Interviews and Articles
Below are various interviews with me and articles by me.
Manga's Overlooked Problems
A little piece by me about some of the troubling aspects of the manga industry which are almost never mentioned in the 'state of the industry' type reports and panels.
Key amongst them being: with the strong focus on diversity in comic books nowadays, why is there 99.9% no international diversity among creators in Japan itself? And no interest from Japanese people towards international comics? And why is this never mentioned by international manga fans or commentators?
https://giannisimone.substack.com/p/present-and-future-of-the-manga-industry-c03?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR1sGtO3AIAm2YOIEKWf_518gDeqYRdQHcXzT6vluMM23CnY5jf02f_5yNQ
A little piece by me about some of the troubling aspects of the manga industry which are almost never mentioned in the 'state of the industry' type reports and panels.
Key amongst them being: with the strong focus on diversity in comic books nowadays, why is there 99.9% no international diversity among creators in Japan itself? And no interest from Japanese people towards international comics? And why is this never mentioned by international manga fans or commentators?
https://giannisimone.substack.com/p/present-and-future-of-the-manga-industry-c03?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR1sGtO3AIAm2YOIEKWf_518gDeqYRdQHcXzT6vluMM23CnY5jf02f_5yNQ
Interview about our Orwell graphic novel in Brazilian newspapers.
Interview in THE NATIONAL the pro-independence national newspaper in Scotland.
Talk on Orwell, Mahatma Gandhi Central University, India - Jan 2022
Talk in the Philiphines Comic Book festival, 2021
NY radio interview, broadcast August 2021
Talk in the Japanese Community Center, San Francisco, USA, July 2021
Talk in Human Academy, Angouleme, France, June 2021
Boston Youtube interview, Spring 2021
Talk in Robert Gordon's School, Aberdeen Scotland, Jan 2021
ARTICLE
My article on manga for THE HERALD SCOTLAND newspaper, Feb 2017 http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/books_and_poetry/15088489.Graphic_Content__How_to_get_ahead_in_Manga/
Kumamoto earthquake articles
As I was caught up in the great Kumamoto earthquakes of spring 2016 I appeared on various media talking about it. Such as this clip on the BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-36056904
And my report in The Japan Times newspaper about the situation, quite literally on the ground:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2016/04/20/issues/dispatches-kumamoto-quake-zone/
ARTICLE - The Japan Times
My first article in THE JAPAN TIMES, out thursday 26th November: これは私の記事です
Looking at how Japan is, contrary to the image, NOT a very hi-tech country... and that is, in many ways, quite alright. With an image in the article from a small local 'sento' spa here in Kumamoto, which I often go to, in order to illustrate this low-tech approach: 'Japanese spa, where the previous old clunky 1970s coin operated hairdryer machine was replaced by a very hi-tech, ah... tennis ball tube.'
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2015/11/25/voices/japan-surprisingly-sensibly-endearingly-low-tech/#.VlXHztB5d0h
INTERVIEW (text) with Anthony Guilbert at IMOS
A long and enjoyable look at our Cold Mountain book, from the point of view of those interested in yoga, meditation and eastern philosophies.
http://imos-journal.net/journey-to-cold-mountain/
SHORT TV film 宮本武蔵
"The life in Kumamoto of legendary swordsman and artist, Miyamoto Musashi."
The full 13 minute film we made recently for local TV station, Amakusa TV, here in Japan. It was broadcasting on their channel over the last few weeks and they just released it to youtube.
'A short film about Miyamoto Musashi, and his life in Kumamoto, Japan. With Scottish manga writer Sean Michael Wilson as our guide.'
Me with rather too long hair and my face a bit puffed up from the flu medicine I was on that week, but a nice wee film nonetheless, showing many of the real places associated with Musashi in this town. Well shot and edited by Amakusa TV. Showing our graphic novel on Musashi, called, you guessed it,
'MUSASHI - A graphic novel'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98mB6runizs&feature=youtu.be
ARTICLE
“To celebrate the launch of SECRETS OF THE NINJA book on July 7th, author Sean Michael Wilson explains to readers how comic books and manga are actually written. Using examples from his own book, he guides us through each step!”
The publisher asked me to do this - it outlines the basic steps of writing a comic, since most people have no idea of even these basic aspects. I also include what these stages are called in Japanese, just for fun.
Notice that this focuses on just the writing aspect of comics. Which is, of course, in no way to suggest that the art aspect is of lesser importance! And, indeed, with some clever people who can do both the words and the art the process maybe be very different from what I outline here:
https://www.northatlanticbooks.com/blog/write-manga-comic-script/
ARTICLE
'If you dont like it - Get out my Country!' ... my article in 'The London Economic' newspaper on why that racist attitude is a mistake.
"If wrong, to be set right, to be made right, improved on when there is some problem. And how can some wrong habit, position, erroneous view etc be understood and set right if people are not allowed to express their opinion freely? All people, regardless of which country they happened to have been born in."
...dedicated to certain people I know in Japan, the US and the UK.
http://thelondoneconomic.com/news/get-out-my-country/03/07
ARTICLE
これは私の日本語の記事です ハロウイーン
Teaching the Japanese kids about halloween in Scotland, including the fun game 'apple dooking' - my article in the main Kumamoto newspaper, 'Kumanichi shinbun' October the 2nd, 2015
ARTICLE
My article in JAPAN DAILY about an unusual subject that will surprise most and many will disagree with:
School sports day = anarchism! 運動会 = むせいふしゅぎ
Yep. Or to be precise it is not full blown anarchism, but it certainly has strong anarchistic elements in it. It's an example of anarchist type things that we are already doing, without knowing it.
http://japandaily.jp/undokai-and-anarchism-1905/
PODCAST/RADIO INTERVIEW August 2015 - podcast interview in Scotland
A rambling but fun talk I had with Drew Carson on the Drew Carson Show, another Scottish comic book guy. We go into when and why I got into comics, manga, Japan, my books, etc. Mentioning such lovely people as:
http://thedrewcarsonshow.blogspot.jp/2015/08/sean-michael-wilson-interview.html
PODCAST/RADIO INTERVIEW June 2015 - radio interview
I was on radio in New York in June, discussing our lovely GOODBYE GOD comic book - religion, science and how wonderful comics books are (mochiron!), on the very interesting show 'Equal Time For Freethought', which has featured many interesting speakers in the past. The host was Xaquri Rzetelny (and sorry that I did not give very direct answers to some of your questions, Xaq!, especially the ones on science - but I enjoyed it anyway) also mentioning Hunt Emerson British Humanist Association American Humanist Association New Internationalist Magazine Oh, and nice to have a song by The Pretty Things right at the end - 'Grass' from their 1970 album 'Parachute':
http://www.equaltimeforfreethought.org/2015/06/
PODCAST/RADIO INTERVIEW A spoken word poetry podcast.
Featuring 3 poems written and voiced by me.
The presenter loves my Scottish accent, which is nice...but actually I was trying to sound clear and not so broad Scottish!
Starting at 5.40 minutes:
http://rockymtnrevival.libsyn.com
ARTICLE Broken Frontier website
“The Zombies Killed Capitalism!” – Comics Creator Seán Michael Wilson Responds to the ‘State of the Small Press Nation’
Our ongoing series of reports on the current state of UK comics self-publishing – grouped together under the banner term of ‘State of the Small Press Nation’ – have certainly provoked debate and discussion this year on the issues raised by creators and micropublishers on the self-publishing circuit. To date in this ongoing feature we have discussed questions of audience growth, the expansion of shows and fairs, and reaching new readers. You can catch up with all of the ‘State of the Small Press Nation’ entries so far here.
Today we have a Small Press Nation guest blog from comics writer Seán Michael Wilson (Fight the Power! A Visual History of Protests Among the English Speaking Peoples, Goodbye God?: An Illustrated Exploration of Science Vs Religion). Seán responds to some of the thoughts on audience-building and appealing to a larger readership that we ran in the early editions of the columns but from a radically different perspective. Below he shares his thoughts on solutions to some of the talking points we have featured that fall outside of the confines of a capitalist system…
http://www.brokenfrontier.com/zombies-killed-capitalism-comics-creator-sean-michael-wilson-responds-state-small-press-nation/
PODCAST/RADIO INTERVIEW 'The Humanist Hour' podcast
I appeared on 'The Humanist Hour' podcast, of the American Humanist Association, talking about our GOODBYE GOD book, critical of religion, supportive of science.
It has previously featured some rather smart folk, such as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Salman Rushdie, etc, so I was a bit nervous about 'making an arse' of myself on it. But the presenter, Bo Bennett, took it easy with me. We focused mostly on comics as a good form of putting over complicated information and the Goodbye God book itself. So, it turned out pretty well:
http://thehumanist.com/multimedia/podcast/the-humanist-hour-145-graphic-non-fiction-with-humanist-author-sean-michael-wilson
PODCAST/RADIO INTERVIEW Goodbye God book on podcast
My first podcast interview about the Goodbye God book went up on a popular atheist site, and was fun to do. We talked about the book, aspects of humanism and religion and also the nature of comics books as an art form:
http://www.gspellchecker.com/2015/03/ep51-goodbye-god-sean-michael-wilson/
PODCAST/RADIO INTERVIEW Radical podcast
Come and hear a Scotsman in Japan and an Irish man in London discuss comics and radicalism in this excellent podcast:
It contains the classic line by me, while discussing ‘The Walking Dead’ that: “The zombies ended capitalism!”, how comic book’s are often more artistic than movies and the process is more democratic, and I give my Madame De Gaul ‘HA-ppiness’ joke. The show ends on a song by those wonderful well known revolutionaries Morecombe and Wise!
“We discuss the creative process of the comic-book writer, the emergence of the adult comic-book genre, the Walking Dead and it’s Hobbesian view of the world, why Hollywood does not do anarchy, progressive politics in comics, socialism and the world of art, and the need for revolutionary jokes.”
http://fromalpha2omega.podomatic.com/entry/2015-01-01T16_09_41-08_00
INTERVIEW (text) with Richard Caldwell
My most in-depth interview so far, thanks to Richard Caldwell for the very interesting questions:
"As to my own poetry and writing when I was around 18 or so, my main literary influence was Franz Kafka. He interested me very deeply..."
"As to my own work, yes I’ve had ideas rejected and at least half the time it is because of dear old capitalism again – the publisher liked the idea but they thought it would not sell enough. Which means, basically, capitalism killing good ideas. And that is why we need to organize ourselves in a better way..."
"Imagine this as a hype line on a DVD box: “The blockbuster movie of the year – it provokes rational self-reflection and a critical view of the action like you would not believe!”
http://23zillion.com/bartering-ideas-with-sean-michael-wilson/
ARTICLE The Glasgow Herald newspaper: '10 reasons why comic books are better than films'
My first article in a newspaper, in The Glasgow Herald newspaper: '10 reasons why comic books are better than films'
And you know they are!
This article kicks off a new regular feature in the Herald, which will focus on graphic novels, called 'Graphic Content', organised by journalist Teddy Jamieson.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/books-poetry/graphic-content-10-reasons-why-comic-books-are-better-than-films.1413190500
PODCAST/RADIO INTERVIEW 'Comics on Comics'
I took part in the 'COMICS ON COMICS' show in California on Sept 13th, in which we talked about a variety of things - my Japanese manga books, especially the new book out, MUSASHI, but also criticised capitalism for making us dumber, and discussed how anarchism would be better (you know me!).
https://soundcloud.com/comicsoncomics/s5-34-comedian-roger-yang-and-sean-michael-wilson
ARTICLE Forbidden Planet - 'Comic books Need a Revolution'
I've been busy with writing comic book articles recently - last week appearing in Glasgow (The Herald), and this week in Edinburgh, my hometown, in the shape of the Forbidden Planet blog, where I've written a long piece on how comic books (and all arts) would thrive in an anarchist system:
http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2014/comics-sean-michael-wilson-anarchic-approach/
INTERVIEW (text) The Scotsman
"Wilson says his "newly minted" middle-class background coupled with a working-class heritage has influenced him a great deal. "I was the first one of all my extended family to go to university, but I don't think my family quite appreciate that, not having had the experience," he said. "They thought it was good, of course, but when I went on to do a postgraduate at Edinburgh University, my grandfather in particular thought of it as little better than skiving."
A good interview in 'Scotland's National Newspaper', which I was very glad to be in. But, they wrote on the front cover that I'm a 'comic genius' - which they should not have done. Embarrassing and way over the top. It was not my idea, honest!
http://living.scotsman.com/features/Interview-Michael-Wilson--The.6688525.jp?articlepage=1
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INTERVIEW (text) The Comics Bulletin
"...Of course most young people of her age in East Asia like J-pop, or K-pop, or modern 'RnB', or maybe hip hop. All of which I have very little time for. They are all OK – but when its comes to music and books 'OK' is not good enough. We need creative work that floors us! That we can't believe the beauty and brains and style and cool of - 'OK' can kiss my arse... "
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/features/128889372777600.htm
INTERVIEW (text) The Japan Times
""Creating a comic book takes two, three people, in a tight unit with very little technical things needed, basically, just a pen and a paper. If you have some wild idea with a comic book, all it involves is the paper and pen and a computer, but to try that wild idea on film takes $10,000,000. The financial constraints in film are also a constraint on your imagination. With comic books, the financial constraints are much less, and even though the financial rewards are less, too, I've always chosen the artistic route over the financial."
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20101113a1.html
INTERVIEW (text) Nagoya magazine
Interview in the magazine Axiom, in Nagoya, Japan. Next to Osamu Tezuka - Sugoi!
ARTICLE Forbidden Planet International - 'Pick of 2012'
Me with my 'Pick of 2012' in the always excellent and informative Forbidden Planet International blog, run by Joe and Richard - and a hell of a job they do too. Probably the best place around for promoting indie comics. "Today’s Best of the Year guest is that round-eyed devil, the Scottish Comics Samurai in Japan and a man who knows how to wield a mean Ax, Sean Michael Wilson. Let’s see what our roaming in the Japanese gloaming comics ronin has been enjoying these last twelve months":
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2011/best-of-the-year-sean-michael-wilson/
PODCAST/RADIO INTERVIEW SCI-FI Pulse
An hour long, relaxed chat about my new books with Ian at SCI-FI PULSE:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/scifipulse/2013/05/03/sfp-now-featuring-sean-michael-wilson
INTERVIEW (text) Edinburgh University
University of Edinburgh, where I did my postgraduate degree, interviews little me. As always, there are a few mistakes: I don't live in Tokyo, and have never deeply immersed myself in the culture of Japanese manga.
But I do know a Scottish Gaelic speaker here, and an Irish Gaelic speaker, and I have been learning a wee bit from them. Also they feature me on their web site right below JM Barrie, the writer of Peter Pan. Ha - nice company to be in!
http://www.ed.ac.uk/…/services/news/news/sean-michael-wilson
INTERVIEW (text) Tokyo American Club Magazine
"Though he has authored, drawn or edited the content of more than a dozen titles, the 38-year-old, who resides in Kumamoto on the southern island of Kyushu, is reluctant to describe himself as solely a manga artist. “What I am, first and foremost, is a creator, a writer,” he says. “When I write a script I am rarely thinking, consciously, anyway, of any manga techniques or of any famous manga artists or stories—I’m just focusing on how to tell one particular story.”
INTERVIEW (text) Asia Pacific Arts
"The thing I need to emphasize is that although I live in Japan, I speak some Japanese, and I work with publishers -- a big one in Kodansha and a small one in Seirin-Kogeisha -- and I work with Japanese artists, despite all those things, I am not a manga expert. I'm a comic book writer who happens to do things in Japan and with Japanese people. So my knowledge of the mainstream Japanese industry is very little. And my interest in it is not particularly much either. I have only enough energy to focus on this gekiga, alternative, mature-style manga and to write my own books."
http://asiapacificarts.usc.edu/article@apa?alternative_manga_anthology_interview_with_editor_sean_michael_wilson_15652.aspx
INTERVIEW (text) Scottish Television website
"Once Upon a Time in Morningside is the autobiographical story of comic writer Seán Michael Wilson. The 45-year-old moved to Kumamoto in South Japan ten years ago and says his new home has many similarities that remind him of Scotland’s capital, including a beautiful castle.
But his idyllic childhood memories have never been far from his mind, and the comic writer felt like the time was right to make Edinburgh the subject of his latest book."
http://edinburgh.stv.tv/articles/303330-sean-michael-wilson-launches-comic-about-morningside-on-kickstarter/
INTERVIEW (text) tfaw.com website
"... for gekiga, mature-style manga, this is the best time there has ever been. It seems to have finally found its time for greater appreciation, not just with our AX book, but also the Tatsumi’s books with Drawn & Quarterly, and the efforts of Fantagraphics and Last Gasp also. Tatsumi’s book winning two Eisner awards this year [Editor's note: Yoshihiro Tatsumi's A Drifting Life won "Best Reality-Based Work and Best U.S. Edition of International Material–Asia" this year] is an indication of that wider appreciation, and several people told me that the AX book itself will probably get an Eisner nomination next year. So, if things go well, 10 years from now there should be a large library of mature-style manga available in English, and that will be a great thing."
http://www.tfaw.com/blog/2010/08/23/sean-michael-wilson-introduces-us-to-ax-alternative-manga/
INTERVIEW (text) Publishers Weekly
"Sean Michael Wilson is a comics rennaissance man. He’s the editor of the Top Shelf’s AX Alternative Manga anthology, unveiled at the recent San Diego Comic-Con International, and has two manga adaptations in the works. His original graphic novel, The Story of Lee is forthcoming from NBM in February of 2011 and his adaptations for Classical Comics (which include Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost, Dickens’s Christmas Carol, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, and Sweeney Todd) come out beginning this month. PW Comics Week put a few questions to Wilson, about gekiga, his new projects with Kodansha, and the presumptions we have of the older manga reader."
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/comics/article/44109-new-manga-projects-from-ax-editor-sean-michael-wilson.html
INTERVIEW (text) Edinburgh Evening News
My grandparents, had they been alive, would have been proud to see this double page spread about my books in the main Edinburgh newspaper, that they read every day for years.
INTERVIEW (text) Edinburgh League of Comics
"So, on the wider level its really an economic problem inherent in the capitalist system. In a different social system comics would flourish far more, I think. Since their artistic and entertainment value is recognised by enough people – just not enough to make much profit! – that they WOULD be given more attention if the profit aspect was not such a dominating thing."
http://edinburghleagueofcomics.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/from-scotland-to-japan-an-interview-with-sean-michael-wilson/
INTERVIEW (text) - British Chamber of Commerce in Japan
"Sean Michael Wilson has teamed up with artist Carl Thompson for the project—titled “Parecomic: Michael Albert and the Story of Participatory Economics”. Chomsky, one of the world’s best-known liberal thinkers, taught Albert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s and is mentioned in the book several times."
http://bccjacumen.com/features/creative/2012/04/a-novel-idea/
INTERVIEW (text) - Glasgow Caledonian University
My undergraduate university in Glasgow, Scotland interviews me for their magazine, pdf here:
http://www.gcu.ac.uk/media/gcalwebv2/alumni/Autumn%202011%20Caledonian%20Plus.pdf
INTERVIEW (text) - South Asia Morning Post
"I would say I've always been foolishly unrealistic. There are those who assure themselves that a thing cannot be done, but that barrier instead gives me energy to achieve that thing. And it has worked out moderately well for me so far," he says. "I've never suffered from self-doubt and, if you want to put it in positive terms, then I have simply pursued something for which I had a very deep love as a work of art, as a profession. "My talent as a writer is another issue altogether, but the key is the wanting to do something and then the will to do that thing."
http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=29d2aaa7faf5d210VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=Books&s=Life
TV INTERVIEW - Reuters News Service
Reuters interviewed me in London when our Iraq: Operation Corporate Takever book came out. To my surprise the interview was featured on TV programmes all over the world, all over the middle East, in Russia, China and this one below in Korea, hence the Korean subtitles:
"I would say I've always been foolishly unrealistic. There are those who assure themselves that a thing cannot be done, but that barrier instead gives me energy to achieve that thing. And it has worked out moderately well for me so far," he says. "I've never suffered from self-doubt and, if you want to put it in positive terms, then I have simply pursued something for which I had a very deep love as a work of art, as a profession. "My talent as a writer is another issue altogether, but the key is the wanting to do something and then the will to do that thing."
http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=29d2aaa7faf5d210VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=Books&s=Life
TV INTERVIEW - Reuters News Service
Reuters interviewed me in London when our Iraq: Operation Corporate Takever book came out. To my surprise the interview was featured on TV programmes all over the world, all over the middle East, in Russia, China and this one below in Korea, hence the Korean subtitles:
INTERVIEW (text + audio) - in Italy
My first interview in Italian, in an excellent digital magazine for ipad, COMX DOME. Which includes a text interview in Italian and a video of me (and one by Dave Gibbons too) in English, alongside lots of other great stuff - and it's free:
https://itunes.apple.com/it/book/comx-dome/id585317968?mt=11
INTERVIEW (text ) - in Japan, Asahi Shinbun
I have done several newspaper and magazine interviews in Japan, such as this one for the national newspaper, the ASAHI SHINBUN:
