This is LIT

This Is

LIT Summer 2018

The impact books have,

by Yuan Nathang

the differences of manga and comics,

by Ivan Vazquez

and insight on what its like to be an illustrator!

by Zayd Madero

Front cover, “Planet of Godzilla”, courtesy of David DeGrand Back cover, “KONG King of the Monster Hunters!”, courtesy of David DeGrand Phoenix Logo by Zayd Madero

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Table Of Contents Table of Contents 2

4 Letter From Editors Meet the Team 5

6 Traditional vs Self Book Impact 7

10 Book Impact Cont.

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Table Of Contents Top 5 Coolest Comic Book Characters11

13 Differences Between Comics and Manga

Top 5 Best Selling Self-Published Books and Top 5 Best Publishing Companies

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21 What It’s Like to be an Illustrator How to Read Manga and Top 10 Manga Characters 25

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From the Editors his is the first issue of the first volume in This Is LIT magazine, This magazine was co-authored by Yuan Nanthang, Ivan Vazquez Rodriguez, Zayd Madero, and Angelo Saldana Franco. Since this is the first issue we decided the topics according to our own intrests and over the course of roughly five weeks, our team learned how to use different programs to create the physical aspect of the magazine and learned about copyright and fair use to learn about the legal aspect of creating a magazine.We also learned the structure of magazines aswell as vocabulary we needed to know.

In this first issue we write about the impact of literature, the differences between a comic/manga store and a book store, comparisons between self publishing and publising through an official publisher. We reached out to lots of poeple and interviewed some for our respective stories, we interviewed variety of people from a local librarian to popular artists like John Lucas.

The authors of this is LITerature Ivan V. Rodriguez (far left), Angelo S. Franco (standing), Yuan Nanthang (middle right), and Zayd Madero (far right) at LASA in Austin, Texas.

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The LIT team Yuan, 14, loves playing and watching soccer. He spends his time clicking wikipedia links. He is a self-proclaimed historian and also enjoys myhtologies from all over the world. He roots for FC Barcelona, favorite player is Lionel Messi. Favorite color is white, animal is Cheetha, and favorite number is seven.

Ivan likes to beat scrubs at tertis for fun. He spends his time watching anime when he is bored. He lives by doing hard things first then the easy stuff, also finish work quickly to have fun later. He likes reading novels and manga. His favorite number is four because his initials is a roman numeral.

Zayd, 14, likes drawing and sleeping. He mains Little Mac, the one true god, in Super Smash Bros. He watches anime and decimate people at Overwatch, Rainbow Six, For Honor. His favorite anime is Death Note.

His favorite number is 13

Angelo, 14 likes video editing and sleeping. he spends his time doing things like playing video games, doing dumb stuff, and reading books. favorite number is 19 and favorite color is blue and my favorite video game is call of duty

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traditional vs self

by Angelo Saldaña

After finishing firsttime author must make the decision whether to self publish or find a publisher to publish it for them. The solution isn’t always easy.

The solution isn’t always easy.

days their book will be published on Amazon. On the other hand, getting a book published through a official publisher can be quite a challenge. A book published through a publisher would be more

but I’m glad I did what I did because it turned out to be the best thing I could have done and now I have self-published 9 novels, have had 11 novels published,” said by Michael J. Sullivan, an author who has a total of 18 books, with most published through a publish

will be overlooked by major publishers.

“I found that the way that I got my books noticed was to first self publish the first few books and get some acknowledgement for that,” said Hugh Howey, an author who has written novels.

Every first-time author

Hugh Howey’s Wool” was self-published with assistance from Simon & Schuster. Courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

Deciding whether to publish a book by themselves or through a publishing company is a very difficult decision to make, and the choice could decide the success of the book. Self-publishing is easier to do in than it would have been decades ago. Authors visit a website, pick a cover, upload their manuscript, and in a few

likely to reach a larger audience because the publishing company has more of a reach to places people will be more likely to buy a book. On the other hand if someone were to publish their own book, it might not be held back by genre expectations.

“It was scary when I first decided that I was going to self publish my first book

Michael J. Sullivan published The Viscount and the Witch through his own publishing companhy.

Courtesy of Ridan Publishing.

Some start off with self publishing, but hope to get noticed by a big publisher and start working with them.

Unfortunately, because of the sheer number of self-published authors, there is a chance their work

should look over all their options before making the decision either to go the traditional publishing method or maybe going the self publishing route.

Book

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Book

By Yuan Nan Thang

Books have influenced the way people think for more than a millennium.

From the oldest story on clay tablets about The Epic Of Gilgamesh to the latest books of the modern age like The Fault in Our Stars, books challenge the way people think.

“It definitely helps,” said Jenny Martina, an administrative assistant at the Ruiz Branch Library. “It can definitely shape your thinking depending on what type of books you are reading and of course when it comes to books that are more about let’s say for example history then of course it can help someone to understand their past better. So it just depends on what is it that you are reading but definitely can shape your thinking and the way that you think and your look on the future and present.”

Fables teach lessons about how people should live, and suspense stories are exciting to the reader, the two are completely different in terms of what they are for and their structure but they both steer people’s thought in a direction. Books also have different roles

Impact other than shaping the way readers think, Martina explained.

“Well definitely educating people,” said Martina. “Education, That’s the main and of course second of all be entertainment as well because of course if you’re reading something that’s for example a novel, fiction book, that’s definitely entertainment.”

Influential books are often entertainment-based and are very popular. Many of these books are works of fiction and can vary between genres. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James is an influential book that’s part of the romance genre that has gone to the big screen. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin is a very popular book series that has also spread to the mainstream via television series. These books reach a large amount of people everywhere from young to old and to every type of ethnicity, Martina explained.

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Top 5 money making genres

ROMANCE $1.44 Billion

CRIME/MYSTERY $728.2 Million

RELIGIOUS/INSPIRATIONAL $720 Million

HORROR $79.6 million

Source from TheRichest, Bookstr, and WritingTipsOasis

SCIENCE FICTION AND FANATASY $590.2 Million

Due to the popularity of some books like the previously mentioned Fifty Shades of Grey the genre in which they are in, in this case would be romance, become popular as well and therefore make more money as researched by sources like TheRichest and Bookstr.

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The Ruiz Branch Library is one of the many public libraries in Austin. Courtesy of Austin Public Library

“When it comes to that, every single type of ethnicity comes to this library and of course we have from kids to older [people] and pretty much any age comes to the library,” Martina said.

Some books have been converted to either shows or movies due to their huge audience and popularity, this shows that books are still prevalent even with the invention of the television and social media. Martina said these new technological advancements have actually helped books.

“Technology has actually changed the way that we read nowadays because we have a lot of things that are online like Ebooks and audiobooks,” Martina said. “You still have certain population that prefer to have the hard copy but a lot of the time here at

the Ruiz public library they can also have access to the online materials so I think that technology has played a role where it’s more accessible for anybody to just have pretty much immediate download of an item the actually have to come to the library.”

Books are now more accessible than ever before because of technology. Today books that challenge the way people think can be seen by most people, thus shaping the way society thinks.

Book

Book Units Sold in USA

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Traditonally Published Only

76%

22% 2% Audio Books 30,983,000

Ebooks 221,468,000

Print 793,119,000

Book

Although technology has taken over the modern age in terms of what we do and how we do it, surveys and research done by sources like Forbes and CNN Media have shown that, contrary to popular beliefs, print books are still the preferred medium for reading books.

Sources AuthorEarnings, Publishersweekly, Forbes, CNN Media

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My Top 5 Coolest Comic Book Characters of All Time!

5. Wolverine First Appearance: Incredible Hulk #180

4. Super-Man

First Appearance: Action Comics #1

3. Spider-Man First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15

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2. The Joker First Appearance: Batman #1

1. Batman First Appearance: Detective Comics #27

Courtesy of MARCIOABERU7 13

Comic, manga, and novel differnces Western comics versus japanese manga

14 Manga is similar in visual structure but different in the way is read.

Justin Detancourt is a employee at Dragon’s Lair, he gave thoughts on comics and manga.

“My favorite characters are in comics,” Detancourt said, adding his favorite comics are science fiction, especially Star Trek.

People have different feelings when they read,explained Ellen Greene and Katherine Lutter, employees at Book People.

“I feel like I am in a different world,” said Greene, who likes novels.

“I feel calm when I read,” said Lutter, who also loves comics. ,“It feels nice.,” Western comics are read left to right

and most has colors. Manga is read right to left because traditionally in Japan they write right to left.

Comics and manga have different genres and word bubbles design.

after a manga or vice versa,” said Katherine.

Since manga is mostly created in Japan, stories in manga are often based there.The culture and behavior is different from what Americans might expect, but there are also fictional worlds and places in comics and manga.

“Well it will be boring if the story is about the descripGreene tion of the said setting,”

“You can definitely see the difference when you read a comic

Courtesy of the official DC website dccomics.com

In the universe of Japanese manga My Hero Academia, most people has a supernatural power called a quirk and heros are ranked. The protagonist Midoriya wants to become the number one hero just like his idol All Might.

In the Marvel Universe Spider-Man likes to help people and looks upon his uncle Ben Parker, and hopes to follow

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Courtesy of the official My Hero Academia website “heroaca.com”

Courtesy of the official My Hero Academia heroaca.com

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Courtesy of, the official Angels of death website gamemaga.denfaminicogamer.jp/satsuriku/en/

Courtesy of the official overlord website overlord-anime. com his example.

Western comics often have Spider-Man just want to help people smaller arcs, but follow the but Midoriya wants to become the same characters for decades, number one hero. and often have crossovers between the stars of different Manga can be sold as a book or in a stories. weekly magazine but many readers prefer reading it in digest form.

Characters are very important Most Western comics are sold as in stories because they control monthly issues, and collected in the story, here is some thoughts trade later, but there is a greater on how important characters emphasis on the monthly format in are. the West.

“Characters set the mood and Story wise, manga has longer story is very interesting on how arcs that follow familiar patterns but they will become at the end,” there is rarely any crossover between Detancourt said. “.What I mean characters from different stories. is that I like characters that

become villains at the end but started as good guys.,” Whether readers are enjoying Western comics or Japanese manga, a good story will keep them interested.

“I like when the characters inspire me with a crazy idea,” Lutter said Book

.

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Dio Brando (left) from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Ban (right) from Seven Deadly Sins

by Zayd Madero

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Top 5 Best Selling Self Published Book’s 1.Fifty Shades Of Grey

Originally published: May 2011 Author: E. L. James Genre: Erotic romance novel

2.The Celestine Prophecy

Originally Published: 1913 Author: James Redfield Genre: Newage Music, Relligious Fiction

3.Still Alive

Originally Published: 2001 Author: Ruth kluger Genre: Memoir/Jewish Studies

4.Daniel’s Gift

Originally Published: March 1st, 1996 Author: Barbara Freethy

5.The Riyria Chronicles

Author: Michael J. Sullivan Genre: High Fantasy

Sources: The Richist, The Guardian, Good reads

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Top 5 Publishing Companies Top Best 1.Random House Selling Self Published Books

Headquaters : New York city, NY Founded: 1927 CEO: Markus Dohle ( Jul 1, 2013-,

2.Harper Collins

Headquaters: New York City Parent Organization: News Corp CEO: Brian Murry (Jun 4 2008-,

3.Simon & Schuster

Headquarters: New York City, NY Founded: January 1924

4.Penguin Books

Headquates: London, United Kingdom CEO: Peter Field (Nov 2006-)

5.Hachette Book Group

Headquarters: New York, NY CEO: David Young (Jan 2006-)

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What it’s like to be an illustrator

By Zayd Madero

The Artistic Experience

“Rambutan Line Art” courtey of Whytemanga Line art of unfinished drawing by Whytemanga

“Entrail Dude” courtesy of David DeGrand

Without these illustrators our comic books would be just books. So these illustrators save us from just walls of text to books filled with fantastic images that bring these text to life. Now we have interviews of these same illustrators of what it’s like to control what the readers see. These artist give us insight on what it’s like to be an illustrator for these comics, tips for people who want to be illustrators, and more.

Davids DeGrands artstyle is one of grotesque characters

Everybody remembers and loves when they were a kid and they visited the comic book 22 store and using their allowance to buy their favorite book and enjoying the epic adventures of the most famous heroes to ever exist. While everyone reads about superheroes, the true heroes of the comics are not very noticed by their readers.

The illustrators of these comics are not people we should consider gods of these stories but they truly are people who deserve credit too.

“I started drawing as a kid and I taught myself to draw,” said David DeGrand, illustrator for the Spongebob, MAD, and The Simpsons comics. “I took a 5th grade art class and the teacher assigned a comic strip and I just enjoyed it.”

Starting as an illustrator can have many beginnings, working as a freelance artist, drawing young and getting better, or just drawing as a hobby turns into a full Whyte, or Whyt Manga, creator and illustrator of manga, Apple Black. blown job. And you may think being an illustrator is an unthanked purpose “When I started working professionally I worked with a lot of really amazing because who would think about who editors and art directors that helped me tremendously in growing as an artist.” drew the picture when all you want is to said DeGrand on what it’s like to grow as an illustrator. “Before when I was just mainly drawing for myself I didn’t really follow any rules or had know what happens in the comic? much discipline. But my art became much more polished You would be wrong, being an “Still growing. You just and professional once I started getting great feedback illustrator is a job that people need the determination from professionals in the publishing field really appreciate to the point to want to continue that really knew what they were where they will pay their delevoping,” doing. The editor I’ve learned the favorite illustrator to draw -Odunze Whyte, most from by far is Chris Duffy something custom just for them. illustrator who edits the SpongeBob comic book. He taught me invaluable “I just did, I kept on improving, using on panel layout and composition, as online resources to improve on all fronts. lessons well as how to write a cohesive and funny comic book script.

Writing and drawing, learning new tools to create work. Building an audience online He completely changed how I approach making comics and his lessons have through YouTube especially, inspired by been invaluable,” channels like Mark Crilley and Rona Project.

I’ve always wanted to tell stories,” said Odunze

“Still growing. You just need the determination to want to continue developing,” said Whyte on the same topic.

As we grow we have people that influence us 23 and help us so it feels good when those people change our lives for the better “I have several influences from film and comics.” said Whyte on who he takes inspiration from. “My biggest inspiration at the moment is Yusuke Murata.

I find his work beautiful with a touch of realism. I am also a big fan of movies

by Osamu Tezuka, Miyazaki Hayao, Christopher Nolan, M Night Shyamalan, David Fincher and Guy Ritchie,” But is illustrating a job that goes unthanked? Do people really pay attention to the person that just draws a set of pictures? These masters of

the pencil tell us.

“Oh yeah. Definitely. I feel appreciated and it really shows like when I went to Japan they just rain praise onto you and it feels great,” said Matt Frank, illustrator for IDW Comics.

It’s not just Frank that feels appreciated.

“I sell copies of comics I’ve done at cons. Comics gets published and you don’t get feedback but when I go to cons fans come at me holding copies I’ve done and I realize how many people enjoy my work,” DeGrenad said on if he feels appreciated.

Not every illustrators feels appreciation so cleary. John

Lucas, an illustrator for X-men, Superman, and Star Trek, says that it relies on who he works with..

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends… because you can draw something and you show it to someone and they say ‘Oh man, that looks awesome’ but you could see a thousand mistakes and say ‘Man, this is just awful’ so you can never get a honest opinion so I don’t really trust people who think they are awesome,” Lucas said.

Now is illustration just constantly drawing a picture that can convey the story every day, or can you experience more?

“My favorite experience was

going to Japan to expand my reader base,” Frank said Being an illustrator can have it’s benefits such as exploring the world, and working with some of the biggest companies in the nation like Marvel or DC, but fun moments don’t have to be with the most famous “The most enjoyable jobs usually pay the worst. But that doesn’t mean it’s not fun working for Marvel and DC but that just like a job I can’t really do what I want,” Lucas said.

Being an illustrator has its ups and downs but it seems like the better you get and the more well

Howl From Beyond The Fog and Rampage Across Time by and courtesy of Matt Frank

known you are, the more restricted you are.

24 “My favorite project has been Spongebob because it really matches with my style. I’ve also started my own graphic novel,” DeGrand said.

Although some big jobs can connect with you on many ways whether its a connection on your personal beliefs or your art style just does the project justice.

“Learning and adapting to technology and interacting with my supporters and online and help building a digital magazine like Shonen Jump from Japan, Saturday AM and Saturday PM. Publishing volumes of my comic Apple black have also been great, especially getting a good reception on them,” Whyte said.

An enjoyable experience does not even have to be a certain event. It could just be ones entire career as an artist and how they grew or how fans react to ones works. We have seen that illustration can be a dream job for some and gift from life for others, but like everything else in life it must have some downsides or there has to be regrets from it.

“My biggest regret is being afraid for years to send my work in to publishers for fear of rejection. I spent ten years after I graduated college working Face Meat by and courtesy of David Degrand

jobs I didn’t like and just drawing on the side because I convinced myself I wasn’t good enough to be a professional... and I wasted a lot of time before I finally got my work in front of the right people that liked it enough to hire me professionally.

I wish I hadn’t been so afraid all of those years,” said DeGrand.

“Illustration is fun but can sometimes be tedious, lonely, and not as rewarding sometimes. Especially in a very competitive digital age. However, it’s still fun and the dislikes are minor. It just takes a lot of time to accomplish goals. One just needs to create a good plan and execute properly for success,” explained Whyte.

Illustration does seem to have downsides but they seem to be depending on who you are and are not applicable to everyone so it mostly seems to depend on whether one can handle the pressure professional illustration comes with. So illustration seems to be a job that isn’t for everyone but is it truly one of those kinds of jobs?

Would the illustrators themselves recommend it?

“Being a freelance illustrator like I am can be pretty tough.” said DeGrand. “You’re always hoping to land the next job and you never know when or if you’ll get hired again. However, there is no greater joy for me than to get paid to be a cartoonist and seeing my work in book stores and on comic shop shelves is just the greatest feeling. So if you’re passionate about drawing and enjoy doing it for the pure joy of creating then I absolutely recommend trying to get into the business. It’s extremely tough to get into but it’s the most rewarding job I could ever hope to do” “Definitely work on developing your own unique style that is immediately recognizable as yours.” said DeGrand on tips for those up and coming artists. “You can definitely be influenced by other artists and incorporate that influence in your art, but having your own distinct style is the best way to stand out and get noticed” Book

Hisoka Morow by and courtesy of Whyt Manga

Top 10 most popular manga/anime characers 25 in 2018 1. L (Death Note)

6. Haise Sasaki/Kaneki Ken (Tokyo Ghoul :Re)

2. Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)

7. Zero Two (Darling in the FrankXX)

3. Izuku Midoriya (My Hero Academia)

8. Karen Kohiruimaki/LLenn (Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Onlline)

4. Meliodas (Seven Deadly Sins)

9. Momonga/Ainz (Overlord)

5. Soma Yukihira (Food Wars)

10. Goku (Dragon Ball)

Opinions of the LIT staff

1st Superhero- It is very common to think about superheros when you hear comics.

2nd Fantasy- It is anything.

3rd Science Fiction- Cool advanced technology.

1st Shonen- It targets the teenage male group, having action filled stories.

2nd Shojo- It targets the young women group, having touching and romantic filled stories.

3rd Seinen- It targets the young men group, having science fiction and comedy filled stories.

Superhero Shonen Science Seinen fiction Shojo Fantasy

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Pannel Order

1 2 3 4 5 6

2

3

1 4 5

Western Comic

Japanese Manga

Pannel 1, 2, 4, and 5- It only has a image.

Pannel 3- A character talks.

Pannel 6- A character talks and is thinking.

Pannel 1- Talking off screen Pannnel 2 and 3- Thinking Pannel 4 and 5- Character talking Japanese manga is read right to left because the traditional way is to writting is right to left.