Tokyopop folks talk, Dark Horse gives real numbers

ICv2 talks to Tokyopop chief operating officer John Parker about his company’s overall health and what the future may bring once Fruits Basket comes to a close. Tokyopop editor Lillian Diaz-Przybyl discusses Gakuen Alice and Fruits Basket on the latest Anime Today podcast. Meanwhile, John Jakala is not impressed with the higher prices and cheaper paper.

One of the nice things about being part of Robot 6 is the opportunity to check in with brief notes on what we’re reading each week; this week’s special guest is Noah Berlatsky, which makes it extra good.

Simon Jones notes that Dark Horse has put its catalog online, complete with sales estimates, which makes for some interesting reading.

The NYT Graphic Books best-seller list is up, and Naruto continues to dominate, although the field is getting more diverse.

Junko Mizuno will be one of the contributors to Marvel’s new anthology Strange Tales Max. Yes, that Marvel. It sounds like the anthology has an interesting lineup, actually.

Erica Friedman treats us to another week’s worth of yuri news at Okazu.

At The Hooded Utilitarian, Noah Berlatsky explains why Naruto is more accessible to newcomers than Spider-Man:

Naruto #40 isn’t accessible…but anyone who can count can look at the cover, and say, “oh, right…I should start reading this series….at number 1. Simple, easy, based on the Arabic numeral system which is familiar to most likely readers. That is what you call “accessible.”

On the other hand, let’s take those two examples from Marvel. The Ultimate Universe and Brand New Day, you say. And I, as a new potential reader of Spider-Man, respond, “What the fucking fuck?” Ultimate Universe? Regular Universe? New Day? Old Day? Are these Spider-Man comics? What’s the difference between these Spider-Man comics? Where’s the real Spider-Man comic…the one that’s, you know, about Spider-Man?

John Thomas has a question about the charges in the Christopher Handley case.

Skip Beat translator Tomo Kimura has an interesting note on Japanese vegetables.

News from Japan: Canned Dogs has news of the passing of ero-manga creator SABE. ANN has a bit more. Manga-ka Yoshitoshi ABe is collaborating with the director and head writer of the anime Lain on a new project, Despera. Details will be announced this week and a graphic novel will be part of the package.

Reviews: The Manga Recon crew has a yaoi-free set of Manga Minis for us this morning. Other reviews of note:

Lissa Pattillo on vol. 27 of Bleach (Kuriousity)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1-4 of Canon (The Manga Critic)
Connie on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 16 of Comic Yuri Hime (part 2) (Okazu)
Chloe Ferguson on vols. 4-6 of Cynical Orange (Manga Recon)
Connie on vol. 27 of Detective Conan (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 4 of Flower of Life (Kuriousity)
Billy Aguiar on vols. 1 and 2 of Gravitation Collection (Prospero’s Manga)
Julie on vol. 4 of Hoshin Engi (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lori Henderson on vol. 6 of Lunar Legend Tsukihime (Comics Village)
Tangognat on vol. 2 of Name of the Flower (Tangognat)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 22 of Negima! (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Lori Henderson on Project X Challengers: Seven Eleven (Manga Xanadu)
Casey Brienza on vols. 3-5 of Sand Chronicles (ANN)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 17 of Sgt. Frog (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Johanna Draper Carlson on So I Need to Lose 15 Pounds (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie on vol. 1 of Sumomomo, Momomo (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 21 of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (Kuriousity)

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Comments

  1. so a lesser quality for a higher price? looking at my self now, I dont think I own much TP titles. not a FB fan.

    I find it funny in the interview that of their own brand manga, they didnt mention non franchised oel, at least mention dramacon. if only the put as much effort in their promotion as they did with princess ai.

  2. I think Tomo Kimura is actually Viz’s translator for Skip Beat! The creator is Yoshiki Nakamura… although it would be really cool if a manga artist like her was keeping an English blog… :D

  3. I noticed the cheaper paper yesterday when I was reading Future Diary. It used to be impossible to BEND a Tokyopop manga title. With the crap paper in Diary, I could FOLD the book into origami dquares and put it in my wallet. Ok, so I’m exaggerating. But the book seems flimsy and lighweight and of low quality, maybe even below newspaper stock. Rip-off. Add to this the greed of Viz, who are raising prices simply because they can…simply to match their prices with the other publishers. If more publishers switch to this paper and charge even HIGHER prices, I can tell you I will be buying a lot less titles.

  4. I still buy my books online, and really, many of the manga I’d want havent come over sadly. so far, the only manga i’m waiting for is yotsuba and its with a company with high standards so i’m good

  5. Thank you lys—I knew that, but I didn’t get my coffee this morning so I was a bit discombobulated. I fixed the error.