There Are Four Lights

Join me, this Friday, Aug. 13th at 9pm for my presentation, “Skepticism Through Manga”, at the Palais des Congress de Montreal during Otakuthon. I’ll be a guest at the anime convention, which takes place Aug.13th-15th. In addition to my skepticism talk, I’ll also be doing a panel called “Manga Storytelling: Writing and Illustration” on Saturday, for those interested in the process of creating manga.

For those interested in skepticism, I’m organizing a meetup after my panel, which runs 9pm-10pm on Friday night. The plan is to meet at the nearby Suite 701 Lounge. So come check out my talk and hang out for more discussion about science, skepticism, anime, manga and more!

Please RSVP for the meetup on the facebook event page or by emailing me at saramayhew@ztarr.net.

I’ll be signing copies of my first graphic novel, Secrets of Sorcerers, at my table throughout the weekend. I’ll also be at the autograph sessions for my lovely beau, Quinton Flynn. We’ll be selling his headshots and I’ll have my books handy as well!

I found this great read on Spoonblog, “Manga & Reality“, by Paul Duffield, which mentions my interview for Skepticality. It talks about the troubles with defining what “manga” is. In my interview, I gave my standard definition—-a form of comic book which originated in Japan—-because in this context, as is usually the case in interviews, what I’m really being asked is to familiarise the average listener with what the manga industry is and generally what kind of products it produces. This is the practical definition of manga from a business perspective; what kind of product are you creating and what market is it geared towards?

His article makes a really nice analogy between the term manga and the term race, in reference to another Skepticality interview (which I just recently listened to after having read Paul’s post), episode #126 “Race and Reality”. There is no biological basis for the term race, as the interview with Guy P. Harrison discusses. Rather, it is a cultural term, which involves a great deal of subjectivity and a spectrum of characteristics. It’s fair to say the same for the term ‘manga’; it’s purpose is rooted more in culture than in the technical and artistic specifications of any individual publication.

I use the term manga to describe my work because I want to be clear about my intentions. In North America, there is a distinction between the comic book industry and the manga industry. The business of selling manga graphic novels is different than the business of selling comic books. This doesn’t mean that the two don’t ever mix, but I feel that the label is necessary when working to publish and market a series. I have referred to myself as a mangaka, manga artist, manga creator, etc., because I feel it communicates clearly what my intentions are in my work. However, I would also consider myself a comic book creator (who specialises in manga), but there is the reality that when I use that label alone, it doesn’t paint a clear picture of my work.

I do believe the label of manga is a reality of the business in North America. I also feel that I’m being honest and upfront about not only my business intentions, but my creative intentions as well. The reality is that there is a market of readers who have expectations from a series labelled as manga. I think these expectations are rooted in the aesthetics and storytelling of a series and not in the nationality of its creator. My intent is to create works that can fulfil these expectations, even though there is, admittedly, a spectrum of expected characteristics.

I want to hold my own work up to standard because I’ve seen some dishonesty or at least murkiness from North American creators who delve into manga–marketing a series as manga, to manga audiences, but then backing away into the “technically anything can be manga” argument when faced with criticism. My hope is that I never fall into this trap. I want to be honest in what I’m selling; be upfront with what it is…it’s manga, it’s manga inspired, it’s a hybrid, or it honestly has no intended label…but I don’t want to tell people my work is manga and then back-track. After all, I’m selling  a product.

All of these reasons are why I’ve had a problem with labels like “OEL manga” (Original English Language) or “Global manga”. These labels serve no useful purpose. They draw needless attention to the nationality of a series’ creator. I think it’s reasonable to say that there is a section of manga readers who only want to read manga that was created in Japan, by Japanese creators. In their case, the term “OEL” or “Global” serves as a warning to stay away. But I find it highly unlikely that there is a market of manga readers who only want to read manga from “OEL” or “Global” creators. If that were the case, these labels would make sense. Instead, I think they only serve to give the impression that manga created by Americans, Canadians, and Europeans are second class–and that they are second class because of the nationality of their creators.

Last July, I spent a day filming for Nokia‘s Responsiveness campaign. I spoke about my work and latest series, Legend of the Ztarr, and how I’m hoping to relate it to skepticism and critical thinking (since I think those are important when evaluating how to response to the world around us). Please share!

Last Wednesday, I spoke at the Center for Inquiry‘s monthly science cafe, Cafe Inquiry. The talk and Q&A afterwards has been uploaded to YouTube in six parts:

Part 1 is my introduction and my explanation of skepticism and why I think it’s important. I also touch on why new age magical thinking and spirituality can be so appealing and easier to promote. My goal is to use storytelling to show skeptical values as virtues.

Part 2 is an overview of manga and why I’ve chosen it as a medium to tell stories that promote skepticism. I also speak about some series that have inspired me in my approach to doing this—-which is also an excuse to talk about Masters of the Universe.

Part 3 is about my series I’m producing, Legend of the Ztarr, and how I hope it will convey messages about critical thinking and humanism.

The Q&A discussion that took place afterwards is also available:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Skepticism Through Manga

The graphic novel market is dominated by sales of manga; the form of comic book made popular by its animated counterpart, anime. Canadian manga creator, Sara E. Mayhew, was featured by the country’s prestigious graphic arts magazine, Applied Arts, as “new talent commanding our attention”. And, indeed, that was what she received—the attention of TED, the annual idea conference of the world’s leading thinkers and doers, who chose Sara to become part of their new fellowship program and attend the TED conference as a 2009 TED Fellow.

Her “idea worth spreading”? Promoting skepticism and passing on her passion for science through storytelling. Manga is the platform she has chosen to tell her stories. In her talk, Skepticism Through Manga, you’ll be introduced to this powerful storytelling medium and to the worlds and characters she has created to inspire readers to embrace evidence-based thinking.

Yes, I’ll be speaking at the Center For Inquiry on March 31st at 8pm in Hollywood! This is CFI’s monthly science cafe, “Cafe Inquiry“. It’s a free event so come on by and hang out with other skeptics, humanists, and science lovers. I’ll be opening the evening with my talk and then a discussion follows.

FREE skeptics talk, available refreshments, open bookstore, AND a geekalicious Canadian mangaka? HOMGosh~tell everyone!

I don’t get the chance to watch much anime anymore and when I do it’s not the big-name popular series like Naruto, Bleach, Death Note and er…is InuYasha still popular? It’s the shoujo series that I tend to be drawn to. Most of my favourite series are from the 90s, when I could actually be called a decent anime fan. But here are some ‘new’ anime series that I’ve enjoyed which I hope get licensed.

LOVELY COMPLEX

I was introduced to “Love*Com” when Viz licensed the manga and ran a preview of it in Shojo Beat. The story revolves around two classmates–Koizumi, a girl who is much taller than average–and Otani, a guy who is much shorter than average. They both have trouble finding a boyfriend/girlfriend because of their height. I’m a sucker for cute highschool romances and this series has the added charm of being incredibly funny. I’m pretty sure the live-action movie version of the series was licensed by Viz and released here in North America, but I would love to see the anime available. It’s on my must-buy list.

ITAZURA NA KISS

“ItaKiss” would seem like a fairly stereotypical shoujo anime series if you didn’t know that it’s based on an 11 year old manga series, which was fairly revolutionary in its time. A lot of what happens can seem a bit cliche, but I think it has been the manga’s influence on other shoujo series throughout the years that has made them now seem cliche. The manga series was left incomplete when the mangaka, Kaoru Tada, died do to a moving accident. The ending of the anime series was said to be based on the planned ending she had told her husband. The story is about a highschool girl in class “F” who develops a crush on the #1 student, Irie, a guy in class “A”. Unlike many highschool shoujo romances, Itakiss follows the two main characters after highschool and into their adult lives. Though I didn’t much like how dependant the main character, Kotoko, is on her love of Irie for her own happiness, the series was fairly addictive.

I’d love to add these series to my DVD shelf (especially since most of my small anime collection is made of VHS boxsets). I could mention NANA, though I already talked about that series in my last ‘Manga Break’ post, since it is absolutely on the top of my very short list of series I want. The good news is that Viz has licensed the anime version of NANA, but I haven’t heard an update on when it will be released. Again, I’m kinda out-of-the-loop when it comes to anime, but I’d say that Itakiss and LoveCom aren’t in the same league as NANA when it comes to success and popularity; which might explain why NANA has been licensed (manga sales of issues of NANA not only compete, but can beat sales records of heavyweight shonen titles like Naruto).

I thought I’d write a post about my new manga series, Legend of the Ztarr. If there’s anything that I like to talk about more than Trek, Star Wars, and science, it’s my LotZ manga. It also happens to be the thing I get to talk about the least. The end of 2007 was the year that I finally started writting the script for the series, and in 2008 I did character designs, storyboards, and finally the first chapter, which can be read online at www.legendoftheztarr.com.

Legend of the Ztarr is the story of a young girl named Adora Ztarr who lives on a peaceful little planet called Teri with her adopted aunt, uncle, and cousin. Her father, the Great Kalen Ztarr, was killed in the battle to overthrow The Emperor of the Known Universe. The series begins when two off-worlders, still loyal to the House of Ztarr, come to take Adora away from her homeworld, so that she can replace her father in the prophecy which fortells that he will destroy the Emperor.

The sword of Ztarr but once shall slay and end The Holy Emperor’s rein.” – The Third Prophecy of Jillian

I really enjoy creating Legend of the Ztarr; I think because, like most of my creations, it’s a story that I want to read. I’m not concentrated on creating something for a specific target audience and deciding what kind of characters and plotlines that audience will like. These are characters that I love and their adventures tell a story that I want to hear. And it’s my favourite kind of story: swords & sandals in outerspace!

My DeviantART account has a few sketches from the series I’ve uploaded. I recently updated the theme of its website (though the drawing of the blonde man on the far right needs to be replaced as soon as I finish colouring Myren). I’m working on storyboards for the second chapter, so it won’t be complete for a while yet. Also, I’m organizing a proposal for the series to pitch to manga publishers; I don’t think I want to go down the indy path like I did for Secrets of Sorcerers (not that SoS hasn’t done really well, it’s simply too much for lil artist brain me to keep track of inventory and invoices).

So tell everyone about Legend of the Ztarr and check out my youtube channel as well for a little video of me talking about LotZ (and the audio version my friend requested of me).

This (first) manga break is of my absolute favourite manga series, NANA. The series creator is Ai Yazawa and it’s still ongoing and serialized in Cookie (a monthly manga magazine in Japan). NANA is a hugely popular shoujo series; Volume 19, released last May, broke 2008 sales record by selling 780 000 copies in one week (the previous record was held by Naruto Vol. 42, which sold 505 000 copies in the week of May 2^nd). The series gets its name from the two main characters; both named Nana, which means ‘seven’ in Japanese. The two girls end up living together in apartment 707, in Tokyo, and become good friends despite their opposite personalities.

One of the Nanas is the vocalist in a band called The Black Stones (or Blast). She nicknames the other Nana “Hachiko” which is the name of a famous loyal pet dog in Japan (and ‘hachi’ also means ‘eight’). Hachiko is your typical girly 20 year old who jumps from relationship to relationship and from one job to another. Among the many contrasts between the two is Hachi’s lack of focus and her seemingly endless boyfriend hopping, compared to Nana’s passion to be a singer and her history with the one man she loves.

Yazawa’s artwork is gorgeous-the details in the changing hair and clothing is wonderful and really suites each individual character. But what I most admire about Yazawa’s work is her writing; the story is a beautiful mix of fantasy (the glamour of famous musicians, dating a celebrity, plentiful designer fashion) and realism (falling out of love, leaving home, struggling to find your life’s focus). No matter what situation the characters are placed in, Yazawa makes it all seem believable. In some manga, sometimes it can seem like a character is making a certain choice solely because it serves the story-but in NANA, every character responds to the situations in a manner which is true to their personality. The interactions that go on between the various characters make you believe that they all really could be living out their lives this way, somewhere in Tokyo.

NANA is more mature than the typical shoujo series you might find licensed here in North America. Personally, I would consider NANA more of a “josei” manga-geared more towards young adults than teens. I can imagine American promoters comparing it to popular teen TV dramas like the O.C. or Dawson’s Creek to try and market to the audience of those kinds of shows, but I don’t think that comparison would do it justice. The story deals with breakups, cheating, drugs, pregnancy, and other familiar drama themes, but none of it feels like it’s been dumped in-nearly everything that occurs in the plot feels necessary to the story-everything feels natural and, again, believable.

NANA was licensed by Viz, here in the US and Canada, and was serialized in their Shojo Beat magazine. It was dropped from the magazine once the story started to outgrow the Shojo Beat age demographic with its increasingly mature content. Viz continues to release the series in graphic novel format, which currently runs to about Volume 14. An anime adaptation was produced and aired in Japan in 2006. The license for the anime has apparently been acquired by Viz, but I haven’t heard any recent news about when it will be released.

I don’t often get the chance to watch or read new anime and manga series, so most of my favourite series are from the late 90s. NANA is one exception. I know I’m not the only one who finds themselves re-reading older chapters and getting sucked in all over again. The balance, flow, and emotion in both artwork and story make NANA one of those great manga series that remind me of why I fell in love with this type of storytelling.

Sara drawn as a Yazawa character?