1491: A real eye-opener, highly recommended. If you do not have 15 USD to spare at the moment, check the library: The book is a bestseller and should have made its way into many libraries by now.
Comics in Germany:
Time plays an even more important role here than place.
A kid growing up anywhere in West Germany in the '80s (Harry Potter's age) wouldn't even have heard of Manga. He would know Disney (Micky Mouse, Donald Duck), Franco-Belgian kids' stuff (Asterix, Lucky Luke, Tim und Struppi, Gaston, Michael Valiant, Spirou und Fantasio, to name a few), some German kids' comics (e.g. Yps, Fix und Foxi), Superman, Batman, maybe Green Lantern or Legion of Superheroes (or however it was called then). For a fan of American or Japanese comic books, those were the dark ages. They would have mail ordered from importers (or had a parent or older sibling order for them if they weren't 18), read in English, and even the importers wouldn't have heard of Manga. For a native English speaker in Trier, asking some Americans to purchase comics for him would be an alternative, if he had the right connections. (I have to admit that I know nothing about mainstream English comic books in the 80s, but I believe little_details had something on it not too long ago.)
German translations of Disney comics and high-profile superhero comics, could be bought at kiosks, in supermarkets and train stations, but until the mid-90s, the translations were often abysmal, and the lettering was a mess. (The exception was Micky Mouse/Donald Duck, which had a brilliant translator.)
Ten years later the American late-80's/early-90s boom in comics had reached Germany. It started with some high-profile graphic novels ("Watchmen", "V for Vendetta", "The Dark Knight Returns", "Ronin", "Mouse", "Akira"), with OK translations but often a different format, which tended to spoil page composition. In the early 90s you get a lot more comic book stores (though not in Trier, unless there was a short-lived one I never heard of), mid-90s you get the first Manga translated to German, and a quantum leap in translation, lettering quality and printing quality.
Comics (pt.1)
Comics in Germany:
Time plays an even more important role here than place.
A kid growing up anywhere in West Germany in the '80s (Harry Potter's age) wouldn't even have heard of Manga. He would know Disney (Micky Mouse, Donald Duck), Franco-Belgian kids' stuff (Asterix, Lucky Luke, Tim und Struppi, Gaston, Michael Valiant, Spirou und Fantasio, to name a few), some German kids' comics (e.g. Yps, Fix und Foxi), Superman, Batman, maybe Green Lantern or Legion of Superheroes (or however it was called then). For a fan of American or Japanese comic books, those were the dark ages. They would have mail ordered from importers (or had a parent or older sibling order for them if they weren't 18), read in English, and even the importers wouldn't have heard of Manga. For a native English speaker in Trier, asking some Americans to purchase comics for him would be an alternative, if he had the right connections. (I have to admit that I know nothing about mainstream English comic books in the 80s, but I believe
German translations of Disney comics and high-profile superhero comics, could be bought at kiosks, in supermarkets and train stations, but until the mid-90s, the translations were often abysmal, and the lettering was a mess. (The exception was Micky Mouse/Donald Duck, which had a brilliant translator.)
Ten years later the American late-80's/early-90s boom in comics had reached Germany. It started with some high-profile graphic novels ("Watchmen", "V for Vendetta", "The Dark Knight Returns", "Ronin", "Mouse", "Akira"), with OK translations but often a different format, which tended to spoil page composition. In the early 90s you get a lot more comic book stores (though not in Trier, unless there was a short-lived one I never heard of), mid-90s you get the first Manga translated to German, and a quantum leap in translation, lettering quality and printing quality.