Earlier in the month, we present to you ONEPIECE, a somewhat special artistic work. Signed by the French Ilan Manouach, it includes the complete manga of Eiichiro Oda. 21,540 pages in total, a work of 50 copies out of stock. But how does Manouach manage to escape reprisals from Shueisha, the manga publishing house? According to the editor of the integral, it is the nuance that makes all the difference.
between manga and work of art, there is only one step
Whereas One Piece slowly but surely approaching its end, a French artist by the name of Ilan Manouach decided to create a somewhat special full manga, since it is illegible. 21,540 pages supported by a back of more than 80 centimeters, a work that is not made for reading. Its owners will still be able to boast of having got their hands on a work of art, published in only 50 copies. A collector’s item that quickly ran out of stock, proving that fans of One Piece are ready to do anything to get their hands on collectibles related to the work of Eiichiro Oda, even if this integral is incomplete.
Besides the fact that this manga cannot be read, this integral only concerns the pages released to date, One Piece not being finished. While an official integral should logically see the light of day once the last pages have been released, Manouach took advantage of this moment of hesitation to create this particular work. Sold at 1900 euros all the same, this integral has found a buyer. The 50 copies were quickly sold, it remains to be seen whether these will find their way to second-hand platforms.
Despite everything, how is it that Manouach, whose work is published by JBE, a French publishing house, escapes copyright problems? Contacted by The GuardianJBE also explained that ONEPIECE was a “unreadable sculpture that takes the form of a book – the largest to date in number of pages and spine width – which materializes the ecosystem of the online distribution of comics“. “ONEPIECE by Ilan Manouach proposes to evolve the understanding of digital comics from a qualitative examination of the formal possibilities of digital comics to a quantitative reassessment of ‘comics as Big Data‘” continues JBE.
The difference between ONEPIECE and One Piece would therefore be in the very nature of the two works. One would be a sculpture taking the form of a book, the other remaining a manga. “This piece is about Manouach’s work around comic book ecosystems, here as a sculptor who uses online streaming as source material, without reading copyrighted content“explains a spokesperson for the publishing house. The British media was also interested in the point of view of Shueisha, the official Japanese publishing house of One Piece.
When questioned, Keita Murano, a member of the team in charge of international rights at Shueisha, confirmed for his part that his company had not been consulted about JBE’s book. “The product you mention is not official. We didn’t allow it. Our licensee in France which publishes One Piece is the publisher Glénat” he explains. It seems that the Shueisha has not yet looked into this case. Despite everything, JBE seems determined to play the card of the work of art to avoid any problem of copyright. Rest whether the fine line between the two will manage to make the difference.