Comics and Graphic Novels: Manga

Excellent introduction and a comprehensive overview of manga. The book is arranged into six thematic chapters, with essays by leading scholars. Published in conjunction with the landmark exhibition held at the British Museum.

British comics scholar Paul Gravett charts the evolution of manga from its roots in late 19th-century Japan through the many and varied forms of comics, cartoons, and animation created throughout Asia for more than 100 years.

This well-researched book explores Manga's deep roots in Japanese culture, drawing on centuries-old artistic traditions. It also explores the various social factors that continue to shape Manga today. One of the first books to expound this now canonized historical context of manga.

British comics scholar Paul Gravett presents an accessible, and highly-illustrated introduction to the development and diversity of Japanese comics from 1945 to the present. Featuring graphics and extracts from a wide range of manga, the book covers such themes as the specific attributes of manga in contrast to American and European comics; the life and career of Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy and originator of story manga; boys' comics from the 1960s to the present; the genres and genders of girls and women's comics; the darker, issues of censorship and protest; and manga's role as a major Japanese export and global influence.

Since first published in 1983, this book has been virtually the "bible" from which all studies and appreciation of manga begins. More than that, given the influence of Japanese manga on animation and on American-produced comics as well, it provides the background against which these other arts can be understood.

Challenges the conventional wisdom that manga evolved from centuries of prior Japanese art and explains why manga and other comics around the world share the same origin story.

Overview of otaku/geek culture

Analyzes popular Japanese manga from the 1990s to the present that portrays the everyday lives of adults and children with disabilities in an ableist society.

The definitive book on Shojo manga (girls' comics). Weaves together issues of production and consumption, human relations, and gender to explain the unique world of shojo manga and to interpret its dramatic cultural and economic success on a national and global scale.

Describes and analyses the rise and fall of the mammoth Japanese comic book industry since the 1960s and the complex new attitudes towards manga in Japan since the 1980s. Topics covered include the recent revival of manga censorship and the moral panic surrounding manga otaku, the repression of the amateur manga subculture and the promotion of certain genres of manga by educational and cultural institutions, changes in the intellectual relationship between manga artists and publishing company editors, and the assimilation of manga into national culture.

Eight stories from nine European authors, in which Japan is depicted with imagination, humour and poetry. In response to these impressions of the artist-travellers, eight authors from the Archipelago portray their Japan, the everyday one, that of modernity and that of legend. A beautiful and evocative volume that portrays Japan in a multitude of lights.

A groundbreaking introduction to the most creative and cutting-edge works of Japanese independent comics, presented in English for the first time, AX is the premier Japanese magazine for alternative comics. Published bi-monthly for over ten years, the pages of AX contain the most creative and cutting-edge works of independent comics in the world's largest comics industry. Features work by Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Akino Kondoh, Kazuichi Hanawa, and Shinichi Abe.

An in-depth introduction Bara the genre of explicit homoerotic manga made by gay men for gay men in Japan. Contains interviews, photography, context-providing essays, illustrations, and manga of the artists; Jiraiya, Gengoroh Tagame, Seizoh Ebisubashi, Kazuhide Ichikawa, Takeshi Matsu, Fumi Miyabi, Inu Yoshi, Gai Mizuki, and comic essayist Kumada Poohsuke.

Demonstrates how to conceive and draw original characters that reflect diverse racial, ethnic, and gender identities, featuring work by the artists represented in Saturday AM magazine, a recognized global brand that unites the two biggest trends in Young Adult graphic novels/comic books: diversity and manga.