This summer I ♥ Comics returns to Blog@Newsarama. Each Wednesday comics bloggers and creators will discuss the things they love about the medium.

This week our guest contributor is John Jakala, who you can find blogging over at Sporadic Sequential.

by John Jakala

One of my favorite things about reading comics is finishing the main story and turning the page to discover that there are still bonus features left to enjoy. Back when I was a kid, it seemed like all comics were never-ending stories, with pin-ups and backup stories and schematics of secret headquarters to pore over. Extras were like a surprise dessert after an already delicious meal. It seemed somehow indulgent to get so much comic book content squeezed between two covers.

Of course, most of the extras were reprints of older material, but I wasn’t aware of that back then. As a young boy who simply couldn’t get enough of his favorite superheroes, I was firmly in the “more is more” camp, so it didn’t matter to me where the additional material came from or what vintage it was. All I knew was that bigger was definitely better. (This tendency to evaluate comics based solely on size persists to this day, as evidenced by the excitement I exhibit whenever a thick new omnibus collection is announced.)

As I got older, I didn’t think much about extras. Occasionally some nice bonuses could serve as the tipping point that convinced me to buy the collected edition of a series I already owned, but for the most part extras weren’t really on my radar. (Unless the extras were of such poor quality that I perceived them in a negative light as padding publishers threw in to pump up page count and price.)

As I began to read more and more manga, however, my appreciation for extras was renewed. Extras in manga are known as omake, and most follow a common pattern of the creator depicting him- or herself in cartoon form and apologizing profusely to the reader for delays with the recent volume and for not responding to everyone’s letters (but s/he reads them all and they keep him/her going during the difficult times so please keep sending them in!) Despite the formulaic construction, almost all omake are a treat to read, perhaps because most manga-ka attempt to explain their vision of the series in the most charmingly self-deprecating manner.

Done right, extras extend and enhance our enjoyment of the main material. Extras offer peaks behind the scenes at the creative process involved in the evolution of a series. Extras tell side stories about background characters or small scenes that complement the main narrative. Extras provide additional information about the gadgets, hideouts, rogues galleries, allies, lovers, and endless other details that make these fictional worlds so compelling and convincing. In short, extras enrich the comic book reading experience.

And now, as a Special Bonus, here are some of my favorite extras, culled from the three Eras of Extras I remember most distinctly:

1. DC Giants and Treasury Editions: As a kid, I loved DC’s oversized Giants and Treasury Editions. In a way, they were precursors to today’s trade paperbacks, reprinting several comics in one volume. They also acted as anthologies, introducing me to characters or creators I probably wouldn’t have picked up on my own but read anyway because they were included in the comic I bought. One of the extras from this era that stands out most in my mind is a schematic of the Wayne Foundation Tower, with the relocated Batcave hidden underneath. (So I guess it was really the Batbasement, then?) For whatever reason, this really made an impression on me. Perhaps because I lived near downtown Minneapolis, so I could more readily imagine secret superhero headquarters concealed underneath office towers than in musty old caves. Plus, I think I was impressed Bruce Wayne could find a tree large enough to fit the entire atrium and conceal Batman’s secret elevator shaft. [Scan from Alex Tang's blog]

2. Marvel Annuals: I used to love Marvel’s Annuals. Even when the main story wasn’t that great, there generally seemed to be some bonus feature that made the comic worthwhile. When both the main story and the extras were good, then you truly had a great Annual. Case in point: Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15. Not only did it feature a great story with Spider-Man fighting both the Punisher and Doctor Octopus (with stellar art by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson at the height of their collaboration), but it also had a fun feature explaining just how Spider-Man stacked up against other Marvel heroes in terms of strength. Sure, such power charts seem passé today, but at the time I found the feature thought-provoking and entertaining. It probably helped that the feature was put together with heart and humor by encyclopedic Marvel editor Mark Gruenwald. [Scan from SpiderFan.org]

3. Manga Omake: As noted earlier, I really enjoy the background notes manga authors include at the end of the tankōbon collections, even when they often follow an overly familiar pattern. But one of my favorite omake is from the second volume of Kekkaishi, where manga-ka Yellow Tanabe shared rejected designs for the two main characters, Yoshimori and Tokine. After having already grown accustomed to the characters, it was both interesting and jarring to consider what they could have looked like, especially when Tanabe herself depicted a scene with two of the alternate designs. [Scan lifted from an earlier blog post of mine]

So what are some of your favorite extras? What classic extras have I forgotten about? Expand on the topic in the comments!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm and is filed under I ♥ Comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.