Amazing Spider-Man: 100,000. Shonen Jump: 250,000

October 23, 2007 6:26 AM

Wired has a nice history of manga in the US available on their website in PDF format. Westerners: remember to read from back to front, or you'll spoil the story for yourself! (Via.)
posted by beaucoupkevin (16 comments total)

I actually bought the issue yesterday, when I saw the cover story (which was this).
posted by yeoz at 6:29 AM on October 23, 2007

I was shocked at the actual numbers. I had no idea Shonen Jump had such a large circulation in the US compared to traditional comics.
posted by Meagan at 7:29 AM on October 23, 2007

Bwahaha. I love the image of the girl milking a giant Pikachu for money. Awsome.
posted by delmoi at 7:54 AM on October 23, 2007

Btw, didn't Anime's popularity basically peak or plateu a few years ago? It's more like a part of culture now then a new trend.

I'm probably about 10 years too old to really have been around Manga. I read X-Men as a kid. I loved Anime, but I was never really into Manga, and by the time it became popular I had really grown out of that sort of thing.
posted by delmoi at 8:11 AM on October 23, 2007

delmoi: I'm probably about 10 years too old to really have been around Manga. I read X-Men as a kid. I loved Anime, but I was never really into Manga, and by the time it became popular I had really grown out of that sort of thing.

Ah, but you can never be too old for anime/manga. I've just discovered Full metal Alchemist and Cowboy bebop and I ain't exactly a little kid. As for manga, I'm no expert on the topic but I bet that there are lots of really good manga for adults.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:27 AM on October 23, 2007

Yes, there are lots of very good manga for grownups.

The horror/supernatural titles Mail and The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service are among my favorites and even if it makes me sick, MPD Psycho comes very close to being brilliant.

When it comes to action, evergreen samurai like Lone Wolf And Cub and Blade Of The Immortal are definitely more skewed towards adult tastes with plenty of subject matter I'd not expect a 10-year-old to properly understand or appreciate.

Then there's stuff like Yotsuba&!, which is truly all-ages. God, I love that comic.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 8:33 AM on October 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

I actually bought the issue yesterday, when I saw the cover story (which was this).

When I saw the cover art and the manga artwork inside, I had to have it as well. First time I've purchased Wired since ever.
posted by chlorus at 8:56 AM on October 23, 2007

Ah, but you can never be too old for anime/manga. I've just discovered Full metal Alchemist and Cowboy bebop

I loved Cowboy Bebop, but I think I saw some Full Metal Alchemist and it left me flat, it looked sort of like kids stuff, an din a sense it probably is. Maybe I'm wrong.

I also liked Initial D. Kind of a guilty pleasure.

But I think it has more to do with me then with the media in general. I don't play video games much any more, for example, even though I never thought I would grow out of those.
posted by delmoi at 8:56 AM on October 23, 2007

I know I am alone, but when I saw the mailman bring me Wired last night, and it had a cartoon character on the front, all I could think of was cancelling my subscription.
posted by Senator at 9:05 AM on October 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

If Wired's style is telling you about things far ahead of the curve, then they're really missing with Manga. Kids here have been eating Manga up since at least 2000. The sections in bookstores have been expanding at an incredible rate.

I liked the article about the Cannonball Run guy though.
posted by drezdn at 9:52 AM on October 23, 2007

The accompanying article, Japan, Ink, is also a good read. I didn't realize the manga industry in Japan itself is actually struggling, to the point where fan fiction is feeding back into the business.

I don't read manga, but I am absolutely addicted to the anime version of Bleach.
posted by NemesisVex at 10:07 AM on October 23, 2007

If Wired's style is telling you about things far ahead of the curve, then they're really missing with Manga

Wired's style is also telling its readers about things they care about -- ideally, at least! When I worked there (and I probably will again someday), it was obvious to everyone how many of our readers enjoy manga. Not every story in Wired is about new trends or predicting the future.
posted by digaman at 10:55 AM on October 23, 2007

beaucoupkevin, thanks for the recommendations - never heard about them before!
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:22 AM on October 23, 2007

Good point digaman (and I've usually like your stuff in Wired).
posted by drezdn at 12:02 PM on October 23, 2007

I know I am alone, but when I saw the mailman bring me Wired last night, and it had a cartoon character on the front, all I could think of was cancelling my subscription.

Yeah. Because Wired has never had a cartoon character on the cover before.
posted by eyeballkid at 1:30 PM on October 23, 2007

Transformers was pushing it.....
posted by Senator at 1:36 PM on October 23, 2007