

For instance, Shonen is not a genre in itself but rather a target demographic.
You can't say that Death Note has anything in similar with HunterxHunter.

However, Superman, Batman and Spiderman are all superheroes stories. Even if
they have science fiction or fantasy elements within those stories the main
angle is not on the science fiction or fantasy elements.

Again this is not meant to bash Western Comics but rather to pose a self-
critical question. If we have self-criticism then the comic industry would
reflourish and maybe start moving away from the Superhero genre into more
exciting territory.


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question
manga-production manga-history mangaka
Why are most mainstream comic books about superheroes while mainstream manga covers multiple genres?


You're comparing apples with Ferraris here.

Western comics as we consume them place more of an emphasis on the characters
themselves as their selling point and charm, which is the chief reason that
all three of the series you've mentioned have been told and retold time and
again, and all exist in their own universes, with little to no bleed over.

Manga as we consume it places more of an emphasis on the story as a whole
rather than the characters in the story. Two characters may have the same or
similar names, but that doesn't imply that they're the same character. There
are _some_ exceptions to this, since some mangaka have created universes for
their stories, but this is fairly uncommon these days.

**Demographics** \- which is where you get into _shonen_ manga for instance -
only determine **who the story is marketed towards**. There are equivalences
by some authors to what one would consider _shonen_ Spider Man, and there is
at least one or two stories out there - one of which I'm thinking of right now
would be [The Killing
Joke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_The_Killing_Joke) \- which could
be considered _seinen_.


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