Comments on: The Doombin - Gender in readership

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:48:44 +0000

I know this is kind of late but if you’re still interested in manga you may want to try Monster, Parasyte, or Mushi. All of them are more mature, both art wise and story wise, than the usual shojo title. They seem to be marketed to a broader (more male) and older readership.

By: MG Doom

MG Doom — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:16:57 +0000

Thanks for the recommendations. I’ve been reading some of Tezuka’s work like Buddha and Black Jack and have enjoyed that. I’ll be sure and check out MW as well as Tekkon Kinkreet.

By: Christopher Butcher

Christopher Butcher — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:44:34 +0000

Hey there! I work at The Beguiling, a comic store in Toronto, Canada. We do great business on all kinds of comics, manga included. If you came into my store and described the type of books you liked to read (based on what I’ve gleaned from your website here), here’s what I’d recommend to you. I also noted whether they read in the North American or Japanese orientation:

20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa. 22 volumes, 5 of them out now, $13 each: A sprawling, epic sci-fi/conspiracy type-series with great characterization aimed a life-long comics fans. You’ll be able to tell from the first volume whether or not it’s for you, but it really is great. (Reads right-to-left). Viz.

Vagabond, by Takehiko Inoue (VIZBIG Edition). 8-9 volumes, 5 of them out now, $20 each: Now available in massive 600 page editions, this is the story of Miyamoto Musashi, samurai and author of The Book Of The Five Rings. Smart, reasonably-literate historical fiction with amazing art, violence, and sex. (reads right-to-left). Viz.

Tekkon Kinkreet, by Taiyo Matsumoto. 1 volume, $30, out now: This is pretty-much my favourite manga, a hybrid of Japanese and European art-styles, about two boys with near-superheroic abilities defending their town from outsiders. The art will seem weird at first, probably, but the storytelling (panel-to-panel transitions) is among the best in the medium, and the plot is dense and layered. (reads left-to-right). Viz.

MW, by Osamu Tezuka. 1 Volume, $30ish, out now: Over the top 70s exploitation cinema in manga form, so many oh-my-god, laugh out loud, cringing moments. A vicious killer and reluctant priest take revenge on the world for America’s treatment of Japan after WWII, literally dozens of plot twists. (left-to-right). Vertical Inc.

Enjoy!

- Christopher

By: MG Doom

MG Doom — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:53:36 +0000

Thanks for the help Daryl. That makes good sense that the manga I’ve enjoyed the most so far fall under seinen. I will certainly keep that in mind when looking for more manga to read.

By: Daryl Surat

Daryl Surat — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:28:10 +0000

I can help you with this one. The reason you like both Lady Snowblood and Akira is that they’re part of the manga classification known as seinen manga (”men’s comics”). These are comics made for men in their late teens/twenties and up, the same demographic that happens to be what most of Marvel/DC is aimed at.

There is certainly a sea of manga available in the US. But unlike the 1990s, very little manga released in the US is seinen. There are a mere two publishers that release seinen manga on any regular basis. One is Dark Horse Comics, who releases Lady Snowblood, Lone Wolf and Cub, and the various other Kazuo Koike works (for more on THAT guy, go to my site!). The other is the titles released by Viz under their “Signature” label, such as Monster, Pluto, 20th Century Boys (all three of those are by the same author, Naoki Urasawa), Golgo 13, and so on.

By: Another Take on Getting Women to Read Comics: Getting Men to Read Manga » Comics Worth Reading

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:00:07 +0000

[...] don’t know who writes for doomkopf.com, but whoever he is, he had an interesting response to my Thought of the Day post and others who commented on the “getting your female [...]