Manga differ from American or European comics in that they have black and white graphics. Does color only appear on the covers in manga?
Why are manga in black and white?
Manga are usually published in magazines and only then, if a given story turns out to be a success, can it get its own separate series. For this reason, two elements are crucial: money and time. Black and white comics are much cheaper, which is also visible on the Polish market when you take any Japanese and American titles. Additionally, the second characteristic difference is the number of people involved in the creation of a given work. Usually, several people work on European/American comics: one creates the script, another is responsible for the drawings, and another applies the colors. When one person is responsible for everything, the entire process takes more time. To sum up, in Japan this state of affairs is simply due to this publishing model.
How to start your adventure? Colorfully!
When starting your adventure with manga, you have to rely on the covers, because only on them we will see the characters in colors. Thanks to them, it is possible to see what color the hair of individual characters is. For example, in Bleach the issue of Ichigo’s unusual hair color was raised several times, and words do not convey the color as well as a drawing. The same applies to outfits and other attributes characteristic of a given hero. Sometimes, however, some manga start their adventure with colors. In Green Blood , just like in Drifters , the first frames are surprisingly not black and white. Unfortunately, in Masasumi Kakizaki’s manga the action takes place not only in winter, but also at night, and therefore we will not see a large variety of colors on these four pages. The situation is the opposite in Drifters , because, for a change, the teams there are dominated by red. In any case, the conclusion is that it’s best to start an epic adventure in color! Although you can also use colors in an even more interesting way. There is a spread at the beginning of each volume of The Great Zodiac War . Thanks to it, we can see all the characters in various outfits and poses, and most importantly, in color!
Color as a symbol of epicness
What if you took a bucket of paint and poured it all over the middle of the volume? It would seem that there is no deeper meaning, right? So let’s take a look at the nineteenth volume of Bleach , in which halfway through the volume we can see one entire chapter in color! What is so special about this episode that it was decided to embellish it? Yes, this is where Ichigo Kurosaki discovers his power for the first time – he uses extension ! It is clearly visible that the colors in this case are a symbol of epicness. In addition, in this volume, Ichigo duels with Byakuya – his main rival – for the third time! To be honest, I think it’s a very interesting idea to add color to such a key episode. It’s just a pity that Ichigo’s spread is all black! Still, it’s nice to see a blue sky instead of white in the manga for once, right?
In addition, the author inserts funny mini-scenes at the end of each chapter, and in the nineteenth volume they were used to jokingly inform readers that color will appear in this part, which actually intrigued one of the characters!
Even makeup won’t help!
If colors in manga can be found at the beginning of the volume and even in the middle, maybe also at the end? What’s more, if one chapter can be in color, why not the entire story, albeit a short one? So let’s reach for Black Paradox by Junji Ito. In addition to the great title story, the volume includes two shorter comics. The first one is distinguished by an unusual idea, while the second one uses colors.
In The Spooky Pavilion, a terrifying accident occurs in an unusual park. Namely, it turned out that large cormorants, one of the attractions, not only catch fish, but also have a predisposition to catching people. Well, in this case it is worth noting that a weak story, even if it is colored, will still be hopeless!
Colors in the shadow house
A characteristic feature of all the previously mentioned items is their single-use nature. Although there were plenty of epic moments in Bleach , there were no more colorful moments, although the final battle with Aizen, ending the main plot, undoubtedly deserved such an honor. Similarly, in Green Blood and Drifters only in the first volume do we see colors. And now Waneko has released the Shadows House series , in which, surprisingly, we have a lot of colors. Not only the first four pages, but also the last four, and not only the first volume, but also every subsequent one. What deserves this distinction? A one-page fairy-tale introduction beginning with the words “beyond the mountains, beyond the forests.” Table of contents, and in subsequent volumes also an overview of the characters who have appeared so far. At the end, we will see a gallery of covers with interesting facts. This allows you to compare the black and white version at the beginning of a given chapter and its color copy at the end.
Do manga need colors?
In my opinion, black and white manga have their own unique charm. Manga artists can use this apparent limitation very well. Junji Ito can terrify readers with his crazy, unusual ideas, perhaps because they are presented in black and white. When you look at the colorful cormorants for a change, in my opinion they are quite mediocre. On the other hand, in this case the plot was equally bad. In any case, black and white manga have one more advantage, and for many, perhaps the most important advantage – they are cheap! Often, for much fewer pages in color (and on coated paper), you have to pay as much as for two or three volumes of some manga. And I guess we should be happy about these positives, because for the sake of such a Japanese publishing model, we should not expect any major changes in this matter in the near future. However, I hope that there will be more comics that use colors creatively.