While American comics and manga are both technically graphic novels/comics, they typically have completely different audiences. And while they each have their strengths and weaknesses, these might be difficult for a newbie to recognize. Let’s identify the main common points and differences between manga and comic books!
Obviously we won’t be able to cover absolutely every type of comic or manga, there are just too many styles to cover. So let’s use the most popular genres in each as a representative example. this would be superhero comics and nekketsu shonen manga. some of you may already be wondering: what is a shonen nekketsu!? Quite simply, nekketsu are classic quest-type shonen series, usually featuring a central protagonist who must work hard to increase his or her power levels and continue their quest. big names like dragon ball, one piece or even naruto are examples.
You are reading: Difference between manga and comic books
Now that this point is cleared up, we can get to the heart of the matter.
visual differences
Anyone who’s read a manga or comic book could already tell a distinct difference, but let’s quickly review the basics before we dive in.
The main features of the manga, with a few exceptions, are the black and white drawings and the Japanese reading direction, which is the opposite of ours here in North America. thus, from right to left instead of left to right, but still moving across the page from top to bottom. by contrast, comics are almost always in color (obviously there are exceptions: the walking dead, for example) and are read from left to right. and from top to bottom.
publication
In japan, before being published as bound volumes, manga are pre-published chapter by chapter in weekly magazines, the best known of which is obviously the weekly shueisha skip. it’s through the jump that we’ve seen virtually all of the classic shonen nekketsu emerge.
See Also: Mark Sullivan – Book Series In Order
These huge 500 page magazines, sold at a very low price as they are printed on cheap newspaper-like paper, are used to test manga. if the public is receptive, the manga is published in volumes of 10-12 chapters, which is the format that can be found in stores on our side of the world.
On the comics side, the system is slightly different, but there are still a couple of similarities. the stories first appear in what are called “single issues,” the equivalent of one chapter. Typically 25-40 pages long, each of these paperback issues is available at specialty stores and features a story about a core character or team.
but unlike the manga, you can find the same character in several different “unique numbers”. For example, the Batman character can be found simultaneously in “Batman” and “Detective Comics.” Once a story or narrative arc is finished, these individual issues are collected, like manga, into hardcover volumes or TPBs (trade paperbacks). there is also usually a new “deluxe” paperback edition released several months later. these volumes are often the main entry point for anyone interested in discovering a particular comic book character or universe.
Now that the basic information is out of the way, let’s get to the heart of the matter. Specifically, what differentiates a manga from a comic?
the way the story is created and told
a manga has a writer and an artist, or even a single person who works on both aspects, known as a mangaka. As we follow the adventures of the story from the first to the last volume of the story, we also follow the vision of the same author(s) throughout the entire manga until it reaches a complete ending.
with comics, it’s another story. characters can be created by someone years ago, but used and reinvented by different creators and writers over time. there is, of course, a certain history of the character that must be respected, although new authors often take the liberty of writing stories according to their vision of the character.
this is the main difference between the manga and the comics: on the one hand, the manga presents the vision of a single mangaka or team. comics, on the other hand, are published as “runs,” or separate story arcs, that allow different creative teams to work on their own interpretations of the characters. this is an aspect that can pose certain problems of continuity and consistency, which becomes expected when you can have dozens of years of history to respect. some races will fit naturally into canon continuity, but others will set up different versions of the characters. Actually, there is a concept that was created to correct this problem, the notion of multiverse, which is mainly found in the two big ones, dc comics and marvel.
See Also: Top 40 Best Vampire Romance Books 2022 And Of All Time
when reading comics, although there may be unclear elements in the subject you are reading, the arcs are usually made to be understood by readers with different levels of knowledge. this is an interesting aspect of comics because as we read more issues and expand our understanding of the story universe, we find answers to elements that were previously unclear.
In a manga, when we can’t identify with the hero or the story, there is no “solution”. the narrative framework does not exist outside of that particular manga. however, this is quite rare, the manga often draws you in entirely through perfectly defined world-building and characters, again thanks to the consistency of a single creative input. character development is one of the main strengths of manga in general, which we’ll come back to a bit later.
In the world of comics, the notion of a multiverse means that a hero can be reinvented in many ways. there are many possibilities that open up outside of the “classic” universe.
also allows characters to be formally “updated” over time. For example, the origins of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, have been revised multiple times to fit a current context. the first version of the iron man story, created in the 1960s, takes place during the vietnam war, but to attract a new audience and make it easier to identify with the universe, the story was later revised and relocated to the gulf war , and then to Afghanistan. this is something that would be unthinkable to do in a manga where the origins of the characters are eternally frozen. this multiverse system will also allow for “reboots” of the universe to allow new readers to find entry points without needing to know a character’s full backstory.
character evolution
In manga, and particularly in shonen, the hero evolves throughout the story. this can be an evolution in power level, but often it can also reflect an evolution in the maturity of the characters we will follow and see grow. this is why shonen manga present important life lessons that are often directed at young people, teaching them values such as respect, courage, and friendship.
In the comics, it works very differently. heroes do not evolve or change very little over time (time becomes very relative, by the way). If we take the example of superman who has been around since 1938, he obviously hasn’t aged 83 years. he remains forever in the guise of a man in his thirties and his powers do not evolve. he is and has always been able to fly, has super strength, etc… obviously we’re generalizing a bit, obviously there is an evolution of the character, but it’s very minimal compared to those found in the manga.
In comics, these character evolutions are more likely result of choices made by differing creative teams over time, usually in order to renew interest in a character. No one wants a hero who stays the same!
This concludes our little introduction on the main differences between the manga and the comics! Of course, this is a rich topic that deserves more than one article. We have barely scratched the surface! expect more detailed articles from us soon!
See Also: 10 Best Data Structures and Algorithms Books [2022] – InterviewBit