Info Manga

In Japan, people of all ages read manga. The genre includes a broad range of subjects: action-adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, horror, sexuality, and business/commerce, among others.^[4] Since the 1950s, manga have steadily become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry,^[5] representing a 406 billion yen market in Japan in 2007 (approximately $3.6 billion). Manga have also become increasingly^[vague] popular worldwide.^[6] In 2008, the U.S. and Canadian manga market was $175 million. Manga are typically printed in black-and-white,^[7]although some full-color manga exist (e.g. Colorful). In Japan, manga are usually serialized in telephone book-size^[vague] manga magazines, often containing many stories, each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next issue. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished inpaperback books called tankōbon.^[8] A manga artist (mangaka in Japanese) typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company.^[2] If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run,^[9]although sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-action or animated films^[10](e.g. Star Wars).

The Japanese word manga, literally translated, means "whimsical pictures". The word first came into common usage in the late 18th century with the publication of such works as Santō Kyōden's picturebookShiji no yukikai (1798), and in the early 19th century with such works as Aikawa Minwa's Manga hyakujo(1814) and the celebrated Hokusai Manga books (1814–1878) containing assorted drawings from the sketchbooks of the famous ukiyo-e artist Hokusai.^[14] Rakuten Kitazawa (1876–1955) first used the word "manga" in the modern sense.^[15]