Manga exports

Ahh! I'm caught in a self-referential loop! I recently read (the English-language version of) Batman: Child of Dreams, which was billed as the first Japanese manga to star an American comic book character. It was released in Japan (and in Japanese) first, then translated and exported to the U.S. Now Fimoculous has a link to a Japanese story about exporting manga to the U.S and Europe...

So, let's see if I got this right - an American iconic character, written and drawn in Japanese manga style, translated and adapted back for an American audience, helping to establish manga's newfound viability in foreign markets - a topic that's now been discussed by a Japanese periodical (written in English). My head hurts; I think it's because I just ran face-first into William Gibson's vision of cultural globalization.

Posted by Dan on August 18, 2003 at 09:27 AM | TrackBack