I was thinking about why I prefer to read manga over American comics (as in, monthly serialized comics) and, putting aside opinions about the āqualityā of either medium, I think the reason why is because I have absolutely no idea how American comics work.
Say youāre a complete noob to manga. You donāt know shit about it. But that One Piece thing you saw on TV looks really cool and you want to read it. Where do you start? Volume 1 and go from there.Ā
But imagine the same situation but with comics. You just saw the new Spiderman movie and now you got a craving for more like it. Where do you begin? Well, no one knows because thereās been 901823434^34 different iterations of the character for decades.
With manga, thereās usually one guy (and maybe a team of artists under them to help) working on it. Even if it goes on for years or may switch leads, thereās usually some āconsistencyā to keep everything in check. With American comics on the other hand, itās the complete opposite: you have multiple different writers and artists, each contributing their own take on the character: alternate timelines, alternate motifs, etc etc. Itās all a big clusterfuck to me and I have no idea how anyone can keep track of it all.