Why the economic environment in Japan ensures that manga remains Awesome

I like manga more than American comic books. This is in general, of course, for some comic books (particularly ones from non-mainstream companys) manage to break free of the convoluted mess that American comics love and just write a plot. However, an advantage of manga is that they are like samurai.

Alas, the comic market in Japan is very different than the American comic book market. In Japan, manga gets published in magazines before collected volumes get produced. This increases the competition to force people to work harder. Also it enforces the samurai philosophy of “remember that you will die.” Since all manga artists accept that their work is going to die at some point, they are able to make a series unhindered by trying to prevent their work from dying.

Alas, there are exceptions, such as Dragonball Z. These series manage to break the mold, and in doing so remove that inevitable death that the author’s work will receive. This is like the issue that American comics have: stagnation. This is where the author receives money based on writing a longer story rather than a better one. This causes problems like status quo. This usually means that characters will go on and on to an apparent “goal” that the author will drag out until sales drop. This is that oh so ugly point when sales are dictating the direction that a story goes. Like in American comics

Now then, a big issue is that a good portion of American comics suffer from this problem. I’m not talking something like Watchmen or V for Vendetta. Those wrap up everything in the context of their universes quite nicely. On the other hand, we have the DC and Marvel universes, which are still ongoing, and do crazy stuff like explain why Batman stories exist with him in both the 1950’s and in the modern world. This is because Batman artists realize that they are not going to die, and hence do not write as if they will. This continued existence spreads on over to Batman’s enemies, who also don’t need to fear dying. However, since they have no chance of dying, they instead live in an existence ruled by status quo and retcons. Ruins the suspense, because even if somebody does die, they’ll probably be back from the dead.

Because most American comics are not like the Samurai, they are destined to live lives of stagnation and complacency. A few brave souls, such as those at Image or DarkHorse, make their comics follow the samurai philosophy. Alas, our industry is ruled by businessmen that have lost their warrior spirit, and have removed that fight that ensures that comic books maintain a solid edge.