Manga Museum's "Is This Manga Too?" Exhibit Looks at American Artists

The Kyoto International Manga Museum Looks at "Manga Style" Artists

Scott Green
December 21, 2011 1:35pm PST (Dec 21, 2011)

The Kyoto International Manga Museum has announced "Manga Style ―― North America Is this manga too? Manga artists active in North America," an exhibit running from January 5 through February 5 that will look at the works of artists from or working in North America, such as Takeshi Miyazawa (Marvel comics), Svetlana Chmakova (Dramacon) and Felipe Smith (MBQ, Peepo Choo) whose art can be described as manga influenced.

 

Guests include:

Takeshi Miyazawa (manga artist)
Felipe Smith (manga artist)
Eijiro Shimada (editor in chief of Morning)
Yukari Shiina (translator, coordinator)

 

From the Museum's site:

In this exhibition we are putting the spotlight on three very different artists who draw manga style works. All three of them are from North America, which has a very important comics culture but has so far not been featured at the Manga Museum.

 

Takeshi Miyazawa draws superhero comics in manga style, Felipe Smith's works are categorized as manga for young men, and Svetlana Chmakova is regarded as a representative author in the shojo (manga for girls) genre.

 

We will introduce the work of these three artists and reflect on manga style and the manga boom in North America.

 

We have invited exhibiting artists Takeshi Miyazawa and Felipe Smith, both currently residing in Japan, and editor in chief of the manga magazine Morning, Eijiro Shimada, who established the Morning International Newcomer Manga Awards. Together they will participate in a debate where professionals both on the artistic side and production side will discuss the publishing of works drawn in manga style in North America and Japan.

 

 

 

 

via Konjac miso flavor Translation (provisional)

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Dec 21, 2011 by kitsuneshoujo
Its elitist and silly to claim that American/European manga is not manga simply because it was not done by Japanese.

I really like Svetlana's night school manga... too bad I havent seen the continuation of the series in stores.
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Dec 21, 2011 by AnimeFanJerk
I have to agree it's stupid to judge someone's work based on nationality and race. Of course people from other countries can draw it.
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Dec 21, 2011 by TerraGamerX
Doing a quick image search of Dramacon and Peepo Choo, there's absolutely no doubt in my opinion that "manga" is the most accurately descriptive term for them. At first I didn't mind the objective the theme is aiming for, but if those are the show case example, then the question seems weird when it is unquestionable material. The question itself aside, the theme seems like a good idea for increasing overall openness. I'd definitely like to attend if I were in Japan.

Yay Mark Crilley.
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Dec 21, 2011 by LordFrz
Sayin it not manga because it is made in North America, is like saying movies not made in north america are not real movies.

P.S. Svetlana's night school manga is awesome!!!!
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Dec 21, 2011 by Greylurker
I'm a big fan of Svetlana Chmakova work and there is no doubt in my mind that I would call her work manga. I do hope she gets back to Night School sometime soon though
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Dec 21, 2011 by Natarocu
well manga is comic books "made" in Japan. if it's made in america it would be comic books with manga art style........ and i'm not sure if it matters if it's done or not by Japanese people. would it just be called American Manga?
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Dec 21, 2011 by AnimeFanJerk
You guys realize that 'Manga' and 'Anime' are not art styles, right?! I mean how many authors say their novels are 'book styled'? How many artists say their paintings are 'canvas styled'?
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Dec 21, 2011 by markwisski
They are terms that can be used to refer to either a medium or an art style. Language is fluid and meanings shift depending on context.

In other news, this sounds cool. I went to Kyoto once, and the manga museum was my favorite place to visit. It's just this humongous library.
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Dec 22, 2011 by AnimeFanJerk
Thank you for clearing that up. Of course you're wrong in this case, but still thanks for trying. Anime and Manga have never been a 'style'. They are just a medium, people refer to them as a 'style' when they feel like lumping the whole medium together. Usually people do this after they claim it's a 'Japanese only' style.

If you want proof that anime/manga aren't styles just look at movies from 'Studio Ghibli' and anime shows such as Gundam, Nichijou, Shin-Chan. Would you really lump all these artists together and simple say it's all one big 'style'?

Time to grow up kid. Words aren't what you want them to be. Words are what they are.
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Dec 21, 2011 by Axl_x999
Where's Adam Warren? You can't have a North American Manga exhibit thing with out Adam Warren and his comic Empowered!
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Dec 24, 2011 by pika-pika-shuuichi
There's nothing wrong with non-Japanese people creating manga. It's still manga. There is a great article in the January 2012 issue of the North American Shonen Jump magazine, that seems to lean in favor of globalizing manga. The point of movies being originally American, but now globalized, was brought up as well, if I remember correctly. I think it's really good that they are promoting this kind of thing.
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