HTSMC Step 7: Blog

So it's only a tadpole of a blog, but here's a what I've been working on while I've been neglecting the salad: mtpmanga.blogspot.com.

I'm always looking for ways to motivate my mangakas to create some real work, rather than just doodles. Not that doodles aren't adorable, as well as an important stage in the development of plots, characters, and technique ... But I'm trying to cultivate my rep as a grueling taskmaster.

Wish I had a scanner, so I could show you less shadowy versions, but if you take a peek at the blog, you can see bits of what my darlings are drawing. I'll be posting my weekly prompt, and if lightning strikes and the stars are aligned, the kids will critique one another's coms. Cross your fingers!

HTSMC Step 6: Get Lost in Translation

Did you know that during every 24-hour period Osaka changes from the second to third most populated city in Japan--and then back again?*

Today we did Osaka trivia, because Azumanga Daioh arrived, and it has a character from Osaka. She's treated like a freak by her classmates because of where she comes from. What's interesting is that since most Americans know little about Osaka, the translators had to find a way to convey the character's weirdness. So they gave her a mafioso big city way of talking (i.e. Fuhgeddaboudit, and how you doin?).

I had the kids read the relevant section and then tell me their impressions of Osaka. They figured it was full of gang bangers. Then I framed some trivia questions to give them a better picture--it's actually more of an industrial town. And interestingly, at least one reviewer opines that Osaka, being in the South of Japan, is more like the Southern part of the US. In that case, it would have made sense to give the character from Osaka a southern accent. Which would totally change the vibe.

The kids' prompt for this week was then to rewrite the scene, making the Osaka character from wherever they wanted--the South, Providence, the moon. I made mine from a library. Doesn't get much freakier than that, right?

*Since so many people go into the city to work, the daytime population is 3.7 million, but the nighttime population is 2.6 million. So during the day it's the second largest city in Japan, and at night it's the third.

Wait, there's more!

Everybody's ooooooh and aaaaaaah over the Manga Bibles, and now there's a Manga Mecha Bible! Mecha meaning, basically, there are giant robots in it. The best part of this post is the response from the publishers, including such gems as "Whether we succeed or fail is ultimately up to God’s providence."

There's also an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Dallas Middaugh critiques (and partially misrepresents) it, pointing out some common stereotypes (Manga=Porn), and giving us a peek at yet another Manga Bible published in Japan. (via Manga Blog.)

HTSMC Step 5: Make Dojinshi

This would have been more useful if I put it up earlier, but I didn't realize until last night that Fruits Basket revolves around the Chinese Zodiac, thus making it the perfect theme for my Manga club meeting on Chinese New Year!

For the uninitiated, Fruits Basket is about a girl who decides to live in a tent so that she won't have to inconvenience anyone even the teeniest bit after her mother dies. However, she is discovered by a family of boys who turn into animals of the Zodiac everytime they're hugged by members of the opposite sex. They invite the girl to keep house for them (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves much?) and help them keep their secret. If she doesn't keep the secret, her memory could be erased by the mysterious head of the family. Woo-ha-ha-ha!

So today at Manga Circle we will be discovering our own Chinese Zodiac alter-egos and writing Dojinshi (which I explain here). That's right: I'm going to have them write themselves into Fruits Basket. Ed Young has a really gorgeous picture book about the Legend of the Chinese Zodiac which focuses on the interaction between the cat and the rat, which is also essential to the plot of Fruits Basket. I'm using that to diagnose people.

I, by the way, was born in the year of the Boar. Some books say the year of the Pig, but I prefer Boar. It's more distinguished. I get along with Rabbits and Goats, but not other Boars. Grrrrr.

Wait, do boars growl? They don't just oink, do they? How embarassing.

Bible Bashing

I've been wanting to post about the bizarre variety of teen Bibles on the market for ages, but I felt like I could never do it justice. Probably because most of what I want to say is self-evident. Like, OMG, they're totally just trying to make money, those filthy money-grubbing money-makers!

Well, yeah. Plus, the New Yorker already said it better.

But duty calls, because the Manga Bibles from Tyndale (Manga Messiah), Zondervan (Manga Bible Vol. 1-3)*, and Hodder and Stoughton** (Manga Bible NT Raw and Extreme) are finally in the hands of reviewers. Here are two astute reviews that came out this week, plus an older ComicMix review of Hodder and Stoughton's version which I particularly like:

"The Manga Bible could have taken some pointers from Osamu Tezuka’s eight-volume Buddha; that tells the life story of one religious figure at about sixteen times the length that The Manga Bible uses to cover several thousand years and two entire religions."

Of course, I think the problem isn't just the difference in length, it's the difference in purpose. NT Raw is propoganda. Buddah is something else.

And speaking of propoganda, Ekklesia noticed that the Manga Messiah rewrites the Gospel story to remove any anti-family themes. Who knew the Bible was anti-family? I mean, that could mess up the whole Christian right agenda!

Also fresh this week, there's an article on repackaging the Bible at the Sydney Morning Herald. Here's a squirm-worthy point: although there's plenty of money to translate the Bible into Manga, there are still indigenous people that don't have Bibles in their own languages. Apparently, sales of the kriol Holi Bailbul are just "modest."

Back to more lucrative schemes: Biblezines! I wonder if there are any libraries that actually subscribe to these. I can't guess what goes on in communities that put evolution warning stickers on their Biology textbooks. If I had to pick one, I would definitely go with REAL, which retells Bible stories in the "language of the streets."

If anyone is still reading, here's my original thought on the subject: These "Bibles" rip off both their text and their style from other, in a sense, cultures, in order to make money, thus performing a gross act of colonization in the literary criticism sense of the word. Neither Manga nor the Bible deserves this treatment.

*Actually, this one has been out for a while, but people are re-reviewing it with the newers ones.
**I guess this is related to Doubleday in the U.S.

HTSMC Step 4: Teaching Character Development

And by character development, I mean literary characters.

I don't mean it in the U.S. Army sense of the word.

Right. So I got this idea from my favorite Manga drawing book. The idea is that character development isn't static, so the best way to do it isn't by making a list of your characters' qualities or favorite after-school activitities.

Instead, you think about how your character would react in a situation, and that helps you to get to know your character the same way you would get to know a real person--actions speak louder than words and all that.

So now I'm starting each Manga meeting by giving the kids a prompt, like what would your character do

• if a rock was falling on her head?
  
• if someone unexpected declared his or her undying love?
• if he was falsely accused of stealing something?

The kids are ridiculously creative. In reaction to the rock falling, we had characters deflecting rocks with their iron skulls, pulling someone else over to stand under the rock, and reaching above their heads to stop the rock with their bare hands. Oh, and one character just, you know, stepped out of the way.

The great thing about this, for me, is that I'm going to reuse the situations as prompts for my drama club. If I were to write an equation describing how this will affect my planning time, I would use division. But I can't be any more exact, because that would involve math.

All things visual and sequential

Everyone's talking about the Cybils, and I was particularly interested in the Graphic Novels shortlist, since I'm busying selecting all things visual and sequential. I started with a list that a very skinny boy made for me in the middle of a dinner party. And since then, I've found a couple other pretty terrific selection tools, so I thought I'd share.

First of all, did everyone else already know that Diamond Bookshelf listed the top-selling Manga and other Graphic Novels every month? And here I was, thinking you needed to subscribe to ITV2.

But more importantly, look what's at Bookslut! An interview with Robin Brenner! About her new book Understanding Manga! So good, it's sure to make you love Manga more than penguins and giant robots, plus you'll get answers to questions like "Should manga get more of a free pass for gratuitous violence and sexism?"

Then there's the "17 Sensational, Free and Downloadable Graphic Novels" over at Daily Bits. These aren't graphic novels that are only available online, but rather novels that are also delivered in formats ranging from books to Sony Playstation Portables. What I'm saying is, you can get a sneak preview of stuff you might also be interested in collecting. Personally, I recommend Fables.

The Excelsior File reviewed some TOON offerings: graphic novles for early readers. My favorite year-end-best-of-thingy is a tie between the one at Warren Peace and the one at Popcultureshock (my fave category: "best use of animals"). Percocious Curmudgeon has a list of the most fun graphic novels (lots of stuff for kiddies), and Comics and More has a list of the worst.

HTSMC Step 3: How about a little friendly competition?

I just couldn't leave that depressing post at the top of my page. So here are links to a brilliant way to teach Go using a 9X9 board instead of the whole 19X19 spread. For those who don't know, Go is a Japanese board game that's featured in the Manga and Anime series Hikaru No Go, which is surprisingly entertaining for a series about a 6th grader learning to play a board game.

If you have kids that like chess and kids that like Manga, this might be the perfect program. There are instructions for the capturing game on the Hikaru No Go DVD, but you can also find them here, here, and here. Making your own Go boards is quite a project. Or you could just make little 9X9 boards with markers and cardboard. Or buy the real thing. Want to beat the kids? Practice online. I'm going to try running a Go program over Christmas break ...

HTSMC Step 2: Consult Drawing Books

I always hate it when people do all those one-word sentences like: Best. Idea. Ever. But I can think of only one way to describe Shojo Beat's Manga Artist Academy: Best. Manga. Drawing Book. Ever.


But I'm a little insecure, because I don't know if I should put a period between Drawing and Book.

Two things make this book different from the 1-2-3-learn-to-draw variety: First of all, it's written in Manga format. It reads right to left and follows a little panda through the adventure of creating a marketable Manga. It includes advice like this: "Love is the magical essence that eventually glues your audience to your work!" But it also gets into the nitty gritty of proportion, perspective, etc.

Second, it tells you how to develop your craft rather than how to draw a particular character by putting lines here, here, and here.

And that's why this book is my new secret Manga club cookbook. Today we started with the first piece of advice: "It's always good to have a role model in the beginning." In other words, copy the masters! So I photocopied a page of Manga and cut it into pieces, and I gave each kid a piece of the picture. Then I had them draw their piece at about four times the original size. We put all their pieces together and it looked ... pretty bad.

But what I like about projects like this is the element of tension: What is this actually a picture of? Will my piece fit with everyone else's? Will everyone laugh at me?

Actually, I always participate in these activities, so if anything gets laughed at, it's definitely my feeble efforts.

How to Start a Manga Club Step 1: Buy Wired

HTSMC. Hmmmm. Shall we pronounce it "Hot Smack"? The series should really be called How to Start a Manga Club When You're Not Even Sure How to Pronounce it. (All the cool people seem to be saying "MAHN-ga" instead of "MAYNE-ga.")

To be more clear: I knew almost nothing about Manga until a few weeks ago, and now I'm running a club at my library, and since I'm not the only person asking the question, "What do you actually do at a Manga club?" I thought I'd answer the question by sharing what I'm doing.

First of all, I'm buying this month's issue of Wired. Actually, I already did that last night. Yes! I can check step 1 off my list! This month's issue has a history of Manga written in Manga format. It also has an article on the boom of fan fiction-type Manga (also known as copyright in fringement, right?).

I used the dojinshi article to spawn a short discussion about copying and copyright at our Manga club meeting yesterday. Like I said, the discussion was short. Very short. But they were busy with their drawings, so I comfort myself.

I also gave them some dialogue from the first volume of Samurai Champloo (more on this particular series soon) and told them to imagine what was happening and then draw it. When they had finished, we compared one another's interpretations and then looked at the original. This was supposed to demonstrate something about the interdependence between words and images in comics. Only I never really explained that. We just had fun. Here's the dialogue:

Hey man, your hand!
Hand? My hand!
One dumpling for one hand.
At these prices, I'll never get full.

Related: Quill and Quire compares the Japanese publishing industry's compromise with dojinshi (amature Manga) to DC Comic's online agenda. (via Mangablog.)