One of these things is not like the others

The Harvey Awards nominations have been released. The only manga nominations were in the Best American Edition of Foreign Material category, and the three manga titles that got the nod this year are Red-Colored Elegy, Solanin, and … vols. 11 and 12 of Witchblade Takeru Manga. Seriously, is this some sort of practical joke?

At MangaCast, Ed Chavez looks over the July Previews and highlights the manga.

Red Baylon lists this week’s new releases at Japanator.

Dan Nadel hosts a roundtable conversation with Yoichi Yokoyama, creator of Travel, for Comics Comics. (Via Journalista.)

Anime Expo is this weekend, and Deb Aoki rounds up the manga highlights for those of you who will be there.

Erica Friedman rounds up the week in yuri at Okazu.

Yaoi Press has announced the winners of its Caption Contest.

Attention creators: Prism Comics is seeking submissions for its Queer Press Grant, which supports new LGBT comics creators. Read all about it at Okazu.

News from Japan: The announcement is only in Japanese, so far, but it appears that Youka Nitta may be returning to manga to write one more chapter of Embracing Love. ANN has word of several launches: A new Macross manga, a Gundam series, and a new series from Mayu Shinjo, creator of Sensual Phrase. The Toei Animation Studio is promoting its wares with a four-panel manga featuring girls dressed as its robots.

Reviews: David Welsh devotes this week’s Flipped column to Mushishi.

Laura on Ai Yori Aiyoshi (Heart of Manga)
Julie on vol. 2 of Angel Diary (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena on Apollo’s Song (i heart manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Assistant Denki Keika (Okazu)
Scott VonSchilling on Ballad of a Shinigami (The Anime Almanac)
Julie on vol. 1 of Brilliant Blue (MangaCast)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (About.com)
Justin Colussy-Estes on vols. 1-3 of The Four Constables (Comics Village)
Lori Henderson on vol. 2 of Gimmick (Manga Xanadu)
Kate Dacey on The History of the West Wing (The Manga Critic)
Kris on vol. 3 of Hitohira (Manic About Manga)
Oyceter on vols. 4 and 5 of Honey and Clover (Sakura of DOOM)
Sesho on vol. 14 of The Law of Ueki (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
David Brothers on vol. 6 of Lone Wolf and Cub (4thletter!)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Maid Sama! (Sesho’s Aniem and Manga Reviews)
AstroNerdBoy on The Manga Guide to Physics (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Greg McElhatton on Mijeong (Read About Comics)
Edward Zacharias on vol. 38 of Naruto (Animanga Nation)
Lissa Pattillo on On Bended Knee (Kuriousity)
Lori Henderson on vol. 1 of One Piece (Comics Village)
Julie on vol. 1 of Sarasah (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 3 of Silver Diamond (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of Slam Dunk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Solanin (Comics Worth Reading)
Shojo Flash on vol. 20 of The Wallflower (Shojo Flash)
Lorena on vol. 1 of With the Light (i heart manga)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Wolverine – Prodigal Son (Comics-and-More)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Wolverine – Prodigal Son (Kuriousity)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 4 of You’re So Cool (Kuriousity)

Did you enjoy this article? Consider supporting us.

Comments

  1. Wow, color me surprised that Witchblade made it in there. While I’ve read some of the original American comic and the anime, I can’t say it was anything award-winning. Wasn’t Witchblade nominated for an award last year, too, much to everyone’s surprise? Huh…I wonder why it gets on the list in the first place.

    Regardless, so glad to see Red-Colored Elegy made it — it’s been on my must-read list, along with Solanin, for some time now.

  2. I don’t see any problem with Witchblade being nominated. Seeing as how I haven’t read any of those three titles, they’re all equal before me. I think people had the same reaction when a Harry Potter book was nominated and won the Hugo award a couple of years back. Just because a book is an erotically charged action adventure title doesn’t make it any less a work of art. Who’s to say what subject matter is worthy of the Eisner? It’s all subjective anyway. These three titles will be my next reads.

  3. It’s no surprise when you consider that the Harveys are conducted by popular vote of comics industry professionals. Without even considering the possibility of vote stacking, merely by virtue of being an Image project, Witchblade is more widely known among the pool of voters. This is akin to voting for the one foreign movie that got a domestic release for the Oscar… it gets the nod because it had a higher profile.