LIFE AFTER RISING STARS OF MANGA: GEORGE ALEXOPOULOS

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

George Alexopoulos is one lucky man.

He has achieved a lot. Like others before him such as Pseudome’s Ron Kaulfersch and Michael Schwark, Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges, Wes Abbott, Tania Del Rio, M. Alice LeGrow, Shane Granger, Nathan Maurer, Felipe Smith, Irene Flores and Ashley Raiti, Christy Lijewski, Amy Kim Ganter, Amy Hadley, Bettina M. Kurkoski, and Jess Stoncius, Alexopoulos has gone from winning third place in TOKYOPOP’s Rising Stars of Manga to seeing his global manga creation, Go With Grace, published. The 20 year old has also ventured into the world of webcomics.

So, where do things go from here?

Newsarama: You won third place in TOKYOPOP's Rising Stars of Manga Vol. 5 with your entry, "Can I Sit Here?" What got you into the competition in the first place?

George Alexopoulos: My motivation was about the same as anyone else who joined the competition; I saw it as a good opportunity to get my work out there, win a few bucks and get to pitch a story to one of the biggest companies in North America. I gave it my best and was fortunate enough to get through the door.

NRAMA: What got you into making drawing as a career that you'd pursue? And what're your artistic influences?

GA: I suppose my earliest influence would have been Disney’s productions in the early to mid 90’s. I was enchanted by animation in general because it gave me a hope that I could someday recreate the worlds I loved so much with my bare hands, a pencil and paper. Charles M. Schultz was also a major, major influence in my youth. I would read every Peanuts comic and see every cartoon, then attempt to redraw them. You might say that was my imitation phase, where I’d copy anything I thought was cool - Sonic the Hedgehog and Samus Aran were big ones too.

So the answer here is animation and video games. I didn’t read much manga or anything until I was much older.

NRAMA: How'd you get into the manga craze then?

GA: Eventually, I found myself craving something more than the sugar-coated stuff I’d been reading and watching. I had been very much into Dragonball Z but felt it wasn’t violent enough (not realizing I was watching heavily edited versions).

Anyhow, I had been browsing around my local comic shop one day when I saw two issues of a comic called Blade of the Immortal (Mugen no Juunin to the purists). That being the first time I’d ever seen such wild storytelling and action - and it felt so... mature. I find it very difficult to express how amazing and inspiring this was, but I can say from that point I was thrown into Japanese comics - even if I didn’t realize it. I devoured trade paperbacks of Blade of the Immortal and when they ran out, my attention turned to whatever else was in that section of the comic shop. I was entranced by Ryoichi Ikegami’s work on Strain, Fuyumi Soryo’s MARS... volume after volume of this stuff until Vagabond caught my attention. There was no turning back after that.

NRAMA: Indeed.

There've been quite a bit of criticisms on global manga, previously known as Original English Language (OEL) manga. As a creator who's born and raised up in North America, what're your thoughts on global manga?

GA: Hmmm… I've heard about these criticisms. Why is it being called global manga now and why was it Original English Language manga before? Perhaps there’s been so much criticism and a lack of respect because those names are so suggestive of imitation. I know I wouldn’t feel good riding in an airplane with a pilot who was imitating a good pilot; I’d want a person that knew how to fly.

It’s true, though, a lot of the stories and art are so deeply influenced by Japanese work that to some it seems like nothing more than emulation. I hope that with enough time though, this problem will dilute enough and be forgotten.

The important thing to remember is that manga is manga, it’s comics, it’s graphic novels, it’s whatever you want - it just so happened that the Japanese knew this from the start and Americans are just beginning to realize that sequences of artwork can be a perfectly acceptable form of storytelling. I only hope the term ‘global manga’ is overlooked because it causes segregation of something that should be universal. Americans call it one thing, Japanese call it something else. We’ll only be hurting ourselves by giving it some special title because it’s as if we’re saying, “we’re the manga club and if you draw comics you can’t join us.” Meanwhile some manga readers are so short-sighted that they don’t realize their books can fall into just as many stereotypes and clichés as superhero comics.

So what do I think of non-Japanese sequential art that tells a story? It can work if it’s good or suck when it’s bad, just like any other method of storytelling. Sorry for preaching, it's as relevant an answer as I could think of.

NRAMA: Before we discuss about your very own global manga project, Go With Grace, let's focus our attention on the webcomics that you had done and are currently producing. What made decide to create and produce these webcomics (or are they called webmanga?) – Artist's Block, Cloud World, and one that's untitled at the moment?

GA: I’d made them because my friends and I were inspired to make webcomics (online comics?). We’d read a lot of Megatokyo and Penny Arcade (forgive me for mentioning them in the same sentence) and thought, “hey, this is cool. I bet if we made some great comics and made a website, lots of people would come!” And that’s what we did.

At some point it hit me that if I worked hard enough some publisher somewhere might eventually notice my work, so that had become my goal. Interestingly enough that’s sort of what happened, but I was prepared to at least have this massive website with volumes and volumes of work if I couldn’t find a publisher. To honor that spirit, the site’s still there and I’m slowly building more content during my off-time.

NRAMA: Could you briefly tell us about these projects? What're they about, and are you planning to run these as just webcomics? Or are there plans to approach publishers to hopefully publish them one day?

GA: I don’t feel a pressing need to get them published, but if demand was high enough I can see putting them into a collection or something. If I ever got around to it I’d self-publish since I wouldn’t want to take the comics off the website and force people to drop money on something they could’ve read for free.

Artist’s Block was something that one of my good friends thought up and wrote. There was an older version that never saw the light of day, but the basic idea is the same: an artist, Adam, can’t think up a design for a website so he spends a day trying to get his mind off the problem. The meat of the story is we follow him on all these detours he takes both mentally and physically, never really arriving at a solution to his problem. It’s one of those stories where the fun’s in the details, so I’d encourage people to read it for themselves.

Cloud World... was sort-of something I threw together just for myself. Its sole purpose was to make me laugh so when I got bored of it I stopped drawing it. Not my most shining moment of creative brilliance, but it was fun while it lasted.

And “untitled” is something that’s sort-of going to evolve naturally over time. I plan to make these short minimalist comics that tell very basic stories about this solitary main character - unfortunately, that’s all I can say for it. We’ll see where it goes.

NRAMA: How does doing webcomics create for you a platform to make yourself and your work known to the public?

GA: I suppose its initial purpose has been realized since I’m getting published and slowly working towards a career, but it’s still what it was before. People who read my printed work and want more can go to the website, and vice versa. If they like the work, maybe they’ll tell their friends, maybe a few people will spread the word, I don’t know. I don’t want to push myself on anybody, especially since my body of work is still so small. Anyhow, the comics are there, and if readers want them they know how to find it.

NRAMA: Okay, let's talk about Go With Grace now. It's about a wealthy but sickly girl named Grace who finds love in the arms of a mysterious young man. How did the project come about? Is it based on your own real life experiences, be it directly or indirectly?

GA: It wouldn’t be wrong to say it’s rooted in my own real life experiences. I wrote the first draft of Grace in high school, when I used to cut school frequently to stay in bed and play video games, draw, or watch anime. Those were lonely times for me because I wasn’t very social, so I thought it would be interesting to have imagine a mysterious friend coming through my window to spend time with me and have an unshakable tolerance for my moodiness. Grace was me, unsociable and crabby, and Andy was this perfect lighthearted character who wanted nothing but to spend time with her.

I would even be hesitant to say she simply falls in love with him because if a reader’s ever been in Grace’s state of mind they’ll see more than that; it’s love through companionship, very different from what we’re familiar with in our culture.



NRAMA: Its themes include life, death, suicide, autonomy, inspiration, true love and the immortal soul. For a 20 year old, what are your own beliefs when it comes to such themes?

GA: This question’s kind of rocky for me to answer. I would much rather ask readers what they think of those themes after they’ve communicated with me through the book. I only hope the points got across despite my inexperience.

NRAMA: What do you hope to achieve with Go With Grace?

GA: If nothing else I’d like to make a good first impression.

Aside from the achievement of completing the book, you might say I wanted to create something simple but multi-layered. The book’s length was very limited and I wasn’t sure if I could commit myself to more than one volume so it was important to allow readers something interesting to think about on second or third reads.

And of course, I hope my audience opens up some more, allowing me more room for whatever I do next.

NRAMA: Now that Volume One's out, what could readers expect from the next volume?

GA: Go With Grace is actually just a one-volume story. I’m still bouncing a few ideas around my head for whatever next project I’m going to do, so we’ll see.

NRAMA: Since Go With Grace is only one volume, what's next for you then? You said you're bouncing around some ideas but what sort of projects do you hope to do?

GA: I’ve been asking myself similar questions for a while now. It’s tricky to answer, because some days I feel like working on something action packed while others I feel like something bizarre and funny, perhaps romantic. I might even go to bed one night and think it’d be awesome to do something spooky.

Whatever I decide to work on, it’s going to have to be something strong enough to maintain my interest throughout production. A script might be great for example, but I wouldn’t have the greatest time drawing it so I put it to the side for another time. It might even be that I’m overcautious. I can promise readers that once I finally land on an idea I won’t be so internally divided. It’s going to have my full attention - the only problem is finding a story worthy of that.

As of this very second though, I’m inspired to work on a “man versus himself” type of story.

NRAMA: How about a word of advice to those trying to break into the industry?

GA: A very experienced man in the industry once told me that this is one of the hardest jobs in the world, and I can’t disagree. You have to practice constantly, you’ll be struggling financially, you have to work long, lonely hours - and there’s no guarantee that you’ll be successful.

I feel foolish offering advice since I’ve so recently “broken into” the industry, but if I could offer a word to people whose efforts I can still very much relate to... be resilient. You’ll find no shortage of harassment during your struggles, be it internal or external. Expect to be shot down frequently, so be prepared to get up frequently.

Be respectful of your peers because they’re all working as hard as you are. Be humble because there’ll always be someone better than you. Ah, and never stop looking for inspiration! Creativity is a reflection of what we gather from the world around us, and like a car can’t run on an empty tank, creators can’t run without inspiration (regardless of how cheesy it sounds).

NRAMA: Finally, manga or comics? Why?

GA: Assuming it’s a sort of east vs. west question, I love both when they work well, though it’s true my collection has a majority of Japanese titles. My tastes might change but I think I just prefer stories where ordinary people live extraordinary lives. With regards to west, the ultimate example for me is Marvel’s NYX. For the first few issues, I thought Marvel had finally done it: a story about people - who happen to be mutants. My heart was broken when the story’s main character Kiden showed up out of nowhere talking about Professor X. I uttered a curse and put the comic down, never to read any further issues. Coincidentally I hear the series died shortly after that. In our defense, I’ve recently read Craig Thompson’s Blankets and Carnet de Voyage and Bryan Lee O’Malley’s work on Scott Pilgrim (especially love the save point nod) - those are some examples of where I hope westerners might go in the next few years.

For now it seems the Japanese have the experience and diversity to be on top. All I can hope is for the day when stereotypes don’t pop into our heads when we hear the words “comic” or “manga”. Let’s embrace the medium as a whole - civil war won’t get us anywhere.

Related global manga articles:
Eric Wight on My Dead Girlfriend

Chuck Austen on Boys of Summer

Stuart Moore on Earthlight

Brandon Graham on King City

Alex de Campi on Kat & Mouse

Ross Campbell on The Abandoned

Stormcrow Hayes & Rob Steen on Afterlife

Joanna Estep on Roadsong

Queenie Chan on The Dreaming

Svetlana Chmakova

Hans “Hanzo” Steinbach on A Midnight Opera

Becky Cloonan on East Coast Rising

Keith Giffen & Ben Roman on I Luv Halloween

Jen Lee Quick on Off*Beat

Justin Boring, Greg Hildebrandt Jr. & Tim Smith 3 on War on Flesh

Rikki & Tavisha Simons on Shutterbox

[render man]

He should have won first place in the Rising Stars competition he was in. His entry was by far my favorite. And seeing these pages previewed for his new Tokyopop book, (though I wish I could click on them for a closer look), I know I will be picking up Go with Grace. He's got a great style, sure its manga-ish, but overall its just good looking art.

[tof]

Really nice art. I might pick up Go with Grace.

I don't see what makes this comic book a global manga? Most of the time OEL manga seem to be drawn by a teenager trying to hard to copy some mangaka's art. Here the style is clearly cartoony. This kind of story may sound new in the american comic book market dominated by DC and Marvel but other countries are reading comic books too

[Crispy]

Go with Grace was the first OEL that really made me feel something. Towards the end, my eyes were tearing up and I could really feel for the main character.

[Tenma]

Who determined that OEL Manga should now be called Global Manga? TokyoPop? (They coined OEL in the first place.) Is there some sort of council?

OEL seems more appropriate, since every one of the titles I've heard called "global" are English language. "Global" by definition would cover Korean and Chinese works too.

Anyway, this looks like a really interesting book, and at only one volume it's not much of a commitment.

[Alif]

"it just so happened that the Japanese knew this from the start and Americans are just beginning to realize that sequences of artwork can be a perfectly acceptable form of storytelling."
"My heart was broken when the story’s main character Kiden showed up out of nowhere talking about Professor X. I uttered a curse and put the comic down, never to read any further issues."
"For now it seems the Japanese have the experience and diversity to be on top."

Am I the only person who finds this Alexopoulos person to be extremely pompous and pretentious? Seriously, it's like he'd deluded himself from recognising the growth western comics have taken for the past 40 years or so. It's also interesting to point out the fact that he kept reiterating how stereotypes should be diminished when he himself made generalisations in the interview. Jeez.

[Carol Fox]

Carlo Santos of Irresponsible Pictures coined the term "OEL":
http://irresponsible.patachu.com/200...d-for-oel.html

Manga-style comics are created in Germany, the Philippines, Malaysia, France, Hong Kong--lotsa places. This article concisely sums things up as far as the name game goes:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=8822
Except that "World Manga" was officially proposed by Seven Seas Entertainment, not TOKYOPOP. I'm sure in the 70some-odd comments, that oversight is abundantly addressed.

Clearly the issue is still a thorny one, as evidenced by the fact that more than one "official" name exists in the popular lexicon. Of course, in the end, people will just read and create what they like.