DC Comics Head Acknowledges Manga's Superiority Over American Comics
Jim Lee, President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics, openly admitted in an interview with the Japanese publication Nikkei XTrend that Japanese manga and anime today surpass Western comics in storytelling power and market size.
The stories told in Japanese manga and anime are incredibly powerful. I often find myself thinking, "What is Western comics lacking, and why can't they achieve the same effect?"
Manga has an advantage over American comics—they mostly revolve around superheroes, where the main sales and readership are concentrated.
He noted that in Japan, manga is closer to literature: everyone reads it regardless of age or gender, and the genre range is much broader—from cooking and football to fantasy and drama.
The manga market is bigger than our industry, and the question is: "What can we learn from them? How can we approach this?"
Lee emphasized that the success of manga provides him with a benchmark for development. DC is already collaborating with the Japanese publisher Kodansha (to release manga based on DC characters).
The interview reflects a growing trend: manga and anime have long conquered a global audience, especially youth, while American superhero comics (Marvel and DC) remain a niche product focused on franchises. Jim Lee sees this not as a threat but as an opportunity for the industry's evolution.