American Comics Facing Stiff Competition with the Rise of Manga in America

Move over, Superman, there's a new kind of comic in town!

In bookstores all across America, a new and rather large section is popping up. Somewhere near the comics and graphic novels sections, there are rows upon rows of imported Japanese comics known as manga. These comics - read from right to left - have experienced a sudden surge in popularity over the last few years. Now, they're given more attention than a good many American made comics. And the demographic buying them might surprise you.

Comics have always been the pastime of teenage boys everywhere. It would be logical to assume that manga is much the same. But it seems logic doesn't enter into this equation. The prime selling market for manga is pre-teen and teenaged girls. Walk into your local bookstore and it's not uncommon to see a group of high school aged girls grouped around the manga section, busily pouring over the newest releases.

'Why manga?' you might ask. While it's not unheard of for young girls to be interested in comics, the market has been dominated by men. The men write the comics, draw the comics, publish the comics and buy the comics. The storylines are male oriented and appeal to men. Even the female characters seem to be drawn with the male eye in mind. When it comes to manga, this isn't the case.

While there are plenty of manga series that follow the same basic structure of American comics - heroes out to save the world from some super-villain - a large portion of these plots are focused on the everyday life of middle and high school girls. Sometimes right along with the whole saving the world from a super-villain plotline.

While American comics often drive their stories with action and events, manga focuses more on character development and interaction. American comics focus strongly on two things: the art and the action. They're filled with amazing, larger than life characters drawn in larger than life proportions and colors.

And herein lies the very reason that American comics aren't reaching the same demographic as manga. While young women can't exactly connect with your average super-genius beauty queen, they can certainly connect with the shy girl who just wants that cute boy in her class to notice her. The stories in these Japanese comics appeal to girls and young women in a way that American comics have always failed to. There are dozens upon dozens of series that focus on real life people and problems.

There's also a far greater variety in storyline when it comes manga as opposed to American comics. American comics are associated with one main thing: superheroes. The two go hand in hand. People possessing amazing abilities that devote themselves to saving humanity - or sometimes destroying it. Manga covers stories ranging from everyday life to science fiction space operas and everything in between. Manga offers something for everyone, all wrapped up in a beautifully drawn and beautifully written package.

As far as the publishing companies can see, this popular surge in manga is not a fad. Sales have been increasing steadily since 1999, and more and more companies are translating manga and releasing them to the American markets. There's no shortage of product or demand.

American comics companies ought to take a few tips from their competition from overseas. There's an entire consumer market out there that they're not reaching and may well lose unless we see a change in the content of American comics.