The Four Color Media Monitor

The Vidette of Illinois State University has a writer telling us manga from Japan is easier to get into than USA comics. On which note:

A lot of our favorite superheroes such as Batman and Spider-Man have been around for so long that there are many different versions of them in different universes created by different writers.

Unless you magically happen to keep up with every new continuity like myself, you are going to be very confused about where to start reading.

Comics are also plagued with the issue of having to read multiple runs or events to have a hint of understanding of what is currently happening.

In addition, it does not help that collecting comics is very expensive and prices can add up quickly. Most trade paperbacks that collect about five to six issues are $20 at the bare minimum.

Certainly, prices for paperbacks/hardcovers can be very dismaying too, can't they? But where were these people when everything was going downhill at the turn of the century, and even earlier? Or, why don't they argue the time's come for DC/Marvel to stop publishing for now, if that's what it takes to put an end to the woke monstrosity they've become? And how come the college writer never thought to encourage anybody to start at the Golden Age beginnings? Are they really so old-fashioned no modern university student can get into them? Such laziness, but far from surprising a college paper could be so cheap.

Japanese manga, on the other hand, does not suffer from this problem whatsoever. Almost every manga you can think of is only a singular story from beginning to end.

Manga readers are not often forced to read multiple series or events to understand the full picture. They can just start from chapter one and get the full experience.

While a lot of mangakas do keep their stories self-contained, there can still be an argument some have gone on for far too long, like Detective Conan and One Piece, which so far have been keeping on even in anime series for over a quarter century, last time I looked. So depending how you view this issue, some could wonder if they'll run the risk of running out of ideas and thus become interminable. That said, another letdown in this college paper piece is how it won't get deeper into how mainstream USA comics destroyed themselves all for the sake of universe-spanning crossovers, and nobody seems to step forward and argue this has to stop. What good does it do to complain about the ruinous effect of crossovers if you can't make a point they have to be abandoned as a storytelling gimmick, and audiences have to boycott them if that's what it takes to make clear they want no more of this?

And this is exactly why, if the writers at the university paper thought they were saying something, they've only come up woefully short, as could be wholly expected from such otherwise woke sources.

Labels: crossoverloading, dc comics, Europe and Asia, manga and anime, marvel comics, msm propaganda, sales