The Philippine Manga: Examining the Aesthetics and Identity of Black Ink

Abstract

Since the untimely demise of the Philippine Komiks industry, new comics trends have emerged to supplant what was left of the reading public. For the many studies done in Philippine comics today, there are rising concerns as to the effect of manga among contemporary artists. This leads to the question of the legitimacy of Philippine manga. This paper aims to investigate these fears by briefly tracing the development of manga as well as survey other Asian countries’ reception towards the manga. This paper will also examine the influence of Japanese manga among Filipino creators of Black Ink, one of the biggest publishers of Filipino made manga in the country, and of how it is constitutive of the construction of the Filipino manga.