MANGA
In Japan, people of all ages read manga. The medium includes a broad range of subjects: action-adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, horror, sexuality, and business/commerce, among others.
] Since the 1950s, manga have steadily become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a 406 billion
yen market in Japan in 2007 (approximately
$3.6 billion). Manga have also become increasingly popular worldwide. In 2008, the U.S. and Canadian manga market was $175 million. Manga are typically printed in
black-and-white, although some full-color manga exist (e.g.
Colorful). In Japan, manga are usually serialized in telephone book-size manga magazines, often containing many stories, each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next issue. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in
paperback books called
tankōbon. A manga artist (
mangaka in Japanese) typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company If a manga series is popular enough, it may be
animated after or even during its run
although sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-actionor animated films (e.g. Star Wars).
"Manga" as a term used outside Japan refers specifically to comics originally published in Japan. However, manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in other parts of the world, particularly in
Taiwan("
manhua"), South Korea ("
manhwa"), and the People's Republic of China, notably Hong Kong ("
manhua"). In France, "
la nouvelle manga" has developed as a form of
bande dessinée (literally
drawn strip) drawn in styles influenced by Japanese manga. In the United States, people refer to what they perceive as manga "styled" comics as Amerimanga, world manga, or
original English-language manga (OEL manga). Still, the original term "manga" is primarily used in English-speaking countries solely to describe comics of Japanese origin.