[Rachel Thorn]

Hi. My name's Matt Thorn, and I teach in the Faculty of Manga at Kyoto Seika University. I found Comic Book + while searching for scanned Golden Age comics to show my Japanese students in my lectures on the history of American comics.

I was a fan of Marvel comics (particularly the Hulk and the Fantastic Four) as a child in the 1970s, "grew out of comics" in junior high school, became hooked on shōjo manga (Japanese comics by women for girls and women) as an exchange student in the late eighties, and "rediscovered" American comics when I found myself assigned to teach about them in 2000.

I don't know if it's a factor of age or personality, but it seems I'm interested mostly in the history of both manga and comics, and am particularly interested in material published in the thirties, forties, and fifties. At the moment, I am trying to learn all I can about Golden Age crime and horror comics.

Since I'm interested in gender, I'm always looking for romance comics or comics created for girls that are worth reading, either because they are hilarious from a modern viewpoint, or are simply well executed. Naturally, I'm a fan of Stanley's Little Lulu.

I would appreciate any recommendations!

I also translate manga. Recent projects include Inio Asano's Nijigahara Holograph, Moto Hagio's The Heart of Thomas (nominated for an Eisner this year), and Takako Shimura's Wandering Son (nominated for an Eisner a couple years back).

[mr_goldenage]

Well you are very welcome here and we would love to know about japanese comics from the 1920's forward. Any idea's? Thank you in advance.

Mr_Goldenage

[paw broon]

Hi Matt and welcome to CB+. 
You mention an interest in girls' comics, so you might want to have a look at the UK Comics section where there are examples of Girls Crystal, School Friend and a Silent Three collection.  And in the Story paper section we have Girls Crystal before it became a comic and School Friend etc.
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2623
I think you might be entertained, at the least.

As someone who said for many years that I couldn't stand manga, I have recently changed my opinion. There seem to be some excellent books and I'm currently reading The Floating Classroom, Uzumaki and Death Note, but as I can't read Japanese, I have to stick to the translations.  But how do I find out what else is available?  It's not easy.

[Rachel Thorn]

Well you are very welcome here and we would love to know about japanese comics from the 1920's forward. Any idea's? Thank you in advance.

Mr_Goldenage

Well, there's not much available in English on the subject, although Ryan Holmberg has been writing about old manga, including some prewar manga, over at The Comics Journal (http://www.tcj.com/author/ryan-holmberg/). He does great work, but I've told him I get the impression he is always looking for an American influence, even when the evidence is slim. Maybe someday I'll get around to writing a book in English on the subject.

As for uploading stuff, unfortunately Japan never had a window in which a lot of material became public domain the way America did. Very few manga are in the public domain, although that will begin to change in ten years or so, as more and more early artists fall into the "dead longer than fifty years" category.

[Rachel Thorn]

Hi Matt and welcome to CB+. 
You mention an interest in girls' comics, so you might want to have a look at the UK Comics section where there are examples of Girls Crystal, School Friend and a Silent Three collection.  And in the Story paper section we have Girls Crystal before it became a comic and School Friend etc.
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2623
I think you might be entertained, at the least.

Wonderful! Thanks for this information. I will check it out.

As someone who said for many years that I couldn't stand manga, I have recently changed my opinion. There seem to be some excellent books and I'm currently reading The Floating Classroom, Uzumaki and Death Note, but as I can't read Japanese, I have to stick to the translations.  But how do I find out what else is available?  It's not easy.

I understand. Most of what gets translated is targeted at the "otaku" market, which has, shall we say, specific tastes. They are the Japanese equivalent of folks who won't read anything that doesn't feature superheroes in tights. But if you like the books you mentioned, you are almost sure to like Asano's Nijigahara Holograph, which was published earlier this year (and translated by me). If you Google "new manga releases English," you can find plenty of stuff, but, as with American comics, you have to sort through a lot of pap to find stuff you might like. But also as with American comics, you quickly learn visual clues (drawing style, cover design) that make the sorting process go more quickly.

[narfstar]

Welcome to the site Matt. I suggest you read Thirteen in the Dell section. Even when I young and did not appreciate this type of book I still liked Thirteen. While we do not carry it here, Little Orphan Annie was very good.

[Rachel Thorn]

Welcome to the site Matt. I suggest you read Thirteen in the Dell section. Even when I young and did not appreciate this type of book I still liked Thirteen. While we do not carry it here, Little Orphan Annie was very good.

Wow! I'm embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of this book. I was surprised at how solid the writing was for an early-sixties low-teen book. Then I Googled the title and the mystery was loved. John Stanley! Thanks for introducing me to this. I'm looking forward to reading the rest!

[narfstar]

If you are a John Stanley fan, and who isn't, then you need to read Dunc and Loo
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2503

[Rachel Thorn]

If you are a John Stanley fan, and who isn't, then you need to read Dunc and Loo
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2503

Fun stuff. Thanks again!

[Rachel Thorn]

While I have a bit of attention here, I'd appreciate if some of you could take a look at my question about horror comics, which seems to have gone largely unnoticed. I'm looking for short (6-8 pages, no longer than 16 pages) horror stories in comic book form to have my English students read next semester. I'm looking for Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age stories. Thanks!

https://comicbookplus.com/forum/index.php/topic,9101.msg54992.html#msg54992

[narfstar]

The horror field is wide open. It depends on what you want. ACE books are less graphic than stuff from Comic Media. The best thing to do with horror is to check out the titles from each company and choose your preference.