Europe's Manga Mania

At Frankfurt's largest bookstore, Hugendubel, 18-year-old Svenja Malis bypasses the best sellers and heads to the comics section. She's not looking for the latest or , but , the richly illustrated Japanese comics that tell stories of love, mystery, and even horror. A friend got Malis hooked on three years ago and, like many girls in her class, she began to finance the habit with her monthly allowance. "I could also read American comics, but I prefer the Japanese ones because they're less clumsy," she says.

While Western comics such as , , and long dominated the European market, young readers like Malis are looking eastward. The Japan External Trade Organization says German and French sales of totaled $212.6 million last year, making Europe the largest consumer of outside Japan. Almost two-thirds of the sales are in France, where adults and youngsters alike have long been avid readers of large-format, hardcover comic books known as .