Pre-holiday odds and ends

The October direct market sales numbers are out. David Taylor interprets them at MangaCast.

Tokyopop has an interview with Pop Mhan, creator of Blank.

At MangaCast, Ed has PR on two Broccoli titles, E’s and the Juvenile Orion illustration book, and some advice for those going to winter Comiket.

At Crocodile Caucus, Lyle has some good advice for creators on dealing with negative reviews, in response to this post by Kevin Church. Rikki Simons gives his take, and Johanna responds. There’s an interesting exchange in the comments, where someone asks whether it’s easier to break into comics through global manga than traditional comics. Johanna replies:

I think it’s certainly easier to become a paid professional. If you meet Tokyopop’s criteria and are selected by them, then that route seems easier than risking your own money and self-publishing.

As always, ChunHyang72 rounds up the good stuff at Tokyopop.

Erica is thrilled to find Works on the shelf at her local Borders.

Pata links to info about the new manga museum opening in Kyoto next week.

I guess there’s an audience for this sort of thing, but the cover hurts my eyes, and I can’t believe the folks at Top Cow are going to flip and color manga so they can sell it in comic-book format. Good grief.

Reviews: Comics-and-more says volume 8 of Death Note is the worst volume so far—but it’s still pretty good! Pata’s latest Right Turn Only column features Cromartie High School, Emma, and Love Roma. At AoD, Jarred thinks Freaks is OK despite the lack of novelty. Tangognat strongly recommends Emma. Zyl likes volume 4 of the anthology Yuri Monogatari. Jog has an in-depth review of Ohikkoshi At the Star of Malaysia, Christina Koh reviews Bus Gamers, Cheeky Monkey checks out The Good Witch of the West, and Kitty Sensei is intrigued by After School Nightmare.