Donny's Blog

The US comic industry is structured differently than the Japanese manga industry. There really isn't a US historical precedent for an auteur in comics, like say Osamu Tezuka in Japan. Though, the US industry does have a tradition of writer / artists for comic strips and perhaps explains why the term cartoonist can imply writing and drawing (and artistic ownership). Since in the US, the writing and drawing duties are usually separated so I guess that explains why there isn't a single term for a single person that does both (and has artistic ownership like an auteur). So, when someone does both, wikipedia just says comic book writer / artist. I like the idea of "comic book auteur" because it does imply writing, drawing and creative ownership, but it's also more of a subjective recognition than a job title... Hideo Kojima (小島 秀夫 Kojima Hideo, born August 24, 1963) is a Japanese video game designer, screenwriter, director, and game producer. Regarded as an au...

Jean Graton (born 10 August 1923) is a comic book author and cartoonist of French nationality. Marcel Honoree Nestor, ridder[note 1] Neels (30 December 1922 – 6 November 2016), known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian cartoonist. Jacques Martin (25 September 1921 – 21 January 2010) was a French comics artist and comic book creator. Jacques Tardi (French: [taʁdi]; born 1946) is a French comics artist. Benoît Sokal (born 28 June 1954 in Brussels) is a Belgian comic artistand video game developer, Yves Swolfs (born 25 April 1955) is a Belgian comic book writer and artist. Midam (born 16 May 1963) is the pseudonym of Michel Ledent, the Belgian comics author best known for Kid Paddle. Dave Sim (born 17 May 1956) is a Canadian cartoonist and publisher Bruno Blum (born October 4, 1960, Vichy, France) is a French singer songwriter, guitar player, music producer and musicologist sometimes nicknamed "Doc Reggae." He is mostly known for his work in the reggae, rock music and African musics f...

In Japan, they have a term Mangaka, but I've never found a satisfactory word for it in the US industry. The closest ones I've found are Comic Creator, Comic Artist and Cartoonist. I guess you can just say comic book artist and writer too. Cartoonist seems the best because it somewhat implies writing and drawing, but it has the animation and gag cartooning connotation that confuses it. Here's what wikipedia has to say: Sometimes all aspects of a comics production down to the editing, publishing and distribution are done by a single person; in such cases the term "comic book creator" (also "comics creator") is employed (occasionally the term "graphic novelist" is also employed, but ambiguity may arise because the same term is also used to refer to the person who only writes the script). The sophisticated term "graphic narrator" is also found in the academic literature on art education. A cartoonist (also comic strip creator) ...

So, I found a comic art that does music! Naoki Urasawa (Japanese: 浦沢 直樹 Hepburn: Urasawa Naoki, born January 2, 1960 in Fuchū, Tokyo) is a Japanese manga artist and musician. Urasawa is also a musician.   ... He started playing guitar in junior high school inspired by folk rock singer-songwriters Takuro Yoshida and Bob Dylan.[22] Under the stage name "Bob Lennon", he wrote and performed the song "Kenji no Uta" ("Kenji's Song)" that was on a CD included in the 2002 first pressing of volume 11 of 20th Century Boys.[23] He released his debut single "Tsuki ga Tottemo..." (月がとっても…) on June 4, 2008,[23] and his debut album Hanseiki no Otoko (半世紀の男, "Half Century Man") in 2009. In 2012 he performed a Japanese cover of Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" and "Guta lala suda lala" from his series 20th Century Boys at the Japan Expo, and the following day he joined rock band Hemenway on stage.[12] Uras...