Manga and Indie Comic Books, and How They're More Alike Than We Think

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American Indie Comics & Korean and Japanese Manga

Seperated At Birth?

Similarities and Commonalities

Growing up, the two types of comic books I read the most were not fantasy and superhero, but instead black & white, pen & ink indie and manga comics. It wasn't until after I had been reading both for a while that I noticed how similar they were in certain ways, particularly in format.

·       Both used finely drawn and rendered pen and ink artwork

·       Both were designy and stylistic

·       Both could be dark and fanciful

·       Both used a lot of  black ink and a technique I would later come to know as "spotting blacks"

·       Both were in black and white and used black and white artwork for the majority

·       Both dealt with mature and adult subject matter like violence and sex

·       Many indie comics creators such as Frank Miller, Scott McCloud, Jhonen Vasquez, Paul Pope, and Rob Schrab modeled their sequential art after the kind found in manga.

·       Both mediums, genres, and style use a creator-friendly approach, where the creator approaches panel design like a filmmaker and auteur.

The main difference between the two "different" mediums was not so much format but genre and style. Their design forms looked different, and yet they share so many similarities. 

Manga and American indie comics are often one and the same, especially in format.