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Adam Volk: As a genre, manga can often be excessively violent and contain sexual and adult themes. Why did you decide to create inspirational and religious themed titles as manga? Buzz Dixon: I think Manga is better described as a style or format, not a genre. Dick Tracy and Baby Blues are both comic strips, yet they’re nowhere near similar in style or content. Manga can tell an incredibly variety of stories. Adam Volk: True, but what is it about manga that you think makes it such an appealing and entertaining medium? Buzz Dixon: Visually, much of it has a nice, clean, open style that I like very much. There’s a much wider range of material in a far vaster selection of genres than are found in American comics. Everybody knows about the samurai, mecha, and magic pretty girl genres, but there are also family dramas, mysteries, slapstick comedy, stories about sushi chefs, you name it. The characters seem to have more depth and complexity to them. AV: So how did the idea of actual creating a religious comic books develop? BD: The short answer is that Stan Lee asked me to while I was working at Stan Lee Media. Someone suggested to Stan that he do a Christian comic. Stan looked around and the only identifiable Christian in the crowd was me, so I got the task. AV: The very idea of a Christian comic book sounds challenging. What kind of ideas were your originally trying to develop? BD: Stan’s idea of what a Christian comic should be was quite literally Spider-man sitting at home reading the Bible when suddenly the Green Goblin shows up and they fight. As I began doing market research and talking to Christian book retailers, I realized that the superhero genre was not the sort of thing they were interested in. Rather, they preferred stories about real life situations and how Christian values and faith applied to them.
AV: Which lead of course to Serenity, your newest inspirational manga series. Can you tell us a little more about how the book was created? BD: I developed a number of ideas for the Christian marketplace, one of which was a Little Rascals-style comedy about a group of kids in a children’s choir. One of the little girls in it was a real trouble maker, and I remembered thinking to myself, “Boy, she’ll be a real handful when she turns 16.” All of a sudden it was like floodgates had sprung open in my mind and the whole concept for Serenity—her personality, the other characters, the stories, everything—just came rushing out. I can’t say I created Serenity so much as it was channeled through me. I spent the next day and a half typing as fast as I could to get all of the ideas into the computer. I’d say at least 75-80% of the concepts for Serenity came out in those two days. AV: And how was the reaction from Stan Lee? BD: Stan was hoping for a superhero comic – after all, that’s where he made his fame and fortune. He and I had an amicable parting of the ways and I took the Serenity concept with me when I left Stan Lee Media. AV: Can you tell us a little bit more about Serenity itself in terms of the story. BD: Serenity is a comedic teen soap opera about an unhappy girl who finds a happy ending. Serenity Harper is a troubled teen who arrives in a new school with a long list of strikes against her. She’s run afoul of the law and is on probation, literally hanging by a thread because one more run in with the authorities will see her shipped off to reform school. She’s obnoxious and antagonistic, but this is just a defense to keep people from knowing how scared and lonely she really feels. Nobody at the school wants anything to do with her except for a group of Christian kids who decide to reach out to her no matter how unlovable she acts. The way they’re able to gradually break through her shell, how Serenity grows and changes for the better, and how Serenity ultimately ends up being a positive influence in the lives of others is what our series is all about. AV: And what kind of reception has Serenity had so far? BD: Fantastic! Serenity hit the Christian Booksellers Association’s young adult best seller list our first month out! We’ve had an enormous amount of positive responses on our studio website (www.RealbuzzStudios.com) as well as tremendous positive responses from retailers. AV: Many people feel that religious entertainment in any form (be it music, movies, or comics) is often constructed with the religious message overshadowing elements such as story and character. How would you respond to this and how is your own work hoping to avoid these pitfalls? BD: Tweens and teens today are interested in religion and spiritual values. Too often they have no frame of reference since so much of pop culture consciously rejects any attempt to explore these values. Some people who attempt to explore religious themes in pop culture start with their message then try to put a patina of entertainment over it. Others start with pop entertainment then try to sugar-coat it with religion. What we do with Serenity is to take this interest in religion and spiritual values and depict it in a logical, accessible, entertaining setting. Churches aren’t filled with bloodless plaster saints but rather with living, breathing people who have their share of problems and potential. Serenity looks at how tweens and teens can apply the message and values of the Christian faith to their daily lives. It’s not so much an evangelical outreach as it demonstrates and reinforces values.
AV: Getting away from the religious debate for a moment, what kind of approach do you take when writing manga and how does it differ from other mediums that you've worked in? BD: The first rule in writing is: Don’t bore your audience. Manga allows a little more flexibility in being able to go off on side tangents that don’t directly further the plot along but do help us gain a deeper understanding of the characters. Outside of some very minor stylistic differences – usually fewer panels per page and shorter word counts in the balloons – there’s not any real difference. One tells a story as interestingly as one can, trying to fill it with incident and insights that readers will respond to. AV: Manga is of course a traditional Japanese art form, but recently the medium has been adopted by American and western creators. What kind of influence do you think American artists are having on contemporary manga? BD: Look at African-American folk and popular music at the dawn of the 20th century. It very quickly split off into Dixieland, the blues, ragtime, and jazz. Each one of those was further refined as white musicians picked up on the basic forms and began experimenting with it. Now musical forms as diverse as rock and roll and country music can trace their modern origins back to blues musicians from the 1920s and 30s. There are always going to be self-described purists who will insist that a thing can’t be called jazz or manga unless it fits a very narrow set of arbitrary restrictions. We believe that by its nature, art forms develop and build upon and in relation to each other – the same is true with the evolution of manga. The bulk of the audience doesn’t care what it’s called so long as it’s good. AV: So you feel western influence in manga is a positive thing? BD: Yes. American and European artists are going to have a tremendous influence on manga in the next generation, the same way the fans who grew up reading Marvel in the 1960s completely transformed American comics in the 70s and 80s. AV: You've recently started Realbuzz Studios which is dedicated to publishing inspiration and family oriented manga and entertainment. Can you tell us a little bit more about how the studio was founded? BD: When I left Stan Lee Media, I knew there was little point in trying to sell Serenity as a title to any existing comic book company. They were all hip-deep in superheroes for adolescent males with no interest in developing titles for younger or female readers. The one exception was the Archie line, but they have their own characters they’re trying to promote in that market. To give Serenity and the other projects I’d developed a fighting chance, I knew I had to go outside the American comics mainstream. I had to create not just a whole new market for them but a whole new format to reach that market.  AV: Did you always envision the series in graphic novel format or were you considering releasing traditional comic book issues? BD: When I conceived of Serenity, my first thought was to launch a series of monthly magazines aimed at general newsstand distribution. These magazines would have been for tween to teen girls and would have been sold alongside the other teen magazines our audience already buys. It was a good plan, but bad timing. As I started promoting Serenity as a magazine project, the Internet began taking a major bite out of that market. I approached every major publisher – secular and Christian – but could find no financial support for Serenity. Lots of “wonderful idea!” responses, but nobody will to put anything on the line. About two years ago Marlon Schulman, formerly of Bandai, came aboard. Marlon is one of the key players in the current manga and anime boom; his work with Bandai in developing Anime Village pretty much primed the pump for the explosive growth of the formats in recent years. Marlon’s first question to me was, “Do you want to do Serenity stories or do you want to spend all your time chasing advertisers?” With that he convinced me to drop Serenity as a magazine concept and instead to concentrate on it as a series of graphic novels. That advice made all the difference – almost immediately we picked up publisher interest and started moving forward with the project. AV: What kind of additional projects can we expect to see from Realbuzz Studios in the near future? BD: We tell people Serenity is just the flagship of a vast fleet Realbuzz Studios is preparing to launch. That being said, the most immediate projects we can’t discuss yet, other than to say they, too, are aimed at tween to teen female manga readers. While the tween to teen female reader will remain our primary audience for much of what we’re developing, we’re also exploring concepts for teen boys, young children, and middle aged readers as well. The genres are all over the map, with most of the stories falling into real life situations but a few being of in the sci-fi and thriller camps. AV: Speaking of new series, what recent manga titles have you been reading that have absolutely blown you away? BD: Kiyohiko Azuma’s Yotsuba&! is my current most favorite title. Like her previous Azumanga Daioh series, it’s a deceptively simple story that’s seemingly about nothing yet in reality is about everything. AV: Thanks for your time Buzz! And good luck with the new studio! : : |
30 August 2010 25 August 2010 11 August 2010 6 August 2010
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