Jiberty Maniac

The big controversy that seems to be going on right now with the comic industry seems to be the OEL mangas put out by Tokyopop in an attempt to get more American artists out there. (Probably to save a little money as well.) Some people love it or some of them hate and a lot of people still don't know about it. Though, don't get me wrong, Tokyopo hasn't been the only one out there creating OEL manga

Whether you love it, hate it, or don't know about it yet, Tokyopop's, as well as other companies, are coming out with a lot more of them.

Here are some of the titles that are already out:

Peach Fuzz - By Lindsey Cibos and Jared Hodges
Megatokyo - Fred Gallagher
Sokora Refugees - Melissa DeJesus & Segamu
Steady Beat - Rivkah
The Dreaming - Queenie-chan
Roadsong - Allan Gross and Joanna Estep
MBQ - Felipe Smith
East Coast Rising - Becky Cloonan
Off Beat - Jen Quick
Sorcerers and Secretaries - Amy Kim Ganter
Dramaon - Svetlana Chmakova


Has anybody read any of them? If you have, did you like any of them? Why or why not? What do you think of the OEL Manga movement?

wanderer78

Some of these sound familiar. But I've never read them. I love Becky Cloonan, so I'll probably check hers out.

What does OEL stand for?

Jiberty Maniac

OEL stands for "Original English Language Manga"

I heard that Becky's was cute, though I haven't read it yet. I liked the premise for it though.

Out of some of them that have been released though, I've really enjoyed, The Dreaming, MBQ, and Off*Beat the most though. Many of the others are pretty weak considering that a lot of these people are still amateurs. (Listen to me talk like I'm a professional. lol)

I think that Sorcerers and Secretaries was the biggest disappointment for me since I was expecting good things from Ganter. She does Reman Mythologies which is on her site, Felaxx.com. I'm not too big of a fan of that one either, but this one looked interesting. It kinda seems like a wish fulfillment, but as the story develops, things aren't really making sense. It's seems like a more developed version of her Rising Stars of Manga Entry from Book 4 I think.

wanderer78

She did the art for a comic called Demo which I highly recommend. It's excellent.

I think we discussed Off Beat in the shonen ai/yaoi thread. I've looked at it in the bookstore.

Honestly, I don't have a problem with it. I'm all for anything that creates work for artists, personally.

Jiberty Maniac

]

I saw the art for Demo, which was beautiful beyond all belief. I'm not too sure if I liked the story though, which is probably why I never picked it up.

Off*Beat was REALLY good. I would love to see Jen Quick come out with the next book sometime in this lifetime though.

I also agree that it's a great opportunity for these artists. I don't understand why people are dogging them though, by calling them 'wannabe' mangas or labeling them as "hacks." I think it's really narrow-minded, ESPECIALLY when a lot of these people don't consider Megatokyo to be OEL Manga when it is.

wanderer78

At least give it a look. Some of the stories are better than others. But overall, they're really good.

Same here. I never understood the manga snobs. We're increasingly becoming a global society. And there's so much influence from everywhere. I mean, you can't convince me that something like "Cowboy Bebop" uses a 100% Japanese aesthetic. It's attitude/ideas seem really "American" to me (bounty hunters, jazz, cowboys, etc)