Perspectives from all over

Yesterday, PWCW published an article I wrote about Mark Crilley, the creator of Miki Falls. At one point in our interview, Crilley commented that “For this generation, comics are manga.” Over at The Engine, Svetlana Chmakova asks whether that is so, and Warren Ellis and Emma Vieceli weigh in with their thoughts. I like what Emma had to say:

What I find especially funny is watching all of the old skoooool manga ‘fans’ who used to sit there moaning about how no one recognises how awesome manga is…and now they sit there complaining because too many people are reading manga and it’s not special any more.
You really can’t please everyone. ^_~

Elsewhere, an American translator living in Japan conjures up an interesting mental picture:

I have this idea that somewhere in Japan there is a guy who thinks the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers are the greatest artistic product ever to come out of the USA and is waiting anxiously for the next fan-translated issue to hit the underground comic store.

The rest of the post is about anime, but that really tickled me, all the more so because I’m a longtime fan of Phineas, Freewheeling Franklin, Fat Freddy, and, of course, Fat Freddy’s cat.

There’s lots of manga goodness in this week’s PWCW: Ed Chavez takes a look at Comiket, the largest comics convention in the world:

As one Comiket volunteer observed, “Comiket is like a living version of Web 2.0, where interaction between creators of content and end users happens in real-time face-to-face.”

While fan-made comics are huge (there are 956 Prince of Tennis doujinshi circles!), it’s interesting to note that professional creators take part as well, and that, for instance, Fumi Yoshinaga has continued Antique Bakery as doujinshi. And now that manga is a global phenomenon, even Marvel’s Civil War gets the doujinshi treatment. At Hesei Democracy, Shingo has more, including photos. (Via Icarus.) And Giapet notes an incident with a political spin.

Also at PWCW: Kai-Ming Cha looks at Udon’s planned manhwa line and interviews Only the Ring Finger Knows creator Satoru Kannagi.

Even though it’s a lean week for new releases, David Welsh finds plenty to like about this week’s new comics.

At Completely Futile, Adam Stephanides links to some spoilery commentary about the latest volume of Fruits Basket.

Over 18 department: At Icarus, Simon Jones has the manga list from the September Adult Previews.

Reviews: At Comics Worth Reading, Rob Vollmar reviews vols. 1-3 of To Terra. Julie reads vol. 18 of Red River at the Manga Maniac Cafe. At Anime on DVD, Ron Quezon has mixed feelings about vol. 1 of Recast. Bill Sherman reviews vol. 1 of Parasyte at Blogcritics. Michael Aronson checks out Yume Kira Gift Shoppe at Manga Life. At Precocious Curmudgeon, David Welsh enjoys vol. 2 of Gin Tama. Miranda posts a short but positive review of Only Words at Prospero’s Manga. At Manganews, Kiara reviews vol. 1 of Stray Little Devil. Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 5 of Loveless at Active Anime.