Comics tell stories through pictures. Sometimes an artist uses symbolism and metaphor to get their message across, not just in comic books (and manga which are basically comic books). When I started working on the Heavenly Bride, I wanted to show the deeper and hidden messages the story was telling me. I chose metaphor and symbolism to do it. Years later I learned that Japanese manga has been doing that as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The symbolism in manga is called manpu. If you see someone with a sweat drop by their face to show their anxiety, that’s manpu. A lot of manpu has come into our own comics here in the States, but not all of it is culturally relevant. I didn’t realize how deep manpu ran in manga until I started to research meanings, and that’s when I realized I’d actually misread some pages and character developments. To read Japanese manga you essentially are reading a foreign language, even when the words are translated into English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I was already doing my own symbolism, so for me it’s not a stretch to continue with my own form of manpu. It’s Amer-manpu: American symbolism in a comic. Some of it is from our mainstream society. Some is inevitable from my own culture. Some happens to be like Japanese manpu. I am what I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
American and Japanese comics have been doing a dance around each other from the very beginning. It’s a fact that early Japanese comics were inspired by and influenced by Western comics and media. As time has gone by, this has been reciprocated back and forth. Heavenly Bride’s clear Japanese influence is not unique. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even so, I and most of my readers are not Japanese. Heavenly Bride is written in American English. The only other language I intend to put into my work is Anglo-Saxon. My choice of manpu is always carefully selected according to cultural relevance and understanding. My use of my own Amer-manpu is born from where I stand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a matter of fact, if you use any type of manpu in your work I encourage you to take the same approach. Again, we are not Japanese. We should not try to be what we are not. We should just be ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Floriography – “The Language of Flowers”<\/strong> Face Missing a Feature, usually the mouth – The person has no expression at all; they are showing no emotion or keeping a straight face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hands in the lap <\/strong>– “idle hands are the devil’s playground”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tiny Swirl Lines Near the Head – <\/strong>Faintness, dizziness, the mind a little out of it. Add a downward straight squiggle line and they’re probably stoned off their gourd. First use: The Heavenly Bride, Chapter 9<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wind (especially in one’s hair) – something is coming, which may or may not be change. A chilly wind brings trouble. A cold wind is a very bad thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Comics tell stories through pictures. Sometimes an artist uses symbolism and metaphor to get their message across, not just in comic books (and manga which are basically comic books). When I started working on the Heavenly Bride, I wanted to show the deeper and hidden messages the story was telling me. I chose metaphor and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P4DNh7-cv","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theheavenlybride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theheavenlybride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theheavenlybride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theheavenlybride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theheavenlybride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=775"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/theheavenlybride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2260,"href":"https:\/\/theheavenlybride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/775\/revisions\/2260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theheavenlybride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
…..Astilbe – patience
…..Spruce pine – hope through adversity
…..Rue – rue, I mean c’mon with a name like that <\/p>\n\n\n\n