I'm not a big manga reader, but I have read some, and for me, the variety is a big part of it. Probably my favorite manga is a series that, so far as I'm aware, has never been published in English. It's called CATSEYE; I have 10 issues of it I purchased during one of my many stops in Japan when I was in the Navy in the 1980s. I discovered it while watching the anime series on TV over there and was delighted to find the books.

CATESYE is about three women, sisters, who own a coffee shop, but it's about much more than that. Now I could be off on some of the details here, because as I said, I've never read it in English, but, basically, the father of the sisters had an art collection that was stolen from him some time ago, and the three sisters are cat burglars who are stealing it back from the various persons who bought the works from the original thief. The other continuing character is the police officer investigating these thefts, but he is unaware the three women running his favorite coffee shop are the persons stealing the artwork back. I've often hoped someone would either publish this manga in English, or dub the anime into English for Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" programming.

Anime introduced me to my other favorite manga: DRAGONBALL Z. DBZ is more or less super-heroes. The characters wear distinctive costumes and have abilities far beyond those of mortal men...and they also cause a lot of collateral damage in their battles. With DBZ, it's not the special effects that appeal to me so much as the characterization and inter-relationships between the characters. Another factor is the inherent sense of humor that comes across. I must also confess the somewhat ritualistic nature of DBZ also appeals to me in much the same way as do other Japanese super-hero shows and monster movies. DBZ is super-heroes, but very different than what DC or Marvel produce.

If it's considered manga, my first and only example would be Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA. The story makes the impossible seem possible, the unbelievable seem real, which is what initially inclined me to give the book a try. Within the first few pages (or scenes from the movie), we are assaulted with a sudden, cataclysmic explosion that obliterates most of Tokyo. The unexplained blast unleashes World War III, which sets the stage for the story that follows.

Indeed, Akira has its share of robots, wide-eyed characters and uses a specific artistic style. But to me, these aren't the only attributes of manga. You mentioned variety as your primary selling point for manga; this is but one aspect. Fantastic conflict is another as is serialization of ongoing drama. What sells manga for me is not only gravity-defying battles, but also extraordinary battles between the wills of the characters. Well-written conflict is the basis for any good story, be it in novels or comics. Manga is conflict in extreme circumstances.

That Marvel's Tsunami line is described as manga-inspired seems to serve dual purposes. The manga market is hot so it stands to reason that a publisher such as Marvel would dip into this abundant well. That Marvel is using established properties functions as a great branding technique.

In CBG #1528, Ben Fine lamented that Marvel Comics missed a great opportunity in advertising their titles to comic recipients during Free Comic Day. Tsunami's second purpose is to introduce the Marvel characters and properties with fresh starts, and, in some ways, continuity-free. With the successes of Marvel's "Ultimate" line, additional entry points into the Marvel Universe--such as the Tsunami titles--would contain more known characters than unknown ones; both for established readers who enjoy alternate character tangents and for readers new to heroes and villains like Namor, the Human Torch and Venom.

If these heroic titles succeed, perhaps Marvel may introduce titles along the lines of Max's ALIAS or some of the more ordinary titles you reviewed like GTO: GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA or IRON WOK JAN. However, sales alone should not determine whether to include new, non-hero-based titles since a growing portion of the manga market is geared around conflicts without capes.

Without drifting too far into a marketing discussion, I, too, am eager to see these new entries to the manga realm. So long as the stories are good, I'll keep reading.

The first thing I think of when I hear "manga, manga" is fettuccini. "Eat, eat," my Jewish grandma says.

The other first thing that comes to mind is LONE WOLF AND CUB. Daigoro loves fettuccini. No, no, wait! It's just too darn late at night for me. One more try.

LW&C is "manga" to me. Its vivid subject matter, its heart of honor, its characterization, and adult presentation, its lonnnnng storyline: all of this appeals to me. And, it was the very first comic, courtesy of First Comics, of its sort that I saw. And soon after that I read KAMUI and MAI.

I'm with you: what attracts me to manga is variety, and, to this, I reiterate the characterization, emphasis on relationships, adult presentation, and lengthy storylines.

What I dislike: the big-eyed faces; the up-skirt crotch-shots (I'd prefer actual nudity to the tease stuff.); the scratchy-line art; and, of late, the increasingly common right-to-left format. After forty years of left-to-right reading, it's too hard for me to reverse my usual reading technique.