Coals to Newcastle department: Chris Arrant has a meaty interview with Canadian-born manga-ka Takeshi Miyazawa, who is moving to Japan to try his hand at Japanese comics. This comes on the heels of the news that Tokyopop is translating global manga into Japanese and selling it in Japan. The big question: Will it be flipped or retain its “authentic” format?
Simon Jones of Icarus Publishing has an interesting post about doujinshi and the problems it may face in the U.S. (Warning: Image at the top of the page is NSFW.)
Active Anime has an advance review of the Viz version of Densha Otoko.
Are you a Tokyopop or a Viz? John Jakala delves into the personalities of comics publishers. (Via Precocious Curmudgeon.)
ComiPress has a new look, and a nifty new feature: a bar on the right that gives latest updates from other blogs (including this one).
Viz is dropping Godchild from Shoujo Beat,. Discussion follows at the ANN forum.
Art theft: Not just for Tokyospace any more. Scroll halfway down this page for the details: Someone swiped an artist’s work and submitted it to the British anthology Mangaquake, which used it on the cover. They’re trying to recall it, but it’s doubtful fans will send back their (potentially collectible) copies for a more legit version. On the plus side, posters at the Sweatdrop forums really liked the artist, Hoon, so perhaps the free publicity will take a bit of the sting out of the swiping.
Thanks for the mention :) I’m still testing out that new aggregator feature, I hope people will find it helpful, and that it will help them find good articles from blogs they otherwise may have missed.