Re: [News] Japan's New Export

"S.t.A.n.L.e.E" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> http://www.ikjeld.com/weekly/manga/
> 
> Manga, Japanese comics, have long been extremely popular
> in Japan.  The country has thousands of manga artists
> and millions of fans.  Some of them visit specialist
> manga cafes daily.

That sounds really neat:)

> 
> To call manga 'Japanese comics' is like calling a painting
> by Michelangelo a picture.  Both are true statements and both
> are utterly insufficient and degrading.  Unlike Western comics,
> Japanese manga have a history that stretch back many hundreds
> of years.  

Cute.  There are American comics like Maus, Jimmy Corrigan, and The
Sandman that I'm willing to bet are as sophisticated as any "manga." 
Alan Moore's superhero comics have postmodern or metafictional
sensiblities that I haven't seen in any manga, though I'm aware only a
small percentage of the stuff comes out in America.

Comics in their modern form were created in America.  Do ancient
Japanese scrolls actually look like comics?  What were they used for? 
Martial arts?  Instructions for Tea Ceremonies and such?  I find it
hard to believe anything in this article at face value.

(Scott Mccloud has found an ancient egyptian work of art he considers
an early example of a comic.  I forget if he found earlier examples.)

In ancient scrolls you can discover ink drawings that
> look disturbingly modern.  

Is this true?  The article writer clearly doesn't know his topic very
well.

This has greatly helped to make manga
> generally accepted as an art form in Japan, whereas in the West
> comics are even today often seen as books for kids.

True.

> 
> Japanese manga cover an amazing range.  There are manga for all
> age levels and interests. 

This is true for American comics as well, the difference being
American comics for adults don't sell.