>>>And Beaker, there are a lot of us out there who prefer the "classic" spandex heroes of our childhood to the Manga...I'm one of those people. I'm not a big fan of Japanimation, which I think is over-stylized and over-rated. But that's me. I'm not throwing rocks, just saying it is possible for someone to know both formats and prefer one over the other. But I do like my Battle of the Planets. That was my first lunchbox!<<<
Well, what people should realize(or maybe they do) is that a good 75% of comics out there are in various ways 'manga' influenced. Even yes, the spandex classic types. See the new Wizard to see what I mean. As far as anime(I dont know why, but the words 'jap-anna may' or 'japanimation' bug me)
it's unfortunate most people think pokemon or other kid's stuff when they think anime, or some of the old school badly animated stuff. People would change their mind if they saw beyond epicly cool stuff like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis, Metropolis, etc. Also, I hope people realize that starting with Tarzan in 1999 disney is now heavily anime influenced. Heck they are even now importing anime(Spirrited Away)
I used to be into the classic spandex stuff, but there's only so much you can do with DC and Marvel stuff. The indie and American manga(for the record, Im not much into traditional Japanese black and white manga) is doing some amazing stuff now.
It's good to see a lot of Transformers fans, one of the classic anime tv shows, and of course one of the coolest new American manga titles out. Compare Dreamwave's new Transformers, and Transformers Armada artwork to any DC or Marvel title, or even Image...and there is no comparison.