Not Turning Japanese

[tekcop 0]

I was just going through my little bit of webspace I use to upload pictures and things and I found this. It's pretty old. Probably three or four years, but I'm sure most of you haven't read it. It's mostly an explination of why Japanese manga isn't better than American comics. The writer's a pretty big name in the independant comic scene and she makes a lot of good points.

 

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Not Turning Japanese

by Colleen Doran

 

I returned recently from a trip to Japan where I was the guest of Tezuka

Productions. The studio chose several American creators to attend a

symposium on cartoon art and among those chosen were Jeff Smith (Bone) and

Jules Ffeifer (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for cartooning). I learned a

lot about the Japanese comic industry and I've come to some conclusions

about the American comic industry that I think will be of interest to you.

 

No one is a bigger fan of Japanese comics than I am. In fact, I think I

was the only American cartoonist there who actually knew anything about

Japanese comics. I've been a fan since 1984 when MAD magazine cartoonist

Leslie Sternbergh sold me a slew of her collection and walked me over to

the Kinokuniya bookshop in New York where I subsequently blew a wad of

dough on countless books I could not read.

 

I admired the storytelling skills of the Japanese artists, their inking

techniques, their use of line, those dazzling backgrounds! Then I learned

that Japanese artists hcing up to 500 pages per month abounded.

 

Wow! Those Japanese artists must really be something! Who hasn't marvelled

at the dazzling detail in books like Akira ? We now even have a name for

all those little speed lines--Akira lines--that take many hours of tedious

dedication to draw. I walked around for years thinking the Japanese must

be inherently superior, harder working, more dedicated. I would spend up

to 120 hours working in a single week trying to duplicate their superhuman

feats of production, and all I could muster was a whopping 60 pages in one

month, and that achieved at the cost of my health and sanity! I was so

wasted after almost 72 straight hours at the drawing board that I had to

crawl across the floor to get to the bathroom where I promptly heaved up

all the caffeine and sugar I had been consuming to stay awake.

 

Even one of my ex-editors fancied herself quite the expert on Japanese

comics berated me endlessly for not being able to work and produce as well

as those dazzling Japanese creators. If cartoonist Yasuko Aoike could

produce 100 pages a month, why couldn't I? I must be lazy or stupid. "Look

at all that background detail!" she admonished. "Why can't you draw like

that?" I tried. Believe me I tried. I spent endless hours learning how to

render and ink in those styles and I came to the conclusion that I simply

didn't have what it takes. I learned a lot from studying the work of the

Japanese but I also learned that I don't want to draw like they do and I

don't want to kill myself drawing 100 pages per month. The Japanese are

just tougher, more dedicated, more hardworking, more talented, right?

 

Wrong.

 

After actually travelling to Japan and getting a close up look at the

publishing industry, the creators and their techniques I have come to one

inescapable conclusion: American cartoonists can't draw 100 pages every

month, and Japanese cartoonists don't draw 100 pages a month either!

 

"But, how can this be?" you may ask. Those animation and manga magazines

go on at great length about how hardworking those Japanese creators are

with their dazzling production feats and their amazing creations. Are they

lying, stretching the truth, pulling our yankee leg?

 

Well, they are certainly leaving a lot out, and here's some of what they

aren't saying.

 

First and foremost, don't think for a minute that Japanese creators are

drawing all that work themselves. It just doesn't happen. The average

cartoonist in Japan has about five assistants. Katsuhiro Otomo (of Akira

fame) has ten, I am told, and it is the assistants who spend many long

hours drawing all that tedious background detail and doing all that

rendering, not the principal creator. Assistants are very specialized and

may perform only one task. One artist may draw only buildings, while

another may specialize in cars and trucks. Still another will draw weapons

and another designs space ships and technical work. Others may do no more

than lay down tone sheets (plastic film preprinted with images) and get

coffee. Most artists also have a manager and an editor, both of whom may

be expected to get down and dirty and pitch in on a tight deadline.

 

Some artists draw nothing but the main figures, and others may do no more

than layouts. Rendering is done by assistants, but only the principal

creator gets any credit. There have been a number of scandals involving

creators who have done little or no work on which their names have

appeared. One artist that I asked be invited to a symposium was snubbed

because she had been involved in a such scandal in which it appeared that

her team of assistants had created an entire series on which the "name"

artist got all credit. The assistants sued and won rights to the book.

 

Speaking with some of the Japanese creators was kind of a hoot. They

seemed to enjoy ratting on each other about which artists don't pull their

own weight. "That woman", said a rival artist pointing out a venerated

creator, "draws nothing but the eyes."

 

While it is not uncommon for American artists to use assistants, the

extent to which uncredited assistants are employed in America is not as

common in Japan. American artists who take credit for the work of others

as their own are not well regarded by their peers and do not command

respect from the fans. The entire American creative team gets credit for

their contribution, as a rule. Listings for writer, penciler, inker,

colorist and letterer are routine. In Japan, only one person on that list

usually gets any credit at all. Though paintings, lettering, inking, and

even writing may not actually be done by the person whose name appears on

the book, the "name" creator walks away with all the glory. It's not one

person who is doing 100 pages a month. In actuality, it's at least five

people producing 100 pages a month.

 

According to Fred Schodt author of Manga, Manga: The World of Japanese

Comics and Dreamland Japan , at least one artist had about twenty five

assistants, including a manager and six or seven ghostwriters!

 

Also, and this may sound like a trivial thing, original art in Japan is

about 30% smaller than American comic art. I started working at Japanese

comic size a year ago, and my work output increased immediately a

corresponding 30%!

 

Most astonishing to me, was the wide variety of tone sheets available to

Japanese creators, none of which are available to their American

counterparts. On my book, A Distant Soil I have used tone sheets (usually

known by the brand name zip-a-tone) to give ethnic characters dark skin.

The sheets are thin, plastic film with an adhesive backing. I cut out the

shape and place it on my original art and the sheet produces a grey area

that can darken skin or make a gloomy alley gloomier.

 

However, in Japan, you aren't stuck with mere sheets of dots limiting you

to varying shades of grey. Oh, no. You can buy sheets with every

conceivable background, every special effect, every detail you could

possibly imagine. You can get city scapes from every angle, rendered in

different light and in different values. You get schoolrooms and

schoolbuildings inside and out. Dozens of different seashores, skylines,

mountainscapes, forests -- every background you can conceive of has

probably already been produced and is available, ready made. Ready made

airbrush techniques are available. The moon and Earth in all their phases,

as well as the sun and stars with dozens of shots per sheet can be had at

only about $3.50 each. Dazzling cloud banks, countless shots of the sun

shining through clouds and even flowers, trees and grass are to be had,

all predrawn for your convenience.

 

Of course there are countless sheets for rendering. Difficult hatching

techniques which take many long hours by hand are no problem for the

Japanese artist who need merely buy a sheet, peel it off and place it on

their finished art. You can even buy sheets to simulate tweed and paisley

and silk to duplicate the weave and print on clothes. One catalogue I

picked up contained over 250 pages of these sheets.

 

And yes, America, you can even buy those tedious Akira lines!

 

My brain nearly exploded when I saw that you can also buy--no

joke--cartoon characters in different poses. You can make a comic without

ever having to draw anything! And this is all well known in Japan. I found

these sheets for sale in comic shops and stationery shops!

 

Frankly, I was annoyed, and not just because an ignorant editor some years

ago got up my nose about not being able to meet Japanese production

standards. I was also annoyed because some of the Japanese creators quite

arrogantly proclaimed their American counterparts lazy complainers! If we

couldn't produce 100 pages a month like they could, it must be because we

Americans do nothing but sit around, drink beer and eat bon bons! Imagine

my surprise when, after getting an earful of this, I walked into a comic

book shop and bought nearly 100 of these sheets! At dinner the next day I

held them up before the eyes of Jeff Smith, Denys Cowan and Jules Ffeifer.

"Look at this! Can you believe this!!!" I was absolutely furious! I

thought Jeff Smith's eyes were going to pop out of his head. We couldn't

believe that we had just gotten a bellyful of insults and arrogance and

were now learning the amazing secret of manga production!

 

One of the editors of Shueisha Publishing, one of Japan's three largest

companies, was rather scornful when informed that many American creators

like myself can only produce about 30 pages of finished art per month, on

average. However, I made sure I also informed him that there was not only

a different standard regarding comic art in America. Most American comic

art is more realistic and detailed than Japanese cartoon art. Frankly,

most of the manga I saw was pretty awful. Production standards are very

low and the art is usually simple and sketchy, looking more like the kind

of work one might expect to see in bad small press 'zines produced on a

photocopy machine. The kind of fabulously detailed work we're accustomed

to seeing in books like Akira is the exception, not the rule. The bad

stuff never gets across the Pacific Ocean and there is a lot of very bad

stuff, even as there is a lot of bad stuff in America. But even the

Japanese agree--the art and production standards in America are

significantly higher than in Japan.

 

Also, I informed this editor of something he never considered--I actually

draw all my own work. Though I did employ an assistant, briefly, some ten

years ago, I was dissatisfied with the results especially when I found out

the assistant was farming his work out to, well, more assistants. I ended

up redoing most of the drawing later. However, I picked up the latest

issue of A Distant Soil and flipped through the pages. "Every line in this

book is mine", I said. "I even do my own lettering." The editor looked at

me as if I had dropped down from another planet. "Don't you have

assistants?" he asked. I do use assistants today, but they don't draw

anything. They lay down tone sheets, and fill in black spots. I still do

all the drawing. In fact, I've been annoyed lately as I've received

letters from fans complimenting my assistants on the background work and

costume detail--work they don't do!

 

"Why," asked the editor, "don't you get a computer to do your lettering

for you?" Almost all lettering in Japan is done on computer. I informed

him that I felt hand lettering better complimented the idiosyncracies of

original art than did computer lettering. I went on to say, "American fans

expect the artist to do the work they say they do. If they find out you

have an assistant doing your work for you and you don't say so, you will

lose respect." The editor went dead white and we did not discuss the

superiority of Japanese cartoonists any more.

 

Osamu Tezuka, the founder of Tezuka studios is legendary for having

produced some 500 pages in one month. But he didn't do it alone. Tezuka

and a team of ten assistants produced 500 pages in one month. It is said

that Tezuka reserved all the primary creative work for himself and did the

story and layouts for all those 500 pages himself, which is a significant

accomplishment. However, there is a major difference between doing 500

pages alone and doing 500 pages with ten other people. It boils down to

about 45 pages per person. Well shoot. I've done that !

 

I do respect and admire many of the Japanese creators and I learned a

great deal from my trip. Most significantly, I learned that our industries

are simply too different to compare equitably. A Japanese creator who is

required to churn out 100 or more pages of work with his creative team can

never expect to be able to produce a book with art as dazzling as that of

Alex Ross on Kingdom Come. In fact, Japanese creators don't get royalties

on their monthly/weekly comics. They work for page rate only and get

royalties only on graphic novel collections. Page rates for major

publishers in Japan are not always as favorable as U.S. page rates. Tokyo

is an incredibly expensive city, the most expensive in the world, and most

artists are required to live in or near Tokyo. So they must produce huge

volumes of work to make a decent living, especially if their work is not

being reprinted in graphic novel format! American artists may live

anywhere they like, so the page rate on a single monthly book from a major

publisher can provide a comfortable living for most creators. Of course,

in Japan, the page rate is a flat rate. Their is no division of labor

payment, no separate rates for writing, inking, or lettering. If you get

$100 per page, that is what you split with your assistants. If you only

produce 40 pages per month, you won't make enough money to afford even a

small apartment in a bad Tokyo neighborhood!

 

There are many wonderful things going on in Japan and everyone in America

envies the huge sales figures of Japanese comics. But the presumption on

the part of the Japanese publishers that Japanese comics sell better

because they are better is simply false. There are many reasons why the

Japanese and American industries developed so differently.

 

First and foremost, in 1950's America, we had some yahoo named Frederick

Wertham who decided that comic books were evil things that turned kids

into juvenile delinquents. He wrote an idiot book called Seduction of the

Innocent that boondoggled millions of Americans into believing that comics

were turning their darling tots into the spawn of the pit of hell (or at

least motorcycle riding shoplifters). So Congress called meetings, moms

and dads all over America burned comics in bonfires, we got the ludicrous

comics code, and thousands of stores stopped selling comic books. Kids

started turning on to a much more wholesome form of entertainment--can you

guess what that is? That's right! Television!

 

What was happening in 1950's Japan? It was after World War II and the

place was bombed to rubble. There were no televisions. Few could afford

any form of entertainment. So, what did they do? They read comic books.

Many Japanese couldn't even afford to buy comic books, so they rented

them. In 1956 Japan, there were over 30,000 comic book rental shops, more

than ten times the number of comic book retail shops in America today. So

while generations of American kids were being plugged into the idiot tube

as their primary form of entertainment, generations of Japanese were

turning to comic books for their jollies.

 

One Japanese critic declared that the Japanese cartoonists had also faced

censorship, but by no means did the Japanese comic industry face anything

like the scope of the 1950's censorship spawned by Seduction of the

Innocent. Japanese comics that have come under protest generally contain

explicit sexual or violent content. American comics intended for children

like Batman and Wonder Woman were attacked because Freudian psychologist

Wertham believed that there was that--well--Freudian sexual content

floating around. Mind you, there wasn't actually any sex going on, he just

thought little kids might see sex if they looked hard enough. He thought

Batman and Robin were gay and Wonder Woman was a lesbian, as if eight year

olds in 1956 had a clue what that meant. A major, major difference between

the American and Japanese market is the fact that comics in Japan are

considered a medium, capable of conveying many different types of stories

for many different types of consumers, while comics in America were

considered toys for children and all comics had to be safe for five year

olds. The restrictions of the Comics Code Authority simply never happened

in Japan. Censorship in Japan has been restricted to material with

extremely explicit content, not to all comics of every kind. Moreover, for

many years, American comics could not be distributed unless they carried

the Comics Code approval stamp. If an American comic wasn't appropriate

for a small child, you simply couldn't buy it in your local store.

 

Comic books are mass medium entertainment. In Japan, there are masses of

masses of people, over half the population of the United States crowded

onto an island no bigger than California. It is so crowded, a few times I

nearly hyperventilated just looking around at the mob. That mob, those

millions upon millions of folks use mass transit (clean, safe, nice

smelling mass transit--if only it were so in New York!) every single day

and every single day, those galloping hoards of salarymen pass legions of

kiosks, and newsstands overflowing with comics, comics and more comics.

They're everywhere. Exposure to comics is constant, relentless. Nowhere in

Japan can you go more than a few yards without some kind of exposure to

comics or animation, either in merchandising or advertising or Hello Kitty

wear. Who am I to resist? I now have a Hello Kitty keychain. Even in the

oh-so-fashionable-oh-so-filthy-rich Ginza district, you'll find dazzling

jeweled handbags made in the shape of Astro Boy's head.

 

Try finding comics in a New York subway, or at a Washington bus station.

They're just not there. But in the miles and miles of underground shops

below Tokyo, commuters can grab their weekly comics fix at one end of

their route, read 'em on the train (it only takes about a half hour to

read a 300 page Japanese comic magazine: the stories are rather thin), and

toss the intended-to-be-disposable comic printed on intentionally

atrocious newsprint in the recycling bin at the other end of one's route

while on the way to work or school. Japan has a virtually captive audience

of habitual comic book buyers who pass by the places comics are purchased

in hoards of millions every single day.

 

In America, comics aren't a habit, they're a commitment. They're expensive

compared to their Japanese counterparts costing almost as much for twenty

pages of art and story as for 200 pages of a Japanese comic. You get

better paper and production values for your money and you can always sell

your American comic later, but it can be an expensive hobby. America, with

twice the population of Japan, has only a fraction of a percent of the

number of outlets to purchase comics. Their are more places to purchase

comics in Tokyo alone than in all of the United States. I am told there is

only one comic book shop in all of Wyoming.

 

Comics is a mass market medium. In America, where the masses are, the

comics aren't. Compared to the masses in Japan, America doesn't have a

mass population at all. My home state of Virginia has a population that is

only about one-third that of the city of Tokyo alone. To achieve the kinds

of sales publishers enjoy in Japan, American publishers would have to

duplicate the conditions that exist in Japan and I don't believe that can

be done! The vast majority of the United States is still rural. I grew up

in a town with only 900 people. You not only can't buy any comics there,

until recently, you couldn't even buy a TV Guide.

 

Back in the good old days of comics, kids all over America could buy their

favorites in local groceries and small shops, independently owned markets

which no longer exist having been driven under by chain grocery stores,

most of which won't sell comics. As a matter of fact, it was the low price

of the old comic books which no longer made them desirable to retailers. A

retailer has a certain amount of space in his store and that space must

earn so much money per square foot to be profitable. When comic books were

only pennies a copy, and when that price remained low for decades,

retailers could not move enough volume to make the comic books pay. Candy

bars, quickly consumed by the customer and consuming very little space on

the rack while costing as much or more than the average comic, were far

more profitable. Ironically, lower sales on comics helped drive the price

up and made comics more desirable for retailers to carry again. However,

the higher prices decrease the overall volume of sale, making comic books

less desirable as a retail item all over again. Catch 22.

 

I went to Japan expecting to learn the secrets of the Japanese comic

market, lessons I could then employ here in America. What I learned is

that there are many things that make comics sell in Japan and not all of

those things are possible to duplicate in America. Nor would I want to.

While I'd love to be able to be as rich as some of those Japanese artists,

I didn't get in to comics to have a team of people to do my work for me.

I'd rather do it myself. I think American fans appreciate the skill of the

artist. When computer graphics or other methods are employed to enhance

the work, the artist is less impressive to me, and to most fans, I think.

And while the Japanese artists have the fame and money most Americans

would envy, my standard of living is much higher than even that of wealthy

Japanese in super-expensive Japan. Also, I was surprised to learn that the

level of creative freedom many American cartoonists enjoy is rather rare

in Japan. Editors exhort a great deal of control over much of the work and

lives of even successful cartoonists. Artists who miss deadline must

endure the "canning" process, a ritual where the creator and his

assistants are locked into a room and held there until they finish the

job; no matter how long that may take! Some artists were very interested

in speaking to Jeff Smith and I about self publishing!

 

I remain a great fan and admirer of Japanese comics and I respect the

accomplishments of their industry, but I no longer see that industry

through rose-colored glasses. My new perspective enables me to find much

to admire about manga while still respecting and admiring much of what we

have accomplished in America. Most importantly, I realize that our

industries are just too different, and that manga and comics are different

mediums with different standards and practices. The Japanese have not

mastered comics they have mastered mass production. The language of manga

and the language of Western comics are merging and I hope that if I have

another opportunity to meet and discuss our unique mediums again with my

Japanese counterparts, the dialogue will be more about our art and less

about who sells more and does more. I am not interested in a-uh-big sword

contest. Boys, get a clue. It's not the sword, it's the swordsman.

 

 

To reply to Colleen Doran's EGO editorial, email her at

 

[email protected]

 

Copyright 1997 Gareb Shamus Enterprises, Inc.

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[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

Thanks for pulling that up, I didn't know much anything about that before reading that. Koshi Rikdo is the only manga author I've ever seen really mention his assistants, now that I think of it

[AlwaysPissedOff 0]

Man, if this was posted on one of the millions of anime/manga boards floating around the net, they'd probably call for her head...

[tekcop 0]

I posted it at the GameFAQS forums once. It didn't go over too well. I wonder how many hateful email she got because of me.

[Ced 0]

It's a nice, informative piece. I don't understand why the article wouldn't go over very well with some people. Just the facts, really.

 

If I had the artistic weapons the Japanese have, I could churn out some impressive stuff and I have sub-par drawing talent.

 

Koshi Rikdo is the only manga author I've ever seen really mention his assistants, now that I think of it

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gosho Aoyama of Detective Conan fame also mentions his assistants at the end of each graphic novel in the same manner that Rikdo does. He even lets each of them have a 4-panel comic strip.

[Special K 0]

Exactly. It's all about the writing, and if you've been reading manga for long enough, you can rocognize certain backgrounds.

[Toshiaki Koala 0]

Jules Ffeifer is a fucking schmuck. My dad met him once and told him where he lived, to which Ffeifer responded, "Oh, I take my dog down there to shit sometimes." His artwork is really ugly, too.

[Golgo 13 0]

It's a nice, informative piece. I don't understand why the article wouldn't go over very well with some people. Just the facts, really.

 

It doesn't help that there's a contingent of manga and anime fans out there that are completely fucking mental and take it personally when someone criticizes whatever they like.

[Ced 0]

It's a nice, informative piece. I don't understand why the article wouldn't go over very well with some people. Just the facts, really.

 

It doesn't help that there's a contingent of manga and anime fans out there that are completely fucking mental and take it personally when someone criticizes whatever they like.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You can say that with just about anything interest though.

 

But, yeah, there is that group that just can't take the joke while watching Perfect Hair Forever. There's a reason I don't frequent the [adult swim] board anymore. Well actually it's because practically everybody there is either a) there in an attempt to get a bump on TV, b) a troll, or c) stupid. Possibly all of the above, I don't know.

[Jingus 0]

Fascinating writeup. I've sometimes wondered why a lot of manga books tend to look so much alike, and now I know.

 

Oh, and any manga fans who get upset after reading this are fucking crybabies who'd rather stick their heads in the sand ostrich-style rather than have their precious misconceptions challenged in any way. Anyone who's ever tried to make their own comic will tell you that single-handedly inking 500 finished pages per months is not humanly possible, period.

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

Actually, now that I think of it, CLAMP might be the other exception to the rule, because I think each of them does something, but heck they certainly have assistants by now, because no single human being can draw all of those lines in their newer stuff, I can't even make out what's going on in some of their action scenes.

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

Or even four people, which is what I should have said, but I don't feel like editing right now