Comic/Manga Discussion Thread [Literalness]

[ClockHand]

This is the comic/manga thread of MT, in here we are not going to discuss the newest comic/manga (lets just say comic), what is happening in our favorite comics or what comic would you recommend to others. In here we are going to discuss the technical, methodological and theoretic aspects of making a comic; we are going to discuss why manga's read from right to left, or what is the most important technical aspect in a comic and many other interesting subjects (at least for the people who want to make comics).

Let's pull the first subject of discussion, should we read comics from left to right or from right to left?

Let's begin this shit!!!

[Hayashida]

Uh well in the west we read left to right because that's how our language is written out. In Japan it's written the opposite, right to left, so naturally their books would read that way as well. When they're translated it would be pointless to try and move the panels so they'd be read from left to right anyway.

[GunZet]

That first subject really depends on the reading format of a culture, or the one you're trying to emulate.

[Bacon_Barbarian]

Depends on the language the comic was originally written in. So pretty much what Hayashida is saying.

[ClockHand]

I agree, the origin was because their culture made the format, but also think about it: when you read from right to left, you are using your right side of the brain, which is the sensitive, creative and philosophic one and the best to process images in a sensitive way. I never thought about this until I watch a interview of a comic guru from here who explained this.

Think about it, when you read from right to left you are traveling for each panel in a different way than when you read them from left to right, your brain process images in a different way and so the dialogues. As using the right side you are more sensitive, you get subliminal messages way faster and you can be more controlled by certain patterns. Example: Blame!, do you think you would have the same feeling in Blame! if you read it from left to right? I don't think so, because the sequence its made to attack your sensibility, the images and so the continuity.

So now what? Of course if we stay in the idea that "its just cultural" we are not going to discuss anything, but if we think about it, we read (our brain reads) in a completely different way a comic than a manga.

[Black_Shaggie]

Yeah, I'd have to agree with everyone else. Besides, if the work is good (and properly translated) the reader more than likely won't even notice which direction they're reading because the art should convey more of story than what's in the word bubbles in my opinon. Not to say that the script isn't an important element. But anyone who calls themselves a comic/ manga artist should at least know how to tell a story with images & not have to rely so much on dialouge to tell they story. If the artist can do this, then it really doesn't matter which direction the comic/manga is read in because the images move the story more than the dialouge and the reader would more than likely forget that they're reading from right to left or left to right because they've become engrossed into the story itself.

[ram]

I have my manga from right to left, Well I guess it's just more fun that way, I don't know about it but I guess I just prefer reading manga from right to left rather than left to right somehow.

So I chosen right to left, Well I guess it doesn't really matter cause I did made it in mangastudio where it's easy to move the pannels.

people should just pay attention of how the story goes from each pannel as such.


you can't make a scene like the top one where it's read from left to right, it'll be confusing, It's not just the words that being read inside the comic/manga, it's the whole page that's being read so it's not really important if your a japanese or an american, If you can't make a good scene by scene pannel using left to right why would you stick with it?

on another note, shouldn't this thread belong to somewhere else

[Hayashida]

when you read from right to left, you are using your right side of the brain, which is the sensitive, creative and philosophic one and the best to process images in a sensitive way.

Can you cite a source for this information

[ClockHand]

I can gave his "name", I have tried to find the interview on the internet but I have no luck at the moment (I will keep searching because the guy blew my mind with the stuffs he said).

It's named Doctor Zombie (for real, is his artistic name).

ram@ No, this is for real discussions, so I prefer it here.

Also, about page composition, don't jump to it so fast I want to left that for later (we can't jump to there if we don't see the different points in this part).

[Hayashida]

Well that's all well and good, but what I want to know is where he got that information from. Whether it was proved scientifically or not.