Psudeonomicon

I'm a big proponent of names. I think it's important what you call something. I'm notorious for my hair splitting. So, I've been following tea Manga/OEL(manga) discussion at Warren Ellis' The Engine for a week now.
See, I think that people read manga because it's not a comic, even though it is, and they won't read comics because they are not manga, even though they are both comics.
I understand that manga are, on the whole, really good comics. I think the American comic industry, from the smallest indie publisher to (especially) the Big Two can learn from the Japanese. However, I think that what we can learn is how to improve comics and make them better. Not how to make manga. It doesn't matter if we ink like the manga or lay out our pages like we might see in a manga or draw our figures like one would expect from a manga. What matters is that we learn to tell stories that are complex in plot, rich in characterization and dialogue, with a wide range of visual storytelling techniques to communicate the story content rather than flash the reader's eye, and that stories are driven by inspiration and vision, not sales and brand names, thus they need to end when they are over and need to be the work of the creators vision, even if they are working via proxy. That's what I think manga has to over. Sure, some of those visual storytelling techniques might necessarily look like what we would expect from a manga in terms of framing and composition, that doesn't mean the line work and character design is going to resemble what we would expect from a manga.
I can't blame anyone for trying to hook manga readers by looking as much like a manga as they can. And I'm sure there are creators who love the visual style they see in manga and choose to draw that way. Goddess knows my work is going to remind people of someone else. The two things that really get me is that there's a huge number of readers who don't read comics because they are comics, but read manga because they are not comics (somehow) and that there are creators who think that making manga is better than making comics or that the only good comic is a Japanese comic so we'd better copy them as much as possible.
Sure, I'm not being fair, nor is any of this based on anything other than my own conjecture. (only about two people will read this anyway, so I'm fairly safe from reprisal anyway).
I think the word "comic" is outdated and needs to go away. That which we call comics are no longer funny. I have said we need a word like manga to call these books, be they monthly floppies or fattie novels. However, manga means "Japanese comic". So, we can't call them that. We need something else.
And it REALLY honks me that people read manga but not comics!! This should be a separate blog, but I'm on a roll. I think the exoticism of the manga being Japanese cancels out the stigma of American comics and makes it okay to read them. (again, pure conjecture) Mind you, even if they read all the really good American comics, how long would that take? A month or so? And compare that to how many good manga there are.
The other thing is that manga are often associated with anime and video games. Many of them are adaptations or retelling of the anime and games, or vice versa. In that sense, manga are an extension of a subculture. They are another manifestation of these hyperkinetic, super iconic, larger than life pop creations. And taking that and running with it (like I do), that's something that manga do pretty well, from what I've seen so far.
Like I said, one thing we can learn from manga is using a wider range of storytelling techniques. It was pointed out to me on The Engine that manga on the whole use fast, jarring, sweeping cinematic techniques. They pull in close, then go wide, they expand moments of emotional intensity across panels or pages. The thing I like is the minimized use of a grid or box panel for page compositions, often near collage techniques with characters laying across panels that falling with pointed boarders like raining shards of broken glass. In short, what I'm trying to say in my own verbose way, manga (on the whole) are uniquely well suited for the mtv generation (and post mtv generation. In that sense, one can and sometimes must suspend the notion of what a comic is, suspend notions of pacing and layout and form. These are expressions of a hyperkinetic, fragmented, post modern (post postmodern?) world.
Comics have this same quality, I think. There are few things more pop than comics and cartooning, but I'll admit (after a long struggle against) that manga (on the whole) capture "pop" with a cool sophistication, depth of intensity, and lushness of style.
So, deep down, I don't blame "the kids" for reading manga. In a way I'm envious. What would my reading habits have been like had I the option of reading manga at a young age? I do call them "young whippersnappers" or "snot nosed brats" if they won't even try to read an American Comic!
Really, I wish could come up with a new name for these new books that are being made in a new world where divisions of East v. West, Us V. Them, Manga v. Comics have disappeared and everyone benefits.
But that's just me.