Asian comics make Europe
anxious By Alexandra Feytis
ANGOULEME, France - A big crowd swarmed
around 500 square meters of exhibition stands
dedicated to Chinese and Japanese comics
(manga). The event drew a Chinese
delegation, a horde of European comic-strip
enthusiasts, a mass of Asian authors, and experts
on Asian comics.
The 33rd International
Comics Festival in Angouleme, the biggest of its
kind in Europe, which took place recently, is
undoubtedly revealing. For the first time in the
history of the festival, a Japanese artist, the
famous Shigeru Mizuki, received the prize for
the
best album of the year with his manga
NonNonBa. Even if the selection of winners is
usually very international, this recognition of an
author from Japan represents a veritable
revolution in the Franco-Belgian world of comics,
where editors don't really appreciate the
cutthroat competition from Asia.
Indeed,
it seems that the cultural scene in Europe has
been radically evolving during the past decade,
with Asian comics getting more and more
influential, led by Japanese manga. The
scenario is particularly apparent in France, the
second-most-important consumer of Japanese comics
in the world, just after the Land of the Rising
Sun itself and right before the United States. All
of this proves that something is changing in the
European mentality, to the great displeasure of
many European editors and analysts who observe
this shift with some apprehension, dreading unfair
competition from Asia. But where does this
infatuation with the East come from?
It
began in Italy, thanks to media magnate and former
prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who started to
import Japanese cartoons to his country. The first
and most famous, Goldorak (originally named
Robot Grendizer), a manga of Go
Nagai, was adapted for television in Japan in 1975
before being broadcast in France in 1978, a few
months after it debuted in Italy. The success was
immediate, but not complete, until Akira,
created by Japanese artist Katsuhiro Otomo during
the 1980s, appeared, followed by the absolute must
Dragon Ball, drawn by Akira Toriyama in
1984.
"The phenomenon really started with
those comics when they were broadcast in a show
for kids (Club Dorothee) on French
television during the 1980s," explained Emmanuel
Pettini, a French manga specialist who
wrote a thesis about the Yokai (traditional
Japanese monsters). "That created the first
generation that grew up with manga. These
teenagers later became the new generation who read
Asian comics instead of Franco-Belgian." So
manga cartoons brought the addiction for
manga comics.
Since the 1990s, the
amount of copies sold has dramatically increased,
reaching its peak between 2003 and 2005. How to
explain this sudden craze? Analysts mention many
economic and cultural reasons. First, Europeans
appreciated "the delight of the object", enjoying
possessing a beautiful 48-page album in vibrant
colors. Charming, at first sight, but perhaps not
enough for younger people, who are more impatient.
It takes about two years for a European author to
publish an album - certainly inconvenient for the
Internet generation, which is so accustomed to
speed.
Undeniably, the reality is totally
different in Asia, above all in Japan, where
artists usually have to produce half this amount
of pages in only one month. "This way to process
appeared to be quite good for us," admitted
Pettini. "Manga fans don't need to wait two
years for the end of their stories. That's perhaps
one of the reasons why they prefer it to the
Franco-Belgian model, which takes time."
In addition, the young are more attracted
by epics or very long series, which can sometimes
last for years, such as Dragon Ball. In
Asia, it is normal to get a new album every month,
contrary to the European model. Xavier Guilbert, a
French Asian-comics specialist, believes the
reasons for their popularity are obvious: "The
teenagers search for identity, the opposition to
their parents, the special vision of Japan or the
'difference' in the format or the way of reading."
Today, the impact of Asian comics in
Europe is colossal. Not to mention the fact that
it is now the turn of Chinese (manhwa) and
Korean comics to conquer the continent. According
to the GFK Institute, the comics market saw a
turnover of 382 million euros (US$501 million) in
2006, that is to say about 40 million copies sold
in a year. That corresponds to a quarter of the
turnover in this sector. In other words (to get
the picture), a third of the comics that have been
bought are now manga or other Asian work.
Thus a lot of new collections have been created by
editors such as Doki-Doki (Bamboo), Kami
(Carabas), Kanko (Milan) or Kurokawa (Univers
poche).
According to a report from Gilles
Ratier, secretary general of the Association of
Comics Critics and Journalists (Association des
Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinee,
or ABCD), the European comics market has been
"flourishing" during the past few years, most
notably in 2006. In his analysis, Ratier estimates
that "the vitality of French-speaking comics is
evident for the 11th year, with 4,130 books
published in 2006, compared [with] 2,701 in 2005,
which represents a constant rise of 14.7%".
According to the ABCD report, the number
of foreign comics has increased appreciably:
1,799, including 239 American, and 1,418 from
Asia. "The phenomenon observed [during] the
previous years like augmentation, diversity and
'mangalization' are perpetuating and growing
fast," Ratier pointed out.
However, these
figures are more or less welcomed and some
grumblers gnash their teeth, complaining that
Asian comics will bring about the demise of the
Franco-Belgian version. Does it mean that we
should believe the pessimists? Do European editors
really have to be afraid of what is vulgarly named
the "yellow peril"? Definitely not, argues Xavier
Guilbert, maintaining that the impact of Asian
comics in Europe is positive and represents a real
opportunity. "The advent of manga has
surely modified the editorial scene, while it was
helping the growth of the past years," he
explained.
"The good thing is that it
attracted younger and more feminine readers. Not
to mention the fact that the wake of the reader
expansion will become particularly crucial. So we
should see that there is an opportunity, we should
try to create real links and encourage them to be
interested in comics from Asia as well as the rest
of the production."
This is a scenario
that is working, considering that some European
publishers, as an alternative to "fighting",
recently decided to enter an alliance. How? They
simply resolved to organize collaborations between
artists from both continents, mixing cultures and
talents, while creating a sort of hybrid
European-Asian comic genre. It could perhaps
become the next big thing in the world of comics.
Alexandra Feytis is a journalist
based in London.
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