Archives for March 2009

At Manga Punk, David Doub talks to Alison Acton, the artist for Tokyopop’s adaptation of The Faerie Path.

Check this out: The blog Satisfactory Comics has done a whole month of Lone Wolf and Cub posts! (Hat tip: Derik Badman)

The Ninja Consultants have posted their latest Manga Recon podcast, with a discussion of a manga creator’s schedule and a whole raft of interesting books.

You think your to-read stack is high? Take a look at Tangognat’s!

Newly announced guests at Sakura-con include graphic designer/manga artist Yashitoshi ABe, manga creator Koichi Ohata, and J-culture scholar Roland Kelts.

News from Japan: Here’s a new spin on the whole global-manga thing: The newest assistant on Prince of Tennis is American artist Jamie Lano. The fourth series of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha will launch in the very first issue of Kadokawa Shoten’s Nyantype. S.A. (Special A) is coming to an end in Hana to Yume, but two new series are starting up in that magazine.

Reviews

A Library Girl on vol. 1 of Angelic Layer (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Snow Wildsmith on Author’s Pet (Fujoshi Librarian)
Connie on vol. 17 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga)
Billy Aguiar on Heaven’s Will (Prospero’s Manga)
Michelle Smith on Heaven’s Will
Julie on vol. 3 of Kitchen Princess (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Emily on Love Survival (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Connie on vol. 31 of Oh My Goddess (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 15 of O-Parts Hunter (Slightly Biased Manga)
Cathy on vol. 1 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (it can’t all be about manga…)
Sadie Mattox on Solanin (The Extremely Graphic Novel Blog)
Ai Kano on vol. 7 of Strawberry 100% (Animanga Nation)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vols. 1-3 of To Terra (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Melinda Beasi on Tokyo Babylon (Comics Should Be Good)
Casey Brienza on vol. 6 of Vampire Knight (ANN)

The big news of the day is that the New York Times has launched not one, but three “graphic books” best-seller lists. “Graphic books”? My guess is that there was a big debate down on the cube farm about whether “graphic novels” was a hoity-toity expression for plain ol’ comic books, and this emerged as some sort of a compromise, because I have been writing about comics for four years and reading them for over forty, and I have never heard anyone use the term “graphic books” before.

The manga list evoked a combination of chuckles and WTF?! around the blogosphere, because—inevitably—eight of the ten books on the list were recent volumes of Naruto. Rather shamefully, the NYT put the same generic tagline on seven of them. What, you didn’t have an intern who could spend an hour reading the blurbs on the backs of the books and writing a different one for each?

The real head-scratcher, though, is the two books that aren’t Naruto: vol. 8 of MPD-Psycho and vol. 11 of Eden. Both books carry an 18+ rating and come shrink-wrapped, which means that bookstores are less likely to carry them and the potential audience is somewhat limited. The direct market is the logical home for these books, but according to Diamond’s numbers, the last volume of MPD-Psycho, which was released in mid-December, sold fewer than 2,000 copies through them. The last volume of Eden didn’t chart at all in May or June 2008, which means it must have sold fewer than about 1,100 copies. Even Nana does better than that, and we all know the DM is a boys’ club. By contrast, volumes of Naruto sell in the 5,000-copy range in the direct market and probably do much better in chain bookstores (BookScan doesn’t make public the number of copies sold, so it’s hard to tell).

There are all sorts of explanations for this, of course. Perhaps vol. 10 of Eden, which was released in May, sold 1,000 copies each in May and June, a relatively robust number for the direct market but not enough to get it onto the Diamond charts. Also, the NYT charts include online sales, and lots of folks probably get their MPD-Psycho fix online. The person who has been online sales most assiduously is Matt Blind at Rocket Bomber, and it will be interesting to compare his February 28 chart (which is not out yet) with the NYT’s.

Here’s what I think: Manga like MPD-Psycho or Eden have a pretty dedicated following, and it’s entirely possible that almost everyone who is going to buy them buys them the week they come out, causing a blip in the ratings big enough to elbow aside everything but Naruto. That’s probably a good thing, because it brings those series to public attention. However, a title that sells fewer copies each week but more in the long run will never make the NYT chart, although we can expect more variety once Viz’s latest Naruto blitz is over.

It would be nice if we could have one cumulative, continuously updated chart with real sales numbers, but given all the different channels through which comics move, that’s not too likely. The NYT is just one snapshot; it’s weekly and covers a variety of sales channels, so it’s a bit broader in scope than the Diamond and BookScan charts even though it covers a narrower slice of time. Put enough snapshots together, and you start to see the big picture, although there may be big holes just beyond the borders—who knows? In the end, the most important thing about the NYT list is that it’s the New York Times that’s publishing it, and that in itself has a lot of value.

J. Caleb Mozzocco has a good laugh over the whole thing at Every Day Is Like Wednesday. ICv2 actually asked about the “graphic books” moniker and got an answer that confirms my suspicion that everyone was thinking just a bit too hard about this. Other blogosphere reax:

Gia at Anime Vice
Ed Chavez at MangaCast
Robot 6
The Beat (as always, read the comments!)

Netcomics started out with some light manhwa titles, including some BL, and has gotten more diverse as time goes on. They are currently carrying global manga from Yaoi Press as well as Japanese teen-love manga from LuvLuv and some American comics as well. Their latest press release, below the cut, notes the addition of five new Japanese yaoi series to their lineup, including Age Called Blue by est em, the creator of Seduce Me After the Show and Red Blinds the Foolish. RightStuf lists the print volume as available in July. Also on tap are two titles by Tomoko Yamashita, who sounds kind of interesting—this blog post has some background and sample covers. (Japanese cover of Age Called Blue swiped from Baka-Updates.)

NETCOMICS, the graphic novel publisher that specializes in the online pay-per-view service of manhwa and manga series, is excited to announce the release of five new, fresh from Japan, yaoi titles to be published in the coming months. Age Called Blue and Dining Bar Akira will hit the shelves in August 2009. Black-Winged Love, Love Full of Scars, and Merry Family Plan will be available in October 2009. For those ever-eager fans who can’t possibly wait that long, the publisher will be debuting these titles at NETCOMICS.com months ahead of their release dates—beginning as early as March 2009.

Dining Bar Akira by Tomoko Yamashita centers on the happenings in a bar Kuimonodokoro Akira runs. Although the 32-year-old has never given thought to being in a relationship with a man, Akira seriously considers the proposition when he receives a sudden love confession from his male colleague, 26 year-old Torihara. It’s no secret that new relationships can bring about their fair share of stress, but one with another man? And, with a colleague to boot? Finding himself in quite a conundrum, Akira struggles with his pride as an older man facing a younger and male pursuer, never mind that busy bar he’s responsible for managing.

Age Called Blue by Est Em follows two friends, Billy and Nick. These boys have been living as roommates while doing everything they can to promote their band, “The Rebels.” Billy has been harboring feelings for Nick for some time, but hasn’t yet found the nerve to try and move their relationship beyond the boundaries of normal friendship. In the world of struggling artists, trouble is always on the horizon, and is soon to rear its head as the other members of the band grow tired of Nick’s free-thinking and easy-going ways. They want the “hippy” out of the band, leaving Billy with a heart-wrenching choice: Should he follow his life-long desire to make music, a career he’s thrown countless hours of time into? Or, should he side with the boy who stole his heart long ago, his true best friend, Nick?

Black-winged Love by Tomoko Yamashita focuses on the predicaments gay characters face because of their sexuality. In a tale of schoolboy crushes, a protective sister tries to stop a group of homophobes from harassing her brother. Worse yet, she discovers it’s the object of her brother’s affections leading the harassment. Another young student, Kanome, finds himself alone in the library with a classmate he has the hots for. By sexually charging the conversation, Kanome’s clever tongue may score him a bit of action. A more serious sketch follows Minori, a boy who is debating about coming out to his family. Shortly after he decides that neither he nor his family is ready, his sister jumps the gun and outs him at the dinner table. Once the shock fades and the dust settles, will this family be able to come together in acceptance, or has Minori forever torn his family apart? Other stories introduce the heartbreak of unreciprocated life-long devotion, a glimpse into the nightlife of a sultry hustler, and the hilarious antics caused by sexual tension between friends. Black-winged Love touches on some of the more serious struggles that can arise from one’s sexuality, without forgetting the lighter side of love.

Love Full of Scars by Delico Psyche follows some of the rougher, odder, and even taboo relationships known to the yaoi genre. Youkou is a heartthrob who is reputed to have quite the technique in the bedroom. His friend, Yukio, well aware of his reputation, begins to worry when Youkou starts coming home with cuts and bruises. In another atypical story, Ishimoto discovers he and his driver’s ed. instructor share the same passion for action-hero figurines. While bonding over their miniature, plastic heroes, the two get hopelessly drunk, and Ishimoto finds himself butt-naked in his instructor’s bed the next morning. In an odd tale of forbidden love, Fumi is quite taken with the handsome man his brother has become while studying abroad, perhaps even a little too taken. Conflicted by desires to both embrace and push each other away, these siblings struggle to regain a normal, brotherly bond in the face a tempting, tabooed path. The stories in Love Full of Scars tell of both the physical and emotional marks that tough love can leave on a person.

Merry Family Plan—Sumitomo Morozumi’s debut work—compiles her light-but-lively stories that have just the right mixture of comedy and boyhood angst, filled with plenty of adorable moments. Typical school boy Shibutani has always had trouble staying interested in his girlfriends, but when mild-mannered Yoshizumi transfers to his class, his interest is strangely piqued. As Shibutani tries to get to know his new classmate, he finds Yoshizumi to be awkward and even hostile. Other delightfully-crafted stories include a high school boy with a bizarre mask fetish deeply in lust with his dentist; a boyfriend’s jealously over the close relationship between his lover and a best friend; and a couple who are overtly pouting over who should be on top in the bedroom. The stories of Merry Family Plan rest humorously on the lighter side. Coupled with Morozumi’s unique art style, this wacky romp down yaoi lane is sure to leave readers feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

All of these highly-anticipated titles are hot-off-the-press in Japan and are expected to leave NETCOMICS’ yaoi fans giggling, squealing, and craving more of that sweet boys’ love action. Aside from these five steamy new titles, NETCOMICS remains the leading publisher for online yaoi reading pleasures. Over 30 boys love and yaoi titles are currently available with just the click of a mouse.

If you missed Newsflash: Teen Girls Read Manga!, the panel that Robin Brenner moderated with me, Kate Dacey, and Trisha Narwani at NYCC, be sure to catch Rocco Staino’s writeup at School Library Journal.

ICv2 has the BookScan top 20 graphic novels for February, and all we can say is, it’s still a Naruto world. Watchmen topped the list, not too surprisingly, but it was immediately followed by four volumes of Naruto, with two more making the list a little further down. Two new series made the list, Otomen from Viz and Maximum Ride, the global manga based on James Patterson’s YA novels, from Yen Press, along with a handful of older titles.

Meanwhile, ANN reports that this week’s USA Today bestseller list includes five volumes of Naruto, marking the first time so many volumes of manga have made the top 150 list.

The MangaCast team checks out this week’s new manga.

At Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson makes her choices from this month’s Previews.

Anne Ishii explains Black Jack for the Canadian Medical Association Journal. (Via Journalista.)

News from Japan: The nominees for the 13th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize have been announced, and they include a couple of titles that are already on their way over here: Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku: The Inner Chamber and Daisuke Igarashi’s Children of the Sea, both coming from Viz, and Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s autobiography, A Drifting Life, due out any day now from Drawn & Quarterly. Also on the list: the Jesus/Buddha comedy mashup Saint Young Men, which I would love to see come over here as well. In other news, ANN has the manga sales rankings for the past week and the news that the TV anime Munto is getting the manga treatment.

Reviews: Park Cooper presents some short reviews of things he’s looking at at the moment at Manga Life.

Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 7 of The Antique Gift Shop (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Full Moon O Sagashite (Tangognat)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 6 of Hissing (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Park Cooper on vol. 25 of Hunter x Hunter (Manga Life)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 1 of The Magic Touch (Manga Life)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of Monkey High (Comics Village)
Michelle Smith on vol. 3 of Moon Boy (soliloquy in blue)
Julie on vol. 4 of Orfina (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Papillon (The Comic Book Bin)
Snow Wildsmith on A Promise of Romance (Manga Jouhou)
Matthew Brady on vol. 3 of Real (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 5 of Rosario x Vampire (Manga Life)
Katherine Dacey on vol. 1 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Precocious Curmudgeon)
Leroy Douresseaux on Stop Bullying Me (The Comic Book Bin)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1 and 2 of Suihelibe! (Good Comics for Kids)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Uzumaki (The Comic Book Bin)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 3 of Very! Very! Sweet (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)

Today is MangaBlog’s fourth birthday! Thank you to everyone who reads, links, and comments; you are the ones who keep it interesting!

David Welsh takes a look at this week’s new comics at Precocious Curmudgeon.

At The Eastern Edge, Gottsu-Iiyan argues that American readers of manga and American comics need to break out of their boxes and learn to get along. And to remind us what it’s all about, he posts a bunch of Naoki Urasawa stuff.

Alex Hoffman has more thoughts on Marvel-manga crossovers at Manga Widget.

Yamila Abraham has an interesting revelation about yaoi: An extreme power imbalance, like rape, can be sexy when it’s two men, not so much when it’s a man and a woman.

Over at Anime Vice, Gia has video explanations of yuri and fanservice.

News from Japan: Ghibli World has a look at Hayao Miyazaki’s new manga, Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises). (Via Anime Vice.)

Reviews

Connie on vol. 16 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga)
Isaac Hale on A Capable Man (Manga Recon)
Connie on vol. 14 of Claymore (Slightly Biased Manga)
Charles Tan on vol. 24 of Eyeshield 21 (Comics Village)
Kristy Valenti on Ghostbusters: Ghost Busted (comiXology)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 10 of Hayate the Combat Butler (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Erica Friedman on Hello Goodbye, a Maria-sama ga Miteru light novel (Okazu)
Julie on vol. 15 of Nana (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Emily on NG Boy x Paradise (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 4 of Nora: The Last Chronicles of Devildom (Slightly Biased Manga)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Prospero’s Manga)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 20 of Tsubasa (Read About Comics)
Kris on Voices of Love (Manic About Manga)

God Len posts this week’s new releases at Japanator.

Deb Aoki was at Wondercon this weekend, and she reports that sales were robust but manga and anime were hard to find, although Viz did have an exhibit on the con floor. Jason Thompson was there as well, and he points to a video of the Otaku USA panel. Jack Tse files a brief report at MangaCast. And Ryan of Same Hat! Same Hat! had brunch with Fred Schodt!

Casey Brienza has a post on the objectification and exploitation of women in manga at her Kethylia LJ. She presents some examples, which are definitely food for thought—I’m still mulling over her arguments, myself.

ICv2 has more info on Yaoi Generation’s new series.

Lori Henderson has some thoughts on the pitfalls of being a reviewer at Manga Xanadu.

Patrick Macias has the highlights of the new Otaku USA magazine at his blog.

Congratulations to Ryan and Evan of Same Hat! Same Hat! on four years of blogging about the weirdest manga on the web.

News from Japan: Ed Chavez posts this week’s manga rankings from Taiyosha at MangaCast. ANN reports that Tail of the Moon creator Rinko Ueda is launching a new two-part manga.

Reviews

The Manga Recon reviewers post another batch of Manga Minis, and Carlo Santos treats us to another round of witty praise and takedowns of recent manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Other reviews of note:

Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of Alley of First Love (Comics Village)
Connie on vol. 15 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of B.Ichi (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Adam Beck on vol. 4 of Cy-Believers (Advanced Media Network)
Casey Brienza on vols. 1-3 of Dororo (Anime News Network)
Lissa Pattillo on Double Trouble (Kuriousity)
Eric Fredriksen on vol. 11 of Eden: It’s an Endless World (Advanced Media Network)
Julie on vol. 16 of Kekkaishi (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Magic Touch (Comics-and-More)
Kris on Maid in Heaven (Manic About Manga)
Adam Beck on vol. 1 of Nephylym (Advanced Media Network)
Carlo Santos on vol. 31 of Oh My Goddess! (Anime News Network)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vols. 1-3 of RahXephon (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Kris on Restart (Manic About Manga)
Serdar Yegulalp on vol. 1 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Advanced Media Network)
Sakura Eries on vol. 11 of School Rumble (Mania.com)
Kris on Seduce Me After the Show (Manic About Manga)
Connie on vol. 17 of Skip Beat (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kris on Take Me to Heaven (Manic About Manga)
Kris on vol. 1 of Tomcats (Manic About Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Tsubomi (Okazu)
Casey Brienza on vol. 1 of Vampire’s Portrait (Anime News Network)
Connie on vol. 2 of Venus in Love (Slightly Biased Manga)