Pictures from the past

Start off with this one: Matt Thorn dissects the 1970 issue of Margaret that he was showing off the other day, and he finds some odd juxtapositions. Fascinating reading! (Image of vintage ad taken from Matt’s site.)

ICv2 has BookScan’s top 20 graphic novels for August, and there are surprisingly few manga in the top ten: the latest volumes of Naruto, Rosario + Vampire, and Fruits Basket The second half is pretty well populated with manga, but this chart looks more like something from Diamond than BookScan.

I was hesitant to link to this because the name is so condescending, but the Chicks on Anime roundtable is actually pretty good, mainly because the women involved are smart and perceptive and know a lot about the subject. So just ignore the title, and the obnoxious animated samurai girl ad that pops up to interrupt your reading, and check it out. This week’s topic: Harem anime and manga.

Is there too much Viz? Danielle Leigh looks at that prodigious publisher’s output for this week alone in her latest Manga Before Flowers column.

For those who like to plan ahead, Lissa Pattillo posts the October release list at Kuriousity.

Looking backward, Matt Blind charts the August new releases, online pre-orders for the last week of August, and the newest of the new titles at Rocket Bomber.

The Japan Times has an article on the Foreign Minstry’s international manga competition.

Erica Friedman offers her opinion on a variety of (mostly) yuri-related topics at Okazu.

At Mecha Mecha Media, John Thomas continues his summer round-up of worthwhile reading and shares a few photos from Kumoricon.

Does any Tezuka manga really need defending? Kristy Valenti takes up the cudgels in favor of MW at comiXology.

News from Japan: Aria/Aqua creator Kozue Amano will start a new manga series in Comic Blade magazine’s January issue. Two manga magazines are folding, Magazine Z and Comi Di Gi+. And Square Enix is launching an online magazine in October.

Reviews: Ed Sizemore has a thoughtful review of Disappearance Diary up at Comics Worth Reading. Clive Owen takes a look at vol. 9 of Enchanter at Animanga Nation. John Thomas reviews vol. 1 of Real and Lori Henderson reads vol. 3 of High School Debut at Comics Village. Jonathan reviews vol. 1 of Speed Grapher at Manly Manga and More. Eric Turner checks out Solanin at Manga Jouhou. The Manga Recon reviewers take a look at three otaku-friendly novels at PopCultureShock. Connie thoroughly enjoys Strawberry-chan 2: The Super-Cool Life of Strawberry-chan at Slightly Biased Manga. Jason Van Horn reads vol. 1 of Read Or Die (R.O.D.) and vol. 6 of Love Hina at The Hachiko. Emily’s latest find is Nanako Robin at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. Lissa Pattillo reviews vol. 2 of Fairy Cube and Delivery Cupid at Kuriousity. Julie checks out Maid in Heaven and Wanted at the Manga Maniac Cafe. At Manga Life, David Rasmussen reviews two one-shots, Times 2 (X2) and All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, and Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane enjoys vol. 3 of Sand Chronicles. Davey C. Jones reviews Samurai Champloo Complete Collection, Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 1 of Tokko, and Rachel Bentham reads Love + Alpha at Active Anime.

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Comments

  1. Tezuka’s work probably does need to be defended from time to time. Those of us who’ve grown to appreciate him can sometimes forget that his work can sometimes be bewildering to the unitiated, who may have difficulty reconcile his cartooning style with his subject matter. And Tezuka occasionally makes some truly odd creative choices, or puts himself in a position where his reach exceeds his grasp.

  2. I feel the same way about young women using “chicks” to refer to themselves, it just sends the wrong message.

  3. Pat, it’s my impression that they would just have soon not referred to themselves that way—I believe it was imposed on them by the editors. Which makes it much worse, IMHO.