Perfect comic for dogs

I’ve actually been reading manga for longer than I’ve been reading American comics. Of course, thinking back on it I can’t remember what the first manga I read actually was. If I had to guess, it was probably either the first volume of Hellsing or the first volume of Fullmetal Alchemist. Granted, I’ve read a lot of manga since then so you’ll have to forgive me if my memory is a little fuzzy.

Anyway, for our readers who are only familiar with American comics, here’s a quick primer in the differences between American comics and manga. Like American comics, manga is published in Japan in monthly installments, but instead of multiple books each with one story, a manga magazine contains chapters from several different manga. There are several different magazines that cater to different types of readers and genres. Based on what you’re interested in, you can get a particular magazine and get to read the latest installment of several different stories at the same time. Eventually, sets of chapters from one story are collected together in the manga equivalent of an American trade graphic novel.

Unlike most American comics that can have multiple writers and artists contribute to the story over the years, most manga are produced by a single author/artist or an author-artist team. Some manga have a very fixed story that can be told in a couple of volumes and then are complete while others can run for several years and continue to grow. For example, Hellsing just completed this year after the release of volume 10. Fullmetal Alchemist just finished in Japan and ran for 108 chapters and all collected will consist of 27 volumes. On the other hand, Naruto has so far had over 244 chapters since 1999 and has been collected in 51 volumes and counting.

For us American readers who don’t know Japanese, most manga volumes are published in English several months after they’re released in Japan. There is also now an American version of the Shoen Jump magazine published by Viz Media. There are all sorts of fan websites that scan and translate magazines as they are published in Japan. I know there’s a large community of Americans who read their manga this way, but I tend to avoid them. If it’s something that I’m interested in reading, then I’m willing to wait for an official release so I can give them the creators the money I think they deserve.

Next time I’ll do a mini-review and introduction of some of my favorite manga. If you need something to do to pass the time between now and then, print out today’s comic and color it. Send in your colored entries and the best one will win a prize!*

*Prize consists of our overflowing love and devotion. Void where prohibited. Not eligible for residents of AZ, WI, RI, and OZ.