Manga – Where it all began
Your parents probably think that comics started in the 1930s and 1940s with Superman and Batman.
You are wrong.
While true comics have been around for less than a hundred years, Japanese artists have been producing picture books for centuries. Today, Japanese comics and graphic novels are known as “manga.”
The famous Japanese artist Hokusai (lived from 1760 to 1849) coined the term manga in 1815 when he referred to some of his comic sketches as “man” (meaning capricious or careless) “ga” (meaning drawings). I was just drawing, and the “manga” was born.
(By the way, let’s go back to Superman for a second. I’m willing to bet you don’t read Superman comics … but did you know that collectors pay over $ 150,000 for Action Comics # 1, where Superman first appeared? You may not read Superman, but I guess you wouldn’t mind having that one.)
In the United States, many people, mostly adults, think that comics, graphic novels, and animation are just for kids. That’s not true in Japan – comics and animation are as popular and widely accepted as books or movies. (This is also why some Japanese comics are as violent and sexually oriented as they are. Some series are written and illustrated specifically for adults, not children or teenagers.) Also, unlike in the US, Japanese comics and animation often tell stories about “real” or “normal” people, not just superheroes or supervillains.