Helen McCarthy Traces Manga's Global Journey in New Book
Historian Helen McCarthy published The Manga Bible in March, a new guide to the medium's history and worldwide spread. In an interview with Anime By The Numbers, she described the project as an accessible but authoritative history that starts with the reader's present-day experience of manga on screens before moving into historical and thematic chapters. McCarthy said the title was chosen for its punchy, memorable quality and because the original Bible's layered history of translation and cultural adaptation mirrors manga's own journey. The book examines how the medium is being reshaped by different cultures, citing India's cricket adaptation of Star of the Giants, Saudi Arabia's investment in a domestic manga economy, and the rise of Afrime as examples. McCarthy also reflected on her early career, noting that when she first encountered manga in 1981 almost nothing existed in English, which led her to write ANIME! A Beginners' Guide to Japanese Animation twelve years later. The Manga Bible follows her earlier works including The Anime Encyclopedia and A Brief History of Manga, published by Ilex Press before its sale to Octopus Books.