“The stories told in Japanese manga and anime are incredibly powerful. I often find myself wondering, ‘What is missing in Western comics, and why aren’t they able to achieve the same flavor?’ Also, I think manga has an ‘advantage’ over American comics, which are mostly about superheroes, and that’s where the majority of sales and readers are concentrated.“
As much as I have enjoyed DC/Marvel superhero comics, they feel restricted in what they can do. They need to still make their world tied to ours in some fashion. There’s no real change. Characters come back to life after a decade. Writers rotate off after their arc is done. Crossovers complicate everything. Things usually feel politically safe.
That gap seems to be addressed by Image comics, like Saga and Monstress. That being said, they’re geared more towards adults, while manga publishers are usually marketing towards a younger, broader audience.
The problem is the DC/Marvel characters are ageless and immortal beings trapped in an endless cycle of death and reboots.
Ignoring One Piece, anime has an actual ending. DC and Marvel don’t.
Even with one piece, it’s building to something, there will be an end at some point where the story will be wrapped up and there will be no more one piece, it’s not gonna just go on forever (when that ending will be is still debatable but it is allegedly in the final saga now, which could conceivably stretch on for a few more years)
Im happy with my little gaule from aremorica
I think it mainly comes down to price and marketing. There is way more to comics than big two and superheroes in general. But they are only known to the comic enthusiasts, they very rarely manage to reach mainstream pop culture.
Manga is great at making itself known, either through anime or some other means. Most American comics don’t have the means for that and European comics probably don’t care very much.
