Toni Johnson-Woods

Vicki Karaminas

Joseph Hancock

Combines fashion theory with approaches from literature, art, advertising, music, media studies, material studies, and sociology to consider the function of fashion within popular culture in Europe, Australia, and the United States.

Literature, Media and Contemporary Studies

Fashion in Popular Culture

Once upon a time, one had to read Japanese in order to enjoy manga. Today manga has become a global phenomenon, attracting audiences in North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia. The style has become so popular, in fact, that in the US and UK publishers are appropriating the manga style in a variety of print material, resulting in the birth of harlequin mangas which combine popular romance fiction titles with manga aesthetics. Comic publishers such as Dark Horse and DC Comics are translating Japanese "classics", like Akira, into English. And of course it wasn't long before Shakespeare received the manga treatment. So what is manga? Manga roughly translates as "whimsical pictures" and its long history can be traced all the way back to picture books of eighteenth century Japan. Today, it comes in two basic forms: anthology magazines (such as Shukan Shonen Jampu) that contain several serials and manga 'books' (tankobon) that collect long-running serials from the anthologies and reprint them in one volume. The anthologies contain several serials, generally appear weekly and are so thick, up to 800 pages, that they are colloquially known as phone books. Sold at newspaper stands and in convenience stores, they often attract crowds of people who gather to read their favorite magazine. Containing sections addressing the manga industry on an international scale, the different genres, formats and artists, as well the fans themselves, Manga: An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives is an important collection of essays by an international cast of scholars, experts, and fans, and provides a one-stop resource for all those who want to learn more about manga, as well as for anybody teaching a course on the subject.

An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives

Manga

Amit Sarwal

Australian genre fiction writers have successfully exploited the Australian landscape and peoples and as a result their books are today “sold by the millions” across boundaries. They have created stories that are imaginative, visionary, and diverse. They appeal to local and international readerships and, most importantly, are thoroughly entertaining, thus making them a strong presence in the popular fiction bazaar. Sold by the Millions: Australia’s Bestsellers is the first collection to concentrate on Australia’s best-selling material that forms the armchair reading of many Australians. Leading experts of popular fiction provide introspective pieces on Romance, Horror, Crime, Science Fiction, Western, Comics, Travel, Sports and Children’s writing so that a wholesome picture emerges of the wide range of reading and research options available for scholars.

Australia’s Bestsellers

Sold by the Millions

A collection of essays by an international cast of scholars, experts, and fans, providing a definitive, one-stop Manga resource.

In the 1940s and 1950s Australian pulp fiction jostled with magazines and comics at newsstands. Tariff kept the local 'industry' cheap and viable and offered Australian writers national and international careers.In this publication, the third in the National Library's popular "Collector's Book" series, Toni Johnson-Wood explores the history, the authors, the genres and the lurid covers of this once-popular literary form.

Toni Johnson-Woods

About

Books

Join the club