Hmmm…. I wrote this whole post and apparently never hit “Publish.” Must not have had enough coffee yesterday morning! Here’s the roundup, a bit late.
I reported on the comics scene at ALA Midwinter in my latest Unbound column at Robot 6.
Brad Rice and Gia look at this week’s new releases.
The Manga Recon team discusses the manga they got as holiday gifts as well as their families’ perceptions of their habit.
Gottsu-Iiyan has more thoughts on the manga crisis in Japan. This, I think, gets to the nub of it:
It doesn’t matter how many teenage girl “ambassadors” the Japanese government dresses up in bunny ears, school uniforms, or creepy goth-loli costumes and sends overseas, the industry will live and die on quality content with wide appeal, not fad and fetish.
Tell Manga Critic Kate Dacey your favorite manga of 2009 and you might win a copy of Jiro Taniguchi’s A Distant Neighborhood.
News from Japan: ANN has the 2009 circulation numbers for Japanese manga magazines; Weekly Shonen Jump tops the list with a circ of 2.8 million, up a bit from last year. Hiroyuki Takei’s Jumbor series resumes in the latest Ultra Jump, which also contains a new chapter of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage and a one-shot by Yozakura Quartet manga-ka Suzohito Yasuda. And the yuri series Gunjo is returning, moving to Ikki after abruptly disappearing from Morning 2 last year.
Reviews: Carlo Santos serves up another batch of short but opinionated manga reviews in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN.
Eric Robinson on vol. 1 of Black God (Manga Jouhou)
David Goodwin on Blue Spring (early Taiyo Matsumoto manga) (The Eastern Standard)
Casey Brienza on vol. 1 of Butterflies, Flowers (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Albright on Children of the Sea (Yen Plus Info)
Alexander Hoffman on A Distant Neighborhood (Comics Village)
Carlo Santos on vol. 2 of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage (ANN)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-6 of Dokebi Bride (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-3 of La Esperanca (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Chris on vol. 1 of Happy Cafe and vol. 2 of Princess Ai: Prism of Midnight Dawn (Sci-Fi from the Nerdy Guy)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Happy Cafe (The Manga Critic)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Ludwig II (The Comic Book Bin)
Courtney Kraft on vol. 2 of Ludwig II (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Danielle Leigh on not simple (Comics Should Be Good)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of Princess Resurrection (Manga Xanadu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 7 of Tears of a Lamb (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 4 of Two Flowers for the Dragon (i heart manga)