American Manga vs. Japanese Manga
If you’ve ever picked up a manga graphic novel, you’ve
noticed something else: the book seems backwards.
Why? Most Asian books are read from left to right. Our
last page is their first page. (The cover seems like it’s on
backwards, too.) Reading a real Japanese graphic novel,
even if it’s been translated, can seem a little weird at first,
since every time you turn the page it feels like you’re
going backwards.
Many U.S. writers and illustrators now produce manga.
A lot of people call their work “American manga” or
“Western manga,” since it’s not produced in Japan by
Japanese writers and artists. (Purists generally do not call
non-Japanese comics “manga,” even if they’re drawn in
an appropriate style.)