Iris update, Tokyopop doing the right thing?

At the Iris Print blog, publisher Kellie Lynch has a two–part explanation of what has been going on, starting off by confirming what we all suspected, that Iris Print is shutting down. Tina Anderson is not impressed. Also weighing in on Iris are Kiriko Moth, the cover artist for the never-published BL Twist magazine, and writer RW Day, who has finally been paid (via PayPal). One important note: Contrary to statements made yesterday, Iris Print will not be in the dealers’ room at Yaoi Jamboree. Lynch has no plans to attend but seems to be unsure whether she officially cancelled or not. (Illustration is one of the ill-fated Iris titles, Paintings of You, by Mia Paluzzi and Chris Delk.)

David Welsh has a handy guide to recent events in manga publishing in his latest Flipped column at The Comics Reporter. He has quick, readable, and witty summaries of what happened at Tokyopop, how the rumored Kodansha move could affect Del Rey, and why we should care.

In his Lying in the Gutters column, Rich Johnston has a green light next to this:

TokyoPop, criticised for intangible contracts, and currently undergoing a financial crisis, is going through the process of giving full copyright back to creators wishing to pull their projects, with hardly any fuss. I can’t think of a big company doing this in recent years – especially not so many at once.

I understand that Image Comics has become suddenly favoured with a number of high quality, fully developed OEL content. All their Christmases have come at once.

The Japanese publishers Shueisha and Shogakukan have tightened up their partnership: Shueisha is buying a part share in ShoPro, Shogakukan’s licensing subsidiary. (Viz Media is jointly owned by those three companies). ANN explains, and JCN Network has a few more details:

Shogakukan, which publishes the weekly comic magazine Shonen Sunday, and Shueisha, known for Shonen Jump, also plan to distribute programs online.

Meanwhile, the manga machine keeps chugging along. Japanator lists this week’s new releases, and Kate Dacey rounds up the best of the week in her Weekly Recon at PopCultureShock. David Welsh takes a look at August releases from the June Previews.

And speaking of Yaoi Jamboree, which takes place this weekend, Deb Aoki lists the highlights at About.com.

News from Japan: A Japanese database covering 60 years of manga magazines was launched yesterday. At MangaCast, Ed continues his list of Japanese releases with part 3 of the mid-majors.

Reviews: John Jakala goes all meta on us and reviews the reviews of some of his favorite books at Sporadic Sequential. Alex Woolfson has a thoughtful critique of the lovely Seduce Me After the Show at Yaoi 911. Andrew Wheeler critiques Dean Koontz and Queenie Chan’s In Odd We Trust at ComicMix. Julie reads vol. 8 of Beauty Pop at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Lissa Pattillo checks out vol. 4 of Heavenly Executioner Chiwoo at Kuri-ousity. Dave Ferraro enjoys vols. 1-3 of High School Debut at Comics-and-More, although the story is starting to flag by the end of vol. 3. Greg Hackmann reviews the first Blood+ novel, First Kiss, and Matthew Alexander checks out vol. 4 of My Heavenly Hockey Club at Anime on DVD. Michelle gives thumbs up to vol. 7 of Maison Ikkoku at Soliloquy in Blue. Snow Wildsmith reviews vols. 1-2 of Shinsoku Kiss at Manga Jouhou. Connie picks up vol. 2 of Variante and vol. 4 of Bastard at Slightly Biased Manga. Deb Aoki takes a look at vol. 1 of Gimmick! at About.com. At Active Anime, Sandra Scholes reads vol. 1 of Alice 19th (UK edition), Scott Campbell reads vol. 19 of Project Arms and vol. 4 of Mushishi, and Margaret Viera reviews vol. 13 of Nodame Cantabile.