Throughout my life I have read a thousand, if not thousands of western variations of the comic book medium. Alas, I am ashamed to say that I have only truly exposed myself to comics' Asian derivative, manga a meager two ago. The rational portions of myself have always reckoned it to be common sense to consider manga and comics kissing cousins. In sharp contrast, the irrational child in me approached manga as some sort of incomprehensible, alien object.
While both are generally considered the same artform, and taken into account as facets of sequential art, manga and comics both are rather divorced into their little niches, and subcultures. It is more probable to stumble upon discussion of manga in relation to the animation of Anime, than to be paired up with American and European comics. Likewise, when these Anglo-centric comics are the subject of attention, they are more closely rooted to other exemplars of American mainstream popular culture such as video games, TV shows etcetera, than being talked about hand in hand with manga.
In spite of the axiomatic similarities between western and asian comics, (for instance, proverbially both work under the confines of the panel to panel structure) this is perfectly rational.
Manga is a cultural powerhouse of Japan. There are subways in Japan in which virtually every single passenger is indulging in some sort of derivative of a manga. Regardless of it's shrinking numbers, the sales figures of one of the preeminent manga magazines Shonen Jump still sells in the millions after more than fifty years after it's conception. Meanwhile, the American direct market's typically most popular monthly comic publication, "Batman" starring one of the most recognizable characters this side of Jesus Christ and Mickey Mouse, sells less than a tenth of a million. One thing is clearly more popular than the other.
Famously there are aesthetic and storytelling disparities between Western and Asian comics that in all likelihood lead fans of both to have preferences and regard these two continental takes on sequential art as two seperate entities. Look at your typical American monthly comic book: it is vertically rectangular, clad in simplistic, primary and secondary color, and was, at least before the dawn of the 21st century, relatively self contained. A striking many are within the confines of the superhero genre. European comics differ in format, as they oft have twice the page count of their American counterparts, but they are similar in approach to storytelling.
Manga, on the other hand, is two thirds the size of a standard American comic issue, printed in black white, and employs heavy use of screentones rather than illustrated lines.
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