I do love that so many people are getting into art and comics through manga and anime, and I'm usually not so bitter, but gah, foolishness abound. I think a lot of the competitive-ness is in peoples heads, and it seems much of it comes from amateurs, or younger pros [I remember some folks on TokyoPop's message boards demanding to know the sale stats or payment rates on some titles..... I think you or Rikki were involved in that thread. Rude, rude behaviour]. Most experienced pros I've watched don't exhibit this behaviour, though I could see there being some who do [and notice a lot of "fans" who try to impose sorts of grudges between creators, like those who tried to make fights with two creators over LJ posting disagreements]. The community would be a lot happier as a whole if this stuff wasn't an issue.

And if everyone read more about/by Osamu Tezuka ^_^