DC Comics President Jim Lee shared his perspective on the global popularity of Japanese manga, citing differences in storytelling range, readership, and cultural positioning compared to Western comics.
Lee made the comments in an interview with Nikkei XTrend while discussing the overseas success of Japanese titles such as Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man, which have seen strong performance in the U.S. through theatrical releases and anime adaptations.
According to Lee, manga offers storytelling possibilities that American comics largely lack, noting that the U.S. market remains overwhelmingly dominated by superhero narratives, which account for most sales and readers.
Lee described manga as being closer to literature, something that people of all backgrounds can read, rather than a medium narrowly defined by a single genre.
He pointed to manga’s wide range of genres, including stories that explore everyday life, cooking, sports, romance and countless other themes, saying that this breadth gave it a significant advantage.
The ability to tell stories outside of hero narratives allowed creators to reach different audiences and explore perspectives that Western comics rarely prioritize. As a result, manga has developed into a much larger market than the American comics industry.
I think manga has a distinct advantage over American comics. American comics are almost entirely about superheroes; that is where the sales and the vast majority of the readership are concentrated. Japan’s industry is something closer to “literature”—it’s something everyone reads, and it isn’t limited to stories about heroes. There are stories about cooking, stories about soccer—there is a much broader range of genres to draw stories from.
He framed manga’s success as both a challenge and a learning opportunity, noting that the key issue is not how to imitate manga’s art style, but how to understand the sensibilities behind the stories that resonate with readers in Japan and abroad.
Stories that succeed in the Japanese market, he said, often differ fundamentally from those that succeed in the West.
Lee also added that manga and anime are not perceived as media for children in Japan, freeing them from any shackles of being restricted to a certain age group. According to him, this allowed the medium to become more popular.
In the West, comics and animation have long been perceived as “media for children.” People assume that once you become an adult, you move on to live-action. But in Japan, that isn’t the case. Not only is the range of genres vast, but adults read manga and watch anime too. As a culture, it is an “art form” that isn’t restricted to a specific age group. I believe this is another key reason why Japanese manga and anime are garnering such popularity.
Lee described manga’s overseas popularity as cyclical, noting that previous booms have occurred before. However, he said the current surge coincides with a broader rise in Asian pop culture, including K-pop, Korean television dramas, and Japanese anime.
He added that younger audiences in particular seek out cultural content that feels distinct and personal to them.
Reflecting on his own experience, Lee said he first encountered Japanese manga and anime in the late 1980s, when they began entering the U.S. market. He recalled reading Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, which Marvel Comics published in English at the time, and later purchasing the anime on LaserDisc.
He also read Masamune Shirow’s Appleseed, which had not yet been translated, saying he was drawn to the artwork despite not fully understanding the story.
Lee said manga’s presence in the U.S. expanded further in the 1990s with the rise of TOKYOPOP. After the publisher’s decline, companies such as VIZ Media and Dark Horse continued bringing Japanese manga and anime to Western audiences.
Lee noted that he is pleased to see manga achieve its current level of success, describing it as a benchmark for creators in his industry. He added that if Western comics already had clear answers on how to replicate that success, comparable sales and readership would likely already exist.
Stories that succeed in Japan are very different from those that succeed in the West. What can we learn from that difference? I think this is an ongoing debate. I don’t have the exact answer myself. If we had the answer, we would already have the same sales figures and readership numbers.
Source: Nikkei Xtrend
