Tough times in the manga biz

At Robot 6, Sean Michael Wilson discusses Ax, the alt-manga anthology he edited for Top Shelf, as well as his future projects, with Christopher Mautner.

David Brothers talks to Ed Chavez of Vertical, Michael Gombos of Dark Horse, and Marco Pavia of Tokyopop about the realities of the manga market today.

Erica Friedman discusses the issues she faces as a publisher of yuri (most of which applies to any niche manga). The numbers aren’t pretty.

Lori Henderson has a quick look at the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu, while Erica Friedman posts the most recent edition of Yuri News Network at Okazu.

At iFanboy.com, Molly McIsaac has a handy starter guide to robot manga.

Shannon Fay critiques the manga readers used by different publishers and lets them know her likes and dislikes at Kuriousity.

Deb Aoki has a transcript up of the Lost in Translation panel from San Diego Comic-Con.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber looks into her crystal ball and predicts an unhappy end for the manga industry if scanlation continues. Meanwhile, a couple of manga creators have been letting off a little steam by wishing for an unhappy end for scanlators.

Job board: Comix 411 has links for internships at Viz and Tokyopop.

News from Japan: Ken Akamatsu is celebrating the 300th chapter of Negima by releasing a six-page Love Hina one-shot. Natsu no Arashi! is coming to an end, and manga-ka Jin Kobayashi (School Rumble) is already planning a new series. And Erica Friedman notes that all three of the big shoujo magazines are carrying yuri stories.

Special edition: I didn’t realize that Ed Chavez is blogging again at MangaCast, but he is, and he has a bunch of news in his latest post: series that are ending or moving on because Weekly Comic Bunch has folded; two series, Blood Alone and Hayate X Blade, that are moving to new publishers, which may affect their licenses with Seven Seas; and word of a Yoshihiro Tatsumi biopic.

Reviews

Sesho on vol. 1 of Afterschool Charisma (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Connie on vol. 4 of Breath (Slightly Biased Manga)
Zack Davisson on Chibi Vampire: Airmail (Japan Reviewed)
Ken Haley on issues 1-4 of Devil (Sequential Ink)
Connie on vol. 2 of Dorohedoro (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on The Dreaming Collection (Comics Worth Reading)
Sean Gaffey on vol. 7 of Gatcha Gacha (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Gente and vol. 1 of House of Five Leaves (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 1 of Icaro (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Kimi ni Todoke (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on vol. 1 of Moyasimon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Carlo Santos on vol. 27 of Negima (ANN)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 3 of Ninja Girls (Mania.com)
Michelle Smith on vols. 25-27 of One Piece (Soliloquy in Blue)
Shaenon Garrity on vol. 1 of Peepo Choo (About.com)
Julie Opipari on vols. 1-9 of Sand Chronicles (Blog@Newsarama)
Andre on vol. 7 of St. Dragon Girl (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 5 of Your and My Secret (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kinukitty on Yokan Premonition (The Hooded Utilitarian)

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Comments

  1. Gotta get my hands on Chibi vampire.. Heard good stuff about that.

    Nice to hear chavez is blogging again!

    keep up the good work.

  2. I think it should say volume 7 of Gatcha Gacha for Sean’s review. The second-to-last volume! Now we just wait for the final book to finally release in November… :D

    Also cool to see MangaCast updating with new stuff again!

  3. Yup, it was a typo. Thanks!