-provoking material as novels and movies, and I think this is a good step in that direction to prove my point. Yes, comics are fun, and they can also be.... LIFE CHANGING!!!!

A Valentine's Day Special: Romance in Comics

So in honor of Valentine's Day (or for the luckier ones out there, Single Awareness Day ;D), I've decided to write a post about romance comics~!

I'll admit it, I've read a lot of romance manga over the years. In fact, one of the first manga I read, Peach Girl, was a romantic roller-coaster of a story. The heterosexual romance manga I read is geared towards young girls, or Shoujo Manga, although I do read the occasional Josei title, and some romance manga geared towards guys as well, in the Shounen and Seinen category. And that's only the heterosexual end of the spectrum. On the other end, I read comics focusing on LGBT relationships as well, most commonly Yaoi and Yuri manga. As I was doing research for this topic, however, I didn't want to focus on any particular genre, so I typed in the general term "romance comics" and found that this is actually a term "generally associated with an American comic books genre published through the first three decades of the Cold War (1947 - 1977)"! Wow, I did not know that, but that's what this blog is for after all, to learn more about the history of comics! (And apparently women read these sorts of comics in the past just as casually as they read these sorts of novels nowadays!).

For a brief summary, I went to Wikipedia and got: "Romance comics (sometimes love comics) is a comics genre depicting romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. Romance comics of the period typically featured dramatic scripts about the love lives of older high school teens and young adults, with accompanying artwork depicting an urban or rural America contemporaneous with publication."

Upon doing a little more searching, I came across Matt Thorn's article on the subject and was intrigued by his statement near the end: "you can't help concluding that the vast majority of these comics were dreadful, both visually and narratively. Of course, the same can be said of every genre of any medium, but I think the biggest problem in the romance comics was the fact that the stories were being written mostly by men in their forties and fifties". When I read this statement I was reminded of the yaoi genre - manga about romantic relationships between males written by women for women. I've read many manga within the yaoi genre, searching for gems, and I can say that there are few. However, I do believe more gems will pop up in the future, as the genre matures and changes and can hopefully gain a more respectable standing within society. But if it were to decline without being given the chance to develop properly as a genre, would it end up with the same reputation as romance comics have nowadays?

In fact, I am convinced that the fall of the romance genre was due to just that: its growth was stunted by the Comics Code in 1954, after which romance comics were self-censored by the publishers themselves and they started playing it safe "with stories focusing on traditional patriarchial concepts of female behavior, gender roles, love, sex, and marriage". Ironically enough, it's never safe to play it safe.

One only needs to look to Japan to see how the growth and maturation of shoujo manga has only made it more popular (Matt Thorn also has an excellent article on the history of shoujo manga). Genres spawn subgenres which in turn spawn more subgenres. A genre does not stay homogenous for long left to its own devices, but unfortunately the romance genre was contained, in a jar, so to speak, and bottled up until it finally imploded on itself. I am left saddened by the loss of potential of what could've been.

However, there is hope. At the end of his essay, Matt Thorn speaks of the changing landscape caused by the digital world, in which comic artists are left unrestricted by editors who think they know best what their audience wants (more specifically, "female artists who have been restricted for decades by male editors who think they know best what female readers want". But it applies to all artists and editors, male and female). In addition, in a TED Talk by Johanna Blakley about Social media and the end of demographics, Blakley speaks about how "women are driving the social media revolution". She later goes on to say, "Will the next big blockbuster movies actually be chick flicks? Could this be possible that suddenly our media landscape will become a feminist landscape?" But later discounts it, saying it probably won't happen and even going as far as to say that women will actually be the ones to "drive a stick through the heart of cheesy genre categories such as the chick flick".

"Cheesy genre categories". That is the key word of the last quotation. "Cheesy". Romance, in one form or another, has always been relegated to such a category, whether overly dramatic or comedic or with their happy endings and all that. Sure, many stories that contain romance are highly regarded and there is a romantic element to many critically-acclaimed features/novels, but once romance becomes the main element of the story, it is labeled with that word, "cheesy".

And maybe it is cheesy. I'd have to say a happily ever after ending after a long duck and goose chase which barely allowed the development of any substantial form of relationship is a tad superficial. If chick flicks want their place in the Oscars they're gonna have to step it up a notch. I'd say "500 Days of Summer" is a good step in that direction. How about Brokeback Mountain? Okay, so maybe that's not a chick flick, and it was critically-acclaimed and romance was the main element of the story...

Back to the main subject, what Blakley and Thorn seem to be suggesting is that there is still a vast amount of unexplored creative frontiers in the realm of a female's mind. And with the digital revolution, women will be allowed, more than ever before, to freely express the deepest realms of their consciousness, and the romances that lurk within it. To un-cheesify chick flicks with their epic or not so epic tales that may or may not have happy endings. Yes, chick flicks won't exist anymore because they'll be called by their proper name: romance.

So in defense of Valentine's Day and everything related to love, I say there's a lot of room for romance comics to grow! One could learn a thing or two from my favorite book, "Demian", by Hermann Hesse, about the development of a deep relationship that walks the thin line between platonic and romantic love. Now that's something I'd be interested in seeing in comic book form! And with that, I hope everyday had a lovely Valentine's Day~!

Trifecta

Hello, World

Hello Everyone! As the title of this blog suggests, I will be posting my thoughts on comics here. What sort of thoughts, you may ask? Good question, I don't quite know the answer to that myself. All I know is that I've had a passion for sequential art ever since I read my first manga around the 6th grade, and ever since then, despite some self-denial, I've wanted to use sequential art as my own form of storytelling.

Is it not ironic, then, that even though I say I want to create comics, I've never really drawn one? Or that even though I say I love comics so much, I haven't read as many as the average fan? When speaking with friends who also read comics, I often can't talk about it because I haven't read the series they've read! I believe there are several reasons for this: the comics I read tend to cater towards a more "mature and serious" audience while my friends read more mainstream titles, and as an aspiring creator myself, the way I appreciate comics and would like to talk about them is probably quite different than the way a reader appreciates and talks about comics. Nonetheless, there are a lot of comics and a lot of knowledge out there I need to inform myself about, and I will use this blog as a record of my research, findings, and subsequent thoughts. As I do this I hope to discover what it is I really want to do in the world of comics.

As a comics reader, I mostly read manga, although I do read a couple American comics (mostly webcomics) and have wanted to delve into comics from all over the world as well! I hope to use this blog to inform myself about great comics around the world, the differences and similarities between these comics, as well as to inform myself more about the business aspect of the comics industry in various nations around the world. In addition, I'd like to discuss what comics can learn from other forms of storytelling, such as literature, film, art, music, etc., and perhaps how seemingly totally unrelated topics can inform comics as well! I'll probably start with what I am most familiar with, manga and the United States, before researching less familiar topics (like webcomics and European comics), and finally out into the unknown! 

I know many comics blogs out there do a lot of reviews, and many blogs are even dedicated to the sole purpose of comic reviews. This blog most likely won't be doing as such. I will be pointing out comics I find interesting or comics that I believe a lot can be learned from, but a full length review most likely won't be happening on this blog. Who knows, this may change at a later point in time, but for now I'd like to inform myself about the larger picture before digging into the specifics. :-)

Finally, I hope this blog can bring about more awareness about the current diversity in the comics medium and the diversity that can be achieved by the comics medium. Many people already know that comics have superheroes, tell epic adventures of fantasy and the like, but it is the lesser known stories, the unheard of and the untold ones (of the "normal" everyday person perhaps), in which I believe comics have the most potential to grow, to not only redefine themselves but also add to their repertoire of works. This blog is geared towards a future in which there is as much variety and experimentation in the comics medium as there is with film and literature, as much critical analysis, acclaim, and accessibility, and as many creators and fans!

Profile 

It was really difficult for me to find a blog that was similar to the way I wanted to write about my topic, but I finally found one by the name of Manga Widget. The problem with many comic, particularly manga, websites that I've found is that they seem to be dedicated solely to reviews, but this one, as stated on the "About" page, "features essays on various topics concerning manga and the American manga market and business, as well as reviews of licensed, translated manga".


The author's name is Alexander Hoffman, and he is a hobbyist comics reader. There seems to be no system for when he posts, but he seems to post at least 3-4 times a month, sometimes bunched all together over the span of 1-2 weeks and at other times spaced evenly. There is no ranking for this blog on technorati.com and no list of followers either, but on a visit to his Twitter page we see he has a following of around 260 people. I believe his two most recent posts, "A Discussion on Crowd-Sourcing and Digital Manga’s Barbara Kickstarter Campaign" and "Manga Widget Investigates: Tzusuki wa Mata Ashita", excellently sum up what this author is capable of.


In "A Discussion on Crowd-Sourcing and Digital Manga’s Barbara Kickstarter Campaign", Hoffman talks about Digital Manga Publishing's Kickstarter Campaign for one of Osamu Tezuka's works. I find the way he initiates the discussion by tackling another author's skepticism about this project before going into his own reasons to support this project very effective and convincing. He concludes with his thoughts on the future of manga publishing and how he hopes "that licensing and publishing in the United States continues to grow out of the system created in the 90's and in a more open, more consumer-oriented way".


His second blogpost, "Manga Widget Investigates: Tzusuki wa Mata Ashita", is a brief discussion on a manga that "focuses on the relationship between family members". I like the way he talks about his opinions on the manga very honestly and portrays his hope to be able to read it someday. He also discusses potential publishers that may be able to license the series and ends with the note, "I would love to see manga like this in the United States, and I challenge publishers to redefine the meaning of manga with titles like Tzusuki wa Mata Ashita".


I find Hoffman's thoughts about the manga industry very similar to mine and believe I have much to learn from him, and much to learn from the people that disagree with him as well. He writes about manga with a lot of love and respect for the medium, and belief in its potential and future as well. One thing his blog could do better is have a more effective archive system, since I have a very difficult time reaching the first post of his blog. Also, I am not too sure what the links on top mean, such as the MMF Archives. Those could use some explanation, and it would be even better if he had Archives to his own posts on top as well. All in all, I hope to write with the same earnestness and depth of knowledge as he does as I attempt to portray my own thoughts about comics on this blog. 

Voice Critique

Sarcasm and analogies can be hard to pull off, but the author of "After Before Watchmen: the industry reacts" was able to pull both off successfully, at least to the audience the article was intended for.
Peppered with links and plastered with thick blocks of quotes, the journalistic masterpiece could rival the subject of its existence in its craftsmanship! From the first two paragraphs the author demonstrates his knowledge of not only the comics industry but the entire field of literature. 

In the first paragraph he demonstrates his high regard for comics and the comic in particular he is talking about, Watchmen, with his quotation of facts:

"It is definitely something--DC's bestselling graphic novel of all time, a beloved classic taught in schools, one of Time's Best 100 novels of the last 100 years, the book that defined grim and gritty"

The author backs up his high regard for the comic with evidence of society's own regard for Watchmen, implying that if we don't feel the same way, then back off, this article is not for you! However, if you are even the slightest bit open to the idea, the author provides links to educate you, in this paragraph and throughout the article, if you want to understand more deeply what he is talking about.

"Like all great works, it's multifaceted". What a great word, "multifaceted"! As I read this article again, I can't help but speak those words in my mind over and over again. The word in itself is multifaceted! Moving on, I find his comparison to "Scarlett", the infamously horrid "sequel" to the multifaceted classic "Gone with the Wind", to start off the next paragraph absolutely witty and ingenious! If that's how the Watchmen prequels will turn out, then that would be an absolute disaster! In addition, he continues to inject some of his own thoughts on the issue in this paragraph. With "it brings up every argument over whether comics are literature or licensing," after his previous paragraph where he rather clearly insinuated that he thinks of comics as literature, along with the sentence after this line where he restates "WATCHMEN is literature", we get a feeling of how he feels about this issue. But he shows his sympathy for the fans as well, with his humorously stated understanding of "the obsessive need of devotees to get MORE", and then he throws in another literary reference, this time to the author of the Lord of the Ring series J.R.R. Tolkien. And if you're a fan of that series, you know just how obsessive they can get! (or fans of any series, for that matter).
Then the block quotes war begins! Line after line we are bombarded with lines and lines of quotes, at least they're interesting! And they serve their purpose, backing up the claims of the author solidly. And the author acknowledges the bombs he's thrown at us too at the end of his raid: "Okay. Deep breath." This helps to mend the relationship between the reader and the author, as the author somewhat apologizes for dropping the bombs and thus ensures he won't be throwing any more of that at us. 

He continues the rest of the article in much of the same vein as the beginning, with the same humorous and sarcastic tone of voice. Thus, the author is able to keep his audience engaged throughout the entire article through clever manipulation of his own voice.

Analyzing Voice: "After Before Watchmen: the industry reacts"

Sarcasm and analogies can be hard to pull off, but the author of "After Before Watchmen: the industry reacts" was able to pull both off successfully, at least to the audience the article was intended for.
Peppered with links and plastered with thick blocks of quotes, the journalistic masterpiece could rival the subject of its existence in its craftsmanship! From the first two paragraphs the author demonstrates his knowledge of not only the comics industry but the entire field of literature. 

In the first paragraph he demonstrates his high regard for comics and the comic in particular he is talking about, Watchmen, with his quotation of facts:

"It is definitely something--DC's bestselling graphic novel of all time, a beloved classic taught in schools, one of Time's Best 100 novels of the last 100 years, the book that defined grim and gritty"

The author backs up his high regard for the comic with evidence of society's own regard for Watchmen, implying that if we don't feel the same way, then back off, this article is not for you! However, if you are even the slightest bit open to the idea, the author provides links to educate you, in this paragraph and throughout the article, if you want to understand more deeply what he is talking about.

"Like all great works, it's multifaceted". What a great word, "multifaceted"! As I read this article again, I can't help but speak those words in my mind over and over again. The word in itself is multifaceted! Moving on, I find his comparison to "Scarlett", the infamously horrid "sequel" to the multifaceted classic "Gone with the Wind", to start off the next paragraph absolutely witty and ingenious! If that's how the Watchmen prequels will turn out, then that would be an absolute disaster! In addition, he continues to inject some of his own thoughts on the issue in this paragraph. With "it brings up every argument over whether comics are literature or licensing," after his previous paragraph where he rather clearly insinuated that he thinks of comics as literature, along with the sentence after this line where he restates "WATCHMEN is literature", we get a feeling of how he feels about this issue. But he shows his sympathy for the fans as well, with his humorously stated understanding of "the obsessive need of devotees to get MORE", and then he throws in another literary reference, this time to the author of the Lord of the Ring series J.R.R. Tolkien. And if you're a fan of that series, you know just how obsessive they can get! (or fans of any series, for that matter).
Then the block quotes war begins! Line after line we are bombarded with lines and lines of quotes, at least they're interesting! And they serve their purpose, backing up the claims of the author solidly. And the author acknowledges the bombs he's thrown at us too at the end of his raid: "Okay. Deep breath." This helps to mend the relationship between the reader and the author, as the author somewhat apologizes for dropping the bombs and thus ensures he won't be throwing any more of that at us. 

He continues the rest of the article in much of the same vein as the beginning, with the same humorous and sarcastic tone of voice. Thus, the author is able to keep his audience engaged throughout the entire article through clever manipulation of his own voice.

Profiling a Blog: Manga Widget

It was really difficult for me to find a blog that was similar to the way I wanted to write about my topic, but I finally found one by the name of Manga Widget. The problem with many comic, particularly manga, websites that I've found is that they seem to be dedicated solely to reviews, but this one, as stated on the "About" page, "features essays on various topics concerning manga and the American manga market and business, as well as reviews of licensed, translated manga".

The author's name is Alexander Hoffman, and he is a hobbyist comics reader. There seems to be no system for when he posts, but he seems to post at least 3-4 times a month, sometimes bunched all together over the span of 1-2 weeks and at other times spaced evenly. There is no ranking for this blog on technorati.com and no list of followers either, but on a visit to his Twitter page we see he has a following of around 260 people. I believe his two most recent posts, "A Discussion on Crowd-Sourcing and Digital Manga’s Barbara Kickstarter Campaign" and "Manga Widget Investigates: Tzusuki wa Mata Ashita", excellently sum up what this author is capable of.

In "A Discussion on Crowd-Sourcing and Digital Manga’s Barbara Kickstarter Campaign", Hoffman talks about Digital Manga Publishing's Kickstarter Campaign for one of Osamu Tezuka's works. I find the way he initiates the discussion by tackling another author's skepticism about this project before going into his own reasons to support this project very effective and convincing. He concludes with his thoughts on the future of manga publishing and how he hopes "that licensing and publishing in the United States continues to grow out of the system created in the 90's and in a more open, more consumer-oriented way".

His second blogpost, "Manga Widget Investigates: Tzusuki wa Mata Ashita", is a brief discussion on a manga that "focuses on the relationship between family members". I like the way he talks about his opinions on the manga very honestly and portrays his hope to be able to read it someday. He also discusses potential publishers that may be able to license the series and ends with the note, "I would love to see manga like this in the United States, and I challenge publishers to redefine the meaning of manga with titles like Tzusuki wa Mata Ashita".

I find Hoffman's thoughts about the manga industry very similar to mine and believe I have much to learn from him, and much to learn from the people that disagree with him as well. He writes about manga with a lot of love and respect for the medium, and belief in its potential and future as well. One thing his blog could do better is have a more effective archive system, since I have a very difficult time reaching the first post of his blog. Also, I am not too sure what the links on top mean, such as the MMF Archives. Those could use some explanation, and it would be even better if he had Archives to his own posts on top as well. All in all, I hope to write with the same earnestness and depth of knowledge as he does as I attempt to portray my own thoughts about comics on this blog.

Hello World! First Post Introduction.

Hello Everyone! As the title of this blog suggests, I will be posting my thoughts on comics here. What sort of thoughts, you may ask? Good question, I don't quite know the answer to that myself. All I know is that I've had a passion for sequential art ever since I read my first manga around the 6th grade, and ever since then, despite some self-denial, I've wanted to use sequential art as my own form of storytelling.

Is it not ironic, then, that even though I say I want to create comics, I've never really drawn one? Or that even though I say I love comics so much, I haven't read as many as the average fan? When speaking with friends who also read comics, I often can't talk about it because I haven't read the series they've read! I believe there are several reasons for this: the comics I read tend to cater towards a more "mature and serious" audience while my friends read more mainstream titles, and as an aspiring creator myself, the way I appreciate comics and would like to talk about them is probably quite different than the way a reader appreciates and talks about comics. Nonetheless, there are a lot of comics and a lot of knowledge out there I need to inform myself about, and I will use this blog as a record of my research, findings, and subsequent thoughts. As I do this I hope to discover what it is I really want to do in the world of comics.

As a comics reader, I mostly read manga, although I do read a couple American comics (mostly webcomics) and have wanted to delve into comics from all over the world as well! I hope to use this blog to inform myself about great comics around the world, the differences and similarities between these comics, as well as to inform myself more about the business aspect of the comics industry in various nations around the world. In addition, I'd like to discuss what comics can learn from other forms of storytelling, such as literature, film, art, music, etc., and perhaps how seemingly totally unrelated topics can inform comics as well! I'll probably start with what I am most familiar with, manga and the United States, before researching less familiar topics (like webcomics and European comics), and finally out into the unknown! 

I know many comics blogs out there do a lot of reviews, and many blogs are even dedicated to the sole purpose of comic reviews. This blog most likely won't be doing as such. I will be pointing out comics I find interesting or comics that I believe a lot can be learned from, but a full length review most likely won't be happening on this blog. Who knows, this may change at a later point in time, but for now I'd like to inform myself about the larger picture before digging into the specifics. :-)

Finally, I hope this blog can bring about more awareness about the current diversity in the comics medium and the diversity that can be achieved by the comics medium. Many people already know that comics have superheroes, tell epic adventures of fantasy and the like, but it is the lesser known stories, the unheard of and the untold ones (of the "normal" everyday person perhaps), in which I believe comics have the most potential to grow, to not only redefine themselves but also add to their repertoire of works. This blog is geared towards a future in which there is as much variety and experimentation in the comics medium as there is with film and literature, as much critical analysis, acclaim, and accessibility, and as many creators and fans!