what's OEL manga stand for? If you don't know it's Original English-language manga.
Anyone else here hate OEL manga? I do and I wish they never made it. I think Manga should just be made in Japan or Korea. I hate the ugly graphics that they have in OEL.
Not only is it ugly but they make the manga page even more unbearable is some of the OEL manga artist just have to outline every single main character just so that they can look more noticable and that they pop out from the annoying over drawn, over crowded, over toned (is that even a word?)background! The whole page just practicaly bleeds with different gray-scale tones! It's not the standard black and white with a little gray to show shadows manga page. oh no, the whole page is F*&#@!G gray!
I'd like to see some of this 'OEL'.
What are some OEL titles anyway? I've never heard of it until now.
Bizenghast, Mark of the Succubus, MBQ, Sorcerers & Secretaries those are just some titles and they all suck. The stories have no meaning to them, no decent plot line what so ever.
They do suck, and will continue to suck until
1) the stories get better and
2) art gets better
Hopefully OEL artists will get better and we'll have some quality OEL manga to read
It sucks because the only reason it exists is to copy Japan. It seems to me that the main purpose of manga in Japan, or a comic book in America, is to tell a story (or if we're being cynical, to make money, but that's not the point here), whereas the main purpose of OEL manga is just to be "cool" and copy manga. And "to make money" is the point here, since OEL manga is cashing in on the increasing popularity of manga and anime in general.
I think it's approached with a different mindset, that's all. Obviously I have no evidence for that, but I can't see any other reason to create OEL manga.
In contrast, comics that have been influenced by manga are fine, a different matter entirely. This isn't the place to go into that, but influence from manga definitely had a big effect on comics in America. Obviously it wasn't all positive, but it certainly wasn't all negative, either.
Oh, and there's Nouvelle Manga as well. What little I've read of that seemed all right. The big difference is that with Nouvelle Manga and comics simply influenced by manga, it's an attempt make the original format more interesting with elements of a different style, or to create something new. OEL manga is basically just people wishing they were Japanese.
OEL manga is just another one of those trends that people try to be a part of just because it's popular. I hate Tokyopop for having made the Rising Stars of Manga series that puts out all those OEL crap.
OEL is not manga at all it's just another book with lots of ugly pictures in gray.
comics are too limited, they have too few pages and personally i do not enjoy them at all. But OEL is fine with me, I mean, if they can deliver good art and good story, i'll enjoy it, and if they don't, well, too bad , no sales for you.
I like Dan Kim's stuff, though I'm not sure Nana's Everyday Life or Tomoy42 really count.
PXI, Kanami, and Penny Tribute are nice, though the first and last make little sense and the new version of Kanami doesn't run on my computer.
It makes me really sad to see that a lot of people aren't giving American raised comickers a chance just because they're heavily influenced by Japanese manga. The comic industry in Japan is (obviously) a huge deal financially, and thus the aesthetic polish in Japanese-made manga is a result of The Industry paying huge bucks to the artist and to their assistants.
Meanwhile on this side of the Pacific, as evident by this thread, there isn't a huge demand for OEL manga, and in some cases, a disdain for it. Tokyopop especially is guilty of imposing harsh deadlines on struggling talents for small pay so that as publishers, they can cash in on the manga craze.
As a fellow consumer, I understand that nobody wants to buy crappy stories with no redeeming artistic qualities, but please don't slam OEL manga as a whole. OUR WHOLE GENERATION of Western readers who grew up loving manga will eventually grow up and produce lots of great homegrown manga with voices that ring true to their personal experiences.
There's quality stuff out there, and if the industry is every going to get that message, then give some of it a chance and spread the word if something really moves you and bash everything else if you want.
Some OEL recommendations + stuff by manga-influenced artists:
Dramacon by Svetlana Chmakov
Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Aoi House by Adam Arnold and Shiei
Blankets by Craig Thompson
Same Differences by Derek Kirk Kim
The last two on that list, I'm especially fond of. So for the sake of the American manga industry, what are specific OEL mangas that you love and hate?
> imposing harsh deadlines on struggling talents for small pay
Actually, that's what most of the Japanese industry is like too, I gather.
It has nothing to do with that. It has much more to do with how most OEL artists have only a superficial understanding of the medium, and end up producing something that doesn't feel like manga, and doesn't feel like western comics, and in the end doesn't work due to being unfamiliar in either context.
Now, a great artist does not need to write within a context, but can create their own without having to rely on anything else. However, these artists aren't that great.
Manga is an art style. And also a form of story telling. Japanese manga is not better than OEL because it comes from japan, thats just biased. People see these mangas and they have dreams. They don't desire to be japanese, and these people don't need to move to japan to be manga artists. The story has no bearing on what language its in or where it comes from. Its who is telling it. Just because its english doesn't mean people cannot create great stories. They need to be given a chance. You can say that all manga from japan is better than the ones from western shores, but if you think about it, all manga is different.
I gave OEL mangas a chance and it still doesn't cut it for me. I even went so far as to taking my time in reading different genres of OEL manga just to see if I can really apreciate it but the bottom line for me is that it still sucks.
Yeah, I do think that the mangas from Asia are WAY better then the ones made in the west. The ones from the west seem rushed and that's why the story and art are not the best.
Another thing going on with OEL manga is this: In Japan, you have a lot of manga artists. Only the really good ones get much popularity.
With OEL manga, it seems the publishers are really starving for material, and will publish anything that looks a bit like manga. Well, obviously there's some selection going on, but the talent pool is just that mich bigger in Japan, and it shows.
I wish the publishers had the same aggression when it came to translating stuff. Considering the relatively small amount of work required to translate a comic, compared to the amount of work required to write it, you'd think that they could get a lot more done than they actually do. It should be possible to read stuff that isn't already known to be massively popular. And yet, it isn't even possible to read a lot of stuff which is already massively popular.
I also wish more companies would translate novels (cough Suzumiya Haruhi), although I do understand that novels require more effort since they cost about the same as a GN and yet have several times more words to be translated.
I personally very much dislike OEL manga. It's not actual manga if it's not from Japan. (The things from other Eastern countries like Korea and China are called manwha or something else.) OEL is a failed attempt at something pretending to be what it's obviously not. An American artist drawing in a manga-like style is fine, but stop pretending it's manga if it's not! Manga sells these days, and they're only called it that to make it seem more than just your average Western comic book.
calling OEL manga "manga" is another way for the publishers and other people envolved to cash in on the recent manga/anime craze.
i dislike the fact that its called manga, when its not.... they're just comics heavily influenced by manga. personally i dislike it
as long as its pictures with text bubbles and I like it, I would read it, call it OEL , OGL, FCVDGFRE or what ever you like.
I wish to be a manga artist, even though i'm not japanese. which only leaves me the choice of becoming an OEL manga artist. I believe the reason why so many people aren't really into OEL manga is because OEL manga artwork doesn't look as "Manga styled" as it should. Another thing about OEL manga is that most OEL manga deals with elves, emo vampires, and a bunch of other stuff that has nothing to do with the things that Otaku love.
I'm not a fan of them myself.
>>21
It isn't just the choice of themes, it's that OEL artists simply aren't good at writing stories. All that goth stuff could develop into a decent American specialty if they could actually create engaging stories.
It's okay... But I have yet to see one that REALLY engages me like the japanese ones do.
The only one that came close to doing that was My Cat Loki, which was actually pretty well done.
I don't judge a book by its cover. Literally.
I kinda liked Aoi House (Except when it's laying the harem comedy generic plotlines thick), and My Cat Loki is still my favorite OEL. Bizenghast however wasn't really my cup of tea. I only read the first book, and I was already kinda tired of the formula. Plus, I'm not into that gothic style drawing so...
>>17
Yup, I agree. It's not really manga, because honestly, manga comes from Japan.
I don't really mind the term "OEL manga" being used as much as you do though, dunno why.
Probably for the same reasons I don't lash out at the people (90% of the general pop) that say "may-nga" in that pronounciation (I'm used to it.).
It's fucking bullshit.
Bullshit. It's not manga. I do admit that the fact that they call it manga turns me off from buying it, as they use it to pawn their work off to the unsuspecting less-experienced otakus. On the other hand I guess some of them have a good story.
manga is a japanese word that represents comics. I hate the
fact that tokyopop has to go and tag it to the end of OEL.
It would be much better to say that it's called an English Language Comic then saying OEL manga. it's not made in Japan and it's not a japanes comic so why should they call it manga?
It's a word that contradicts itself, an oxymoron if you think about it.
I'm an aspiring manga artist. But I'm not Japanese, or Korean. So what should I do? Nothing? Doesn't sound very interesting. I didn't choose manga because I think it's cool or anything, I choose it because I'm inspired by the manga style, as well as Japanese culture. I'm glad OEL manga exist - in Japan, manga wasn't popular and didn't earn mangaka much money before Osamu Tezuka - the God of manga - entered the picture; there hadn't been any good manga before he introduced his work, which jumpstarted the manga world and inspired mangaka all over Japan. It's the same in the OEL manga industry, once someone comes forth a truly good story, hopefully OEL manga will start to get good. The ability to create a story isn't limited to the Japanese, thinking so is just bias.
It's shit.
I don't mind the more gag-based OEL manga (in my opinion, it can still be called manga if the page size/format differs from the default Western comic book), but decent serious, story-based manga are a very rare breed in the OEL market. Especially if you care about well-drawn works.
Shit.
whats korean manga??
>>35
see the post above yours
If you want to be a manga artist but you're not Japanese or Korean, it's really a simply solution. Just fucking make it a graphic novel with "manga style" art.