Whenever I and many other people think of manga series, we tend to think of titles original to the medium of manga. However, the manga industry does not exist in a vacuum and is influenced by the trends and fads of popular culture. Many Western properties are quite popular in Japan and I think it’s worth discussing the many interesting manga related to these franchises.
If I were to mention Batman, you would probably think of the Christopher Nolan films or perhaps the Arkham video games. However, the peak of Batman’s popularity in Japan was during the time of the 1966-68 Batman TV series starring Adam West. This prompted publisher Shōnen Gahōsha to license the franchise and develop a manga series written by mangaka Jiro Kuwata.
For those of you used to the gritty, dark atmosphere and themes of recent Batman movies, comics, games etc., you will likely receive quite the shock when you begin reading what has come to be known as “Batmanga”. Based on the 1966-68 TV series, it is considerably cheesy and campy with little of the introspection and grey morality of the modern entries. Nonetheless, the art is sleek and clean and there is plenty of humour to keep you entertained during your read.
While Batman’s popularity has waned in Japan since the 60s, Spider-Man remains highly popular in Japan to this day. A manga series of Spiderman was released from 1970-71 and was an early title of legendary manga artist Ryoichi Ikegami who would later go on to provide the artwork for Mai, the Psychic Girl and Crying Freeman.
Ever since the release of the original film in Japan, Star Wars has continued to remain a prominent force in Japanese pop culture. As far as I’m aware though, the first manga tie-in to the Star Wars franchise did not appear until the 1990s when adaptations of the original trilogy and The Phantom Menace were commissioned, presumably to promote the upcoming theatrical release of The Phantom Menace.
While manga related to the Star Wars series remain surprisingly underdeveloped, the recent release of the Sequel Trilogy of Star Wars has seen several new manga commissioned. The Star Wars novel “Lost Stars” saw a web manga adaptation released and it was recently announced that both the Star Wars Rebels TV show and the Star Wars novel “Leia, Princess of Alderaan” would be receiving manga adaptations.
I’m always fascinated by the myriad of interesting manga releases related to Western properties and how these titles choose to reinterpret these stories. Let me know your thoughts on manga adaptations of Western franchises, which ones you have read and any additional information you have about any of the titles I have discussed.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!