Dot patterns that you refer to are called 'zipatone'. These were invented very long ago and were a staple in American comics for a long time before anyone in America ever saw any Manga. In fact, these predate the creation of Manga. Another tonal approach of the past was called 'duotone'. The Zipatone was a product name for a sheet of dot and other patterns that came in sheets which you could cut out and peel off and then paste on the art.These dot and other patterns were a creation of necessity. Old printing and photographic technology did not have the range or resolution or variety of techniques that we have today. A 'stat' camera was used to photograph the art for reproduction. Stat cameras 'see' only in black and white. Since anything that is grey like a pencil tone or a paint tone was invisible, artists had to have a way to place tones in the comics that the stat camera could see. Small dots and other line patterns of pure black and white were the answer.Wally Wood was an artist who worked in the 40s 50s 60s and 70s. He was famous for his abilities, including his use of tones via Zipatone and Duotone.

All the tones here are Zipatones, carefully cut out and pasted onto the black and white line art.

Before Zipatone was a product known by the name Ben Day, for it's inventor, created in the late 1800s.Duotone was also popular but a little different, this was a special kind of drawing board which had two different dot patterns already printed onto the paper. The trick was they were invisible. An artist would draw on the Duotone board as normal, with pencil and india ink. Once the black and white ink drawing was done, therewere two different clear liquid 'developers' which would be applied like paint, with a brush. The developers appear like water and go on just like water, however when applied one of the two different dot or line patterns would become visible, depending on which developer was used.

The above image was created using Duotone. Can you tell the difference?

This page was by Russ Heath, another famous American comic artist. In this case all the tones are painted with watered-down india ink. The pages were shot with a regular camera, not a stat camera. This reproduction technique was more expensive and was not used much until the 1970s.I have used Duotone board and developers before, it was quite fun. Iwish it was still available. However both techniques have been discontinued for the most part since the coming of photoshop. I think you can still buy Zipatone or something just like it, but it is not used very often since photoshop is easier andquicker.I don't know what Toren Smith says, but the idea that American or European artists learned about these kinds of tonal approaches from Japanese artists is patently false. If anything it is the other way around.It is correct, however, to say that American and other artists were heavily influenced by Asian comics. Manga and Anime have had a serious impact on world culture, not just American culture!Also true that Frank Miller learned a lot from these forms. He was a big fan of Lone Wolf and Cub.

above Frank Miller

above Lone Wolf and Cub