American Comics vs Manga

For practically as long as I can remember, I’ve been a huge fan of comics, American comic books and Japanese manga. Both types of storytelling have been home to some of my favorite pieces of fiction ever, such as Saga, Hunter x Hunter, Spider-Man, Batman, Berserk and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. I'm endlessly fascinated by these worlds, and I find myself coming back to them again and again, no matter what style they are in. 

Yet, others obviously don’t feel the same way. Some people out there are obviously fans of American comic books--whether it be Marvel, DC, Image, or something else entirely--yet they cannot get into Japanese manga. Maybe it’s art style, or panel layout, or comedy that gets lost in translation, or any other reason. 

Similarly, fans of manga aren’t necessarily into American comic books. There are plenty of people who are captivated by the universes of manga, but don’t want to dive into the works of Marvel or DC. 

But why is that? On paper (pun intended), they’re fundamentally the same thing. Manga is just the Japanese equivalent to American comics, cartoons and graphic novels. But why are they treated as vastly different specimens?  

My name is Jonathan, and in this essay, I’m going to be breaking down the fundamental differences between American comic books and Japanese manga series. 

Part 1: Establishing Ideas:

When people discuss the differences between manga and western comics, I’ve noticed that certain topics come up. Fans of both often discuss the differences in a story’s lifespan, setting, and character development. 

However, I find that many of these topics have nothing to do with the mediums themselves. Again, manga is literally just the Japanese equivalent of western comic books, and vice versa. There’s nothing inherent about our nations or cultures that compel us to write or draw in certain ways, it’s all just patterns. 

In this essay I’m going to be examining the two main factors that contribute to differences in western comics and manga: 

1. Story Structure

2. Company Structure

Part 2: Story Structure

I’m going to start by examining story structure in both mediums. I find that most comics--whether they be from the east or west--tend to favor one of three main story types: Open-Ended, Finite, and Hybrid. I think if I can give some examples from both sides, you guys will be able to understand what I’m saying. 

1. First, there are Open-ended comics, which have no real end goal, so they can and will go on forever. For example: Dragon Ball, Detective Conan, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, etc.

2. Second, there are Finite comics, where everything (or at least most of the story) is planned, and it has a definitive beginning, middle and end. The characters are all trying to get to a specific goal, and everything they do brings them closer to this goal. Example: Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Watchmen, etc. 

3. Third, there are Hybrid comics, which are functionally identical to open-ended comics, but there is an actual end goal in mind, but the characters might be progressing to it as a snail’s pace (or not at all!). So even though they have a goal, it’s possible (and very likely) for them to get frequently sidetracked and go on missions that have nothing to do with the original goal. This gives the writer(s) the freedom of an open-ended comic while still keeping a specific goal in mind to drive the characters through endless conflicts. Example: One Piece, Pokémon, Rogue Trooper, etc.

Part 3: Company Structure

Now that we know what kinds of stories are common in both mediums, we can look at how the publishing companies get involved in each series. 

With American comic books (and most other comics in the west), the companies themselves are in control most of the time. It is possible for series to be published by a specific company while having the core creative team be in control (i.e. Watchmen), but even then, this doesn’t guarantee the company will leave it alone, as evidenced by Before Watchmen and DC Rebirth. 

This means they have a story or series in mind, and they want writers to do it. (This can result in varying levels of freedom for the writers; sometimes they are given a specific story arc to write, but other times they may do their own thing).

With manga companies, the companies themselves are only publishers. The writers pitch their own series, which the manga companies (think Shonen Jump) approve or deny. If approved, it runs in their magazine. This means the writers have a series in mind, and the companies have slots for their stories to publish them, so even though a company can cancel a series, the writers are in control of the narrative’s direction. 

However, a manga magazine can only have so many pages, so only a limited amount of manga series can run at a time in the same magazine; this means the companies only choose the best series to run, so as to ensure maximum quality at a given time. 

Now, this doesn’t lock the manga companies into a specific contract. After all, if a new author presents them an awesome idea for a series with tons of potential, and a series already running is losing quality (and, by extension, sales and readers), the companies are completely within their power to replace the failing series. This makes the manga industry rather cutthroat, a constant competition, wherein emerging manga authors are competing with one-another for free slots and succeeding manga authors need to maintain top-notch quality so they aren’t replaced. 

What does this all mean? In American comics, series and characters are company-owned, but in manga, series and characters are creator-owned. 

This is why comic book companies are prone to getting into disputes over legal ownership of characters. Stan Lee may have created most of the iconic pantheon that we know and love, but at the end of the day, Marvel is considered the official owner of those characters, which is why we’ve continued to create Marvel media after his death. 

Company structure heightens competition, but in two different ways: in American comics, the competition is between entire companies and their respective portfolios; but in manga, competition tends to be within companies themselves, as writers compete for open slots. 

In American comics, because characters are company-owned, this means after the original writer/creator leaves, if the series is selling well, the company can continue it and simply hire a new team. 

This makes American comics a group effort. If popular enough, these series such as Superman and Batman will pretty much always sell well (and so the company never has incentive to end them). This is especially true because now DC and Marvel--the two biggest comic companies in the west--are owned by two mega-corporations: AT&T and Disney, neither of which want to see an end to their cash-flow anytime soon. 

This means that DC and Marvel favor open-ended comics. As long as they keep creating comics, they’ll be making money and developing a fanbase; this fanbase incentivizes them to make more comics, and the cycle continues. 

In manga, series usually live and die with their creators, so it becomes a solo effort. Yes, we have seen sequel series continue--such as how Toyotaro is writing Dragon Ball Super, and how Boruto was being written by Ukyo Kodachi--but these are few and far between. 

Like with American comics, a manga series will obviously sell as long as people are buying. However, as I touched on earlier, slight differences in company structure and the limited slots of a magazine mean that competition is fierce. As a result, we’ve noticed several trends in the industry:

• Because they are solely in charge, manga writers can end the series when they want. If they have a natural, reasonable ending in mind, many go in mind with this original ending (i.e. how FMA was totally, completely planned before it was even written). Therefore, finite comics become common in manga. 

• In manga, the risk of being canceled makes jumping the shark a real, valid fear. 

• For those that don’t know, jumping the shark refers to when a series that was once high in quality and popularity slowly loses it’s steam, and as a result, its fanbase often dwindles. Supernatural, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Sherlock all arguably succumbed to this in their lifetime. 

• Because there are dozens of mangaka all vying for limited slots in a magazine like Shonen Jump, the few mangaka that have managed to get their stories serialized often go for a finite comic, because if everything is planned, it can minimize the risk of jumping the shark. 

• Additionally, hybrid comics (such as One Piece) may be preferred. If the series is incredibly popular, this lets the author keep it going and milk as much success out of it as they can. This then favors them in many ways. Having an end goal in mind (even if progression towards that goal is minimal or non-existent) can give a feeling that everything has been planned and deliberate from the start, and it allows for the writers to write the main cast consistently without fear of the goal changing. Additionally, if they do jump the shark and are at risk of being canceled, they can kick the plot into overdrive and get the characters to start rapidly accelerating towards the goal they’ve always been striving towards. (For example, if One Piece were hypothetically in danger of being canceled around halfway through Oda’s plans, he could tie up the series at any time with the discovery of the “One Piece” treasure and end the series there). This will either result in the author rediscovering their mojo along the way and the quality of their story improving (with the risk of being canceled decreasing), or it will allow them to end with the characters achieving the goal they’ve been striving for. 

Character ownership also affects the universes of comic series. Crossovers in manga are rare and almost always non-canon, because the individual characters are almost always owned by different authors who usually do these crossovers (such as the Toriko, Dragon Ball and One Piece crossover) for fun. 

By comparison, in American comics (Marvel and DC specifically), crossovers can occur without fear of stepping over anyone’s toes, simply because the companies own all the characters they use. Shared universes form as a logical extension of repeated crossovers, and eventually, nearly the company’s entire portfolio rests in either one universe or a tight-knit group of related universes. It’s not the sort of thing that could be possible in manga companies: even if you get all of Shonen Jump together in one crossover, eventually, those authors are gonna want to take their characters back to their home series and tell the story they want to tell. 

Part 3.5: Arcs, Status Quo, and Death:

The differences in company and story structure also lead to a different view on story arcs. In a finite comic, a story arc should theoretically bring the characters one step closer to the endgame and the achievement of their goals. In an open-ended comic, these ramifications are far less likely to occur, and if they do last, it’ll usually be for a short while. 

This brings me to my next point: the status quo. 

Open-ended comics, in general, tend to favor some kind of status quo, especially with Marvel and DC characters, who have been running so long that if the status quo of an individual series was ever permanently changed, it would result in outcry. 

Because of this emphasis on status quo (combined with the simple fact that character deaths are shocking events that sell more comics), it’s become common (much to the frustration of fans) for writers to kill off characters in shocking ways only to bring them back later. 

This decreases the stakes of any life-or-death situation, and I find that many people cite this as one of the biggest reasons behind “comic fatigue”. When you never get the sense that anyone is in real danger, it becomes hard to care for them when the writers desperately try to convince you they are in danger. 

The effects of Ace’s death are still being felt over 10 years later in One Piece. By comparison, Civil War II created groans heard ‘round the world when it killed off War Machine and Hulk, because we all knew that the writers would bring them back, and you know what? We were right. Less than two years later, both heroes were back like nothing ever happened. 

In my own experience, it seems that with a few exceptions (i.e. Dragon Ball, Naruto, etc.), resurrection is much rarer in manga. 

Part 4: Why Some People Cannot Get Into One:

Because of the massive differences in status quo, story structure, writing, and company structure, fans of one medium often struggle to get into the other. And I can see why. Fans of manga are used to see their story end in some way or another, and the emotions and feelings that come with that ending are sure to stick with us for a long time. Naruto practically broke the Internet when it ended after 15 years, same for Bleach, and fans are already anticipating the ending of One Piece. 

But knowing that titles like Batman, Superman and Spider-Man will never truly end drives many people away from checking them out. 

However, beyond this, there are numerous reasons why I think fans of one cannot get into the other:

1. Art. It’s no secret that manga and anime have a distinctive style. If over-the-top facial expressions, crazy hair and huge eyes aren’t your think...you might be out of luck. Not to say these are seen in all manga, but it’s certainly frequent enough that newcomers to anime will be forgiven for thinking so. Similarly, comics--especially ones in the 80s, 90s and 2000s, and especially those made by Rob Leifeld--have a certain...style to them. Highly-sexualized and unrealistic bodies for women, massive pecs on men, disjointed arms and shoulders. You either love it or you don’t. But you probably don't.

2. Humor. Being that these are mediums that originated from entirely different regions of the world, it’s no secret that manga and western comics have different styles of humor. Even as someone who’s been reading manga since I was in middle school, I find that to this day, there are small details, cues, or entire punchlines that I missed completely because they either made use of Japanese social norms, or were based on some kind of wordplay that got lost in translation. It’s a surprisingly common thing, and one that I find a lot of people don’t talk about. Manga also relies on a lot of archetypes in comedy--such as tsunderes, shudder--which can have little to no appeal to a lot western readers. 

3. Genre Conventions. The fact of the matter is that, when you strip away the different social norms, story structures, and publishing company patterns, sometimes, the thing that’ll push someone away from one medium or another is just the simple genre conventions. This is especially apparent now that we have a lot of cultural osmosis, and different writers from each side of the world are taking a crack at the ideas from another, but putting it in their own way. Perhaps the most famous example of this is My Hero Academia, which is blatantly based on Marvel Comics, yet also omits some of the most basic ideas in Marvel. Secret identities--a cornerstone of every superhero since the Caped Crusader himself--are basically nonexistent in the My Hero world; and superheroes are far more embraced by the public and government due to their majority, whereas that friction often characterizes comics like X-Men and Spider-Man. 

With all that being said, I think I’m going to sign off for now. Thanks for reading!