Morning Report #15 ~ MIMC’d - Part Uno

So yeah, Kodansha announced the winner of the second Morning International Manga Competition (MIMC) last month. But weren’t you wondering Shimada-san and Morning were looking for in a winner? What does it take to make an award winning comic? Well Morning and Kodansha have posted their final results with comments and translated manga for you all to enjoy and study.

Grand Prize Winner: Meng-Li Yu [Fairy Tale]

Runners-up:  Liu Ching-Lun [Joe’s Teeth] & Kathryn Chong [Puppet Eyes]

First of all, congrats to the winners! I got a chance to talk to the MIMC judges a few months back, and basically they had a hard time with this second round. Not only did the number of entries increase but they also found themselves with a high number of talented artists. That said they also had a hard time choosing from that crop because the writing level was not at the level of the previous round.

In Shimada’s notes, the Morning editor makes note of something that all the great manga minds acknowledge is the most important element to manga creation - the characters. Koike Kazuo at SDCC two years ago said all his manga start with a strong character. A great character will remain with readers no matter what the setting. A well developed character will dictate the tone of a story as s/he matures. A strong character will be accessible, entertaining, and ultimately human, making him easy to support and relatively easy to engage (even the smarmy ones have their charms). In a world of narrative, it might be hard to create a story based on characterization, but when looking at manga the best selling manga do exactly that.

• Ranma 1/2 basically has no plot, but Takahashi a student of Koike creates a long series of slice of life moments revolving around the two sides of teenage martial artist Saotome Ranma.
• Kenshiro’s journey through a post-apocalypse world in Fist of the North Star is a great example. Around all the action, the exploding heads and the scenes of forced slavery, is this huge man with a heart as huge as his fists are strong (and that’s very big).
• MPD Psycho’s lead character may have multiple personalities residing in his body, but in the end that character comprising of all those persona is what makes the series engaging, not the gruesome murders.

There is nothing wrong with creating a strong narrative. Ultimately that is what every good story should have. However, given the serialized format manga is usually presented through, characterizations and character development should be worked into the plot to create a story that not only draw in readers but keep them engaged for the duration of a series.

Sure the manga submitted to Morning are shorts, one shots and comic strips., so the format is completely different. Nevertheless, given proper direction a short could present a character that is equally as memorable as one from a series.

Liu’s comic Joe’s Teeth is extremely short. It hardly had any dialogue either. Yet through the narration and Liu’s subtle, and extremely simple layout, I was able to quickly figure out the motivation and personality of the young dental hygienist in the making. If I were to have followed Koike’s “characterization law of manga,” Liu’s comic would have been at the top. And by the way, it was also my favorite of the final three.

Now Shimada-san did not get involved with the MIMC just to find the next great mangaka. When I first interviewed the man last year in Tokyo, he shared with me a fact that I don’t think has really resonated with MIMC contestants. Kodansha has had foreign artists before. They had a series of them in Afternoon back in the 90’s. Many of these artists were extremely talented manga artists who fully captured the nuances and subtleties of Japanese comic layout and flow. But what he has been looking for since is the “krag ape of comics!” He is looking for someone who can crank out a work that will take the entire world by storm, re-inventing history and possibly even evolution in the process. “It would be like something out of a battle manga,” he said (and actually his example comes from Baki the Grappler ironically written by another Koike student, Itagaki Keisuke).

Shimada-san wants to be challenged by the world of comics. He wants to see a great super-hero title that could challenge the great heroes of Shounen Jump. He would like to see a BD that could be appreciated by manga critiques like the ones made by Taniguchi… I think Fairy Tale is a comic that threatened Shimada-san a bit. Personally, I felt the story was a little heavy-handed for how simple the premise was. However, as Shimada-san noted, Yu’s art, and most notably the color, is quite striking. This is a comic that combines artistic direction with a narrative in a way that is engaging and ultimately satisfying. I’ll agree the layout is a bit crowded, but with a little more experience (and a good editor) Yu could be a great comic artist, or a talented cartoonist.

So in the end what does Kodansha want for the next MIMC? One judge said they are looking a comic that does not look like a manga but reads like a manga… Huh? Wait, let me translate that… That want a comic, a good comic! And while it would be nice to have a comic that has “manga designs,” it would be great if the manga elements came from the story side and the actual presentation of the comic.

• Make sure your comic is easy to read and understand. Don’t pack too much into each page, because you could lose the impact of those panels. Don’t overdo the panel layout either. A simple grid could help get your message across if you are dialogue heavy; while subtle cuts and shifts can be used to denote transitions and change of perspective and mood.
• Focus on your main character and characterization as much as possible, and if possible don’t pack your comic with a cast of hundreds. It’s great to have a series of vignettes like the movie Slackers, where an ensemble cast weaves in and out of frame throughout the 105mins of Linklater’s indie flick, but unless your point is clear you’ll have a hard time engaging your reader properly (and in a contest connecting with the judges is key).
• Finally don’t try too hard. Do what comes naturally to you and unless you really have to stick with your strong points. Sadly I know of too many artists that are trying too hard to be “manga” when they are already great comic artists. Show Kodansha what you’ve got and if things work out, you’ll get a chance to be in a manga (magazine… whether it would be Morning Two or Mandala).

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at a mangaka that challenged Kodansha, and is leading a revolt with his Japanese comics.