Archives for June 2007

The YA lit blog Finding Wonderland interviews Svetlana Chmakova, creator of Dramacon and so much more. (Via Blog@Newsarama.)

David Welsh is buying a few new manga this week; there’s a brief but interesting discussion of Death Note in the comments.

Kai-Ming Cha has a nice interview with David Wise and Audry Taylor of Go!Comi. Also up at PWCW: A preview of vol. 5 of The Great Catsby. If you like it, you can read the whole thing for free on the Netcomics site.

New titles news at MangaCast: Ed is disappointed that Tokyopop allowed the announcement of 38 titles to leak before the summer cons, but he rallies and posts cover images anyway. He also points out that the “new titles” that Andre spotted from CPM are actually old titles that are finally showing up, but with Sweet Cream and Strawberries finally on the way, who can complain?

Meanwhile, Andre checks out CMX’s new titles for September. Simon Jones finds the manga in Adult Previews.

Simon also picks up on a recent case that may have far-reaching implications: A court in Japan recently ruled that the owner of a server could be found liable for copyright violations involving works stored on that server. Long story short: This could have a chilling effect on bootleg online manga and possibly scanlations as well.

Lyle has a good idea: How about a discount book club for subscribers to Shojo Beat and Shonen Jump, rewarding their loyalty with lower prices? (Via Sporadic Sequential.)

Mangaijin takes a look at Cowa, by Dragon Ball manga-ka Akira Toriyama. It’s a totally different comic with a totally different head, and it’s only available in scanlation at the moment.

Shogakukan has overtaken Kodansha as the biggest publisher in Japan.

The Japan Times has an entertaining article on the popularity of Japanese culture in Bahrain, while Yahoo News looks at manga and anime tourism.

Elae lists manga creator signings in Germany.

Reviews: Kethylia didn’t care for Mitsukazu Mihara’s Haunted House. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 2 of Ichigenme, Scott Campbell checks out vol. 1 of Dragon Eye and vol. 1 of Brave Story, and Christopher Seaman reads vol. 6 of Pastel. Anime on DVD’s Julie Rosato enjoys La Vie en Rose. Dan Polley checks out vol. 5 of Pichi Pichi Pitch at Manga Life. Connie’s on a manga binge at Slightly Biased Manga, posting reviews of vol. 6 of Law of Ueki, vol. 10 of Swan, vol. 4 of Manhwa Novella Collection: Devil’s Trill, vols. 1, 2, and 3 of Peach Girl: Sae’s Story, and vols. 1 and 2 of Ouran High School Host Club. If that’s not enough Bisco Hatori for you, check out Julie’s review of vol. 2 of Millennium Snow at Mangamaniaccafe. Gina Marysol Ruiz enjoys the manga version of Romeo and Juliet at AmoxCalli. Matt Brady checks out the latest issue of Shojo Beat, which lots of people are picking up for the excerpt from Tezuka’s Princess Knight.

DC has put out a press release on its investment in Flex Comics. Here’s the part we care about:

Flex Comix will create original manga titles that will be distributed digitally across the web and on mobile phones with subsequent print editions available through traditional book trade outlets throughout Japan.

The agreement will position DC Comics as the worldwide English language print and digital publisher of titles created by Flex Comix. In March 2007, DC established DC Comics Japan, Ltd. to invest into and manage its interest in Flex Comix. This marks the first time an English-language publisher has made a significant investment in an overseas manga company. The move will complement DC’s existing manga imprint, CMX.

The rest is mostly self-congratulation. ICv2 expands a bit more, noting that DC is likely to benefit from Flex’s experience in this area (althought the company is only seven months old).

At Comicsnob, Matt Blind posts this week’s manga watch list. And at PopCultureShock, Katherine Dacey-Tsuei starts a new feature, Weekly Recon, in which she lists the week’s new manga and provides brief reviews of a few. Over in Tokyospace, her alter-ego, ChunHyang72 skims off the cream in this week’s Tokyopop Round-Up. Matt Brady looks at this week’s new comics, and his selections include a few manga.

Tokyopop confirmed 38 new titles, including New Pet Shop of Horrors, Futari H, and Your and My Secret (to be titled Boku to Kanojo no XXX). Seventeen of the titles were spotted on Amazon.com by members of the Rosetta Stone Cafe shojo manga group and posted on this thread at Anime on DVD. Simon Jones has a little more on Futari H.

Meanwhile, sharp-eyed Andre finds some listings for future CPM titles.

David Welsh reads Shojo Beat, not his usual fare, and has a few comments. He also picks apart the May sales numbers from ICv2.

Michael Aronson reviews vol. 1 of Tsubasa and vol. 15 of Hunter x Hunter at Manga Life. Active Anime has some new reviewers, and they are jumping right in: Katie Gallant checks out vol. 3 of Scrapped Princess and Sandra Scholes reviews Only Words, while veteran Holly Ellingwood takes an advance look at vol. 1 of Love is a Hurricane. At the Mangamaniaccafe, Julie reviews vol. 2 of Backstage Prince and vol. 3 of Fullmetal Alchemist. Kethylia enjoys vol. 1 of Audition but compares vol. 2 of The Man Who Doesn’t Take Off His Clothes, the light novel, to being stuck on the Jersey Turnpike, which is never a good thing. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie is reading Lovers in the Night, vol. 5 of Loveless, vol. 6 of Boy Princess, vol. 1 of Innocent Bird, and vol. 1 of My Heavenly Hockey Club. Mangaijin checks out chapter 1 of the award-winning only-in-scanlation Ookiku Furikabutte. du9 translates Xavier Guilbert’s review of The Drifting Classroom; it’s worth a click just to see the French cover. At Q-ko-kun, Cameron reviews the light novel Boogiepop and Others. In this week’s Flipped column, David Welsh looks at vol. 1 of King of Thorn and vol. 1 of MPD Psycho.

David Welsh and Simon Jones weigh in on Friday’s announcement that DC is investing in Flex Comics, a fairly new Japanese company that develops manga for online and cell phone as well as print distribution. Everyone thinks that DC’s interest is not so much in Flex’s properties (which include Galaxy Angel II) as in their online manga skillz. Coincidentally, Todd Allen at Comic Book Resources just wrote a column about Kwanza Johnson, DC’s online editor, in which he speculates that DC will roll out their online comics in the fourth quarter. (Via Journalista.) And what about the possibility that DC will use online marketing to push its comics in Japan? Matt Thorn comments at Precocious Curmudgeon:

Just as Americans are reluctant to watch foreign (non-English-language) films, Japanese are for the most part unwilling to read comics that are “backwards,” in which the text is horizontal rather than vertical, which have a large amount of per page, and which, well, aren’t manga.

Hmmm… sounds like U.S. readers ten years ago.

There was some other news. ICv2 reports that graphic novels sales were up in May, at least in comics stores, but manga got nudged out of the top ten in the GNs chart again. The latest Naruto makes it to number 19, just below the first Minx entry, The Plain Janes. Oh, the humiliation!

The Kyoto police identified the 13 manga confiscated last week, and ComiPress has the titles. Simon Jones, who should know, says they are pretty hardcore. But he still has some questions about the way things were done.

The sharp-eyed AoD sleuths pick up some possible new titles from Tokyopop, including Your and My Secret (recently dropped by ADV), New Petshop of Horrors, Mamotte Shugogetten, and Manga Sutra—Futari H, which raised a few eyebrows.

Christopher Butcher looks at this week’s comics, manga and otherwise, and starts off with an appreciation of Death Note.

At MangaCast, Ed has info on four new titles from Kitty Media.

At Same Hat! Same Hat!!, Ryan and Evan take a look at vol. 1 of MPD Psycho, vol. 6 of The Drifting Classroom, and The Art of Hideshi Hino. Comics-and-more gets a jump on Manga Monday with a look at vol. 12 of Death Note and vol. 7 of Hana-Kimi. Ariadne Roberts checks out vol. 1 of Nosatsu Junkie at Anime on DVD. At MangaCast, Mangamaniac Julie reviews vol. 4 of O-Parts Hunter.

Over at Digital Strips, my co-blogger Daku and I did a podcast review of Angel Moxie, by Dan Hess.

Publisher’s Weekly reported yesterday that DC Comics has invested in a fairly new Japanese company, Flex Comics, that produces original manga. There are two interesting things about this: It’s unusual for an American company to invest in a Japanese company, rather than vice versa (Viz, ADV), and Flex puts their comics online first, then collects them into tankoubon, a la Netcomics. It’s clear yet how this will tie in with DC’s CMX imprint.

Speaking of Netcomics, Yaoi Press started running Winter Demon on their site yesterday. This is the first fruits of their partnership, but watch for more. Mangamaniaccafe has the press release.

Hey! Look who’s blogging on the Tezuka: Marvel of Manga site—Shaenon Garrity! She’s taking a look at Tezuka’s manga in English, and she starts with a look at Adolf.

This article uses the Tezuka exhibit as a springboard to showing how manga and anime have become a global phenomenon.

In Japan, the president of Shobunkan lost his last appeal and was found guilty of distributing obscene manga, which means he has to pay the 1.5 million yen penalty. Simon Jones (naturally) has more.

Summer con season is almost upon us, and the press releases are flowing like wine. Here we go: Anime Expo announced their speakers and panels. DMP will be unveiling a new imprint, Platinum, at Anime Expo, and June’s guest there will be Satoru Kannagi, creator of Only the Ring Finger Knows.

Reviews: Dirk Deppey reviews vols. 1 and 2 of Tanpenshu. Kethylia checks out vols. 1 and 2 of DVD and throws in a bit of juicy licensing gossip as well. Billy Aguiar checks out vol. 1 of Trinity Blood for Comics Buyer’s Guide. At Manga Life, Michael Aronson takes a look at vol. 1 of Strawberry 100%. Greg Hackmann reviews vol. 1 of Gunsmith Cats Burst for Anime on DVD. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie checks out vol. 19 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Daijoubu checks out vol. 1 of Shugo Chara! At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 13 of Fullmetal Alchemist and vol. 2 of The Moon and The Sandals.

Divalicious creators T Campbell and Amy Mebberson have some fun with the plot of newspaper strip For Better or For Worse. Don’t know what they’re talking about? Check here for background and here for Shaenon Garrity’s impassioned essay on why Anthony is not the man for Liz. And yes, that’s T and Amy in the last panel of T’s webcomic.

Shaenon Garrity has a special literary Overlooked Manga Festival this week.

There’s a flurry of activity over at MangaCast, where Ed links to previews of The Last Uniform, XHybrid, and Premature Priest; finds a new manga carried in an English magazine; anticipates Anime Expo and the summer con season; and completes the list of new releases from Japan.

Chris Mautner pens a brief overview of Nouvelle Manga and short reviews of a handful of Fanfare/Ponent Mon titles for the Patriot-News.

Business Wire takes a look at the Tokyopop vocabulary guides with a nice twist on the standard “Pow! Bam!” headline.

At Manga Life, Park Cooper does some Q&A with Dan Hipp, Phil Amara, and the creators of Dark Moon Diary.

There’s still time to enter the Same Hat 4-koma contest and win a copy of Junji Ito’s Flesh-Colored Horror manga. Also, if you told them you’d like a copy of their mini-comic, check the list for your name.

The sharp-eyed scouts at Anime on DVD find a few new Tokyopop titles on Amazon.

A manga musical? Johanna has the scoop.

Reviews: Kethylia reviews vols. 1, 2, and 3 of Eden: It’s an Endless World. Mangamaniac Julie reviews vol. 2 of Phoenix for MangaCast. At Prospero’s Manga, Ferdinand reviews vol. 1 of Dragon Eye. and The Twelve Kingdoms, Sea of Shadows. Okazu’s Erica Friedman checks out vol. 2 of Rakka Ryuusui. Jog reads vol. 9 of Golgo 13. At Mecha Mecha Media, John Thomas has a nice long review, with scans, of vol. 1 of MPD Psycho. Matt Brady checks out vol. 1 of Gyakushu!