Comics v. Manga: Questions from a Manga/Anime fan.

[Cferra]

Hello.

I have come before you all with some questions. A friend of mine who isn't a comic fan has had me ask. I turn to you guys. What can you all tell me to tell him? I've read comics since 1990 and well, I've tried explaining things to him. He's an avid anime/manga fan and I being a comic fan, I thought I'd bring his views to you as I don't know what to tell him. And, I am interested in the responses myself. Here is what he is saying:

Keep in mind, this isn't my view.

Well, I find superheroes unrealistic for a number of reasons...My primary concern is their "No killing" mentality. I find this unrealistic simply because it doesn't take into consideration the frailty and faults of the human mind. I'm well aware that killing is wrong, I'm just saying that it would take an inhuman amount of inner strength to avoid killing in a lot of these situations.

The fact that most of these heroes HAVE that type of inhuman inner strength makes them unrealistic and hard to relate to.

Anti-heroes...I don't feel that anti-heroes are properly represented. They're always stoic, cold, and/or killing machines dressed in black or something. Anti-heroes are simply defined as protagonists without qualities commonly associated with heroes. Someone could be the most good-natured person ever but still be an anti-hero

I haven't seen Marvel represent this type of person...Apparently, the fact that someone kills instantly makes them an anti-hero when, in reality, they could simply lack the inhuman inner strength that most heroes [somehow] have.: And they're instantly considered some sort of remorseless badass who doesn't "understand the value of life" or something to that effect.

Heroes in general: Well...they're just hard to relate to is all. Most humans lack that type of inner strength, yet they seem to have no problem refusing to kill on a regular basis, even when the villain in question has done some horrible things to them. I can understand when the hero has been TRAINED not to kill.

But in any other situation, it's quite illogical for it to happen consistently for no good reason. Humans just...aren't that strong. In the heat of a battle, we aren't always able to think that far ahead.

Depth:
Well...I suppose depth isn't my main concern. The characters just seem to be very...surface-level, so to speak. There's no symbolism, nothing to analyze...You can understand them by reading about them once or twice. There's nothing subtle about them, I suppose. There's no real need to take a closer look at most of them because you can understand them right off the bat.

The plots are fine- albeit a bit too focused on the powers rather than the characters.

Okay. Those are the issues he has raised about comics. Specifically Marvel. I would post elsewhere but it's mainly Marvel I talk to him about. I explained to him about morally right and I expplained about stories with depth, too.

Looking forward to replies becausse I dunno what else to tell him. I did explain that characters are deep in the MU..since we have wife beaters, drunks and more.

So, I ask you fellow comic fans...what do you say about this guy?

 

[GoldenAgeHero]

too hard to relate to? and character in mangas are? bubble gum crisis is full of character depth? its pretty obvious your friend is full of ****. Don't waste your time on him.

 

[Varient]

Interesting.

I could say In ref to Manga:

No I can't.

I apolgize but you have passed on an opinion. I don't know what he wants,.. for us to defend his viewpoint? To argue and prove him wrong?
.
It is not hard for me to believe that large quanities of people could have the strong sense of self to refuse to kill to resolve world threatening issues.

We have large numbers of people in positions in real life who make the choice daily and it is not uncommon for them to spend 30 years w/i killing someone.

We call them police.

I also have to say that manga has great story ideas,..... the same twelve or so. Told over and over.

I think your friend should come on here and be more specific.

V.

 

[venom892]

Comics and Manga both have great characters and both have crappy ones.It's comes down to the storyteller not whether it's from Japan or the U.S.

 

[Sloth7d]

Pretty much what Venom said.

 

[Cferra]

too hard to relate to? and character in mangas are? bubble gum crisis is full of character depth? its pretty obvious your friend is full of ****. Don't waste your time on him.

The way things are going right now on AIM, it won't be a problem I think...

Interesting.

I could say In ref to Manga:

No I can't.

I apolgize but you have passed on an opinion. I don't know what he wants,.. for us to defend his viewpoint? To argue and prove him wrong?
.
It is not hard for me to believe that large quanities of people could have the strong sense of self to refuse to kill to resolve world threatening issues.

We have large numbers of people in positions in real life who make the choice daily and it is not uncommon for them to spend 30 years w/i killing someone.

We call them police.

I also have to say that manga has great story ideas,..... the same twelve or so. Told over and over.

I think your friend should come on here and be more specific.

V.

I asked him to come here but, sadly, he doesn't. I dunno if he will. He feels that there'd be too much in the way of bias here. He basically wants answers to his questions. I myself don''t see bias here. Just thoughts from fans is all.

In fact, he wasn't sure about posting here but I did want your thoughts on this issue. He was skeptical but we'll see. He just wants good answers.

 

[Manga_Fan]

Interesting.

I could say In ref to Manga:

No I can't.

I apolgize but you have passed on an opinion. I don't know what he wants,.. for us to defend his viewpoint? To argue and prove him wrong?
.
It is not hard for me to believe that large quanities of people could have the strong sense of self to refuse to kill to resolve world threatening issues.

We have large numbers of people in positions in real life who make the choice daily and it is not uncommon for them to spend 30 years w/i killing someone.

We call them police.

I also have to say that manga has great story ideas,..... the same twelve or so. Told over and over.

I think your friend should come on here and be more specific.

V.

Well, here I am. Yes, this is the lamest username ever. I didn't think I should put much effort into it, considering this is probably the last time I'll use it...But I digress. I didn't want anyone to defend me, and I didn't want anyone to argue with me. I actually just wanted answers, if you'd believe it. I know it's hard to take in, that someone with questions would seek out answers, but just bear with me here.

Now, that being said, let's see if I can't come up with a response to your biased, unneccessarily meanspirited response...Actually, it is somewhat difficult to find people with that kind of inner strength. I'm not talking about people who refuse to kill once. I'm referring to someone, in this case an ordinary person who- due to circumstances- was given superpowers, who would refuse to kill a supervillain who murdered his parents. What's more, he does it on a regular basis. Time and time again, he refuses to kill people who have done horrible things to him and the people he cares about. Now, I'm not saying that such people don't exist, but they're more rare than Marvel (and you) make them out to be.

As for police-officers...That's the lamest excuse for an argument I've ever heard. Police-officers don't deal regularly with mass murderers, terrorists, and supervillains who they personally hold grudges against. The worst they deal with is the occasional murderer, and even that is somewhat uncommon. By the way, they do kill when neccessary. Marvel's manufactured superheroes, however, do not...Well, for the most part, anyway.

By the way, that's a good one. At least manga doesn't revive the same character several dozen times, their excuse growing progressively lamer with each revival. And before you say anything, yes I've seen Dragonball. It's basically the only manga to do that. In any case, plotlines are reused only in certain manga, those manga being the cheap Shounen ones (Naruto, Dragon Ball, etc.). If you'd bother to invest in some good anime/manga, such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Hellsing, or Berserk, I think you'd find that they are quite unique in their storylines and characters. Nice try, though. You just forgot one pivotal flaw in your argument; you forgot to support it.

That being said, I really do feel awkward posting here...I'm not pretending to be any kind of expert on American comics, or even an amateur. Please take note that I realize I'm in no position to argue about American comics specifically, nor do I possess the knowledge to do so. I came here only to clear this up, based on the information I do have.

 

[venom892]

Well if you invested in some great comic characters much like you do in Manga characters then you see it's the same.For Example Moon Knight a marvel character is genuinely crazy and has to fight his violent tendencies each time he fights a supervillain and doesn't fit in with the generalization you've given for a vigilante.Like I said There are both crappy magna and comics which repeat similar themes.But there are also those which are great and explore new storyline ideas.For example doesn't Kenshin from Rorouni Kenshin refuse to kill after his part in the war.And many times did he restrain himself from killing truly awful people who hurt his friends?See there are those type of characters on both fronts as well.You just have to look for the good stuff.Anyways Superheroes are everything we as people should aspire to be but aren't.That's why they're fictional.

 

[vindrow]

Why, should anyone respond to your post when you basically said that you wouldn't be coming back?

What I find interesting is that you call the person that responded to you biased, and meanspirited when all he was asking for is clarity. Thats ironic coming from you.

 

[Manic]

I've never liked the whole 'American vs. Japan' argument some fanboys and otaku tend to bring up-- in this case, comics vs. manga. The comparisons are almost never even. You'll always find the graphic novel fan that likes to compare books of entirely different genres. They compare the more mature, epic examples of their side to the more cookie-cutter and childish example of their opponent's.

For example, you'll always see the guy that compares Evangelion to the Superfriends. Well golly gosh, no wonder American comics come out looking more shallow and simple-minded! Evangelion is the story of humanity fighting against its own judgement, or to really stretch a metaphor, the story of children (humanity as a whole, Shinji, Misato) futiley struggling against their parents (God, Gendo, Kaji who happens to resemble Misato's father). Superfriends is a series of grinning jackasses trying to find a way to include Aquaman in their landlocked adventures. That's the most uneven comparison one could possibly make.

On the flip side, no one wants to see me compare V for Vendetta to Urusei Yatsura. V is a story of rebellion, revenge, and the oft unthinkable concept of freedom through anarchy. Compare that to the tale of a teenaged boy that wants to get laid by someone other than his bikini-clad wife. Manga is looking mighty shallow and stupid, ain't it?

There's lots of good and bad on both sides. Enjoying one group does not exclude one from enjoying the other. Saying one is inherently better is just... bunk.

 

[Mladen]

From most of the comments, I think its pretty clear a lot of you don't actually read any manga so you know you're not qualified to judge (no, Sailor Moon or Naruto do not count...). A lot of manga typically walks an indecisive moral ground: There is no clear right or wrong, which is how life works. The characters don't live by some ridiculous code of heroics (which applies to everybody), and the characters usually aren't out to save the world (or each other half the time) in the first place. BECAUSE the stories ARENT about righting percieved wrongs (crime, saving the world), the stories also fulfill a much wider range of subject matter. The difference is there, and anybody saying otherwise, again, KNOWS that they don't read manga, and should recognise they have no idea what they're talking about.

But the poster's friend has pretty much outlined exactly why most people don't really get excited about Superheroes.

At their core, superheroes live in a world of moral absolutes, where you're either a hero or a villain, and anybody else is just somebody in the middle to save. There are no difficult decisions to make, and people make ridiculous rules about never taking a life under any circumstances. If anybody DOES act like a human being, they get changed back to a two dimensional cutout after the next retcon. I should point out that the 'flawed' hero archetype is not an exception to this, since the books make it clear that these flaws are WRONG, even if the hero enjoys them.

Obviously you could all name some exceptions (half of which actually aren't exceptions at all), but then again, you can all name exceptions in manga which are all about moral absolutes and 'heroism' (usually books aimed at the fourteen and under age bracket).

 

[Sloth7d]

From most of the comments, I think its pretty clear a lot of you don't actually read any manga so you know you're not qualified to judge (no, Sailor Moon or Naruto do not count...).

I think you're assuming to much about what we all read.
I've read a good majority of or all of the following--
Bleach
Gundam
Death Note
Detective Conan
Hellsing
I's
Black Cat
Full Metal Panic
Hikaru no go
Eye shield
Berserk
Gantz
ect.
So I guess I'm qualified to give my opinion here.

At their core, superheroes live in a world of moral absolutes, where you're either a hero or a villain, and anybody else is just somebody in the middle to save. There are no difficult decisions to make, and people make ridiculous rules about never taking a life under any circumstances. If anybody DOES act like a human being, they get changed back to a two dimensional cutout after the next retcon. I should point out that the 'flawed' hero archetype is not an exception to this, since the books make it clear that these flaws are WRONG, even if the hero enjoys them.

Obviously you could all name some exceptions (half of which actually aren't exceptions at all), but then again, you can all name exceptions in manga which are all about moral absolutes and 'heroism' (usually books aimed at the fourteen and under age bracket).

Nice way of trying to cover anything that contradicts you there. But it won't work. If you paid attention to the current Marvel universe as a whole currently, everyone is on the fence of what's right, what's wrong, and what's legal. Particularlly New Avengers, Ironman, Spider-man, Cable&DeadPool and Avengers the intiative. And then you have comics where the main character has been on their own side of justice from the beginning like Wolverine, Hulk, and Punisher. Those guys do justice their own way and never say they are wrong. And this is only the marvel universe. Check out Batman. Once a doctor let his side kick die, when she could have saved her, just to prove a point that kids shouldn't be jumping around the streets pretending they're heroes. And there was no punishment done to rectify this. It ended there with Batman really pissed.
And then you have Spawn and several Dark horse comics that are very convulted with morals and right and wrong.

There are good and bad on both sides of the fence. You just have to actually read them.

 

[Mladen]

Nice way of trying to cover anything that contradicts you there. But it won't work. If you paid attention to the current Marvel universe as a whole currently, everyone is on the fence of what's right, what's wrong, and what's legal. Particularlly New Avengers, Ironman, Spider-man, Cable&DeadPool and Avengers the intiative. And then you have comics where the main character has been on their own side of justice from the beginning like Wolverine, Hulk, and Punisher. Those guys do justice their own way and never say they are wrong. And this is only the marvel universe. Check out Batman. Once a doctor let his side kick die, when she could have saved her, just to prove a point that kids shouldn't be jumping around the streets pretending they're heroes. And there was no punishment done to rectify this. It ended there with Batman really pissed.
And then you have Spawn and several Dark horse comics that are very convulted with morals and right and wrong.

There are good and bad on both sides of the fence. You just have to actually read them.

Honestly I don't real a lot of Marvel, but of the DC I do read, most of the heroes live under the same moral code of no killing. Regardless, all of these heroes act under the concept that because of their physical/mental abilities they're somehow appropriate agents of whatever justice they decide to support. They all deal in their own moral absolutes. Real people question themselves, and given a difficult question, most people will simply not want to make that sort of decision. Superheroes do not. They take a side and stick with it. But I'll read Civil War and I'm open to being wrong on this, since I'd much prefer to see something ambiguous than the good-vs-bad that I keep seeing from DC.

DC heroes at least always talk about 'right' and 'wrong', without ever acknowledging that theres no way of making that sort of distinction. Batman will beat a man doing a crime of desperation because he functions with the morals of a child or a rich man who has never actually needed to work to survive: all crime is wrong, regardless of the circumstance.

Was there ever any ambiguity of whether Leslie did the 'right' thing? Just about every fan backlashed saying its TOTALLY out of character for Leslie (which it seems to be), and the fact that Batman was ANGRY about it, even though he did nothing to reprimand her (how could he without risking his identity?) says pretty clearly its 'wrong'. Leslie did a 'bad' thing.

Either way, Spoiler is also on the cover of one of the upcoming Gotham Underground comics, which suggests to me that its entirely probable that steph maybe didn't die anyway, which'll neatly 'fix' what Leslie did (nice bit of retcon there), and also explain why editorial didn't want to give her a batcave memorial.

 

[Silicon Surfer]

While Manga_Fan is not entirely incorrect in his view it is somewhat shallow and simplistic. Western superheroes are essentially champions of the philosophy of life. As such they are honor bound to preserve life no matter how hard it may be. This however is not always the case. Adam Warlock of Marvel is literally the Champion of Life, chosen by metaphysical entities, yet he kills as a matter of course. He also at times does it in large numbers. In the early stories of the 70's his enemies usually die. Wolverine and the Punisher also display little aversion to killing as they simply do not share the moral viewpoint that it is wrong to kill.

I have never read Manga but the translated Anime shown on television is supposedly true to the Manga originals in a general sense at least, although undoubtedly edited significantly. One of the things that seems to crop up a lot is the tendency of the hero to have little or no friends or family left at the end. As in western comics the hero does indeed triumph but in Anime he seems to lose much of what he was supposedly fighting for. I strongly suspect however that there are a substantial number of stories where that is not true. Western comics and Japanese Manga seem to be opposite sides of the same coin. Comics are generally lighter and more optimistic while Manga is generally more gloomy and full of tragedy. Neither one is purely one or the other and both have bad writing and good. Western comics started out as a cheap entertainment form for children and was fairly sanitized for that reason. Some of that remains to this day despite the change to a more adult readership. Manga from what little I know of it was intended from the beginning to be a more adult and sophisticated entertainment form. It simply was not intended for the same purpose as western comics so naturally there will be significant differences. They were intended to be different from the very concept.

 

[Varient]

Well, here I am. Yes, this is the lamest username ever. I didn't think I should put much effort into it, considering this is probably the last time I'll use it...But I digress. I didn't want anyone to defend me, and I didn't want anyone to argue with me. I actually just wanted answers, if you'd believe it. I know it's hard to take in, that someone with questions would seek out answers, but just bear with me here.

Now, that being said, let's see if I can't come up with a response to your biased, unneccessarily meanspirited response...Actually, it is somewhat difficult to find people with that kind of inner strength. I'm not talking about people who refuse to kill once. I'm referring to someone, in this case an ordinary person who- due to circumstances- was given superpowers, who would refuse to kill a supervillain who murdered his parents. What's more, he does it on a regular basis. Time and time again, he refuses to kill people who have done horrible things to him and the people he cares about. Now, I'm not saying that such people don't exist, but they're more rare than Marvel (and you) make them out to be.

As for police-officers...That's the lamest excuse for an argument I've ever heard. Police-officers don't deal regularly with mass murderers, terrorists, and supervillains who they personally hold grudges against. The worst they deal with is the occasional murderer, and even that is somewhat uncommon. By the way, they do kill when neccessary. Marvel's manufactured superheroes, however, do not...Well, for the most part, anyway.

By the way, that's a good one. At least manga doesn't revive the same character several dozen times, their excuse growing progressively lamer with each revival. And before you say anything, yes I've seen Dragonball. It's basically the only manga to do that. In any case, plotlines are reused only in certain manga, those manga being the cheap Shounen ones (Naruto, Dragon Ball, etc.). If you'd bother to invest in some good anime/manga, such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Hellsing, or Berserk, I think you'd find that they are quite unique in their storylines and characters. Nice try, though. You just forgot one pivotal flaw in your argument; you forgot to support it.

That being said, I really do feel awkward posting here...I'm not pretending to be any kind of expert on American comics, or even an amateur. Please take note that I realize I'm in no position to argue about American comics specifically, nor do I possess the knowledge to do so. I came here only to clear this up, based on the information I do have.

Well I can tell by your hostility and the ease that you called my request for clarity biased and meanspirited,.. followed by letting me know that My saying police choose not to kill under the circumstances I SAID, (not what you twisted it to justify.) Was Lame,...

You've convinced me that you don't want answers or our spin,.. you want an arguement.

We have plenty here who would love to play tit for tat with you.

I won't be one of them.


Have a nice day.

 

[iloveclones]

McGuyver
Harry Potter
Luke Skywalker
Lone Ranger
Ralph Hinkley (Greatest American Hero)

All of these characters (and I'm sure that I could list them all day long) had highly successful series, whether you think they're lame and dorky. Whuch means that a fair amount of paying customers find them very relatable. And the whole point is that they did have a greater inner strength. One that people wanted to strive for. Same with superhero comics.

If that's unrelatable, that's more a testament to a generation raised on Grand Theft Auto, and Halo than it is about the nature of fiction.

 

[Cferra]

All this actually stemmed from what to do about his character in a series of stories I write. I write an original fiction that I once posted here but it didn't get responses I was looking for. So, it's posted somewhere else. Manga Boy was a part of a group of writers writing in the universe and had a character on my main team. Once in a while, after doing some brainstorming with him, he'd talk about how things were done in manga/anime and compared them to how I wrote. Which is the style of western comics.

The debate basically grew and grew into what it became. He wanted out as a result of this fight. I said fine. He also suggested I try to write in his anime/manga style. I didn't want to because after all, it was my story. I should do with it as I'd like. Any decisions good or bad is my call. He didn't like that idea.

Back on topic, I also explained how Mockingbird killed someone in the Avengers West Coast series. He called it a step in the right direction. But, he scoffed at the reasoning and rationale behind it. The guy has a temper. He sees people ganging up on him I guess. It's pretty unhealthy.

So, I had set out to bring the issue here because I was at a loss. I had told him that superheroes were aspirations in their respective universes. But, some seriously had issues. In Marvel alone, we have: Moon Knight, Sentry, Wolverine, Iron Man, Warbird, Wasp, Yellowjacket and more with issues we as normal people face. It's deep to us. But, it wasn't to him.

Another comic who is also an anime fan I talked to about this said that a lot of manga is based on comics here in America. And that while Manga takes a while to explain and show a fight, comics tend to do it in a few pages. However, it was more about what was being said than anything else.

I had a feeling too that he wanted an argument and not a debate. Dunno what else to do with him. And while yes comics are lighter, there are some instances like in my stories I write and by the pros that have a lot of darkness in them.

Edit: Perhaps it is a testament to the GTA gen of which this guy is a part of. Though, he doesn't play it. He is more for Kindom Hearts than anything else. I dunno.

 

[Mladen]

McGuyver
Harry Potter
Luke Skywalker
Lone Ranger
Ralph Hinkley (Greatest American Hero)

Harry Potter is pretty unheroic. He requires pretty much everybody to explain things to him for the whole novel/film before he is actually motivated to do anything, and half the time he gives up. Ask kids, and half the time they'll tell you Ron or Hermoine are their favorite characters.

Luke Skywalker? Do you REALLY think Luke Skywalker is the reason behind Star Wars' popularity? Imagine a star wars without Han Solo or Darth Vader and I guarantee you it wouldn't be NEARLY as popular. People like the cocky anithero, they also like the powerful frightening Darth Vader.

Its not fair to pick out novels and films which are very much ensemble pieces and then claim the one pure 'hero' character is the reason for its popularity.

I've never heard of Ralph Hinkley, but McGuyver is a good example (even if the series is pretty goofy to watch now), as is the Lone Ranger.

Thats not the issue though. There's definately an appeal for these sorts of characters for a lot of people, and there's no point denying it. But there's also a lot of people who don't like having their morals dictated to them by a 'heroic' character (whose own morals, incidentally, are dictated by the script/screenwriter). some people don't want to feel preached to, and its pretty much a case of being annoyed at the characters CREATOR, as in "who are YOU to tell me what is right and wrong?"

In which case they seek out the more 'relatable' lead character/s to them, which may be more of an Indiana Jones / Han Solo type, the downright selfish type who occasionally performs a good deed (Dr House for want of a better example), or the downright awful character who by the end of a long bitter emotional journey wants to make up for his sins but never can (Darth Vader). Maybe they're not looking to read about somebody who is better than them, maybe they just want to read about somebody who is WORSE (American Psycho or any number of thrillers or horror movies), or somebody who is what they themselves could be like IF etc. Maybe they just want to read about a person who is unsure of themselves and not quite sure whether if put in a situation, they WOULD do the right thing even if they KNOW its the right thing.

Saying that one is superheroes and one is manga would be incorrect (also considering manga is a form, not a genre, but since comics in the United states is synonymous with 'superhero' we're stuck with it). But its true that there is more manga on the market with a more ambiguous take on a leading character (and a MUCH wider range in the TYPE of story, and I'm not talking about genre), than there is in the mainstream (big selling) US comic, whose lead is usually a 'hero' doing 'hero' things.

One is NOT 'better' than the other, but there IS a difference between the type of stories (and protagonists) you'll find in manga compared to american comics. I personally don't want to read about lofty heroes, they don't interest me, and I don't like being force-fed somebody else's ideal perfect person. If this thread is to argue which is 'better', theres no point.

 

[Darthphere]

It's pretty easy. Manga sucks, Comics don't. Also, I think it's really stupid that they publish English versions of manga titles in the same backwards Japanses right to left style. That's ******ed.

 

[Da Games Elite]

I am a manga and comic fan, so here's my two cents into this arguement.

I can see exactly what you are saying on both sides. But, for my money, I think both are two different mediums that have similar details that the other doesn't. For example, in manga like DBZ, characters fight to the death, which is somewhat uncommon in American manga. However, DBZ and similar shonen manga notwithstanding, most manga aren't even violent in the least! In fact, the blunt majority of them are shojo (girl comics)! That's like comparing Spawn to 7th Heaven!

 

[SouLeSS]

It's pretty funny that this guy says Neo Gen. Eva. is a good manga.

That thing is one of the most overrated animes/mangas of all time.

 

[Darthphere]

That's like comparing Spawn to 7th Heaven!

Oh, that comparison can be made, will be made and has been made.

 

[Mladen]

It's pretty funny that this guy says Neo Gen. Eva. is a good manga.

That thing is one of the most overrated animes/mangas of all time.

thank the lord somebody else agrees.

If I have to read another manga/anime about battling robots I'm going to puke.

 

[Cferra]

Can't imagine that being a cozy crossover, Darthsphere. Like Spawn and Sky High.

And having read the HP series, I can tell you that yeah, Harry's not a fav char. Most people like the other characters. Not just the glassesed and scarred one.

This topic's more a debate about the issue. Comparisons with the two and answers to the question my friend here posed.

What I try to do, though is keep in the present with modern themes but I try not to go overboard. You can do that as a writer. I wonder if that's his issue. Does Manga tend to over explain while comics don't?

 

[SouLeSS]

Manga tends to have each new enemy they face get stronger and stronger, forcing the characters to get stronger and stronger and learn new abilities and such, almost like a RPG.

Comics tend to just have a semi-preset power scale. Sure it fluxuates between writers, but it's pretty commonly known what most characters powers are. They don't get new ones (except for every now and then, but most dont last), they dont really develop theirs much more than it was hwen they first figured out how to properly use it, and the enemies don't exactally get 'tougher and tougher' like Manga does.

For instance. At the point Bleach is at now, if that Ichigo went back to the first chapter, he'd tear through most of the **** with complete and total ease. You can't really do that with comics, as most books the same villians are faught time and time again.

I wouldn't say Manga goes overboard, or that Comics don't go at all, but eh.