OEL Manga: Good or bad idea?

C

Cherise

New member
Before I begin:
OEL: Original English Language
Manga's made by the U.S.

After spending hours, days, and even weeks researching Manga/anime/Otaku fans on their opinion on OEL Manga, all I have to say is “What's with all the hate?”

It seems many fans really dislike the idea of OEL Manga's. Some had some good reasons why. And some don't.

Some of the good reasons were:
-The title “OEL”
-“SOME” (Let me say it again “SOME”!) have bad storys/ Art work
-Didn't came out from Japan, so why call it “Manga”?

As for the (IMO) durab reasons was:
-It's not being made by a japanese person. (Like it matters)
-IT'S MADE BY AN AMERICAN!
- THEY JUST WANT THE MONEY!!! (Who doesn't?)

Now, in my personal opinion about the idea of OEL Manga, seems like a good idea. It's better wasting time and many going to Japan and doing one thing you like. Why go to Japan, why not the place your living in?
But I do get some OEL Manga's are not so big. Yeah, a good chunk of them try to hard being manga's, some of them have bad art styles and story that we already heard over-and-over again, and there's not a whole lot of OEL Manga's out there. But that doesn't mean the idea of OEL Manga is a bad thing, so why with the label it is?

Here's were I don't get the reason “It's not being made by a japanese person”? Does the japanese have special powers that no man can handle? Why does a race matters?
And “IT'S MADE BY AN AMERICAN?” & “THEY ARE DOING IT FOR THE MONEY”? Why hate on America? Japan is not the only artist/Writer that can do decent comics. And as for the money, maybe the ppl that are making the Manga's are doing it because they enjoy Japan's manga... and some people need to eat, pay rent, help their family. I bet some of the greatest japanese manga creators are doing it too.

To be honest, I'm plaining to make some OEL Manga series when I grow up (As well many other things too). I do have a good story to tell and my art skills have improve over the past years. But seeing how the hate on OEL Manga are getting, I need to work my butt off to please everyone. I could work for a normal comic book company, but I want to make my own stories and art work. I could do an indie type of comic, but I want to be big and everyone to know my work...This is hard. It seem for OEL Manga's need to have something original or no go. And need to have something the fans want, but not to much or to little. PERFECTION IS THE KEY FOR SUCCESS...Damn.

Anyways. Your thoughts on OEL Manga?
 
OEL are great. if not for OEL, we wouldn't have a sequel to Labyrinth and a prequel to The Dark Crystal. The Labby one is particularly good, and the day the third volume was released, it was #4 on the times manga list. The first three were successive volumes of Naruto though, so you could say RtL was the nuraber 2 series of the week.

It's weird, but other than the two above, I hardly ever see any OEL at the local B&N.
 
I think these are the reasons why so many OEL Manga's are not in stores a lot:

-Not many OEL Manga have big series (Most I seen got 3 volumes. Rarely I see OEL Manga gone up to 4 or even 5 volumes)
-Not making a lot of money out of it (This could be for many reasons)
-Not many book store see them as “Manga”.
-OEL Manga are still new, so this is why there's not a lot of OEL Manga series out there.
-It's to “MATURE” for stores (Read “rabQ”)
 
RtL (Return to Labyrinth) is 4, and I think Dark Crystal will be 3, so you're definitely right about the first thing. The only mature manga I've seen at BN is NANA, but that could be because earlier volumes are rated Older Teen.

Are there any OEL that are not Tokyopop? All the ones I've ever seen were.
 
Many Manga fans hate Tokyopop starting this OEL Manga thing. Which, I think tokyopop didn't started it first. I also found out in the tokyopop threaRAB they might stop publishing OEL Manga's in stores and just post them on the web.

Anyways, I only know Seven Seas Entertainment & Rel Del Manga are doing some OEL Manga too.
 
It's a great idea just sadly most of them are not that good. With the exception of dramacon I have not read a good OEL manga. Yet I do use Dramacan as proof that they can be good. even the biggest OEL Manga hater seems to like Dramacon, it'e the exception to the rule I guess.

Speaking of which I really need to pick up the third and final volume of it.
 
For me, they come off as very gimmicky. The art is usually something out of those "how to draw manga" books, they oftentimes overuse screentones, and the writing isn't any better than most other gimmicky comics I've perused. I also can't see any reason to publish them in digest size beyond trying to appear to be of Japanese origin. I could care less about where the artist is from, but they're just so damn blatant about the "hey look it's American manga - it's better than comics 'cause it looks like manga!" message that it's a little disconcerting.

From a professional standpoint, Tokyopop sucks. They don't pay worth crap. I've got a comic in the works and if Tokyopop was the only professional publishing option I'd stick with self publishing, even though it's an expensive pain in the butt.
 
What's wrong with comic? Is comic a dirty word now? No matter how hard the OEL people try, they're making comics.

Stop lying to yourselves.
 
This is what I read why ppl want to call their stuff “Manga” then calling it “Comic”.

It seem the idea ppl get in the term of comics is Super-heroes stuff. Which many ppl that's trying to make so-call “Manga” don't want other ppl to get the wrong idea what they are trying to make. That's why ppl in the U.S trying to make Manga call them OEL Manga...

I read that in a Megatokyo thread.
I do get the reason why call a comic “Manga” even though it didn't came out in Japan. Though, I also get why so many ppl in the U.S want to call their work “MANGA” because there's a lot of Manga reader won't even look at comic book, but only read manga.

But, is that really a big deal?

Just saying.



I still don't see why Dramacon is so big. Not saying it's bad, but why?

Though, there are some decent OEL Manga's out that are good too. Try "rabQ".



I do agree with the art style of OEL Manga they are to gimmick, same go with the writing. But not all OEL Manga are like that.

I know I'm sounding like a guy trying to sell you something but rabQ is a good OEL Manga with great story and art. (IMO). Though, I find the language over doing it, but the message that's in it is good.

But here's the problem, if the art style and or writing is not like "Manga", no manga fan will read it. But, if it's to much like "Manga", manga fans won't read it. I find that funny and odd if you ask me.

Maybe this is why this OEL Manga is so big....Maybe, I don't know....
 
Watchman.... All I have to say, good story, "Meh" art work.

Anyways, Don't know why OEL Manga can just be called "graphic novels", does any hardcore manga fan read graphic novels?
 
You know, having spoken to a nuraber of people behind OEL manga, most of them are actually pretty mellow about terminology. They don't really care if you call their stuff "comics" or "manga" - in fact, some of them use "comics" in conversation and happily admit that that they only call them "manga" to help make the target demographic a little more specific. And honestly, I think that might well be the approach I'd take if I were a published comic author.

Certainly I've never met anyone trying to pass their work off as superior to other English-language comics simply by virtue of being "manga".
 
Just fer clarity I've only met them online, not personally, but in the past I've been to forums visited by a nuraber of people from the British manga community. Not always sure who was who, but I've heard from people who have been involved with Manga Shakespeare, Rising Stars of Manga UK/Ireland and so on.
 
Read what Return to Labyrinth author Jake Forbes has to say about OEL:

http://www.gobblin.net/2009/05/05/that-old-authentic-debate/

It's a good read, and he even touches on Tokyopop supposedly creating "OEL".
 
Anyways....What is a manga style? I get it's black & White and read left to right, but what's is the style of manga? Art style? Story? What?

Because it seems many Manga readers are stating OEL Manga doesn't have any of these styles like real "Manga".
 
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