Constructing the mangaverse: Narrative patterns in Marvel's appropriation of manga products

ABSTRACT / PROPOSAL: It´s well known that the major global comic producers are Japan and U.S. There are not so many countries where this medium has achieved this importance not only as high-quality producers but also as powerful creators of contents. In fact, there is also a long history of mutual influence between media and their narratives within these countries. Sequential Language -that in Japan mainly corresponds to manga medium-, has been influenced by other western serial media, especially TV and comic. This may be particularly the case of manga beginnings as well as other related media such as kamishibai (Nash, 2009) and e-monogatari (Holmberg, 2011). In its constant search of new themes, Japanese manga industries have invaded some fields that were exclusive of American market many years ago. On the second half of the last century, the popularity of comic-book characters motivated the adaptation of their stories to manga medium (Jiro Kuwata´s Batman, Ryoichi Ikegami´s Spiderman...). The creation of these products is the next logical step following the transnationalization of capital between Japanese and American industries. We refer to the transnationalization of narrative elements, which are gradually forming a shared international scale image, very similar to that defined as ‘Global Cultural’ (During, 1997). One of the most popular approaches to this subject has been the creation of Mangaverse. These series are an alternate to the traditional Marvel fictional universe that re-imagine the traditional Marvel characters as manga archetypes while employing manganime aesthetic codes, also known as ‘Japan Visual Language’ (Cohn, 2010, 2011). For some scholars, Mangaverse is just a mere fusion of cultural elements, a new manifestation of the ‘Convergence Culture’ (Jenkins, 2006) but the Mangaverse has been openly criticized by both critics and fan audiences indicating that there may have been a decoding problem, that is, narrative elements are not easily recognized nor adopted so they are considered as ‘fake manga’. This criticism has been focused primarily on the way that Marvel´s imprint has evoked stereotypes of Japanese popular culture to create his ‘Marvel-Manga’. Other manifestations of this ‘Culture of Convergence’ -or this ‘Thematic Transnationalization’- are the anime adaptations of charismatic characters from the Marvel Brand made by Madhouse studio (Wolverine, X-Men, Iron Man and Blade) between 2010 and 2012. These products are not quite different from other Japanese-American co-productions in the past, which has been very often in the industry since its inception (Speed Racer/Mach GoGoGo, 1968; Kimba the White Lion/Jungle Taitei, 1965) and that has been developed in Japan for the distribution in both Japan and American markets. The difference this time is that the narrative of these products is not inspired by traditional manganime nor American cartoon but by the quintessential American genre which is the ‘super-hero’ genre. In this chapter, we introduce a brief history of the relationship between Marvel and enterprises that form the Production Committees in Japan, especially publishers. These collaborations have been carried out by adopting two different strategies. On the one hand, we have the adaptation by transposition from Marvel narrative formulas to Japanese standards such as shōnen and shōjo. This is the case of the anime adaptations. On the other hand, the creation of Mangaverse could be considered as a misunderstanding of the prescriptive form of Japanese manga genres. Thus, the reading of Mangaverse can´t be performed as the mere transnational adaptation from superhero genre to shōnen, but as the transposition of a Japan Global image. This reflection may be easily confused with the stereotypes of Japan and its culture that arise from the global popular culture (video games, movies, TV series, etc..