Things seem to have gotten kind of quiet over at Del Rey lately; their formerly elegant and useful website has been swallowed up into a generic and dysfunctional Random House/Suvudu site, and a couple of readers have e-mailed me about cancelled volumes, so I touched base with associate publisher Dallas Middaugh, who assured me that Del Rey is alive and well and still cranking out the manga. Also at Robot 6: The Crestview, Florida, public library opted to add a teen room rather than remove all its manga, as requested by an irate patron, and I offer a few suggestions to publishers about how to improve their websites.
ICv2 talks to Viz senior vp Alvin Lu about the company’s recent layoffs, their plans for the future, and the strengths and weaknesses of the manga market. Lu is a bit vague about some things, but he does drop a broad hint that Viz will be venturing into the digital manga realm (even more than they are already) pretty soon.
Deb Aoki asks librarian Robin Brenner to explain why libraries are different from (and better than) scanlation sites. Both let you read manga for free, but one is legal and one is not!
Lori Henderson flips through the September issue of Shonen Jump and takes a look at Yen Plus as well, two years after its launch.
Grant Goodman reports on Felipe Smith’s panel at Otakon.
The Comics Village team picks the best of the past week’s new manga.
ANN tips us off that English translations of the fanzine Animerca and a Strike Witches doujinshi are in the works.
David Welsh is up to the letter D in his Seinen Alphabet at The Manga Curmudgeon.
At Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind posts the top 500 list, based on online sales, and then breaks out separate lists for Viz Signature/SigIKKI manga, manhwa, Boys Love, and global manga.
News from Japan: The publisher ASCII Media Works is preparing a digital manga magazine for iPod and iPad, to launch in December. The first issue will be free, and after that each issue will cost about $6. Back in the world of paper comics, vol. 59 of One Piece sold 1.85 million copies in its first week on the racks, setting a new record, and ANN has the latest comics rankings. Chris Butcher of Comics212 presents a look at the manga selection at Tsutaya, a chain media store, from his trip to Japan last year.
Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss another handful of manga in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf. Tangognat fights the recession by reading some e-manga about billionaires at her eponymous blog, and she also checks in on some of Viz’s ongoing series.
Lori Henderson on vol. 9 of 20th Century Boys (Manga Xanadu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of 20th Century Boys (The Comic Book Bin)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Alice the 101st (Mania.com)
Connie on vol. 12 of Black Jack (Slightly Biased Manga)
Charles Webb on vol. 12 of Black Jack (Manga Life)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1-3 of Black Lagoon (Soliloquy in Blue)
Oyceter on vols. 1-3 of Black Rose Alice (Sakura of Doom)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Blade of the Immortal (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Connie on vol. 3 of Breath (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 4 of Butterflies, Flowers (Slightly Biased Manga)
Jaime Samms on vol. 1 of Can’t Win With You (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 33 of Case Closed (Slightly Biased Manga)
Caddy C on Chi’s Sweet Home (A Feminist Otaku)
Kris on Finder, vol. 1: Target in the Viewfinder (Manic About Manga)
Lissa Pattillo on Garden Sky (Kuriousity)
Oyceter on vol. 3 of Grand Guignol Orchestra (Sakura of Doom)
Tangognat on vol. 2 of Hanako and the Terror of Allegory (Tangognat)
Zack Davisson on vol. 2 of Happy Castle (Manga Life)
Chris Zimmerman on vol. 3 of Jack Frost (The Comic Book Bin)
Julie Opipari on vol. 22 of Kekkaishi (Blog@Newsarama)
Emily on Kimi wo Chuushin ni Sekai wa Mawaru (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
David Brothers on King City (4thletter)
Erica Friedman on Kuchibiru ni Saketa Orange (Okazu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Maoh: Juvenile Remix (The Comic Book Bin)
Ken Haley on Missing, vol. 2: Letter of Misfortune (Sequential Ink)
Lissa Pattillo on Moonlit Promises (Kuriousity)
Michael C. Lorah on MW (Blog@Newsarama)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 27 of Negima! (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime & Manga Blog)
Connie on vol. 35 of Oh My Goddess (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Ooku (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 7 of Otomen (Comics Worth Reading)
Ed Sizemore on vol. 1 of Peepo Choo (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 1 of Pet Shop of Horrors (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sesho on vol. 10 of The Prince of Tennis (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of The Qwaser of Stigmata (The Manga Critic)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of The Qwaser of Stigmata (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Julie Opipari on vol. 5 of Rasetsu (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Erica Friedman on Raubritter (Okazu)
Erica Friedman on Rose Meets Rose (Okazu)
Julie Opipari on vol. 4 of Sarasah (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Seiho Boys’ High School (Comics-and-More)
Connie on vol. 11 of Slam Dunk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Alexander Hoffman on vol. 1 of Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution (Comics Village)
David Brothers on Vagabond (4thletter)
Re: the “Qwaser of Stigmata” reviews…why does it have to be so hard to find manga reviewers who actually appreciate fanservice and fetish material?
I guess it’s simply that fans of those things are not writing reviews.
I mean to say, why don’t you ask the fans why they’re not writing reviews of what they enjoy rather than ask reviewers why they’re not fans? :)
Yeah, I’ve noticed most reviewer opinions don’t reflect sales figures and popular fan opinion, so fans should definitely write their own reviews. One example is the fact no one of the reviewer blogosphere likes Maria Holic, however people are still buying it so some people must like it, including me. Are reviewers just being snoody? :)
Also, thank-you Brigid for highlighting the Del Rey issue, although it still leaves me frustrated. Great big crop of news and reviews!