One of my main interests has always been sequential art. When I was young I used to read a large variety of different books, from american comics to european "bande-dessinée". Recently, I have added japanese manga to my reading list. Each style offers different story and art styles. American comics are driven by the status quo and present stories that resolve themselves around one main type of protagonist, the super-hero. Super-heroes have been around a long the longest, Superman and Batman were created more than 50 years ago and are still the most popular characters around. Stories go from gritty to almost cartoonish. Although super-heroes represent the most american of comics, there are other styles around but no other is more popular or more representative. Most american comics are monthly and offer continuous or episodic stories. You can always follow the adventures of your favourite hero by picking up the most recent issue from the news-stand or the local comics shop. Most stories preserve the hero, unchanged, at the end of the end of the issue or story though. American comics are printed on varying quality of paper but amost always the same format. Before comics became big collector business, they were printed on the same paper that newspapers are printed on. This is the reason those old comics are so valuable now, they have a tendency of not lasting very long if they are not handled correctly making them rarer and raising their value.

European bande-dessinées on the other hand have no representative style or genre, they run the full gamut of stories and illustrations unseen in american comics. Bande-dessinée (or B.D.) are rarely long running series like american comics, rather a finite story is presented. The only exception are the gag-books, they are similar to the Archie comics of american fame.They usually present single or multi-page gag stories and are meant as light reading. Some B.D. have been around for a long time but very few have achieved the staying power and long-running popularity that the american comic-book hero has. Among the most well know are Tin-Tin, Spirou, Asterix and Lucky Luke. All of these have still running series with new stories coming out infrequently. Tin-Tin has been around as long as Superman has been around. For a continuous series, new albums come out on average once a year, some twice a year. They are usually presented as albums with high-quality paper with vibrant colours sandwiched between two cardboard covers. They are meant to last forever and be put into a bookcase.

Japanese mangas have many similar characteristics, among them is a cinematographic visual style. The action seems to spring at you. This is what makes manga so exciting. Manga-ka (manga creators) have written stories about everything from space adventures to students trying to pass exams: any subject is suitable if it can be marketed and sold to the right crowd. Manga rarely has any taboo character that lasts unharmed. Most series come to an end and the manga-ka moves on to another character and another story. Some phenomenons have seen widespread appeal and have lasted longer (some might say too long) than others. Among those series known in North America are Sailor-Moon, Ranma 1/2 and Dragonball. The business of manga (because in Japan, it is treated as such) is huge with titles in the hundreds coming every week and every month. Manga is usually printed as weekly serials printed on cheap paper stock. There is usually more than one story presented in a weekly book. The books are meant to be recycled and there are recycling bins everywhere so you can dump the old mangas. One thing has to be explained, this is the way in Japan because apartments are very small so people rarely have the space to keep a collection of thick manga books. Every once in a while, when a story becomes so popular the fans clamour for more, the publishers will assemble the story into a single or more book call tankôbon, these are usually meant to be collected and kept. Very few manga stories are left open ended. Most, if not all, have a defined story to tell and end when the story has been told. Some manga only seem to last forever, the illusion exists only because the manga would in reality be several stories strung together with the same character. But some characters have been around for quite a while and still maintain their popularity. Among those we can find most characters created but Osamu Tezuka like Black Jack, Kimba the White Lion and Astro Boy. Other well knowns include the aforementioned Ranma, the Dirty Pair, Ghost in the Shell and Mai the psychic girl.