THE POWER OF COMICS
CHAPTER 13: COMICS CULTURE AROUND
THE WORLD
By Gregory K. Eckert
THREE MAJOR COMICS PRODUCING CULTURES
• United States
• Japan
• Franco-Belgian region of Europe
UNITED STATES
•
High production values
•
Highly effective distribution systems
•
Characters like Superman and Donald Duck are known nearly everywhere
JAPANESE MANGA
They appeal to a wide audience—there is something for EVERYONE
• Shōnen – Intended for young males
• Shōujo- Intended for young females
• Redikomi – Intended for adult women
SHŌNEN (少年漫画)
• Mostly Action
• Sports
• Romance
SHŌUJO (少女漫画)
• Often focus on romance and relationships
• Historical Fiction
• Science Fiction
JAPANESE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY
•
Manga makes up about 40%--Manga Is not just read, it is CONSUMED
•
In comparison, the U.S. is merely 3% of the publishing trade
FRANCO-BELGIAN BANDE DESSINEE
•
In Franco-Belgian tradition, comics are called “Bande Dessinee”
(or simply BD--pronounced “bay day”)
•
In 1964, French Film scholar Claude Beylie refers to the nine arts as:
•
- the first art : architecture
- the second art : sculpture
- the third art : painting
- the fourth art : dance
- the fifth art : music
- the sixth art : poetry
- the seventh art : cinema
- the eighth art : television
- the ninth art : comic strips
MOST INFLUENTIAL OF THE BANDE DESSINEE
• The Adventures of Tintin.
• Developed by cartoonist Georges Remi
• Debuted in Jan. 1929 as a Belgian newspaper supplement
(Le Vingtieme Siecle)
TINTIN STYLE
•
Ligne Claire (“clear line”) Where each pen line is drawn with equal thickness and
shadows are minimized
•
Creates clean, expressive, simple-looking figures
OUR NEIGHBOR TO THE NORTH:
CANADIAN COMIC BOOKS
•
First experienced comic books as American imports (1930’s)
•
In 1940, Canadian government implemented
the War Exchange Conservations Act
•
Canadian publishers stepped in to fill the void
Maple Leaf Publishing- Betters Comics #1 *
•
Many publishers quickly followed
• *Canadian Whites- WWII era comics that used
black and white interior pages
THE FIRST CANADIAN SUPERHERO
• First Canadian National Hero
(Appeared in 1941 Triumph Adventure Comics)
In 1947, the American comic book industry
reasserted itself as the dominant source for
comics after trade restrictions were lifted
OUR NEIGHBOR TO THE SOUTH:
MEXICAN HISTORIETAS
•
Historietas- Mexican comics (“little stories”)
•
The rise of historietas can be partly contributed to the low priority of
American publishers to translate and reprint comics
•
1921- Mexican newspaper El Heraldo commissioned Salvador Pruneda to create a
strip (Don Catarino)
•
Homegrown strips grew rapidly
MEXICAN COMICS
• 1934- newspapers publishers began reprinting comic strips and sold them on
newsstands
• Pepin (1936) become so popular it was published daily
• 1980’s American imports began to saturate the market
GHETTO LIBRETTOS
A mixture of Mexican soap opera melodrama with softcore porn and
pulp fiction
TALENT EXCHANGE: BRITISH COMIC BOOKS
•
1841- The British pioneered the modern cartoon format in the magazine Punch.
•
British comics tended to be published as weeklies
•
Between 1914 and 1960, most British comics targeted children
•
In 1960, mature comics started picking up steam.
BRITISH COMICS
• In 1977, 2000 A.D. was published --helped showcase potential for export.
UNRELATED TO THE CHAPTER:
FILM ADAPTATIONS
1995
2012
CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
•
Cultural Imperialism- Dominant cultures can supplant native cultures through
the widespread use of broadcast, electronic, and print technology
•
Dominant cultures can saturate foreign markets with a lower priced and more
attractive products.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
•
1.)
If you could distribute any American graphic novel or comic book series
to people in other cultures, which one(s) would you send? What about the
examples you chose do you think makes them suitable for a wider world
audience? On the other hand, if you could withhold the distribution of any
graphic novel or comic book series on the world market, which would you
stop?
•
2.)
What values do you think are most represented in American comic
books? Why would these values be attractive to people in some other parts of
the world? Why would such values be perceived as a threat to certain
cultures?
WORKS CITED
•
The Power of Comics (Chapter 13)
(http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YsyEMjvdYJgC)
•
(http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YsyEMjvdYJgC)
•
Wikipedia