Thinning the herd of sacred cows

What is it exactly that makes manga different? In this month’s issue of Sequential Tart, we get the second installment of an insider’s view: artist Pam Bliss explains how manga artists break the rules that Western artists learned in Comics 101. Bliss discusses the way manga artists change the look of their characters from page to page and even volume to volume, mix genres and conventions (giant robots in shoujo manga? I haven’t seen it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe it), and strategically use small bits of text to replace entire panels of exposition. As an artist, Bliss sees these as useful techniques to blend into one’s own work, rather than adopting a single style wholesale: “Steal, certainly, but only take the good stuff.” And she ends with a comment that seems very relevant in light of the recent are-manga-comics-or-are-they-not debate:

If nothing else, a thoughtful look at manga will reveal our own comics-making conventions to be just that: conventions based on a common set of assumptions rooted in Western storytelling and comics culture, rather than immutable laws of nature. Telling stories the Japanese way works not just for the Japanese, but with a little help from skilled translators, for us in the West as well. And I think that gives us all something to think about.