Difference between fan comics and English doujinshi?

[Kitty Lue]

So I was thinking about this earlier, is there really any difference between a fan-made comic of an anime/manga, and a doujinshi written in English (or any language other than Japanese, for that matter)?
Is a doujinshi supposed to do things that are more specific to manga than comics in general, like reading right to left? I haven't read a lot of doujinshi, but what I have read organized the speech bubbles in order from right to left. However, English translated manga sometimes are flipped to read left to right.
Add to that the fact that there's doujinshi that is written directly in English, rather than in Japanese, and the lines get kinda blurry for me.
This sort of thing leads me to believe there really is no difference between fan comics of anime/manga and doujinshi, that either word describes the same thing. I thought it'd be interesting to see what other people think about this, though.

[Shiyonasan]

Thinking about it myself, I suppose the only really big difference is in connotation between the two terms. "Fan-made comics" makes you think that it's based more on Western comics, cartoons, et cetera. "Doujinshi", on the other hand, makes you think about Japanese comics and cartoons (manga and anime).

Ultimately though, I think you are right in that "either word describes the same thing". It's just that both terms initially bring about a different idea about what is being referenced to.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Well Manga does really mean a comic by a Japanese artist, and that also implies a sort of 'style' as well. Strictly speaking, if you're not Japanese you can't draw Manga, but you can draw comics that LOOK like manga, or manga style comics.

Oh and I don't like the idea of reversing the panel order when Manga is translated to English, Especially when they mirror image the artwork. I'm talking about you, Dark Horse. It's easy enough to figure out how to read the book with the spine on the right, especially if you ever learned to read Hebrew.

[fafner]

Oh and I don't like the idea of reversing the panel order when Manga is translated to English, Especially when they mirror image the artwork. I'm talking about you, Dark Horse. It's easy enough to figure out how to read the book with the spine on the right, especially if you ever learned to read Hebrew.

I never learned to read Hebrew, nor any right-to-left language, but learning to read mangas right to left took me roughly 30 seconds. So no, not specially difficult

[Kitty Lue]

It's just that both terms initially bring about a different idea about what is being referenced to.

I had a feeling it was something like that.

It's easy enough to figure out how to read the book with the spine on the right, especially if you ever learned to read Hebrew.

The only problem I tend to have with reading manga at first is just trying to guess if it'll read right to left or left to right, since some are flipped and some aren't. the first manga I read went right to left and I got confused when trying to read a manga that read left to right. After a while it occurred to me that I was reading the panels in the wrong order.