“This dodgy sub-basement of literature”

In this week’s PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha writes about the Viz/Marvel teamup and interviews Dan Pink about his manga career guide Johnny Bunko and Brigitte Koyama-Richard about her new book One Thousand Years of Manga. The staff also compiles the April top ten list, which is topped by Diary of a Wimpy Kid but is otherwise mostly manga.

Johnny BunkoWatch for Johnny Bunko to get lots of attention from mainstream publications. The Wall Street Journal likes it, although their reference to manga as “this dodgy sub-basement of literature” put me off a bit. (But I like their idea of a sequel about the mortgage business—Mr. Pink, I believe you have found your new book.) Diane Stafford of Kansas City.com picks up on it as well, and Marci Alboher interviews Pink for the NY Times Shifting Careers blog. Finally (for today), Pink has posted a video trailer for the book.

At Comics Should Be Good, Danielle Leigh celebrates her birthday with a wish list of not-so-unreasonable demands, mostly that publishers publish their books and do it on time. Over at Precocious Curmudgeon, David Welsh adds a few wishes of his own.

David also takes a look at this week’s new comics.

Sharp-eyed Lissa Pattillo notes that 801 is warning readers that some of their books may be in short supply, because apparently they are not going to go back to press after the run is sold out. She also notes that the Clover omnibus is listed as being from Dark Horse, not Tokyopop, the original publisher. Neither publisher seems to have the title listed at their site yet, so it’s too early to tell.

Christopher Butcher posts some freaky Junko Mizuno art.

The third episode of the Cloverfield web manga has been translated.

Erin Finnegan has come to rely on Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga for more than just manga criticism. Should we be worried?

At Okatu Champloo, Khursten resumes her series on the history of Shonen Jump and fujoshi with a post on the years 1990-94.

While the weak dollar may put a damper on your vacation, Yamila Abraham notes that there’s a silver lining for companies like Yaoi Press.

Diamond Comics has handed out their Gem Awards, and Viz won the Manga Publisher of the Year award, while vol. 14 of Naruto took Manga TP of the Year.

News from Japan: According to ANN, Kodansha’s Morning 2 magazine (sponsor of the international manga competition) is going from irregular/bimonthly to monthly publication. Sister publication Morning will publish a one-shot manga by Kaiji Kawaguchi, whose Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President was nominated for an Eisner award.

This is not manga, but it’s too good to miss: I’m a big fan of Cameron Stewart’s Sin Titulo webcomic, so I’m mighty pleased that my Digital Strips colleague Jason Sigler has posted an in-depth twopart interview with Mr. Stewart.

Reviews: Sean T. Collins reviews Tekkonkinkreet at All Too Flat (via Journalista). Michelle is not too impressed with vol. 4 of Maison Ikkoku at Soliloquy in Blue. Rob Vollmar reviews vol. 1 of Kingdom of the Winds at Comics Worth Reading. Julie Rosato reads the novel Little Darling and Sakura Eries checks out vol. 5 of Kitchen Princess at Anime on DVD. Lissa Pattillo reviews Family Complex at Kuri-ousity. At Okazu, Erica Friedman reads vol. 8 of Maria-sama ga Miteru. Connie reviews vol. 4 of Apothecarius Argentum and vol. 17 of Astro Boy at Slightly Biased Manga. Julie posts reviews of vol. 1 of Land of the Blindfolded and Necrataholic at the Manga Maniac Cafe.

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Comments

  1. The link for David’s look at this week’s new comics is actually pointing to the Okazu Maria-sama review.

  2. Fixed! Thanks!

    Where would I be without my readers?

  3. Aw, shucks. :)

  4. “This dodgy sub-basement of literature” – I once read somewhere that comics are “…the bastard child of art and literature.” I was so enamored of the quote in college that I hung it on my wall.