Del Rey announced three new licenses today: My Heavenly Hockey Club, Dragon Eye, and Alive. All should be out next summer.
Queenie Chan rethinks her previous post on the three-act structure, and explains how it actually breaks out in The Dreaming.
ComiPress translates a followup to an earlier article about sexually explicit manga.
David Welsh updates the ALA Great Graphic Novels for Teens list.
Your Minx Minute: ICv2 interviews Karen Berger, senior vice president of DC, about the new line of graphic novels aimed at girls. Johanna adds her take.
Pata thinks loli fans are worrying too much about backlash from Kodomo no Jikan, which was recently licensed by Seven Seas. Dirk Deppey disagrees (scroll down). Simon Jones sets things straight:
Seven Seas isn’t publishing porn, we are.
Having drawn that distinction, he explains why KnJ isn’t porn and what would happen if it was. Then he throws in a bonus post about the book and the manga-ka. Floating Sakura has more, including a brief preview.
Shaenon Garrity’s Overlooked Manga Festival rolls on with a look at Swan.
John Jakala finds Tintin Pantoja’s proposal for a shoujo manga Wonder Woman and can’t figure out why DC didn’t jump on it.
Volume 4 of Yuri Monogatari will be debuting at Comiket. But you can get it now at the Yuricon shop.
Middle-schoolers will soon be able to pick up Amazing Agent Luna and Destiny’s Hand at their Scholastic Book Fairs.
Tokyopop is revamping their website a bit: “version 1.7” is supposed to go live today, around 9:30 a.m. PST. And on this forum thread, moderator Peter Ahlstrom says there will be more moderation soon. (Via Andre’s blog.)
Product placement in manga? Tangognat thinks not—at least, not much.
Here’s a cute little animated ad for volume 8 of Immortal Rain. (Via Lillian DP’s blog.)
At the MangaCast, Jarred takes Kamui for a ride.
At Okazu, Erica reviews volume 1 of Read or Dream and questions the rating. I haven’t read this particular title but I have to say the ratings are awfully inconsistent. Or maybe consistent in a stupid way—I don’t think that all books with no nipples should be 13+ and all books with nipples should be 18+, for instance. The ratings really should take the themes and plotline into account. I think they’re asking “Who shouldn’t be reading this book?” when they should be asking “Who would enjoy it the most?”
Ed Chavez reviews Emperor’s Castle, a new gangster manwha from Netcomics. ChunHyang72 reviews The Dreaming and 12 Days. Kethylia enjoyed Negima in spite of her better judgment. Dirk Deppey really likes Strawberry Marshmallow. Active Anime’s Holley Ellingwood has short reviews of volume 3 of Little Butterfly and volume 17 of Angel Sanctuary. At ANN, Melissa “Minai” Harper likes the art in volume 2 of Pichi Pichi Pitch but not much else.
Opinion of Shoujo Wonder Woman: DC is very protective of their “triumvirate”. Batman lends himself to be interpreted because he’s a dark character but I believe Superman and Wonder Woman are already super campy. Taking WW into shoujo territory in their eyes probably demeans the character. American comics are a weird animal too. IMO, they should not focus any of their superhero characters to attract young girls. They should use them to attract young boys primarily. (My opinion is that a half-nekkid stripper fighting crime is just not interesting to most young females) Invent new characters/stories to appeal to girls. Perhaps use the CMX line to do global manga like TP does.
Also, why is DelRey announcing titles now? Anybody heard of these titles? ANN has nothing on them which makes me worry that they picked up titles with no fanfare.
While I agree with Jack’s assessment of why DC nixed shojo Wonder Woman, I think the project is a great idea. As several other folks have observed, Wonder Woman comics may not be marketed to girls, but Wonder Woman merchandise certainly is. Think of all the t-shirts, Halloween costumes, bathing suits, lunchboxes, and knick-knacks that are aimed squarely at the kiddie and teen market. It would be great to see Wonder Woman reinterpretted for this younger female audience, reclaiming the comic for its original target demographic. Surely DC doesn’t think that a CLAMP-style presentation of Wonder Woman would be more disrespectful to the franchise than the Lynda Carter/ABC TV show. (Sad to report, it didn’t age well as entertainment or camp… guess I was a less discerning viewer when I was five years old.)
First off, I’m a die-hard WW fan…and so Jack, Diana Prince was never a stripper. 0_o. Also, I’m not a fan of making manga from Western comics…to this day I still can’t stand the attempt on Batman, and don’t even get me started on the crap that’s now called Witchblade.
On that note—I don’t want WW reinterpreted for a young female audience, I think my age group liked it just fine…until recently when some key talent moved on and their replacements failed to deliver. They need to bring back writers like Ruka and artists like Rags Morales, those two along brought the series back to life for me.
Seriously, how can you not look at this catalogue of work and this is camp?
http://www.gregrucka.com/wonderwoman.html
^^
I was just kidding about her being a stripper but you must agree with me her attire is closer to stripper than most outfits… even for a super heroine.
How campy she is left to the each individual to decide for themselves. IMO Superman and Wonder Woman are really campy.
Couldn’t a straightforward DC Universe version of Wonder Woman coexist with a manga-influenced interpretation, though? There’s certainly precedent, with concurrent regular and cartoon-influenced versions of the Teen Titans and Batman.
Call me silly, but I’ve always wondered how Wonder Woman could run down villains wearing what is, in essence, a topless bathing suit. Even the “Baywatch” babes wore tank suits…
But I think David has a point. I understand why die-hard Wonder Woman fans might dislike the idea of a manga treatment. But I think the two versions could peacefully coexist, especially if the manga version were done as skillfully as Pantoja’s. Her rendition has the look and feel of Kaori Yuki and CLAMP’s fantasy/adventure series without being a slavish imitation. (She even thoughtfully included a slashed-up—and slashable—Hot Young Guy for Diana to spar and flirt with.) If I were 12 or 13, I’d be eating it up and passing on the earnest, YA-type stuff that Minx intends to publish.
I dunno ChunHyang:, how does Ghost in the Shell’s major Kusanagi pull it off? Honestly, if you’ve ready anything by Rucka, you’d certainly realize it wasn’t camp. Oy vey. Now most manga loaded with fanserve…that’s camp. With a capital C R A P. Yes, most spandex-style stories are camp, and while I’ve never got my head around hero chicks in teddys [it was a massive reason I resisted Ghost In The Shell at first]; I think with Wonder Woman it’s just a given. Over the years she’s had more style changes than Madonna—but the fans always seemed to prefer the Teddy.
Yes, Batman Beyond was heavily influenced by Japanese animation…but I’m not a fan of the new Batman that’s doing it. And Teen Titans…I just consider that for kids, and have a hard time getting into it because it seems so far removed from the comic. Yet of what I’ve seen of the recent Wonder Woman plots [not counting this years -ouch-], I certainly wouldn’t consider it shoujo by a long shot. Again, I’m not dissing Tintin or saying she stinks—I just think that if you’re going for a manga interpretation of WW, I wouldn’t go the shoujo route. Just my opinion.
-Tina
ready=read
If I were 12 or 13, I’d be eating it up and passing on the earnest, YA-type stuff that Minx intends to publish.
On that note…D.C. might have learned from Marvel. They’re trying to make comics appeal to YA girl readers…not trying to make their superheroes appeal to YA girl readers. One of the things I feel that makes Marvel constantly trip on trying to appeal to markets non-native to them is that they keep trying to infuse ‘their brands’ with new concepts. Let’s make with ‘soap comics’ but with our current line of characters. 0_o. Seriously…I think MINX will have some appeal if they DON’T merge it with the superhero comics.
Tina, I agree that WW hasn’t been camp (at least intentionally) since George Perez, and I did like a lot of what Greg Rucka did with the character. (I particularly loved the Dynasty/Dallas quality of Mount Olympus, though even that didn’t veer into camp somehow.) But I do think a stand-alone version of the character aimed at a younger audience as opposed to the usual suspects at the comic shop, might be warmly received.
And I think you’re right about Marvel, too. The titles that have done well in the bookstore market, like Runaways, seem to have achieved that without really trying… they’re just good, accessible books that happened to be packaged in a way that made them more interesting to people who don’t usually stray beyond the manga shelves. When they actually try to appeal to that audience… well…
Wow, you guys are into this! After reading all your posts here are my 2 thoughts:
1. I’ve read the recent WW head snapping stories — nice and not very campy. Still can’t override half a decade’s worth of pop culture baggage. M.C. hammer came out with a gangsta rap album on Tupac’s label. Do we still think of him in anything other than Hammer pants doing that delectable crab dance?
2. I think American comics publishers looked at manga at first and laughed. Now they’re crying. Their industry has gotten healthier but it must really tweak them to see 5 bookshelves of manga at Borders and possibly 1 for graphic novels. I don’t think their attitude and understanding is up to par yet for them to comprehend and formulate a strategy to roll out anything with manga.
3. I’m marching right along with Tina saying: lay off the super-heroes and invent original series. Oh that’s right — Tokyo Pop beat them to the punch and have award winning books. Two years ago when Marvel could have used their massive publishing resources to do a manga program instead choose to re-package “Runaways” into manga dimensions.
1. Lynda Carter does have a lot to answer for.
2. Can’t argue with that, and one thing that’s struck me is how Karen Berger rarely (if ever) mentions her own company’s manga imprint when talking about Minx. It’s kind of… telling.
3. I actually think Minx is a great idea, though the brand name does nothing for me. I hope good books come out of it, which seems likely, given the talent. (Though I say that as a near-40-year-old man instead of an actual member of the target audience who likely have very different views on such things.) I just think finding different ways to tell stories about their core properties — not reinventing them entirely, but coming up with some concurrent project — might open them up to different, younger readers.
And yes, “Runaways” was probably the smartest thing Marvel’s done in ages, and it was probably a complete accident, since they were on the verge of axing it before the digests took off.
LOL! Sorry Jack, but I’m just sensitive about my amazon sisters. She was the first comic I teethed on, and to this day I’m still a fan—despite a long hiatus due to certain writers/artists being completely insane; I was brought back by Rucka…hence the ignited fanning.
1. D.C. has more to answer for; I want to know who ok’d the design lease to Fredericks of Hollywood.
2. In all fairness, I don’t think CMX is doing a bad job with their old school shoujo. Personally, I could care less about TenTen—I don’t think it was ever meant for me anyway. ^_- Of course my only issue with all this is DC’s notion that, they’re inventing the wheel. ((>_>)) It does warrant the proverbial *bitch please*.
3. I did not that she said quite clearly in the interview that MINX was about ‘getting younger girls into comics. Comics as most people label them, and not ‘Japanese manga’, as most people label that. I think Minx is going to stick with stories that are told in less emotive and shoujoistic [is that a word?] art style, and truly attempt to get girls into ‘actual’ western style comics. As we all know, there’s more to NA comics than superhero fare.
I think American comics publishers looked at manga at first and laughed. Now they’re crying.
I disagree. I think DC and Marvel did this, but certainly not DH, AP, and and a few others. These publishers pioneered bringing manga to this country, before DJ Stu started the ‘Pop assembly line machine and brought it to the mass market.
Tina, I’m actually in agreement with you on many points. I don’t normally warm to the idea of giving American comics the manga treatment anymore than I usually like American artists trying their hand at samurai stories. (The thought of Superman or Green Lantern as a spiky-haired shonen hero makes me want to groan.) And yes, manga is filled with improbably-clad female warriors and campy moments—I don’t think “mangafying” WW will restore dignity lost by her current comic-book treatment, nor do I think of her as an especially campy superhero.
The appeal of Pantoja’s project (for me, at least) boils down to this: WW was one of my great heroes as a kid, but my childhood interest in her never translated into teenage or adult interest in the comic book. WW was primarily a symbol for me. If Pantoja’s take on the story had been available to me as a ‘tween or a teen, I might well have gotten interested in WW as a character and not just an icon. Whether that would of prompted me to explore the comic book I can’t say.
I know you’re not arguing with me Chun, ^^, why does everyone think I’m, arguing with them ^_^;; I never got into her as an icon, but always loved her as a character and I guess Rucka brought me back into the love, so to speak. But again, I have to ask…does it have to be manga to ‘get the young woman market?’ That was my point about what I think MINX is trying to accomplish; let’s get girls into ‘comics’; not ‘lets get young girl manga fans to read our comics’.
Let’s face it, when were kids, the only female comic book heroes out there were the Wonder Woman’s Batgirls, etc. so natural, as COMIC readers [manga was not that prolific in the late 70’s over here]; I can look back on it and say no—a manga version would not have gotten me into Wonder Woman any faster…but was that ever D.C. intent? I wonder, does D.C. want younger girls to read Wonder Woman?
If D.C. rejected this [I don’t know enough about her pitch or what she did with the proposal], was it because they’ve no desire to set young female manga readers into Wonder Woman—rather than what’s being suggested, which seems to be, D.C. just ain’t down with manga. 0_0
This conversation is pushing me dangerously close to tracking down some of the Marvel Mangaverse books, just to see how it turns out when superhero publishers try to go manga.
I wish this thread took place in a coffee shop because it’s pretty entertaining.
Also, going back to my original post — those Del Rey books are fleshed out more by Ed:
http://community.livejournal.com/mangacast/414848.html
Comments are interesting too. I’m looking forward to “Alive”. Dragon Eyes looks like shonen fare which is always a good thing in my book.
Happy as I am to see another book by Ai Morinaga, I’d still rather see more of Your and My Secret first.