MangaNEXT wrapup

Well, MangaNEXT is over, the last of the Pocky crumbs have been vacuumed up, and we’re all home again. Now it’s time for the post-mortem: How was the first-ever manga con?

It was small, but for me, going to my first con, this was a good thing. There were only a few industry people there, but I got to meet a lot of them and actually spend some quality time, rather than watch from the audience. There weren’t many people at the panels I attended, but again, that made for great panels—we just pulled the chairs into a circle and talked. The cosplay contingent was out in force, and they were entertaining to watch, but I’m surprised more of them didn’t take the opportunity to meet with editors and creators.

My first panel was Carl Horn’s, and I actually took notes, which I’ll post later as a separate entry. There were only six or seven people in the audience, but they were all enthusiastic fans. Carl passed around samples of Dark Horse’s upcoming books (some of which are still in Japanese editions) and we talked about the manga business and picked apart various titles.

The next morning I attended Erica Friedman’s Manga for Parents panel. Again, the audience was small but very engaged; it included a high school teacher, a translator with kids of her own, and a researcher studying manga and kids. The conversation was wide-ranging, including age ratings, cultural differences, and family dynamics, but we spent a lot of time just chatting about our favorites.

My own panel, Manga4Kids, was next. Tania del Rio and Jack Tse joined me on the panel, and we had two attendees, both of whom were thrilled when they discovered who Tania was. We had a cozy chat about technique and favorite titles, and Tania passed around a copy of her new book, Mangaka America, which is a beautiful art book as well as a glimpse into technique. After the panel, Jack and I did an audio interview with Tania which will be up shortly at MangaCast.

Unfortunately, my panel was at the same time as the Del Rey panel, so I missed the opportunity to hear them announce their new title, Le Chevalier d’Eon. But marketing director Ali Kokmen sat down with Jack and me afterward to discuss their spring titles. I also got to meet Dallas Middaugh (who has just moved to New York and is still waiting for his furniture) and Tricia Narwani of Del Rey.

Artists’ Alley was chock full of talent, from the 13-year-old who drew a chibbi of my daughter to Hiroki Otsuka (link is over-18 only), the artist of Boys of Summer. This was my first exposure to real doujinshi, and I was particularly impressed by the Musajump folks, because they not only had a nice book, they also had the marketing thing down. The book was well produced, the group members were friendly and approachable, and they raffled off Giant Pocky. I predict they will go far! We bought a copy of their Monotone Sky, and they did a beautiful sketch of my daughter. I think that was the highlight of the con for her.

I also chatted briefly with the people from Lime Studios and bought their two books, Karma and Gilt. These are slim volumes, but the art is beautiful and the production values put more traditional publishers to shame. Not surprisingly, Lime is semi-pro; they’re working on a title with Tokyopop Germany.

While I was in Artists’ Alley, Erica introduced me to Tran Nguyen, president of DramaQueen. I’ve been reading about DramaQueen, but their books are hard to find in bookstores so this was the first time I had seen them. Everything we have been hearing is true: The books are beautiful, and Tran truly is excited about them. She was particularly enthusiastic about their new shoujo line, which is aimed at teen readers, a new demographic for DQ.

I also had the opportunity to meet Kai-Ming Cha, who covers comics news for PW Comics Week. I’m a big fan of her articles (obviously, as I link to them religiously every week) so it was great to meet her and talk shop a bit. One of the delights of the con was meeting people whose work I enjoy on the internets, including Ninja Consultant Erin Finnegan and blogger Mitch Hagmaier (who was one of the organizers of the con).

Meanwhile, Jack was off recording the Vertical panel. Lots of podcast goodness came out of this con, although I’m disappointed that I couldn’t go, as I’m a fan of their work and their blog.

We left fairly early on Sunday, but we did make time for one last swing through the dealers’ room and Artists’ Alley. There were lots of things we didn’t do; as I had a pre-teen with me, I didn’t go to too many panels, and we skipped the anime altogether. But it was definitely worthwhile, and I’m already thinking about attending next year.

I want to give a shout-out to Erica, Sean, Eugene, and the other organizers, who faced the usual headaches of organizing any event with grace and aplomb. Everyone who was working at the con was friendly and helpful, and Erica in particular went out of her way to calm my pre-panel jitters. I’m already looking forward to next year!