Mangaka, American-Style
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on September 26, 2006 Sign up now!
by Kate Culkin, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 9/26/2006
No matter what term is used for the comics featured in CollinsDesign's new title Mangaka America: Manga by America’s Hottest Artists, this handsome book will likely create a stir in the still-growing U.S. manga market. Coming in November, Mangaka America is an artbook-cum-how-to title that surveys the new wave of non-Japanese artists working in manga-influenced styles. The book is both proof of the ever-growing pool of talented North American manga artists and also likely to fuel the continuing debate over the use of the term “manga” to describe their original comics work. A mangaka is the Japanese term for the artists and writers who create manga.
Superbly designed and produced for CollinsDesign by Steelriver Studio, Mangaka America offers beautiful reproductions of the work of 11 artists. Steelriver Studio is the wife-and-husband team of Tania del Rio, the artist and writer behind the 2003 manga makeover of Archie Comics' Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and William Staehle, art director for HarperCollins hardcover titles. The book draws heavily from Tokyopop's roster of artists, including Svetlana Chmakova, Rivkah Greulich and Felipe Smith. Underground comics artists like Jesse Phillips also appear.
Among other topics, the 11 artists offer practical advice on their craft, discuss their favorite manga and their work habits and recount comics convention experiences. Eight of the artists also provide how-to tutorials. In an e-mail interview with PWCW, del Rio explained that she and Staehle suggested topics, but the contributors’ only instructions were "to create an instructional piece based on a technique they are especially skilled at." In response, the artists produced pieces that are informative, entertaining and creative. Standouts include Smith's hilarious "An Expressive Tutorial" and Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges’s piece on digital screen-toning. "When people see these tutorials they are going to go crazy," said Marta Schooler, v-p and publisher of CollinsDesign.
The volume offers a striking collection of artwork, including pieces appearing in print for the first time, with illustrations on almost every page. "It is one of the most beautiful books we have published," Schooler added, giving all the credit for the work to Staehle, who was recently named one of the “top 20 designers under 30” by Print magazine.
The book was born out of del Rio and Staehle's dissatisfaction with the manga instructional manuals available in English. Impressed by the two volumes of Japanese Comickers, a how-to and survey of Japanese comics also published by CollinsDesign, del Rio explained, they aimed to create a similarly high-caliber work "for a Western audience, featuring North American creators who actually work professionally as global manga artists." Schooler, understanding the growing importance of the manga market, was looking for a project for CollinsDesign. Approached by Staehle, she instantly recognized the book's potential.
Although the book features a number of Tokyopop artists, Mangaka America was in the works before HarperCollins and Tokyopop forged their distribution and co-publication deal last March. Del Rio noted, however, "Tokyopop and managing editor Jeremy Ross were really supportive of the project and were very helpful with getting us permissions even before the deal was announced." Schooler explained that the book "fits in perfectly" with HarperCollins’s new emphasis on manga. She believes CollinsDesign will publish at least one more volume of Mangaka America and will pursue other manga projects.
The book, with an initial print run of 15,000, has a Teen Plus rating and will be marketed to ages 14 and up. It should appeal to a wide range of readers, said Schooler, including aspiring "global manga" (Tokyopop's term for its original manga/comics) artists, fans and anyone who wants an introduction to the form. Schooler believes librarians, who supported Japanese Comickers, will embrace this work as well. The book's Web site, www.mangakaonline.com, to be launched in November, will feature news and bonus material, including the full text of the interview questionnaires, all of which could not be included in the book due to space constraints. Promotion will include national print and radio ads. The artists' Web sites and blogs, listed in the book and available on the Mangaka America Web site, will include information about individual appearances.
As the title indicates Mangaka America tackles the debate surrounding English-language artists' use of the terms manga and mangaka head-on, although friendly disagreement is evident even within the book's pages. Del Rio finds the debate "silly," but also argues that non-Japanese artists' should be able to call their work manga. Artist Adam Warren, creator of the Dirty Pair series and one of the first American artists to create manga-influenced work, notes in his introduction to the book, however, that he does not use the word manga to describe his art. But Schooler is happy to acknowledge that the debate will only help the project: "We love the controversy because it gets the book talked about and it speaks to the passion people have about manga."
Del Rio hopes the ultimate legacy of Mangaka America will be to move people beyond the linguistic debate and toward an understanding of the strength and diversity of the artists in the field. She and Staehle "want to change the negative stigma that has surrounded Western manga in years past and show people that this is great work by great artists influenced by Japanese manga." Del Rio stressed, "We feel global manga is becoming its own style, worthy of recognition."
