I personaly went through phases. I read comics from a young age, but stopped when got into animes/manga's.

Now I read a mix of both. But my preferance would now lean towards US comics. I feel the wrriting is often of a higher standards and more mature.

I have found that most people I know who are into manga's won't read any comics because it's not japanese.... The weeboo force is strong in the UK right now.

We should stop putting boundary around anime/comic/cartoon/manga. What are all those things have in common? enjoyment. It's created to let us enjoy it, and if you don't enjoy it then it isn't your cup of tea. That doesn't mean it sucks for everyone.

Seeing replies like Claire just make me facepalm. Just love what you want, and don't belittle other culture without giving them a chance.

Lol it makes you face-palm but think of it this way, 5 year old kid dresses up like batman. then 18 yr old dresses like batman its just awkward

Not talking about that, Talking about how close minded you can be sometimes. You refuse to like something cause you think it's dorky, That your choice but since you decided to voice it on the thread. I decided to voice my opinion about your opinion. I just find people who are able to express their love for something not caring about other people judging them. I find that very admirable then people who dislike something cause they care what the public may think of them.

Moving on, Anyone here like Justice league?

I disagree, one of my best friends dressed up as Batman last Halloween, We ran into the Joker at a bar and danced to gangnam style. Good times were had by all.

You know how to have fun. Props to you.

Incoming wall of text!


Marvel animation is typically dangerous waters. It's best to cherry-pick your shows from there while you can pretty much be guaranteed something good from DC. I can give recommendations over PM or in the thread for cartoons done about their superheroes if you want.


You want a western cartoon with a plot? It's actually not as hard to find as you think. There are a fair number of sequential series out there. I think you might do well to watch something like Samurai Jack or Avatar: The Last Airbender. A few superhero cartoons like the recent Green Lantern: The Animated Series have a more concrete, overarching story as well. The latter two are clearly made with the teenage demographic in mind, not children. I was actually surprised with all that they managed to get away with during GLTAS, especially considering the implications of Atrocitous being treated as a religious figure. Samurai Jack manages to get around censorship by substituting oil and alien bodily fluids for blood, so it manages to be surprisingly gruesome in places. It also has the aesthetics of, well, a samurai film. The animation in it is fantastic too.


Be very careful when getting into one of the Big Two. The big shared continuity they both have makes a lot of titles interrelated and it becomes difficult to read one book without picking up another. Their apparently twice-yearly events just make things even worse in that regard. If you want to save money and read comics, take some advice here: read a B or C-list character who doesn't have that much going on with major teams. Either that or section off a reasonably segregated portion of the Marvel universe, like the X-men or the cosmic stuff, and stick to that during a certain time period.

Independent and third-party books are a lot cheaper to read, really, and I've seen myself buying a lot more lately since neither Marvel or DC are offering me much in the way of things I'm interested in. You don't have to worry about tie-ins and -- get this -- the individual issues and trade paperbacks are substantially cheaper. I bought vol. 1 of Saga the other day for $10. A Doctor Strange trade of comparable (possibly smaller) size was $20. Of course, Saga has since become more popular and subsequent trades have been jacked up to $15, but it's still important to note that it's a lot less.


My first word of advice would be to have friends who don't judge you because of your interests. (I know you don't say that, but you seem to imply they do) My second would be to try not to feel insecure about your hobbies. With girls at least, it's generally seen as reasonably normal to read manga, at least around where I live. (guys are accused of reading porn, though) Reading comics also isn't more "embarrassing" or "dorky" than manga for that matter. Either way, you're the type who's "in the closet" about your interest in anime/manga, so I fail to see why reading comics would make that much of a difference in that respect. Arguably, it's less dorky because superheroes (and a few other comic characters, like Hellboy) have become pretty mainstream.

Also, with cartoons Vs comics, most cartoons are not based on comics and most comics don't have cartoons, unlike what Japan does. While there are generally large continuity changes for cartoons, you can safely ignore either the comic a cartoon is based on or a cartoon that's based on a comic. (or comics based on cartoons for that matter, which have been big for IDW lately)


You're on a Dragon Ball forum and talk about Dragon Ball, which has a more negative public reception than superheroes, yet you think reading comics would ruin your reputation. That doesn't add up.


Total opposite here, though I did enjoy more western cartoons than anime as a child. American/European comics were something I got into in the past year or so, and I'm glad I did.


I feel like this kind of depends on what you're talking about. American comics, in general, are target almost exclusively toward adults. (with the exception of things like Archie... which adults still read anyway) That means the medium as a whole kind of has to be more mature. Then again, the same could be said for video games these days, but they remain as immature as ever. I suppose it might have something more to do with the ages of the mediums.


Noted French artist Jean Giraud (better known as Moebius) would like to remind that you manga is a cancerous plague that detracts from the wonderful comics that France creates. (and the UK too, thanks for liking Tomb of Dracula back in the day and making Judge Dredd)

It sickens me to this day that I can find an extensive variety of manga just by walking into my local bookstore -- there's about twice as much of it as there are western comics -- and yet, I only own a single thing drawn by this man and it's because Marvel put out a hardcover including a limited series he drew for them. I go to comic book conventions several times a year and I've found a lot of obscure, out-of-print material, (and I should note, some of Moebius's comics have had English translations that are now out-of-print) but I've never once encountered his stuff. Meanwhile, I can find copious amounts of manga at a convention that I presumed was dedicated to western comics. Kinda breaks my heart a bit, since France and Belgium treat comics as, y'know, art instead of pop culture (that occasionally has artistic/literary merit) like the United States and Japan do.


It has a lot to do with the styles of the countries of origin. I know of people who exclusively read European comics, because, to them, that's high-brow art, unlike American stuff. They're few and far between, however, and generally acknowledged as pretentious assholes. I think Americans would probably read more of that kind of thing if, as I mentioned, it was actually available in the first place.

The really ironic thing is that most people who watch/read American cartoon/comics also dabble in anime and manga. They really don't care. They just generally avoid the fandom surrounding it because, in case you haven't noticed, a lot of people who enjoy it are really stuck up about it, like the aforementioned people who only read European comics. Anime fans almost have a hierarchy based on the obscurity of the show you like and whether or not it's in a specific genre they approve of. Despite Death Note being an excellent series, many people dislike it on the basis that it's too popular for them. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure used to be very well received until the anime launched and there was a new influx of fans. Its popularity means it's not cool anymore.

Comics readers have the exact opposite attitude. Though a good number of people will only read from one of the Big Two, (Marvel & DC) or both of them for that matter, (I have a friend who does this, actually) I think most people will at least dabble in comics from other companies and independently published material. There's not much of a hierarchy because comic fans aren't quite as judgmental about what other fans read. There are really two exceptions to this I've noticed. The first is if you read something that's universally acknowledged as shit and enjoy it (ex. All-star Batman & Robin and One More Day). Then people flip their shit. The other instance is when you haven't read older comics -- specifically, if you've never read a comic with story/art by Jack Kirby. It's a bit like being an anime fan and never being exposed to a film by Hayao Miyazaki.


Not if you look good in the costume and wear it to a convention, social gathering at your local comic shop, or another acceptable place. That's what you call "cosplay" -- it applies to western characters too. People who read comics don't walk around wearing a batsuit. We may, on occasion, wear our Batman t-shirts out in public, but so do people who don't actually like Batman anyway.


Kind of off-topic, but I always enjoyed it back in the day. I've been going through a lot of DCAU material in chronological order, but I'm also very lazy and only set aside so much time to watch cartoons, so I'm afraid I'll finish One Piece before Batman.

Bask in that glorious Majaku footage.

Only thing i can admit to is o.o i do watch this little cartoons. i love cartoons the most when im sick. i take the time to appreciate them then

I would read comic/watch cartoons, it's just I have so many mangas/animes that I want to get through 1st.