Alot of manga is straight up autistic passion projects that can only really happen in an environment where getting published is comparatively 'easy' to happen.
Keep in mind, damn near every manga gets it's start in these huge, phone-book-sized, cheap-as-fuck compilations. Entrance cost is stupidly low, and the Japanese publishers have access to all the metrics, so if something isn't doing well, it gets the boot. It's a type of 'fail fast, fail often' environment with a large amount of churn that also produces a fair bit of gold.
There's nothing really like in America. American comic book 'people' nowadays are straight up activists operating in a nepotistic environment and are immune to most market forces.
I’ve collected comics since childhood and I remember this passive push for women in comics and I was so confused as to why they were so obsessed with women in comics or just catering to markets that do t generally like comics or how the kept pushing gay characters that flopped. But now I only buy older comics from marvel and dc. I will buy some undies like Alterna, Eric July’s comics, and I plan on getting what Razorfist is making
This is the real answer. Modern publishing acts as gatekeepers desite having a terrible track record as tastemakers. They publish not what people want, but what they think people should want.
Alot of manga is straight up autistic passion projects that can only really happen in an environment where getting published is comparatively 'easy' to happen.
Keep in mind, damn near every manga gets it's start in these huge, phone-book-sized, cheap-as-fuck compilations. Entrance cost is stupidly low, and the Japanese publishers have access to all the metrics, so if something isn't doing well, it gets the boot. It's a type of 'fail fast, fail often' environment with a large amount of churn that also produces a fair bit of gold.
There's nothing really like in America. American comic book 'people' nowadays are straight up activists operating in a nepotistic environment and are immune to most market forces.
The American market used to he open like that in the 1970s. But this is the post modern era sadly.
I’ve collected comics since childhood and I remember this passive push for women in comics and I was so confused as to why they were so obsessed with women in comics or just catering to markets that do t generally like comics or how the kept pushing gay characters that flopped. But now I only buy older comics from marvel and dc. I will buy some undies like Alterna, Eric July’s comics, and I plan on getting what Razorfist is making
This is the real answer. Modern publishing acts as gatekeepers desite having a terrible track record as tastemakers. They publish not what people want, but what they think people should want.