My Manga Story:

I was wandering around the book store looking to buy something for my eldest child. It was surprisingly difficult.  All could think of looking for was stuff I remembered from when I was a kid, but there had to something new since Dr. Seuss, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Judy Blume.  Somehow I had become hopelessly out of touch with pop culture and had no idea what people, specifically young people, were listening too, watching or reading (not to mention social media and technology). This really bothered me.  I used to be on top of these things especially when I was a journalism undergraduate working at a campus radio station.  Media was my life.   It became my mission to bring myself up to date and I had work to do. 

Thus I started a book reading binge.  I checked out the best sellers, starting in the Kid’s section: Judy Moody, Stink, Captain Underpants, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Then I moved to the Pre-teens: Percy Jackson and the Last Olympians, Septimus Heap, 39 Clues, Dear Dumb Diary.

Next came the Young Adult section: Twilight Saga, Vampire Diaries, Mortal Instruments, Eragon, Leviathan (plus many others, I kind of got hooked here).  Finally I came upon the Graphic Novel section.  I knew of the popularity of GNs, especially for boys and since I am the mother of one.  I looked at a few of them too: Bone, Amulet.  

Then I came to the Manga section.  All I knew about them was that they were Japanese comics, the ones that possessed the characters with the big eyes.   I had no idea how long they’ve had their own section in the bookstore or when they had become so mainstream.   What struck me first was the quantity.   I decided to get one...but which one? I stared at them bewildered.  If you have never read manga where do you start? (I know...from the back ; )) I narrowed the choices down by focusing on the Vol. 1 editions (I thought it was best start from the beginning), then it was a matter of which seemed interesting.

fan art by Cro

I choose Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist.  I don’t know if it was the storyline, the novel way of reading right to left and back to front, or the refreshing point of view from a cultural sense that grabbed me more but I was hooked and the rest, as they say, is history.   Thankfully the library has a good selection of manga, as I had (and still have) a lot of catching up to do and would be quite broke otherwise. 

My intention is to use this blog as a place to put what I discover regarding all forms of graphic novels and anime. For now my focus will be on material aimed at children and teens.  I hope to generate some discussion on different aspects such story lines, influence, graphics and other worthwhile discoveries.  So let the blog begin...