Totally.

Back in the 80’s when the only manga available in the US was imported Japanese versions, a handful of companies in the US put out English translations, in American comics format. Where were they available? ONLY in comics stores.

Crying Freeman, Robotech, Xenon, Mai the Psychic Girl, Akira, Star Blazers and others were available from publishers as diverse as Eclipse, Marvel, a new company, Viz (whatever happened to them?), and one or two others I may be forgetting. While manga didn’t catch on immediately outside of a niche market, it seems to me as though the transition to the manga-style paperbacks was mostly ignored by Diamond and many comics stores* when they started coming out in the mid-90’s.

It was (and still is, to many) viewed as a different *product* than comics, instead of a different *delivery system* for comics.

At the time manga started to appear in small doses around the country, I was running a store for Waldenbooks. One of my goals there was to have the best selection of graphic novels** in town. I achieved this goal, partly because of aggressively ordering everything that was available to me from the company warehouse and Ingram, and partly because I ended up having pretty much the *only* manga section in town.

I think there’s HUGE potential for manga readers to become US comics readers, and vice versa. I just don’t know how to DO it.

*I am speaking anecdotally here. None of the comics stores I visited in the mid to late 90’s carried any manga, and much of the recent discussion about it by retailers (and customers) online has indicated that few retailers carry significant quantities of manga currently.

**Also, RPGs, and Sci-fi/ fantasy novels.

Is this really a bad thing? That’s a huge source of profit for both companies. Hell, if I was a stockholder, I’d feel the same way.

I’m not particularly surprised that they are still mining the past. It’s hard to convince creators to develop properties and surrender them to Marvel or DC. Unfortunately, neither company has developed a new model to deal with a more savvy creator.

However, as of the August order form, I am only ordering manga that has been pre-ordered or special ordered, no more copies for the shelves. Why? Because the big boxes have trained the manga-reading customers to shop ONLY there, and several very vocal members of the American comics community stand fast in their belief that “Manga aren’t comics” and are quite vocal* about it.

I’ve done several things to get the community aware of our manga selection, including a *very* profitable booth at the local FSU Anime Club’s annual convention, where every purchaser (nearly 100) got a business card AND a bounce-back coupon. ONE coupon came back, and that was used on American comics products. That’s despite hearing over and over again, “I didn’t know this was out!”, “You have stuff I’ve never seen before!”, and the like. My sales from the section are tiny, and I can’t afford to buy what I can’t sell.

The manga audience is entrenched in the bookstore chains, and most of the sales are going to be there, for the foreseeable future. Manga will never be on the Diamond sales charts unless this changes.

*Is there a web-equivalent of “vocal”? “Prolific” doesn’t seem to cover it for me.

Actually, both Sgt. Rock and Jonah Hex are currently being developed as movies (covered in my blog).

Exactly what Marvel Editorial has said and I heard it from Grant Morrison about DC Comics as well. It’s ‘dusty’ with the legacies of old characters and franchises.

And while I’ve heard nothing but good things about the new Jonah Hex, I’d like to see new projects and ideas from the big two rather than revivals of old projects.

It’s not my thing, but maybe the Minx books are a step in the right direction?

Even so, self published comics can do as they please and are free to pursue any genre or material they like. Taking a walk through the aisles of MoCCA is truly inspiring.

I don’t know, does Diamond handle distribution of manga? Is this the list of just companies they handle, or just a sales list?

Editorial doesn’t want them. Marvel and DC only want properties they can own and try to make movies out of.