The president of DC Comics has revealed what Japanese manga and anime do better than Western comics, noting how comics have a lot to learn from their overseas counterparts.
In an interview published on January 26 by Nikkei XTrend, DC president and chief creative officer Jim Lee reflected on why manga continues to resonate with a broader audience, while American comics remain heavily centered around superheroes.
Lee believes that Western comics should view manga as a learning opportunity rather than a rivalry, suggesting that their success highlights longstanding limitations in American comics.
DC Comics boss says manga has edge over US comics
Speaking about Japanese manga and anime, Lee said the stories coming out of Japan are “incredibly powerful,” adding that he often finds himself wondering “what is missing in Western comics, and why aren’t they able to achieve the same flavor.”
He pointed to the genre concentration of American comics as a key disadvantage, explaining that manga has “an advantage over American comics, which are mostly about superheroes, and that’s where the majority of sales and readers are concentrated.”
Lee contrasted that with Japan’s approach, where manga is treated like mainstream literature and encompasses a wide variety of genres.
“It’s not just hero stories. There’s a much wider range of genres, like stories about cooking and soccer. You can draw stories from that. So, I’m very happy that the manga has been so successful, because it gives me a goal to aim for,” he said.
Lee also mentioned that there are some things American comics can learn from manga, noting that it’s not just down to art style.
“The manga market is bigger than our industry, so the question becomes, ‘What can we learn from this?’…It’s not just a matter of art style, but a ‘sensibility’ that’s involved. The stories that are successful in Japan are very different from the stories that are successful in the West. What can we learn from that? I think this is a debate that will continue forever.”
Anime and manga have been enjoying a huge boom, with films like Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc breaking major sales records in the US. These milestones also come off the back of the Japanese government’s plans to expand the country’s entertainment market overseas to 20 trillion yen by 2033, roughly $130 billion USD.
