Presenter: Grace Shum
Faculty Mentor: Elizabeth Wheeler, Akiko Walley
Presentation Type: Oral
Primary Research Area: Humanities
Major: English, Digital Arts, Advertising
Manga, the Japanese comic form has a style distinct from that of American superhero comics, European comics, and more. But how did manga form stylistically? I am exploring the answer to this question visually. By examining the evolution of Japanese narrative comic form, beginning from narrative picture scrolls to present day dojinshi fan art, I look to examine the basic construct of comics – the panel – to contemplate the evolution of manga today. Of course, since manga is a visual form, what better way to explain its evolution but through a comic itself? The end goal of my ongoing creative thesis is to have a comic book that tells a story itself, one that reflects the panel evolution in Japanese manga. Comics have only recently been taken seriously as a subject of academia and manga is a huge, as yet not widely touched, section of comic history. In this way, my own narrative will endeavor to illustrate how manga’s evolution is really a narrative itself and how distinct this comic form is from its global counterparts due to its heritage, cultural nuances, geographical and political isolation in the past, and language.