not at all, I've read a ton of manga so I'm super used to it. All I care about is that there is a disclaimer that says what direction to read it in. I've been confused by so many manga styled comics and have found out that I've been reading it the wrong way when there is no disclaimer many times...
It depends, but Im kinda against it. It makes sense if the comic is written in a language that you read from right to left like Japanese or Arabic or if it's a translation of such a comic. If it's a western production, written and drawn by western authors, then it's something that irritates me. Right to left is not a stylistic choice, rather a mere functional trait that can become partially disfunctional when translated to other languages (because the way you learn to read affects the way you compose images and panels, even at a subconscious level).
So, don't.
Personally, I think it's stupid when a western creator, for example, uses right to left like as if it's a style just to make it look cool and very Japanese like, it irritates me even more if they use Japanese sound effects >.>
My series is heavily inspired off of manga and is read left to right, I've had quite a few people tell me that
"But what if it got a Japanese translation and what if Japanese readers didn't like having to read it the other way?"
My answer to that is well tough shit? We had to get used to reading right to left, so I see no reason why they can't get used to reading left to right.
If a creator feels more comfortable drawing their comic that way then by all means, go for it. Even though it annoys me sometimes it won't turn me away if I find the story and art intriguing.
Sincerely from someone who USE to draw their comics right to left: Don't.
It's the hardest habit in the world to break. I'm nearing 100 pages of the reboot of my comic that use to be drawn right to left and I still to this day will get almost half way through lining a page before I realize I'm drawing it the wrong direction.
I understand why some people do it, especially if you are trying to make a "manga." But from someone who had about 8 chapters of their comic written right-to-left before rebooting it...I experienced a very large number of people who took it far less seriously, a lot of people who just flat out didn't want to read it, and a lot of people who just labeled me as a "weeaboo!!!1!"
I'm sorry if it sounds mean but there just always is a fair amount of backlash. I don't personally mind it. Heck, my favorite comic on Tap is written right to left (however I do think they're actually from a right-to-left country), but kinda like @zetina said. I might be lying if I said my respect is...a little less. It kind of just gives me flash backs of when I was 14 and wanted to "Go to Japan to become a manga-ka!!!" I'm not saying that's what every right-to-left artist on here is doing or aiming to, it's just what it makes me think back to.
I'm alright with it, but that may be because I read a lot of manga when I was 12 and so I'm pretty used to it.
I think it's definitely fine though, so long as it's clearly stated at the beginning that that's how it should be read! I often see right-to-left comics floating around tumblr without it being specified and the confusion when you're trying to figure out whether you're reading it correctly is super jarring. :{
Wow, like GLAD, I had no idea that there would be such a great split on the reading direction. I grew up learning to write right to left and it's almost natural for me to draw and read in that direction. It is nice to see the diversity here and your opinions on this. Surely, Japanese manga continues to have great influence on me, and it is easy to forget that there are other languages that also publish their comics this way.
I don't think it's shameful or embarrassing even if you're doing western-style stories. It is just a matter of the kind of audience you're targeting, whatever you're comfortable with, or what the publisher demands. As an amateur artist/hobbyist, this is what I think.
Thanks again for everyone's passionate and thoughtful input : ) !
-ORANGE
So as many people have said, I don't mind reading either way.
So instead of saying anything meaningful I wanna get nostalgic. I remember buying shonen jump in my grocery store when i was too young to understand what was going on. I'd flip it open and find that last page saying YOU'RE READING THE WRONG WAY! Reading their little tutorial and their reasons for not making it left to right. That old Onepiece panel that would say "Yam" instead of "May" that was some serious shit. It took me a while to get used to but this was my introduction into comics.
If you are making a western comic I would say do it left to right. BUT! if you only wanna make manga and appeal to that audience then reading the other way makes sense eh?
I see reading right to left akin to the American date format system. Unnecessary and pointlessly confusing.
I haven't seen that affect the success of comics here like Undying Happiness (She's near 25K subs!). So no, I doubt that it'd be a deal breaker. Maybe to those who are not familiar with reading comics/manga (but come on, why else would they be here?)
well if you want it to be published in america it has to be left to right other than that i'm pretty sure it doesn't matter which way you put it, most can get used to it
Ah, that comic you mentioned was originally published in Japan, The artist is just translating into English.
I don't think that proves it. After all, who knows? Maybe it would be even more popular if it were left-to-right?
(Undying Happiness is awesome BTW!)
It probably won't STOP me from reading a comic I'm otherwise interested in, but like many other said, unless it was originally Japanese, written for a Japanese audience, it's unneccessary and looks kinda weird, even if meant to look like Real Authentic Manga (though I do prefer to read translated manga in this way, because it often "feels better" when it's not flipped)
For some comics the author didn't even leave a note about this and I was kinda confused for a while until I realized it was supposed to be read the other way...
I'm fine with it. As others have said, it helps when those of us who do it (myself included), adopt the speech bubble flow and other aspects of the format, since it's more than just R>L.
Honestly for me, the bigger adjustment; when it came to uploading on a webcomic site like Tapastic, was the webcomic format. Mainly scrolling, but other little things too. Scrolling kind of saps the coolness out of a 'page-turn' panel, a hallmark of manga (and hero comics). I'm beginning to understand more and more why people post just one page at a time. Not that you can't do a few cool things with multi-page scrolling uploads (like fade-outs)... Hmm, sorry for rambling, lol.
For me, it's okay reading right to left or left to right (but when it's right to left warn me please! >.<). Western or Eastern, I don't think it as a deal breker, just a influence of diference cultures (because we can say that "Anime" is the equivalent of "Cartoon" and "Manga" is the equivalent of "Comics", they're made in similar shapes, but every culture make it in your own way).
I'm running two comics now:
Team Trouble2 (left to right): Have some influence of japanese animation like Nichijou, the characters shape and the expressions. It's a comic made to publish in Tapastic (simple vertical panels) for international audience.
The Sky Travelers4 (right to left): I call it a "manga" project, not just because of the drawing style, but it have a lot of japanese animation influences and I'm really doing it for a future japanese audience. In this comic I use a lot of japanese words to name characters, places and sound effects. Also there's some japanese culture aspects in some places in my comic (don't confuse me with an addicted in Japan, an "otaku". I'm really studying Japanese and Digital Art to start a career in japanese entertainment industry).
It's a deal-breaker for me, not because right-to-left is hard (I got used to it when I used to read manga pretty quick!) but because of the priorities it implies. Someone who's writing a comic in English but has chosen to put it Right-to-Left is way more likely to be someone who values surface aesthetics and nostalgia more than the craft of making a good comic, since Right-to-Left fights a little bit with the Left-to-Right of the way english is written. It's a red flag to me that the creator may not understand leading the eye and the flow of a comic at all.
I definitely don't consciously think "this person is an amateur so I won't read their comic" but, my first impression is to subconsciously doubt the sincerity of their story and be less interested in their work, because Right-to-Left feels so much like somebody just trying to be cool -- the same way seeing a lot of typos and awkward sentences can make you subconsciously doubt whether a writer can handle a story with depth and emotion, even when you know those things don't determine storytelling ability.
That said, "this is a direction I'm accustomed to reading in b/c my family is Chinese" makes sense to me, and if you wanna stick with it I could almost see the benefit of saying "Orange is Chinese, so this comic is read Right-To-Left!" in order to reassure that it's not a Stylistic Attempt To Be Cool.
( I did some examples of keeping Right-To-Left consistent while giving thoughts on another comic2 -- last three images especially -- so I'm linking in case it's at all useful for you too!! )
It's not a deal breaker for me, but it does break the immersion when I forget which way it is. Can't tell you how many times I've read a right-to-left comic thinking it's the other way around and been like 'christ, this writer is all over the place'. Very confusing at first, but not the creator's fault. I wouldn't unsubscribe because of it.
When I first read the "manga" way it took me a bit but I got the hang of it. Now, honestly, doesn't matter to me, left to right, right to left, I can pick up anything and start reading it without a thought.
If people have a problem with it then I say that's their problem. We live a global society now, and we need to learn to do things in more than one way.
Hence, if it bothers them that much and they don't want to learn and get used to it and are okay missing out on the fun, then I say, I'm happy for you.
If the creator's natural reading style is right-to-left and the comic was intended for a right-to-left audience, then I don't mind having to adjust my reading style to experience their story.
Though, if the creator's natural reading habit is left-to-right and they're creating a right-to-left comic for style's sake, I think it's a little obnoxious. Mostly because as a creator, you want there to be as little barrier as possible for your audience. So if you create right-to-left comics that you know will have a largely left-to-right readership, you're needlessly throwing complications into the reading experience that will take them out of the story. So largely it's a matter of knowing your audience.
