Manga kissaten – comic cafes – have evolved into some of the hippest places in Japan… via Warren Ellis
Manga kissaten, from what I'm reading in the article, are your average restaurant/coffeehouse with comics to read. Would be a fascinating place to try out; but the cultural differences would be the killer to bringing them into the US. Simply put, the comic book output for the US during a year could be put into a store, and you *might* get people in for a few weeks, maybe a few months. But Japanese comics are a team business, rather than an individual effort or Marvel/DC; a group will produces 200-page to 800-page tomes every month, rather than a 32 page comic.
Damn, what I wouldn't give to do something like that here.
Posted by Ted Stevko at March 8, 2005 11:54 PM