Archives for July 2009

Kate Dacey of The Manga Critic and Red Baylon of Japanator check out this week’s new releases.

ANN has the latest lineup of new titles from 801 Media and Juné Manga.

Bamboo and Sara talk to global manga artists Lanny Liu and Ziang Her about the realities of the marketplace, submitting to different companies, and the trade-offs involved in choosing or rejecting contracts. Lots of interesting practical information in here.

Meanwhile, Simon Jones (somewhat NSFW) has an interesting take on the standard criticisms of Tokyopop (most recently heard at the global manga panel at AX):

The sales levels the panelists alluded to, the ratio of hits to misses, quality versus speed – none of those things were out of the norm for the typical comics publisher… and TP wasn’t actually doing anything different than typical comics publishing. So if the results were dictated not by particular failures on TP’s part, but the common nature of the market, then the problem really rests with expectations -on the part of TP, creators, and readers- more than anything else. In other words, even if TP had done everything right, the state of their program still might not be any rosier.

Brazilian artists Fabio Shin and Rafael Kirscher are cooking up a Michael Jackson manga, according to Rich Johnston.

Troy Lewter, editor of Tokyopop’s Warcraft manga, interviews creator Dan Jolley.

Melinda Beasi explores outward signs of geekiness at There it is, Plain as Daylight.

Patrick Macias ogles his advance copy of Junko Mizuno’s Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu.

Last Gasp is planning a hardcover edition of Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms.

Attention Malaysian manga creators: The 2009 National Manga Competition is now under way.

Reviews: David Welsh takes a fond look at the works of Yuji Iwahara—Chikyu Misaki, King of Thorn, and Cat Paradise—at The Comics Reporter.

Michelle Smith on vol. 4 of Black Cat (Soliloquy in Blue)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Blank Slate (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Connie on vol. 3 of Bride of the Water God (Slightly Biased Manga)
John Thomas on The Cat in the Coffin (novel) (Mecha Mecha Media)
Lorena on vol. 1 of Fall in Love Like a Comic (i heart manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 4 of Gunsmith Cats Revised Edition (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Shiki on Gyo (Psychedelic SoulJam)
Shojo Flash on vol. 2 of Honey Hunt (Shojo Flash)
Justin Colussy-Estes on vol. 1 of Iron Wok Jan (Comics Village)
Deb Aoki on the iPhone version of Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan (About.com)
Lissa Pattillo on Legend of Zelda – Oracle of Ages (Kuriousity)
Julie on vol. 4 of Monkey High! (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Sesho on vol. 33 of Naruto (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Shirley and vol. 8 of Emma (Tangognat)
Diana Dang on Socrates in Love (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Anna on Star Blacks (2 screenshot limit)
Billy Aguiar on Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Manga, Bounkenshin (Prospero’s Manga)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Manga (Manga Recon)
Connie on Swallowing the Earth (Slightly Biased Manga)
Shiki on Uzumaki (Psychedelic SoulJam)
Andre on vol. 3 of Vampire Hunter D (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 18 of Yakitate!! Japan (Slightly Biased Manga)

DMP is joining the stampede of publishers to digital media, with iPhone and Kindle versions of selected June and DMP titles. Full press release, with lots of links, below, but I want to point something out: Although they mention both the Kindle and the iPhone, this press release is all about Kindle books, which can be read on either platform. Consumer note: Vampire Hunter D is also available directly for the iPhone/iPod Touch through iTunes. Amazon wants $7.95 for the Kindle version, but you can buy the 6 chapters individually through iTunes for 99 cents each, saving you two bucks over the Kindle version. Either way, it’s a good savings over the $12.95 cover price on the print edition. However, it looks like most of the other books listed aren’t available on iTunes so you’ll have to pay the full Kindle price. Read on for details.

Digital Manga Publishing, one of the manga publishing industry’s most innovative and unique companies, is product to announce the availability of select DMP and June’ titles for both the Amazon Kindle and iPhone! Now you can read DMP and June’ on the go, right from your very own wireless device! Digital Manga Publishing is excited to showcase some great titles available now! And if you don’t have a Kindle, you can purchase one at www.amazon.com. If you have an iPhone, you can read many of DMP’s offerings there as well. On the iPhone, you can download DMP titles through the Kindle application: visit the Amazon Kindle store at www.amazon.com, or download the free Kindle App through iTunes. For a more detailed list, including all available and new Digital Manga titles, visit www.dmpbooks.com and www.junemanga.com, or visit the Kindle store, and do a keyword search for “manga”. You can even download samples and test all the titles before purchase!

Under the DMP imprint:
Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D Vol. 1 manga, $7.95
Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D Vol. 2 manga, $7.95
Let’s Draw Manga: Shoujo Characters, $12.95
Let’s Draw Manga: Yaoi, $12.95
AND MORE! Check www.amazon.com for all of the available DMP manga for the Kindle.

Under the June’ imprint:
-NOVELS
Better Than A Dream (novel), $5.95
Gentle Cage (novel), $5.95
Immoral Darkness (novel), $5.95
Body Language (novel), $5.95
Like A Love Comedy (novel), $5.95 >
S Vol. 1(novel), $5.95
Caged Slave (novel), $5.95
A Promise Of Romance (novel), $5.95

-MANGA
Il Gatto Sul G Vol. 1, $7.95
Awaken Forest, $7.95
Lost Boys, $7.95
Sugar Milk, $7.95
Endless Rain, $7.95
Love Training, $7.95
Party, $7.95

AND MORE! Check www.amazon.com for all of the available June’ manga and novels for the Kindle.

We continue to add more titles each day to the already extensive list of titles available for download, and we stand at over forty titles and counting! For some titles that have long been unavailable or out of print, this is a great way to get those titles, and you can sample them to see if you are interested in purchasing! Plus, now for the summer and traveling, you can have our novels and manga available at any time, anywhere! We’re proud to be able to offer so many great titles to our fans, so go ahead and check them all out!

The MangaCast team takes a look at the July 1 manga releases, and the denizens of Manga Village look over the most recent crop.

Sales of pamphlet comics were up in June but graphic novels were down, according to ICv2’s latest analysis of Diamond’s numbers, which includes the top 300 graphic novels sold in comics stores. And here’s the NY Times best-seller list for comparison purposes.

Deb Aoki has a thorough writeup of the OEL Manga panel at Anime Expo.

The newest addition to the Yen Plus lineup will be Kuroshitsuji, which will be rendered in English as Black Butler. Also, Yen is offering six-month subscriptions to the magazine to help lessen the bite on our pocketbooks.

Rikki and Tavisha Simons have confirmed that they own the rights to the ShutterBox series, and they’re looking for a publisher. Tokyopop published the first four volumes of the series and cancelled it just as the creators were about to hand in the fifth volume.

Lori Henderson rounds up the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu, and Erica Friedman posts her weekly yuri roundup at Okazu.

Casey Brienza has some thoughts on the demise of Shojo Beat.

Julie drops off some manga at the library, finds Berserk labeled as a YA book, and chats with the librarian about the proper placement of manga.

A German site called Botshaft von Japan interviews Dr. Joachim Kaps, managing director of Tokyopop Germany. Unfortunately for me, the interview is in German, but it looks interesting, and I welcome my German-speaking readers to brief us on the highlights.

Lori Henderson takes a look at small-screen manga readers.

Shojo Flash interviews Lorena of i heart manga.

Manga at SDCC: Maximum Ride artist NaRae Lee will be Yen Press’s guest at SDCC, and IKKI editor Hideki Egami will be there courtesy of Viz.

News from Japan: Ed Chavez has a roundup of items in his MangaScope column at MangaCast. Hideo Yamamoto’s Homunculus has returned from hiatus. And Stan Lee is launching yet another manga in Japan, this one based on the anime Heroman.

Reviews: Be sure to check out this week’s What Are You Reading? post at Robot 6, wherein yet another blogger is brought into the manga fold. Lots of good recommendations this week. Sarah Boslaugh takes a look at the first volumes of Orange Planet, Honey Hunt, and Maid War Chronicle at PLAYBACK:stl. At Manga Recon, the gang checks in with another set of Manga Minis.

Lexie on vol. 3 of 20th Century Boys (Poisoned Rationality)
Michelle Smith on vol. 3 of Black Cat (Soliloquy in Blue)
Lori Henderson on vol. 5 of Captive Hearts (Comics Village)
Shojo Flash on vol. 1 of Choco Mimi (Shojo Flash)
Julie on vols. 1 and 2 of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Julie on vol. 4 of Dance in the Vampire Bund (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena on vol. 1 of Fairy Tail (i heart manga)
Oyceter on vols. 17-18 and vols. 19-22 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Sakura of DOOM)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of The Guin Saga: The Seven Magi (Kuriousity)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 2 of Her Majesty’s Dog (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Michelle Smith on vols. 3 and 4 of Honey and Clover (Soliloquy in Blue)
Connie on vol. 24 of Iron Wok Jan (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lexie on vols. 1 and 2 of Kieli (Poisoned Rationality)
Lorena on vol. 4 of Land of the Blindfolded (i heart manga)
Casey Brienza on vols. 1-3 of The Magic Touch (ANN)
Melinda Beasi on The Manga Guide to Physics (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Erica Friedman on Miyuki-chan in Wonderland (Okazu)
Christoph Mark on Moyasimon (The Daily Yomiuri)
Lorena on vols. 1 and 2 of Nana (i heart manga)
Anna on Oishinbo: A la carteli (2 screenshot limit)
Melinda Beasi on On Bended Knee (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Noah Berlatsky on Paradise Kiss (comiXology)
Anna on vols. 1 and 2 of Penguin Revolution (2 screenshot limit)
Connie on vol. 4 of Pluto (Slightly Biased Manga)
Shannon Fay on vol. 1 of Pure Heart (Kuriousity)
AnaKhouri on vol. 1 of Real (Yellow Menace)
Ed Chavez on vol. 3 of Real (MangaCast)
Brenda Gregson on vol. 5 of Sand Chronicles (Animanga Nation)
Connie on Swallowing the Earth (Manga Recon)
Julie on Unsophisticated and Rude (MangaCast)
Sam Kusek on vol. 1 of Waq Waq (Manga Recon)
Laura on vol. 1 of You’re So Cool (Heart of Manga)

Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan is a delightful book, and it’s well worth the cover price just because it’s so pink and pretty. But if you’re looking for a bargain, it’s now available—in its entirety—on iTunes. Read on for all the details.

GO! COMI AND ZEITGEIST GAMES ANNOUNCE
“JAPAN AI – THE IPHONE APP”
9 July 2009, LOS ANGELES

Innovative manga publisher Go! Comi and cutting-edge game designer Zeitgeist Games today announced the release of the iPhone version of Aimee Major Steinberger’s smash-hit manga journal “Japan Ai – A Tall Girl’s Adventure in Japan” – named one of the Young Adults Librarian Association’s Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens of 2009! It is now available, formatted for the iPhone or iPod Touch, for the introductory price of .99 CENTS!

Join Aimee Major Steinberger on the ultimate otaku vacation! Steinberger uses sketches and hand-written descriptions to capture it all in this manga journal that is both adorable and breathtaking. And now you can have her travel journal right at your fingertips no matter where you are, with this handy app that features the COMPLETE 190-page book, formatted for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The application also contains several special features that are EXCLUSIVE to the iPhone version of the book:

– Using Smart Panels(TM) technology, you can move from panel to panel with a single tap

– With two different viewing modes, reading is a snap

– Browse thumbnail images of each page in the chapter

– Learn Japanese words with the help of the voice phrase dictionary

– Photo gallery allows you to see actual photos from the trip

That’s right – readers will get the complete book in iPhone form, plus exclusive iPhone/iPod Touch features, for only 99 cents! The “Japan Ai” iPhone App is available now at the iTunes store.

Highly recommended: Jason Thompson has a thoughtful take on moe in his latest comiXology column.

What’s Tokyopop up to these days? Johanna Draper Carlson summarizes a recent webinar for bloggers, which I also particpated in but didn’t have time to write up. There were few tidbits, including a look at the upcoming CSI: Interns manga and the news that VB Rose will resume regular updates in November.

David Welsh polls his readers on what Japanese shoujo manga magazines would be good fodder for a U.S. anthology, and he puts in his most recent license request, this one drawn from the nominees for the Prix Asie.

Yaoi Press publisher Yamila Abraham files her con report on Anime Expo. It sounds like she had a great time, although I’d love to know more about the “shoplifter boobytraps.”

Meanwhile, Deb Aoki posts an AX photo gallery at About.com.

Sesho notes that his local Borders has moved the manga to the kids’ section and is not pleased. I went to Borders last weekend myself and noticed that our manga section had also been moved and is now next to the teen section. I don’t necessarly think that’s a bad thing, though, as most of the people who buy manga in Borders are teenagers. Adults are more likely to get their manga online or in a comics store, options that aren’t as available to younger teens with no credit card and no car. As for soccer moms fainting at the sight of MPD-Psycho—um, I’m a soccer mom and it doesn’t bother me. Of course, I’m an unusually cool soccer mom, but most of the other moms I talk to understand that there are different types of entertainment for adults and kids, and when I show them the age ratings and point out that most mature manga is shrink-wrapped, they get it right away. Also, the images in manga aren’t much worse than what the kids are reading in other books and watching on TV anyway—my kids love Bones and NCIS, which have their share of grisly scenes.

Readers of the Heart of Manga blog have chosen their favorite manga of the month—and it’s a tie!

News from Japan: Shogakukan is planning to release a special anthology, Shonen Sunday 1983, which will collect nine titles that ran in Shonen Sunday that year.

Reviews: It’s not manga, but check out my review of the webcomic Family Man if you like historical drama with a supernatural touch (or just hot guys in frilly shirts). Shojo Flash takes a look at Tokyopop’s shojo sampler, which they are giving out free with the last volume of Fruits Basket.

Tangognat on vols. 1-5 of Beauty is the Beast (Tangognat)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Black Bird (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Connie on vol. 11 of Crimson Hero (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of A Distant Neighborhood (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 9 of Emma (Comics Worth Reading)
Emily on Koi Nanka Hajimaranai (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Kinukitty on Lovers and Souls (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Dan Polley on vol. 1 of Maid War Chronicle (Comics Village)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 2 of Moon Child (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Connie on vol. 12 of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (Slightly BIased Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Sarasah (Kuriousity)
Brad Rice on Sayonara, Mr. Fatty (Japanator)
Kate Dacey on Swallowing the Earth (The Manga Critic)
Lorena on vol. 2 of With the Light (i heart manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of You’re So Cool (Slightly Biased Manga)

Viz will launch a new Shonen Sunday imprint that will encompass the print edition of Rumiko Takahashi’s Rin-ne as well as the existing series from Japan’s Shonen Sunday magazine: InuYasha, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Yakitate!! Japan, among others.

Going to SDCC? Gia has an etiquette primer for Q&A sessions.
Andrew Cunningham explains why Faust is important at The Eastern Standard.

Kate Dacey has another half-time poll at The Manga Critic: What do you think is the best continuing series of 2009 (so far)?

Digital will be publishing an omnibus edition of Makoto Tateno’s Yellow (not Yellow 2, as I wrote a few days ago), but it will be under their June imprint, not 801. They will also be publishing Yellow 2 in the June line, but that manga is only 60 pages long and was originally published to cell phones—it has yet to be printed in Japan, according to ANN.

Malaysia needs more homegrown manga, according to this guy.

News from Japan: An Nakahara, creator of Kirarin Revolution, has a new series, Kururun-Rieru Change!, that will launch in the August 3 issue of Ciao magazine. ANN has last week’s comics rankings.

Reviews

David Welsh on vol. 3 of Astral Project (Precocious Curmudgeon)
Holly Ellingwood on vol. 1 of Black Bird (Active Anime)
Davey C. Jones on vol. 6 of Black Lagoon (Active Anime)
Michelle Smith on vol. 26 of Boys Over Flowers (Soliloquy in Blue)
Terry Boyden on vol. 1 of Detroit Metal City (BuzzFocus.com)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 3 of Gunsmith Cats, Revised Edition (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Julie on vol. 2 of Happy Happy Clover (Manga Maniac Cafe)
James Fleenor on vol. 3 of Hayate Cross Blade (Anime Sentinel)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Itoshi wo Tome (Okazu)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Shojo Flash on vol. 10 of Kitchen Princess (Shojo Flash)
Lorena on vol. 3 of Land of the Blindfolded (i heart manga)
Andre on Over the Rainbow (Kuriousity)
Margaret Veira on vol. 32 of The Prince of Tennis (Active Anime)
Alex Hoffman on Short-Tempered Melancholic (Comics Village)
Tangognat on vol. 2 of Two Flowers for the Dragon (Tangognat)