Archives for August 2008

Rob’s Comic Weblog, a new blog that focuses on “Comics Structuralism, Visual Theory, Visual Culture, and Funnybooks,” has an interesting post on what has gone wrong in the manga business, including comments on individual companies and the OEL debate.

Ed Chavez notes that a new issue of the magazine Faust is out in Japan, and it includes an episode of Megatokyo.

Lori Henderson has to make some hard choices as she goes through the July Previews.

Danielle Leigh wishes Tokyopop were more open with fans about which series are on and which are off.

Erica Friedman posts this week in yuri at Okazu.

Otakon was this weekend, and it was well covered on the internet. Gia learned that ADV is doing a little better, although they can’t talk manga just yet, and she attended the Yaoi Press panel, which had one new announcement (a BL title set in ancient Rome by Le Peruggine) and suggestions about what to submit. (Gia has lots of anime coverage as well.)

Dylan and Harley Acres and Sara Hinson of Rumic World have a comprehensive article on the Rumiko Takahashi exhibit in the Ginza, including an account by a visitor.

Blogger Shiz answers questions about Broccoli Books at the Broccoli blog. It looks like a couple of their books are delayed for various reasons, and vols. 10 and 11 of Kamui are on hold.

Death Note creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata have started a new series, Bakuman, in Weekly Jump, and Anna reads the first chapter at Manga, not anime!

Reviews: Danielle Leigh takes a look at four series at Manga Over Flowers, and there’s something for everyone: Reborn!, Do Whatever You Want, Suppli, and Mushishi. Someone blogging as Malcontent Content really enjoys Mitsukazu Mihara’s The Embalmer, which I just named in an interview as one of the best manga you may not have read. The Manga Recon team posts a week’s worth of Manga Minis at PopCultureShock. Mangamaniac Julie reviews Candy at the MangaCast and vol. 31 of Boys Over Flowers at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Lori Henderson reviews vol. 5 of Good Witch of the West and vol. 5 of Grenadier at Manga Xanadu. Sesho checks out vol. 2 of Rose Hip Zero. I’m falling behind on reviews at Manga Jouhou, so here’s the latest batch: D.M. Evans on vol. 1 of Fairy Tail and vol. 1 of Gun Blaze West and Lissa Pattillo on Red and A Strange and Mystifying Story. Leroy Douresseaux takes a look at the Fifth Anniversary Collector’s Edition of Shonen Jump. At ComicMix, Andrew Wheeler takes a look at three titles from Yen, vol. 2 of Kaze no Hana, vol. 3 of Alice on Deadlines, and vol. 4 of Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning. Lissa Pattillo reviews vol 8 of +Anima and vol. 15 of Black Cat at Kuriousity. David Welsh enjoys Tezuka’s Dororo. Tiamat’s Disciple posts his impressions of vols. 1 and 2 of Record of Lodoss War: The Lady of Pharis. Michelle Smith reviews vols. 7 and 8 of Nana. Johanna Draper Carlson recommends vol. 1 of Papillon.

Just a quick note to say that Tokyopop is putting some volumes of manga online; I posted the URLs and a brief comment from marketing director Marco Pavia at Digital Strips.

When all the changes were going on at Tokyopop, word leaked out that Peach Fuzz creator Lindsay Cibos was drawing Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, which was always drawn as well as written by Tania del Rio. Johanna Draper Carlson follows up with an interview with Tania, who says that she was just taking a break from the art duties and reveals that she is working on a two-volume series about quinceañeras for Tokyopop. (Image is one of del Rio’s Sabrina covers, presumably (c) Archie Comics, as she says in the interview that Sabrina is work-for-hire.)

It seems like everyone but John Jakala (and me) go to interview Tite Kubo at SDCC, so John takes matters into his own hands and imagines an interview, as well as a happy aftermath.

If, like me, you didn’t make it to SDCC, hike on over to MangaCast, where Ed Chavez has posted audio of several panels: Broccoli Books, Del Rey, and Chip Kidd’s Bat-Manga panel.

At Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind profiles DMP and looks at new releases and online pre-orders.

Sesho finds a new Boogiepop novel at Borders.

Otakon starts today, and Gia, and Erica Friedman, and the Ninjaconsultants will be there.

News from Germany: Manly Manga and More brings lots of German manga news, including August releases, best-sellers from May-June and July, and a list of new titles and cancelled series.

Before the reviews, an interesting note: I like Casey Brienza’s reviews a lot—she is smart and perceptive and puts the books she reviews in their proper context. At her LJ, she tends to be a hard grader; she ranks titles on a 1-to-10 scale and I’m always surprised at how many get a 6 or less. The reviews she writes for ANN are just as smart and just as critical, but she notes on her LJ that she has had to inflate the grades there so the bell curve centers on a B. She says her opinions haven’t changed, just the way they are “coded,” but it’s a point to ponder. One of the problems of using a scale or letter grades is that everyone has a different center, and if you’re not familiar with that particular writer, the grade may not be that helpful. I avoid ratings myself because I think most manga will have different values for different readers, depending on their tastes and interests. Anyway, check out Casey’s recent reviews of vols. 1-2 of Sand Chronicles and vol. 28 of Naruto, three books she seemed to like anyway, to get a taste of her reviewing style.

Reviews: Birthday girl Lissa Pattillo reads vol. 1 of Black God and vol. 9 of Love Mode, and invites guest reviewer Kagami Han’ei in to review vol. 4 of Hissing, at Kuriousity. Drop in and wish her a happy birthday! Deb Aoki weighs in on Yen+ at About.com and invites readers to vote for their favorite series. At PopCultureShock, Chloe Ferguson reviews vol. 1 of You’re So Cool, which she finds entertaining despite the fact that it breaks no new ground, and Isaac Hale reads Tokyo Is My Garden. Sabrina reviews vols. 1-3 of Switch and Dan Polley checks out vol. 3 of Shiki Tsukai at Comics Village. EvilOmar has more brief manga reviews up at About Heroes. Connie checks out vol. 2 of Manga Sutra, vol. 7 of Elemental Gelade, and vol. 19 of Berserk at Slightly Biased Manga. Oyceter reads a little manhua, vols. 1-2 of Knight Princess, at Sakura of DOOM. Julie checks out vol. 9 of Kagetora, vol. 5 of My Heavenly Hockey Club, and vol. 1 of Sugar Princess: Skating to Win at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Jason Green reads vol. 1 of One Pound Gospel at PLAYBACK:stl. At Read About Comics, Greg McElhatton enjoys vol. 1 of Toto, a book I liked a lot as well. At Manga Life, Barb Lien-Cooper picks up Zondervan’s Manga Bible and is surprised at how much she likes it. Also up at Manga Life: Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 12 of Tail of the Moon and vol. 3 of Honey and Clover, and Park Cooper on vols. 1-3 of Psycho Busters. Erica Friedman posts part 1 of her review of vol. 5 of Yuri Hime S at Okazu. New at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page: Aishiteiru no yo Kyohei-san!, Silver, and Yasuko to Kenji. Tangognat reads One Pound Gospel and vol. 1 of Kiichi and the Magic Books. Leroy Douresseaux checks out vol. 2 of Gimmick! at The Comic Book Bin. Sakura Kiss reviews vol. 1 of Mister Mistress at The Yaoi Review. James Fleenor looks at vol. 1 of Wild Ones and vol. 1 of Time Stranger Kyoko at Anime Sentinel. Billy Aguiar is back from his SDCC break and posts reviews of vol. 1 of Warcraft: Legends, vol. 1 of 1520, vol. 1 of Jade of Bango, and Vidia and the Fairy Crown at Prospero’s Manga. And I’m finally catching up with Sesho, who has posted podcast reviews of Rose Hip Rose, vol. 1 of xxxHolic, and Yen+ (part 1, part 2), as well as some closing thoughts on Yen+.

According to editor A. Neculai (quoted at Boys Next Door) and writer Tina Anderson, who was a contributor, the global BL anthology Rush is looking for a new publisher. The anthology was originally published by DramaQueen, but little has been heard from that quarter lately. Tina:

All of us at Team RUSH have waited a very long time but our patience with DQ has run out; no one has been contacted on the RUSH staff, including our editor–so we’re now seeking a publisher willing to pick the seasonal anthology up where it left off. We were a self-contained group that met our deadlines, worked for peanuts [most often for nothing] and believed in RUSH and were rewarded for it by fans!

As of this writing, there is nothing about it on the DQ site or forums. Lissa Pattillo, who was a subscriber, notes at Kuriousity that she spent $30 on the subscription and has little to show for it. (Image by Laura “Zel” Carboni from the story “Roulette,” written by Anderson.)

ICv2 posts the Bookscan top 20 graphic novels for July. Interestingly, manga claims only half the slots, although of course three of them are Naruto. Congratulations to Queenie Chan, whose In Odd We Trust is the only global manga title on the list. Vols. 1 and 2 of Death Note also make the list, which is interesting evidence that this series has legs.

ICv2 also has more info on the VizKids line.

David Welsh looks over this week’s new manga, including vol. 7 of Kitchen Princess, which is a taste both he and I have acquired.

Bluewater Comics is starting a global manga line based on its properties; Johanna Draper Carlson is not impressed.

Changes are afoot at Manga Village, where Editor-in-Chief Lori Henderson announced this week that they are starting a manga of the month feature. They have also started posting reviews every day, rather than once a week, so check in more often. And if you have always wanted to be a pundit, here’s your big chance: They are looking for a BL manga reviewer.

News from Japan: The September issue of Monthly Comic Ace has previews of new Gurren Lagann and When They Cry—Higurashi manga. ANN has details and kindly reminds me that Higurashi was one of the comics in the debut issue of Yen+ magazine.

Reviews: Ed Sizemore reads a title I really enjoyed, vol. 2 of Kiichi and the Magic Books, at Comics Worth Reading. Micole has brief and spoilery commentary on vol. 18 of Tsubasa at Coffeeandink, and she and others expand on it a bit in comments. Michelle reviews vols. 5 and 6 of Nana, and vol. 34 of InuYasha at Soliloquy in Blue. Tiamat’s Disciple checks out vols. 1 and 2 of Brigadoon, vols. 1-6 of Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, and vols. 1-2 of Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit’s Tale.

Today is the 63rd anniversary of the Hiroshima bombings, John Thomas reminds us, and he takes a look at two manga that deal with that event and its aftermath: Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms and Barefoot Gen.

The MangaCast team weighs in with their selections from this week’s new manga, and Ed has covers and commentary on the new titles from Viz.

Also Erin Finnegan posts cover images and lots of other info about the upcoming foodie manga Oishinbo.

Matt Blind presents the week’s manga rankings (online sales) at Rocket Bomber, and they are more readable now that he posts the top 10 and puts the rest behind a cut. Somehow 500 titles at once was just too much to digest.

I don’t usually cover anime, but I was interested to read about Scott’s VonSchilling’s experiment at Anime Almanac: He went a month without fansubs and found that there was plenty out there to see for not very much money.

Reviews: Sam Kusek gives vol. 3 of Fairy Tail an A at PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog. EvilOmar posts some brief manga reviews, including Aspirin Crayon Shinchan, and Me and the Devil Blues, at About Heroes. Lissa Pattillo reads Love Circumstances and Love Lesson, and D.M. Evans checks out vol. 5 of Wild Adapter, at Manga Jouhou. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie posts her take on vols. 16, 17, and 18 of Berserk, vol. 12 of Iron Wok Jan, vol. 35 of Dragon Ball, vol. 5 of Go Go Heaven, vol. 20 of Eyeshield 21, vol. 13 of Saint Seiya, vol. 8 of Click, and vol. 5 of Kashimashi.