Blu’s revival

Love ModeBlu fans take heart: A Tokyopop editor reveals that neither Love Mode nor Gakuen Heaven has been cancelled outright, although solicitations for both were listed as “cancelled” (which may mean postponed) in the July Previews. Vol. 10 of Love Mode is due out in August. “If it sells as well as volume 9 or better, it will be very difficult for us to not do volume 11,” said the Blu editor who goes by the nom de forum Shonen-Ai-Samurai. (Blu Forums are here, but you have to be 18 and register to read them.) I haven’t been to the Blu website for a while, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well constructed it was compared to the main Tokyopop site. I found the book I was looking for right away, and the catalog description linked to the Amazon page in case I might want to, you know, buy it or something.

Lissa Pattillo summarizes and analyzes Tokyopop’s recent moves at ComiPress.

At Precocious Curmudgeon, David Welsh lists his picks from this week’s new comics.

Ack!The 2008 Harvey nominations are up, and the immediate question among manga fans is: “What were they smoking?” For the best American edition of foreign material category, the judges looked over a year that saw the publication of Tekkonkinkreet, Mushishi, Osamu Tezuka’s MW, To Terra, Tokyo Is My Garden, and significant chunks of Emma, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, and After School Nightmare, not to mention NBM’s beautiful edition of Run, Bong-gu Run, and opted for the manga version Romeo and Juliet, which is pretty good but not exactly original, and the hideously drawn Witchblade, which is based on an American comic. You get the feeling that the judges felt grudgingly obligated to pick some of that manga stuff so they just threw a dart at a stack of old Previews. David Welsh is aghast at the Witchblade nomination at Precocious Curmudgeon. (Illustration: The anatomically improbable cover of vol. 1 of Witchblade.)

Translators Alethea and Athena Nibley discuss the fine points of English adaptations at Manga Life.

JP Meyer links to a download of that manga about the USS Washington, which was produced by the U.S. Navy and originally published in Japanese.

Attention Bizenghast fans: There’s a preview of volume 5 up at MySpace.

News from Japan: Yu Yagami, creator of Hikkatsu!, Dokkoida?!, and Those Who Hunt Elves, is starting a new manga serial, Dageki Joi Saori, about a doctor who wields a mean bat, in Comic Charge magazine.

Hoero PenReviews: Khursten discusses vols. 1 and 2 of Hoero Pen, the story of a mad mangaka, at the MangaCast. Casey Brienza reviews vol. 1 of Minima! and vol. 1 of Fairy Cube at ANN. The denizens Comics Village have a new set of reviews up: Charles Tan on vol. 8 of Reborn!, Dan Polley on vol. 2 of Yozakura Quartet, Lori Henderson on vol. 6 of Love*Com, John Thomas on vol. 5 of MPD-Psycho, and Sabrina on vol. 1 of Your and My Secret. Scott VonSchilling of Anime Almanac enjoys the light novel Maid Machinegun. Lori Henderson gives five stars to vol. 2 of Pick of the Litter at Manga Xanadu. Tiamat’s Disciple posts thoughts and impressions on vols. 1-3 of Dragon Drive. ComiPress translates part 2 of a Japanese writer’s lengthy critique of Kara no Kyoukai. At Manga Life, Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane reviews vols. 1-3 of A.I. Revolution, James Hanrahan looks at vol. 2 of Yozakura Quartet, and Park Cooper checks out vol. 5 of Puri Puri and vol. 5 of Strawberry 100%. Over at Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 6 of Kitchen Princess and Gentle Cage, Scott Campbell reads vol. 6 of Welcome to the NHK, and Rachel Bentham takes a look at Blue Sky. Julie likes vol. 7 of Chibi Vampire at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Sesho has an audio review up of vol. 1 of Psycho-Busters at Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews. John Jakala has a brief but enthusiastic recommendation of Cat-Eyed Boy at Sporadic Sequential. Dennis O’Neil recommends Barefoot Gen at ComicMix (via Journalista).

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  3. […] of that manga stuff so they just threw a dart at a stack of old Previews.” – Brigid Alverson, trying to make heads or tails of the thought process behind the 2008 Harvey […]

  4. […] this week I was working on a post that summarized a few less-than-enthusiastic reactions to the Harvey Award nominations. One nomination in particular kind of […]