Musings on Manga

Hey Readers!

We may or may not have talked about this in the past, but I’m not a huge manga fan.  I don’t read it, but more than that, I’ve never really had the desire to read it.  I’m a word girl – I want words to tell me a story and I’ve never been much into comic books.  Therefore, I’ll be honest when I say that I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to read Svetlana Chmakova’s “Dramacon.”  In fact, I really didn’t want to read it.  However, I read it, and more importantly, I enjoyed it.

“Dramacon” definitely opened my eyes to manga as an art form AND a form of writing.  After reading it (really reading it, as in, not just flipping through the pages and trying to get an idea of the story), I realized that manga really is a form of narrative.  In “Dramacon,” Svetlana tells the story with words, but she also tells the story with illustration.  The characters’ facial expressions, the scenery, the con costumes – they are all part of the story. 

I guess what I’m trying to say, readers, is that “Dramacon” opened my eyes to manga.  I haven’t become a total manga buff, I’m not sure that I’ll read more, but now I’m able to appreciate it for what it is – a unique art form that tells a story just as the written word can.  So readers, if you think you’re not a fan of manga, give it a try.  Read “Dramacon” … it certainly warmed me up to the genre.