Comics cultures in other countries
If I was to really get into the issue of comics cultures from other countries, I would need ten times as much space as I set aside for this article. However, I can point out to some basic differences between the comics that come from our country and those that come from, let’s say France and Japan, which are the two other comic book superpowers.
As you would imagine, Japanese comics are a completely different type of thing than our comics. First of all, you need to understand that this is perfectly natural when you consider the fact that we see some of the basic concepts in life differently. All of this has to have an influence on the comics as well, as they have always been one of the best representations of culture in general, not just entertainment. It is therefore not too unimaginable to see mangas that are dealing with subjects that people would find too sensitive to have in comics just a decade ago, not even to mention few decades ago.
French, on the other hand, have that sense of morality that differs from the very basic notion of morality that we have cultivated in our comics for years. For instance, up until very recently, most of our comics have dealt with moral issues with a binary approach. Either someone is good or someone is bad. Either a certain action is moral of immoral.
However, in French comics, the different shades of grey have always been present and that is what makes great stories. For instance, Blueberry, one of the classics of French comics culture, drawn by Jean Giraud who will later become Moebius and who will change SF forever together with Jodorowsky, has always been a crazy rollercoaster ride in which everyone is trying to get ahead by screwing over other people in the comics and you always felt the need to read on as you never knew what was going to happen next.
The good thing is that these beneficial influences have become a part of our own comic book culture over the last few years and we can see how our comics are improving as a result.