How Graphic Novels and Manga Are Reshaping YA and Adult Markets
Graphic novels and especially Manga are taking over the world and if you are an illustrative author, then you have probably noticed its influence far and wide.
The Manga industry is rewriting comic book publication and the young adult audience as well as the millennial audience are completely engaged in this category of publication.
Today, we will try to understand how this phenomenon is taking shape and why you should also invest in something like this but indigenous and something of your own that has the potential to become just as popular.
In order to start understanding this, we need to understand the sudden craze of graphic novels as well as Manga.
A Craze Decades in the Making – Graphic Novels and Manga
See, graphic novels have always been there from the time of the Superman comics to all the older graphic novels you can think of but the last two decades completely changed how we look at graphic novels.
This is because we got introduced to novels such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home that redefined how these graphic novels are able to handle complex themes such as identity, as well as drama and war and even sexuality.
This led them to help graphic novels reach critical acclaim.
Speaking of critical acclaim, you already know how popular Japanese comics are. They not only have created an explosion of popularity of their style and genre outside of Japan but they have also resulted in other forms and styles being inspired by Manga and becoming popular.
When we think of Manga, we can already think of at least two or three very popular comics, even if we are not Manga readers. Series like Naruto, Attack on Titan, and My Hero Academia come to mind when it comes to this publishing revolution, which has also resulted in the creation of multiple TV shows and movies.
Manga actually has ancient roots and can even be traced back to the 12th Century in the form of series depicting sequential images and caricatures, which then evolved during the Meiji restoration period and the post-war and then the Golden Age.
Manga was always imbibed within the Japanese culture; it just started becoming global from the 2000s and we can’t seem to have enough of it.
This level of popularity for illustrative novels in the form of graphic novels and Manga is here to stay and it’s only going to get bigger and more popular with time. It is only logical that any talented illustrative author should venture into this direction and take inspiration from graphic novels and Manga.
Why YA Readers Embrace Graphic Formats
A Visual Generation
This is a visual generation because this generation is raised on short videos and long-form videos on YouTube and Instagram, as well as TikTok and others.
This is the generation that does not read conventional books but would rather watch a movie or a TV series for entertainment.
That is why this generation is accustomed to visual forms of entertainment that matches with their surroundings and their way of thinking in the form of instant gratification in the visual medium.
That is why graphic novels and Manga are a perfect fit to help tell stories to this generation in the form of emotionally resonant and relatable situations.
Illustrative novels, such as graphic novels and Manga, blend in traditional storytelling in the form of text with images so that the text becomes much more immersive and in line with what this generation is used to.
Diversity in Stories and Storytellers
People love relatability and people love inclusion and representation and that is exactly what graphic novels and even Manga, to some extent, are bringing to the table.
Since the evolution of illustrative novels is a global phenomenon, you have storytellers from every corner of the earth trying to represent their culture and their experiences and this is where the relatability factor comes into the picture.
The newer YA audience is going to read something and engage with something that is similar to what they understand and what they can relate to.
Engagement Over Obligation
Not everyone can read pages and pages of text because not everyone has the same level of focus and attention in order to keep on reading simple text for hours and complete books hundreds of pages long.
Unfortunately, these people belonging to the young adult audience have to go through this gruelling task at school and colleges and universities with no other option.
That is where graphic novels and Manga form an escape from this very serious, text-heavy obligation they have to pursue academically. This combination of visuals and dialogue helps these young readers engage with character development and plot lines much more easily, without being overwhelmed, the images being like a guide for them.
Cross-Genre Experimentation
The YA audience loves experimentation and the graphic novels, as well as Manga, are all about experimentation and the combination of different genres and subjects, bringing new life to old topics as well.
Manga audiences all over the world are embracing new books and this forms a sort of encouragement for authors to experiment even more.
Graphic novels and Manga had the perception of just being comic books but that is not the case because authors are now almost blurring the lines between comic and novel, as well as film script, in the best way possible.
Literary Acceptance
Graphic novels and Manga are being accepted and embraced all over the world by all kinds of publishers as serious pieces of literary work.
Publishers are encouraging authors to submit visual novels and graphic novels are no longer being seen as literature just for kids.
This is also accelerated by the fact that Manga started becoming popular when millennials were kids and now that they are in positions of authority in different publishing companies, they understand exactly the kind of power Manga has to tell stories.
So, we now hope you understand the impact Manga and graphic novels have on the adult and young adult audience.
That is why if you are an author as well as an illustrator with experience in graphic novels and if you would like to explore this genre and bring new life to it through your own stories, then we are here for you.
We are Orange Publishers and we are one of the most acclaimed and reputed publishing companies in India with a great deal of experience in publishing graphic novels and illustrative works.
We welcome you to reach out to us and publish your very own graphic novel or Manga.
