Manga anthology folds

Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S. readers! (And everyone else as well—what the heck.)

Objecting to the lack of manga in the New York Times’ graphic novels gift guide, Erica Friedman has rallied the troops to post their own manga gift guides. Mine will be up later this weekend, and Erica has a comprehensive list of participants at Okazu. Want to participate but don’t have a blog? David Welsh will host your selections at Precocious Curmudgeon. David’s picks are already up, and I’ll post a full list tomorrow.

Big news, but be warned the site is NSFW: The adult manga anthology Comic AG, published by Icarus Comics, is folding. Publisher Simon Jones says the magazine is breaking even, and that in a way it is a victim of its own success, having established a market that is now better served by trades. Obviously, it faced a different set of challenges than Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat, and the post is well worth reading if you’re not at work or around little kids.

The Wall Street Journal is taunting us with articles about manga and manhwa that are hidden behind a pay wall. I have never put a penny in Rupert Murdoch’s pocket, and I’m not going to start now, but Heidi has a brief summary at The Beat.

And here’s something interesting, from Graphic Novel Reporter: The independent booksellers’ graphic novel best-seller list for the past quarter. What I like about this list is that it tosses all graphic novels, manga and otherwise, together so we can see how they sell relative to each other. Also, it’s an interesting list and much more eclectic than the AV Club’s.

Even veteran translaters like Alethea and Athena Nibley get stumped once in a while; their latest column deals with how they deal with slang and other difficult terms.

Johanna Draper Carlson speculates about why Moyasimon was delayed.

Same Hat has an update on the AX anthology and some cool Yuichi Yokoyama (Travel) murals from Nike’s Harajuku shop.

Deb Aoki traveled to Japan with a distinguished circle of artists that included Becky Cloonan, Dan Hess, Dee Dupuy, Lanny Liu, Leisl Adams, Myung Hee Kim, Queenie Chan, and Svetlana Chmakova to sell their doujinshi at Comitia. She chronicles day 1 and day 2 of the trip at About.com.

Here’s a handy feature: Lissa Pattillo is posting searchable release schedules at Kuriousity.

News from Japan: ANN reports that josei favorite Erica Sakurazawa has just embarked on a new manga series, and they also post the latest comics rankings. And Canned Dogs posts pictures of shojo manga artist Shinjou Mayu’s studio.

Reviews: Settle back and enjoy Carlo Santos’ unfiltered comments on recent manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN.

Julie on vol. 8 of Alive (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 9 of The Antique Gift Shop (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Assistant Denki Keika (Okazu)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 1 of Beast Master (Manga Life)
Kris on vol. 2 of Clan of the Nakagamis (Manic About Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 3 of Dororo (Kuriousity)
Julie on vol. 2 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Penny Kenny on vol. 4 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Manga Life)
Connie on Merry Family Plan (Manga Recon)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Moyasimon (Comics Worth Reading)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Moyasimon (Comics-and-More)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of The Name of the Flower (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 1 and 2 of Ooku: The Inner Chambers (Comics Worth Reading)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 3 of Otomen (Kuriousity)
Julie on vol. 7 of Parasyte (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Barb Lien-Cooper on vol. 6 of Real (Manga Life)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1 and 2 of Sugarholic (Good Comics for Kids)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 4 of You’re So Cool (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)

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