1. By far the biggest barrier for western readers encountering Manga for the first time is the inexplicable decision to publish works in a right-left format.

I honestly don’t for one minute buy the argument that simply mirror-imaging the art has any impact on its integrity whatsoever.

Consider that, when books are translated from one language to another, some of the author’s style, and many nuances of the maerial is inevitably lost in translation. Compared to simply flipping artwork so that people don’t have to read a book in a format that is essentially backwards seems pretty trivial.

VIZ put out a few volumes of Osamu Tezuka’s “Black Jack” in a Western-friendly format several years ago, which I’ve compared with the newer, Japanese (Left-Right format) editions by Verticle, and there really isn’t any noticeable effect on the art as a result of it being flipped. I would be shocked if anyone could tell the difference if they hadn’t seen the original.

I also can’t identify at all with this notion that publishing manga in a left-right format is somehow “sacreligeous”. Frankly, it’s hard to have that much reverence for stories about high-schoolers who suddenly discover they have magic powers and must save the world from vampires and evil videotapes.

Unless you are obsessed with the immorality of mirror-imaged artwork, it really has really no impact on the actual reading experience. Having to read a comnic from right-left IS an issue for wesern readers, however. Certainly, you get used to it after a while, but it’s never really comfortable. There are some authors whose work is so good that I will buy it regardless of the format (Tezuka first and foremost).

For someone just being introduced to manga, though, the backwards format is a big turnoff and I’m sure it has prevented many comic fans from really exploring the genre as much as they would have otherwise. It basically has limited the Manga market to teenyboppers and a small cult following of hardcore anime fans.

2. Typically, manga published in English seem to be sold in small volumes which sell for $10-15 American. It’s hard to justify paying that much for a book i can read in a couple hours. I’m sure that is a big reason why so many manga fans
end up reading their manga online, which has a major impact on profits for publishers who put out the mass-market paperback editions. When less people buy the paperback editions of books already in print, it makes publishers reluctant to go outside the “safe” realm of the kind of mangas that appeal to teeny-boppers. Which brings me to my last point…

3. The vast majority of Manga published in English is aimed at adolescent girls. This is a shame, as this reflects only a small range of the manga available in Japan. There are certainly some good titles if you look hard enough, but how many adults are really going to spend much time searching through a shelf of books when the synopsis of the first 20 starts out “—- is an ordinary 14-year old girl at —- high school.” ?
I’m willing to bet that trying to sell 150 page, backwards books has given publishers a skewed imnpression of the potential market for english translations of quality manga.

That’s just my take.

I was introduced to Kazuo Koike via lone wolf and cub; I dropped it after the first volume because I literally couldn’t make out what was going on from the pictures (stay with me here). several years later I started re-read it again online, and it seemed like a totally new comic.

The problem is that the publisher (Dark Horse ?) Put LW&C out in a series of volumes that are literally the size of my hand–Great if you want to carry them around in your pocket, but the art, which is actually very good, just doesn’t come across well in that tiny format. Anyways, I went on to read Crying Freeman, Lady Snow-Blood, Samurai Executioner, and Path of the Assassin, and there is definitely a big range in quality from series to series. Probably because of my interest in history, I found Path of the Assassin by far the most enjoyable.

The first Volume is a bit slow (I actually put it down for several months before getting back into it) but it really gets exciting as it goes on to tell an epic account of the first Shogun’s rise to power.

I actually have Path of the Assasin to thank for launching my interest in Japanese history. As historical fiction goes, It’s top-notch. The characters are colorful and deep, and it gives you a pretty good picture of the themes, events and personalities involved. My only major disappointment was that it ends rather abruptly- as soon as Tokugawa really gains power.

So for those who were turned of by the slow start of Path of the Assassin, give it a second look- it’s well worth it.

And I think much of the point of the story was King’s being a black man in a country with no black people. Now that you know it came out 30+ years ago, do you still feel the same way about it? “Disaster”? Wow…it sounds like we read two different books.