Article - "Just what the hell is indie and alternative manga?

Not to be confused with similar, but more popular genres of manga, gekiga / doujin / doujinshi, - drama pictures and dialogue, fan comics

There ISN'T a Japanese equivalent term for indie manga yet, because formerly, indie, independent, "alternative", or underground and indie comics was a largely American term, describing comics made to emphasize innovation, creative experimentation, design, and many storytelling elements outside of the Western Comics mainstream, like odd topics, or black and white panel artwork, for instance.

Well known American indie comics creators include Paul Pope, Jhonen Vasquez, Chynna Clugston-Major, Evan Dorkin, Ted Naifeh, JR Goldberg, Phil Hester, Judd Winick, Matt Groening, Rob Schrab, Jeff Smith, Stan Sakai, Mike Mignola, Andi Watson, Scott McCloud Doug TenNapel, Jim Mahfood, Dave Sim, Jamie Hewlett, Todd McFarlane, Sam Keith, Frank Miller, Frank Cho and many others. Publishers include Dark Horse, Image, Oni Press, and Slave Labor Graphics (SLG). Famous Independent Manga creators include Hiroaki Samura and Katsuhiro Otomo. Artist known for being innovators and pioneers, who have respectable reputations, but often do not dominate retail sales. Not all indie creators online and off must have a small audience overall, but most do not have a large audience.

Techniques and elements: Indie comics have been known to use such elements and techniques as, Decompression, noir, grittiness, horror and macabre, black and white art, literary emphasis, embrace of certain subcultures (like goth, slacker, fantasy genre, alternative music, or hip-hop)

The GEN anthology which recently came out was one of the first Japan based manga trades and anthologies which embraced indie comics culture from a Japan-based perspective, from various lesser known Japanese creators and cartoonists.