I recently read through Dramacon, a graphic novel drawn in manga style by Russian/Canadian artist Svetlana Chmakova. The series centers around the relationship between a small-time comic artist and an enigmatic boy, all played out over the course of nine days in the span of three years, taking place exclusively at an anime convention. I was impressed by this work, which features clean, detailed art, solid writing, and an engrossing narrative that’s believable. The author does tend to use some lines that might have sounded clever written down, the kind of modern mock-proper exposition that’s funny nowadays because it goes against the holocaust of language which occurs every second on “teh intrnets,” but seem unlikely to come out of someone’s mouth on the spur of the moment. Outside of this snooty knick-pick, Dramacon is a very good work.

It’s not just about the romance, however. While I really wish Chmakova had flirted with copyright infringement and included more genuine anime, manga, and cultural references, some of the realities of the anime con beast are on display in its cage constructed of panels. Aspects of the manga-style Western comic industry are also featured, including the trials of getting recognition and truly going professional. There are also other commentaries, such as the acceptance of the Western (particularly American) anime culture by the mainstream, tucked away in these pages, providing some enlighten insight into a culture many don’t even know exists.

While it was only a single, small plot element, there was a commentary on what constitutes manga. A couple of kids go up to the main character’s table, which was being run by the artist who drew the comic they were selling, and the lone boy in the group, far young to be a jaded old fart like me, points out the what they’re selling isn’t manga because the creators aren’t Japanese. He’s later put in his place by a prominent manga-style artist who explains we don’t have this argument about whether or not non-Italian pizza should be called pizza, so why should the same rules be applied to manga? The dissenting boy was still not convinced, but was literally pulled from the argument by his angry mother after he pointed out not only was the comic in question not manga, but the artist wasn’t even white.

I’d love to discuss that last part more, but the explanation is pretty simple: most American anime fans are white. Cons are typically a whitewash, though black fans are not at all unusual, though the typical image of the nerd is conjured as a white male. This is a stereotype that is mostly true, save for the vast amounts of girls who attend cons. I wouldn’t be surprised if female attendees outnumbered the males. The males, however, win out on the odor production demographic by far; a single strong member of this group can produce odors equivalent to what 67% of the combined attending females could ever hope to muster.

Having never been a part of anything that remotely looks like manga (I guess Bug looks similar to pre-historical Japanese cave paintings), I can’t imagine how many times Western comic creators who do their work in a “manga-style” get the “it’s not manga” line. I imagine it must be exasperating and belittling, even though some would say it’s true, including myself.

Before I go on, what is your definition of “manga?”

Did you say manga means Japanese comics? Did you go more in-depth, adding “Japanese comics written by Japanese for a Japanese audience? What a cultural bigot!

No, just kidding. This is my line of thinking. Americans make entertainment for Americans everyday without consideration for foreign markets, and the world keeps spinning. Every country makes entertainment for their own people. No one knows a culture more than someone immersed in it, and that’s one of the reasons entertainment works so well for specific areas. Of course, many people crave foreign tastes, and for fans like myself, that’s why anime and manga are so appealing.

I should interject that I’m well aware that when it comes to animation, both Japanese and American, a bulk of the work is shipped off to Korea or China to save money. This muddles the debate somewhat, so it would be best to clarify the difference between a production being created and manufactured. Whatever culture devised and built the idea owns the credit for it, even if they send parts of it off to get assembled elsewhere. In-between animators do not get creative freedom in the process, they’re basically human computers tasked with spitting out frames of animation that are consistent with the art of the key animation frames.

If you didn’t understand any of that, think of the creator as the designer of the product and the in-betweeners as the factory. You wouldn’t give credit to the factory workers for creating the idea. They just put the pieces together as they’re instructed.

Other people believe defining manga is like trying to define art. These are the people who don’t want to get into the argument and will agree that a chair taken out of the dumpster COULD be art when most of us would call it trash (this has really happened. Read some Dave Barry).

Then there are the people who say manga is a style of comic that can be drawn by anyone and for any audience. They’re typically drawn to bare some resemblance to the stereotypical characteristics of manga and anime: big eyes, small mouth, and exaggerated expressions. The problem I have with these key descriptors is that could describe a picture of a smiley face that looks nothing like something out of Japan. There are many subtle stereotypical characteristics of anime and manga that Western fans try to emulate, but try as the might, it will never truly be the same.

There’s no scientific formula for “anime-style” or “manga-style” artwork. There are a number of productions that come out of Japan that look nothing like the appearance we prescribed to it, and yet these are genuine anime and manga productions. Because there are no rules, the best Western creators can hope to do is create something that reminds the audience of anime and manga in a superficial way, but it’s not true, authentic Japanese pop culture, so it does not meet the definition.

Why is this such a horrible thing? Why do Western comics have to be inferior to their Japanese counterparts? It’s easy to tell based on the sheer number of quality, well-crafted anime and manga that the Japanese tolerate, if not approve of comics and animation as a serious artwork and not just disposable children’s entertainment.

Over here, comics and animation are generally looked down upon as inferior, barely art if it should be considered as such, best left as throwaway distractions and marketing tools to be inflicted on children. Sure, some works have broken into the mainstream with great success and are respected as legitimate art, but these are exceptions to the rule. At the end of the day, comic book fandom is looked at as a haven of pimply-faced nerds. Why can’t we accept out own artists? Have we given up on them as a group and look towards another culture for artistic substance when plenty exists right here?

There are some amazing works of all kinds coming out of Western culture all the time in both of these areas by dedicated and talented people, and yet the mainstream, and even their peers, disassociate themselves with these folks. Instead, our “manga-style” artists are trying to hang out with the “cool” crowd, hoping desperately to be the thing they love so much. Manga is very much the Western “manga-style” artist’s Zalem.

Yet this is not possible, and there’s nothing wrong with this. I would rather see a Western artist draw in their own unique style rather than follow some non-existent guidelines.

South Korea is a famous producer of “anime/manga-style” works, and yet those in the know refer to these “manhwa,” a typical reference to Korean “manga.” While the styles may be similar to the clichéd “anime/manga-style” a quick glance will reveal Korean names, locales, and customs, because manhwa are created by Koreans, for Koreans.

The profit in being labeled a “manga” is mostly personal and has little to do with talent. I’m not saying predisposed beliefs aren’t part of the equation, but labeling your work something that it isn’t betrays a level of trust between the artists and the art, not to mention between the artist and the audience.

For example, I will blind buy cheap manga by the dozens, because I like to immerse myself in as many titles as I can. A good percentage of these books sold as manga are actually manhwa, and some are Western in origin. While I do enjoy some of these, it irks me that they’re not distinguished from the works from the culture of my preference, but that’s what I get for buying at random. I prefer to purchase manga because it fits a cultural expression I have an affinity for, and when I receive something that attempts to imitate that, I can easily tell the difference and become cynical towards it. Close, but no hamaki.

I will admit I’m a jaded old nerd who personally feels manhwa and Western comics are inferior in spirit to manga. This is some old elitist sentiment that dies hard and is simply an opinion that doesn’t create a reality. While I might personally believe this, it doesn’t mean manhwa and Western comics truly are inferior, but it does provide a reference point to the thinking of the non-Japanese manga hopefuls.

It might seem like slapping a manga label on a manhwa or comic would be the best way to market a manga-esque book to stubborn fans like me (I dare not say “trick us into buying”), but it doesn’t change the sentiment towards the content regardless of what the creator believes it to be. It’s like painting an orange red and telling everyone it’s an apple.

This is not to say I would outright refuse a recommended manhwa or Western comic. I purchased Dramacon knowing it was Western because I heard of it. And it was a very good Western comic. It was not a manga, though this should not matter.

This entire issue might seem culturally intolerant and repressive towards artists, but let’s look at the facts presented. Manga, as we’ve determined, is still a slippery definition. For some, its Japanese comics made for Japanese audiences by Japanese people. For me, my interest in them stems from the unique cultural aspects infused within the pages, nuisances which draw me instructively to manga and anime. I don’t have the same instinctive draw to manhwa or Western comics, but that doesn’t mean I don’t read and enjoy them. I just do so in a different way, and attaching a false label makes me think less of them because the content comes from the mind of a different culture.

I don’t care for most American super hero comic books. I find them trite exercises in fanboyism. While it may seem like I’m proving the point of wannabe Western manga artists who want to distance themselves from the comic books I don’t like and attach themselves to the manga I love to get me to read their books, I’m very candid when I say I respect the people who create super hero comics and the fans for supporting them. Just because I don’t care for the genre as a whole doesn’t mean it’s bad. If a super hero book interested me, I would read it. I just don’t have the passion for them that I do anime and manga. When I want to read a manga, I want to read a Japanese comic. When I want to read a Western comic, that’s what I want to read.

If anything, distancing yourself from your own culture and inserting yourself in another seems more disrespectful than acknowledging the intricacies of another. For Western “manga-style” to displace themselves from the people who create these works is a disservice to the creative minds of their culture, especially when they’re doing the same thing. They’re creating comics from their cultural perspective for an audience that consists of people of their culture. It doesn’t matter if the target audience is Western manga fans, its still not manga because it’s lacking the Japanese perspective.

Based on the dialog in the book, I can conclude Chmakova believes Dramacon is a manga. She identifies herself on her website as “a fledgling North-American equivalent of a manga-ka,” so it would seem she’s not delusional enough to think she is a manga-ka (manga creator). Why not say she’s a comic book artist and leave it at that? Because that distances herself from the real manga-ka, the group she wants to be associated with among the fans.

Dramacon is a story about an American artist participating in an American anime convention, a cultural event unique to America (and nothing like Japanese conventions), and writing about situations that are much more likely to happen to someone immersed in the American anime culture than a Japanese anime and manga fan. I enjoyed this book in part because it was a look at the American anime convention culture from a creator who has immersed herself in it.

In the case of Chmakova, it would be very easy to point out she was originally from Russia and moved to Canada when she was sixteen, so she should not be able to write about the culture of an American anime convention as well as she did. This is a valid point, but we have to take into consideration she lived in a Western culture and moved to another Western culture that’s very similar to American culture when she was still young. Whatever mark of American culture was tattooed on her in Russia would have been expanded to a nearly covering her body when she moved in next door.

Chmakova doesn’t mention when she first started going to anime conventions, but considering the current culture only started developing within the last ten years, no one has had life-long experiences in it (unless they are children, and then they would require therapy). The anime con culture has a tendency to burrow its way into your chest and deposit its spawn, which will burst out of you and slither off unless you get treatment. There aren’t any real subtleties to it; it’s far too easy to get completely taken over by it and become native. It does help a lot if you’re instilled with Western sensibilities. Those who aren’t can still have a good time, but they are but tourists on the safari of the anime convention savannah.

But you have to be living it to get it as Chmakova seems to have as displayed in her work. I would never believe she never attended an American anime convention based on how well she depicts one in her book.

This is something that would be almost impossible for a Japanese born and raised manga artist to create because they lack the cultural experience. Sure, they could come over and live in American for a while and go native, but I get the feeling it still wouldn’t be the same because the cultures are different in key areas. I imagine this applies to a Westerner who would do the same thing. Upbringing and culture help define you, and that’s why manga, manhwa, and Western comics are special in their own way.

I wouldn’t have enjoyed Dramacon in the same way if it were created by a person who didn’t really get the American anime culture. Chmakova pulls this off because she’s been immersed in Western culture for her entire life and has been part of the American anime culture naturally since she became interested in it.

It’s not just Chmakova or authors like her. Companies like Tokyopop market manhwa or Western “manga-style” comics basically the same way as their manga line to a point its hard to tell the difference at a glance. Sure, if you look at the book and note things like creator credits or the way the pages are read (Japanese is read from right to left), its pretty easy to figure things out, but why not market these books in a more honest way?

Because there’s a fear these works will be rejected by manga fans and would be left without an audience, so best to lure one in under false pretenses and let them figure it out for themselves once the book is in hand. From a marketing standpoint, it’s brilliant and can help people discover books they might not have read before, but artistically, it’s almost insulting. Why not format some X-Men comic books to look like manga and cram them in there too? Crap, now I gave Marvel an idea they’ll pounce on.

I conclude by asking again: what is manga? I doubt there will ever be an overwhelming consensus on it. I think we can agree that cultural background plays a bit role in our creative processes, and to deny this heritage would do a disservice to others who share similar roots. Westerners can attempt to create Eastern art, and many might be damn well good at it, but that doesn’t change the fact it did not originate from the East. Western art is no inherently inferior to Eastern. Talent comes from all over the world, and it’s respectful to acknowledge the origins of that art. Lying about where art comes from not only insults artist and their background, it shows a lack of trust towards the viewer, expecting they will shun it outright for not conforming to their cultural standards despite its qualities. With this animosity, how can the artwork ever truly be appreciated for what it is?