Industry notes, gift ideas, and more

At last, some answers: Manga Recon posts Tokyopop’s 2009 shipping list, which provides reassurance that many series are in fact going to live on, along with a handful of new ones. But over at The Beat, Heidi has vague news about layoffs at Tokyopop.

Kai-Ming Cha has more thoughts on the manga industry from Viz veep Alvin Lu. Alex Hoffman takes a look at the U.S. manga industry and sees it divided into haves and have-nots—but he notes that publishers can change their own fates.

For those who are thinking more about next week than next year, Deb Aoki has some gift ideas for shoujo manga fans at About.com, and Hazel takes a look at this month’s new manga at Anime Infatuation.

Park Cooper interviews manga adaptor Gerard Jones at Manga Life.

School Library Journal (which hosts another blog I edit, Good Comics for Kids) has named vol. 1 of Me and the Devil Blues as one of its Best Adult Books for High School Students 2008—the only manga to make their graphic novel list. Also, the ALA’s YALSA has published their nominations for their Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. (Via David Welsh.)

Manga goes mainstream watch: Naruto made the list of Yahoo’s top ten search terms this year. Can world domination be far behind?

Happy blogiversary to Lori Henderson, who has been delivering news, opinion, and reviews at Manga Xanadu for a year now. Well done!

There’s a manga show on right now at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

ComiPress translates a Chinese article on the French and Chinese comics markets.

News from Japan: Ed Chavez posts the weekly manga rankings from Taiyosha at MangaCast. The boy band Hey! Say! JUMP is getting its own manga in Ciao magazine. Kitchen Princess creator Natsumi Ando is launching a new series, Arisa, about twin sisters with very different personalities, in Nakayoshi magazine. Also in Nakayoshi, Haruka Fukushima has drawn a five-page spinoff of her popular Instant Teen – Just Add Nuts manga.

Reviews: Danielle Leigh reviews vol. 1 of Bound Beauty, a new manga from Her Majesty’s Dog creator Mick Takeuchi, at Comics Should Be Good. John Jakala scratches the James Bond itch with a review of vol. 5 of Golgo 13 at Sporadic Sequential. At Comics Worth Reading, Ed Sizemore recommends vol. 14 of Tail of the Moon Johanna Draper Carlson is pleased to discover You Will Fall in Love. Johanna also posts some brief reviews of new Viz titles. While everyone else was arguing about Bat-Manga, Deb Aoki actually read it, and she posts her thoughts at About.com. At Comics Village, Dan Polley reviews vol. 1 of Gankutsuou and Alex Hoffman reads vol. 1 of Kieli. Connie checks out vol. 3 of Sand Chronicles, vol. 3 of Kedamono Damono, vol. 8 of Loveless, and vol. 6 of MPD-Psycho at Slightly Biased Manga. James Fleenor gives his impression of vol. 1 of Inukami! at Anime Sentinel. Ben Leary enjoys vol. 2 of Coyote Ragtime Show at Mania.com. Dave Ferraro has a quick take on vol. 1 of Papillon at Comics-and-More. Michelle Smith reads vol. 1 of One Piece and vol. 1 of Case Closed at Soliloquy in Blue. At Manga Life, Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane reviews vol. 4 of Honey and Clover and Park Cooper checks out vol. 3 of Dororo and vol. 20 of Whistle! Tiamat’s Disciple posts his thoughts and impressions on vol. 1 of Hoshin Engi. Julie reads vol. 1 of St. Dragon Girl at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Emily’s latest find is Half and Half at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. Lissa Pattillo reviews vol. 1 of Vampire’s Portrait and vol. 4 of Winter Demon, guest reviewer Marsha Reid reads vol. 2 of Goong, and guest reviewer Gizmo checks out vol. 4 of Zombie Loan at Kuriousity. Sakurapassion posts a brief take on FreshMen at The Yaoi Review. Kris, who seems to be on a quest to review every yaoi manga ever published, posts reviews of Just Around the Corner, vol. 3 of Magical JxR, and Say Please at Manic About Manga.

Did you enjoy this article? Consider supporting us.

Comments

  1. You better believe I’m on a quest to review every yaoi manga published! Actually when you don’t have a paying job and need something to do, getting more of my reviews up fills in some of the time that I’m not searching for a job! I actually want to get more shojo and shonen titles up, but when I’m on review lists for several yaoi manga publishers that takes up most of my time and space.