Just a few links today, as I’m working extra hours due to the blizzard out here in the East. I’ll be back tomorrow with the rest of the news.
Al Kahn, the chairman and CEO of the anime company 4Kids, is retiring. Kahn got tongues wagging at the 2006 ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference, which was held just before the first New York Comic-Con, when he announced that “U.S. kids don’t read!” I can’t find the original PWCW article, but here’s what happened next:
After the provocative statements, Kahn’s point was that entertainment firms need to think beyond print to digitizing content for a generation that will get most of its content electronically. “The content is disposable,” Kahn said. “More and more of it is available for free.”
Actually, that seems remarkably prescient. I was there for the ICv2 panel in December 2007 when Kahn made another categorical statement: “It’s over in Japan. We’re moving to Korea. In Japan, the manga is tired.” Maybe not so prescient.
In other industry news, the financially troubled bookstore chain Borders stopped making payments to its vendors about two weeks ago, and Diamond Book Distributors appears to have stopped shipping books to them (at least one major book publisher has stopped as well). While reasonable, this action could lead to a death spiral: With no books to sell, the hole that Borders is in will just get deeper and deeper. There’s a big meeting today in which everyone hopes to hammer out an agreement. Borders was instrumental in popularizing manga in the United States, as Kurt Hassler and several other visionary buyers promoted the medium when it was just getting started, and it would be a shame to see them go.
The Japanator staff posts this week’s new releases.
News from Japan: Chinese artist Xiao Bai is the winner of the Japanese government-sponsored International Manga Award. Takashi Morita, creator of Mobile Suit Gundam Climax U.C., is starting a new series, Adventurier – Shinsetsu Arsène Lupin, based on Maurice Leblanc’s novels about the exploits of gentleman thief Arsène Lupin.
Reviews
Todd Douglass on vol. 4 of Jack Frost (Anime Maki)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Kurozakuro (Read About Comics)
Julie Opipari on vol. 10 of Sand Chronicles (Manga Maniac Cafe)