From: hades@coos.dartmouth.edu (Hades)
Newsgroups: news.groups
Subject: Re: RFD: rec.arts.manga
Keywords: YES manga
Date: 8 Apr 92 14:57:27 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

limkiong@vms2.iscs.nus.sg (Twas brillig, and the slithy toves...) writes:

>Brian V. Hughes mentioned that he wants to see reasons why manga should
>not be under rec.arts.comics. Following this discussion as an interested
>party, I would like to suggest that he re-reads some of the earlier posts.
>Anyway, some of the follow-ups may serve to clarify some of his concerns.
>He does seem to be the most vocal anti-r.a.m (or, rather, pro-r.a.c.m).

    Okay, so I have some free time at work currently, and I do have an
interest in this discussion, because I am a comic book collector.

>The arguments for manga to be on the same level of hierarchy (sp?) as
>comics is because :

    This is one of the probelms that I have right here. I'm not talking
about hierarchical levels as having any intrinsic value other then
organizational. 

>(1) r.a.c discusses US comics

    So. I'm not talking about making the manga group part of the current
r.a.c group. I want to see a separate manga group, that is part of the
comics discussion hierarchy.

>(2) the proposed r.a.m is for discussion of Japanese manga

    This is obvious. If the group were named r.a.c.m it would still be
about Japanese manga.

>(3) both are comics, yes. But to have r.a.c.m would be suggesting that
>    manga is a subset of US comics.

    No it wouldn't. I'm not suggesting anything of the sort. There is no
reason to even think that manga is a subset of US comics. There is
nothing in the charter of rec.arts.comics that says it is only for US
comics. If that were the case then books like Cerebus (which is
Canadian), and whole host of European (mostly British) comics wouldn't
be talked about, and they are.

>    This may be true for translated mangas, but is certainly not true for
>    manga as a whole. The group will be discussing manga in its native
>    language, and perhaps in other languages as well.

    So. I say this is a good thing. And I don't see what it has to do
with the name of the group.

>As to Mr Hughes' suggestion as to some of the arguments being confused
>with respect to r.a.m or r.a.c.m, I would like to add :

>(1) r.a.c.manga is appropriate if there is a r.a.c.us

    Well, I would like to see a better split of r.a.comics other than a
.us group. Manga is a style of doing comics, used mostly by the
Japanese, it's akin to classifying X-Men or Superman as super-hero
comics. It's more of a sub-genre. There is no reason to want r.a.c.us
because US comics aren't the only ones discussed.

>(2) In the absence of such a group, r.a.manga is more appropriate

    Why?

>(3) It is unlikely (and undesirable) to have a r.a.c.us newsgroup

    Yes this is true. But there are other appropriate splits for r.a.c,
none of which will I go into here, that could work quite well with a
manga group as part of the hierarchy.

>Hence r.a.manga is more appropriate.

    Not from where I sit.

>Am I correct in assuming that Mr Hughes is not a manga fan(atic)? I'm
>not suggesting that manga fans are superior, but that if he has been
>exposed to more mangas, he might better appreciate the wish of current
>alt.manga readers for a group rec.arts.manga.

    You are correct in your assumption about my exposure to Manga. I
have only seen a small amount, and the only ones I have read where
translations. But I did like the style quite a bit. It is very different
from any Marvel or DC comic book, but no so different from some of the
more independant books on the market. As for the superiority of manga
fans to regualr comic book fans, that is as bad as thinking that
r.a.c.manga makes manga a subset of US comics.

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