WIRED History of Manga

WIRED magazine's newest issue features the history of manga's rise in America. It provides a nice time capsule to long-time running fans. Starting from the penultimate work called "Astro Boy" leading up to "Sailor Moon" to "Dragon Ball Z" and to "Pokemon," this history lesson gives a nice glimpse into the ever-expanding phenomenon.

You can trace back to your roots and see what the status of the industry was at that point -- back to memory lane. I remember when Viz first joined the scene and was, for a good period of time, my only source of manga. How excited I was each time the newest issue of the DBZ manga arrived in my mailbox, and via an "unflopped" manner for that matter. Then there's the intertwining of manga and anime, collectibles, music, and video games. The availability of such goods were a hard commodity to locate in the early days. There's been a great jump over the last two decades, and interest has most certainly not hit a plateau and won't be anytime soon. We went from select comic book stores to entire rows and sections dedicated to the graphic novel.

It is nostalgic to sit back and look at how far we've come. I find myself saying, "damn, these younger kids have it easy, they can go to any bookstore and virtually any entertainment store to fulfill their manga and anime cravings. We early fans, with VHS and Laser discs didn't have that back in the day." But I guess, as is true with anything, it's just a matter of perspective.

If you are unable to pick up a copy, read the 11-page manga history here. WIRED has also produced a short video showing the step-by-step creation of the magazine's cover art.