MangaBlog

Lori Henderson picks the best all ages comics of the week and the quarter at Good Comics for Kids.

Martha Cornog and Steve Raiteri include Pluto and Ooku on their list of the best graphic novels of 2009 for Library Journal.

Simon Jones has some thoughts on the opportunities presented by the Twilight manga. And Gia noticed a few things about ICv2’s interview with Viz VP Gonzalo Ferreyra.

David Welsh’s latest license requests are drawn from the winners of the Manga Taishou awards. David also tackles the question of whether manga critics go too easy on their material, and at About.com, Deb Aoki rounds up some tips for writing manga reviews.

Mainichi has a story on Russian manga artist Svetlana Chezhina.

Have you always dreamed of working for Viz? They’re looking for a royalty financial analyst right now.

News from Japan: ANN has the winners of the Shogakukan Manga Awards.

Reviews: The xxxHoLiC roundtable wraps up at The Hooded Utilitarian with Kate Dacey’s commentary and Vom Marlowe’s explanation of why it only covered the first three volumes. Chris Zimmerman posts short reviews of several recent releases at cbs4.com.

James D. Maxon on 20th Century Boys (Books for Youth)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 1 of Adventures of Young Det (Mania.com)
Cyrus Kwong on vol. 1 of Ballad of a Shinigami (The Star of Malaysia)
Julie Opipari on vol. 12 of Crimson Hero (Mania.com)
Azizul Rahman on vol. 1 of Free Runners (The Star of Malaysia)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 2 of Full House (Manga Bookshelf)
Bill Sherman on GoGo Monster (Blogcritics)
Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Happy Cafe (Pop Culture Gadabout)
Susan S. on An Ideal World (Manga Jouhou)
Grant Goodman on vol. 1 of King of RPGs (Manga Recon)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of King of RPGs (Comics Should Be Good)
Kurogane on vol. 1 of Lucky Star (The Star of Malaysia)
Christopher Allen on vol. 1 of Moyasimon (Trouble with Comics)
Azizul Rahman on vol. 1 of Negima!? Neo (The Star of Malaysia)
Leroy Douresseaux on One Piece East Blue 1-2-3 (The Comic Book Bin)
Edward Zacharias on vol. 22 of One Piece (Animanga Nation)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 7 of Pluto (Kuriousity)
Jacob Martin on Red Snow (SNAG Vs. World)
Greg Hackmann on vol. 12 of S.A. (Mania.com)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 14 of S.A. (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of We Were There (i heart manga)
Shaenon Garrity on vols. 1 and 2 of What a Wonderful World! (About.com)
Scott VonSchilling on The World I Create (The Anime Almanac)

Hmmm…. I wrote this whole post and apparently never hit “Publish.” Must not have had enough coffee yesterday morning! Here’s the roundup, a bit late.

I reported on the comics scene at ALA Midwinter in my latest Unbound column at Robot 6.

Brad Rice and Gia look at this week’s new releases.

The Manga Recon team discusses the manga they got as holiday gifts as well as their families’ perceptions of their habit.

Gottsu-Iiyan has more thoughts on the manga crisis in Japan. This, I think, gets to the nub of it:

It doesn’t matter how many teenage girl “ambassadors” the Japanese government dresses up in bunny ears, school uniforms, or creepy goth-loli costumes and sends overseas, the industry will live and die on quality content with wide appeal, not fad and fetish.

Tell Manga Critic Kate Dacey your favorite manga of 2009 and you might win a copy of Jiro Taniguchi’s A Distant Neighborhood.

News from Japan: ANN has the 2009 circulation numbers for Japanese manga magazines; Weekly Shonen Jump tops the list with a circ of 2.8 million, up a bit from last year. Hiroyuki Takei’s Jumbor series resumes in the latest Ultra Jump, which also contains a new chapter of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage and a one-shot by Yozakura Quartet manga-ka Suzohito Yasuda. And the yuri series Gunjo is returning, moving to Ikki after abruptly disappearing from Morning 2 last year.

Reviews: Carlo Santos serves up another batch of short but opinionated manga reviews in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN.

Eric Robinson on vol. 1 of Black God (Manga Jouhou)
David Goodwin on Blue Spring (early Taiyo Matsumoto manga) (The Eastern Standard)
Casey Brienza on vol. 1 of Butterflies, Flowers (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Albright on Children of the Sea (Yen Plus Info)
Alexander Hoffman on A Distant Neighborhood (Comics Village)
Carlo Santos on vol. 2 of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage (ANN)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-6 of Dokebi Bride (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-3 of La Esperanca (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Chris on vol. 1 of Happy Cafe and vol. 2 of Princess Ai: Prism of Midnight Dawn (Sci-Fi from the Nerdy Guy)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Happy Cafe (The Manga Critic)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of Ludwig II (The Comic Book Bin)
Courtney Kraft on vol. 2 of Ludwig II (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Danielle Leigh on not simple (Comics Should Be Good)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of Princess Resurrection (Manga Xanadu)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 7 of Tears of a Lamb (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 4 of Two Flowers for the Dragon (i heart manga)

The American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) released its 2010 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, along with a pared-down top ten yesterday. Manga Curmudgeon David Welsh breaks it down by publisher.

ICv2 posts a three-part interview with Viz VP Gonzalo Ferreyra, in which he discusses the company’s strongest sellers, manga on cell phones, and their possible venture into global manga, as well as their anime offerings (part 1, part 2, part 3).

At PWCW, Ada Price looks forward to the potentially hottest graphic novels of 2010, which includes a fistful of manga. And Jonathan Bethune gets into the license request game with some manga he’d like to see translated.

Kristy Valenti examines the final volume of Fruits Basket in the first part of a two-part essay at ComiXology.

Akemi takes a look at famous female manga creators at Myth and Manga.

Julie picks her favorites from this week’s new releases at Manga Maniac Cafe.

Jason Thompson’s King of RPGs is out this week and to celebrate, he’s having a live chat adventure on Suvudu next Tuesday.

Matt Blind notes that a graphic novel clearance at Barnes & Noble is both good news (cheap manga!) and bad news (they are getting rid of stuff).

Same Hat! has another batch of Shintaro Kago gag comics for your delectation (NSFW, unless your workplace is really weird).

Today’s edition of the Shoujo-Sunjeong Alphabet is brought to you by the letter O.

News from Japan: At Manga Journey, Jonathan Moo reports that the Shonen Jump series Ane Doki has been cancelled. Canned Dogs brings the news that Yokota Takuma, who draws the online manga Onanie Master Kurosawa, has won the Jump Treasure newcomer’s award, which means a chance to break into print. ANN has the most recent comics rankings from Japan.

Reviews: The xxxHoLiC roundtable continues at The Hooded Utilitarian, with contributions from Ng Suat Tong (who also posts some pictures), Richard Cook, and Noah Berlatsky. Other reviews of note:

Leroy Douresseaux on All My Darling Daughters (The Comic Book Bin)
Penny Kenny on All My Darling Daughters (Manga Life)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 8 of Comic (Manga Bookshelf)
Jaime Samms on Gentle Cage (Kuriousity)
Tiamat’s Disciple on The Ghost in the Shell (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Gokujou Drops (Okazu)
Bill Randall on Good-Bye (billrandall.net)
Ed Sizemore on vol. 1 of Hero Tales (About.com)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Immortal Rain (Soliloquy in Blue)
Emily on Isshoni Gohan (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Connie on vol. 6 of Magic Touch (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 8 of Monkey High (Manga Life)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Negima!? Neo (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on vol. 24 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on One Summer in Italy (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on Our Kingdom – Arabian Nights (Kuriousity)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Portrait of M and N (Tangognat)
Connie on vol. 2 of Princess Knight (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tangognat on vols. 2 and 3 of Pumpkin Scissors (Tangognat)
Kate Dacey on vol. 3 of RE:Play (Good Comics for Kids)
Lori Henderson on vol. 7 of Sand Chronicles (Comics Village)
Emilio on vol. 1 of Satsuma Gishiden (Blog of the North Star)
Connie on Shion: Blade of the Minstrel (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 5 of Swan (i heart manga)

This press release went out earlier today, and one of the things that is catching everyone’s eye is the 350,000-copy first printing, which shows a certain… confidence in the book. By contrast, the first printing of volume 1 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya manga was 75,000 copies, and that seemed pretty optimistic. The first printing of the third Scott Pilgrim graphic novel was 10,000. (If you’re curious, I wrote about the topic here a few years ago.)

Then Yen Press tweeted that the book made it into the Amazon top 10 today—not bad for a book that won’t be published for another two months. Read on for all the details.

YEN PRESS ANNOUNCES
TWILIGHT: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, VOL. 1
WILL GO ON-SALE ON MARCH 16, 2010

NEW YORK, NY (January 20, 2010) — Yen Press, the graphic novel imprint of Hachette Book Group, announced that it will publish the highly-anticipated first volume in the graphic novel adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight on March 16, 2010. Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 will be released in hardcover for $19.99 ($22.99 CAN) with a first printing of 350,000 copies. As is typical in graphic novel publishing, due to the length of the prose novel, the book will be divided into two volumes and the release date for the second volume is forthcoming.

Twilight: The Graphic Novel contains selected text from Meyer’s original novel with illustrations by Korean artist Young Kim. A rare fusion of Asian and Western comic techniques is reflected in this black-and-white graphic novel with color interspersed throughout. Meyer consulted throughout the artistic process and had input on every panel.

“I’ve enjoyed working on this new interpretation of Twilight,” said Meyer. “Young has done an incredible job transforming the words that I have written into beautiful images. The characters and settings are very close to what I was imagining while writing the series.”

Kurt Hassler, Yen Press Publishing Director, said, “Few American publishing properties are better suited to introduce a vast readership to the medium of graphic novel than the phenomenon that is Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. Yen Press will certainly continue to expand this audience with the help of Bella and Edward.”

In four years, Stephenie Meyer has become a worldwide publishing phenomenon. The Twilight Saga’s translation rights have been sold in nearly 50 countries and 85 million copies have been sold worldwide.

Stan Lee was already a grownup when I was a kid, and I remember how strongly his personality came out in the editors’ notes in the superhero comics I used to read, back in those simpler times. So even for me, the die-hard, no-capes-no-tights manga reader, seeing him in person, when this series was announced was a thrill. He looked like he was having fun, too. The story has been running both in Japan and in the U.S. Shonen Jump for a while now and soon it will make the leap to tankoubon form. Viz was handing out samplers of this at ALA last weekend, so they obviously have high hopes for it. Read on for all the details.

VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED RELEASE OF STAN LEE AND HIROYUKI TAKEI’S
ULTIMO

Historic Collaboration Comes To Life In New Manga Release

San Francisco, CA, JANUARY 20, 2010 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, in conjunction with Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment (PK:POWN) has announced the highly anticipated release of the new manga ULTIMO on February 2nd. ULTIMO is the result of a historic collaboration between comics legend Stan Lee, co-creator of many iconic superheroes including Spider-Man™, the Fantastic Four™, and the X-Men™, and Hiroyuki Takei, the creator of the popular SHAMAN KING manga series. ULTIMO, rated ‘T’ for teens will carry a MSRP of $9.99 US/$12.99 CAN.

With girl and money troubles, life is hard enough for high school student Yamato, but then he stumbles upon Ultimo, a peculiar-looking puppet. Things only get stranger when Ultimo awakens and his archenemy, Vice shows up. Ultimo and Vice are Karakuri Dôji, the mechanical embodiment of pure good and pure evil, devoid of human emotions that can cloud one’s judgment. Their purpose: to battle to the death to prove once and for all whether good or evil is the most powerful force in the universe.

For over half a century, Stan Lee has been synonymous with superhero comics. In addition to creating countless memorable series and characters, including Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and Daredevil, he served as the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. Lee remains a hugely respected and dynamic figure in the entertainment industry and continues to develop a variety of film, television and video game properties.

“I am indescribably thrilled to have the honor of working with the famous and extremely talented Hiroyuki Takei on our exciting creation ULTIMO. I feel that ULTIMO combines the very best of Western mythology with the very best of Japanese manga. “ says Stan Lee. “It gives me the greatest pleasure to be associated with VIZ Media on such and exciting and ground-breaking project.”

Unconventional author/artist, Hiroyuki Takei began his career by winning the 1994 Tezuka Award. After working as an assistant to famed artist Nobuhiro Watsuki (RUROUNI KENSHIN), Takei debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997 with Butsu Zone, an action series based on Buddhist mythology. His multicultural adventure manga SHAMAN KING debuted in Japan in 1998 and has been adapted into a popular animated television series. The SHAMAN KING manga series is also published in North America by VIZ Media; for many years it was serialized in English in SHONEN JUMP magazine.

”While it’s epic in scope and rich in mythology, the ULTIMO storyline is grounded in modern teen angst which is what fans will gravitate to. It’s manga, but it’s got that ‘Stan Lee’ feel of the teenager who suddenly has all this power and can’t believe how crazy that is.” Says Joel Enos, Senior Editor for Shonen Jump Manga, VIZ Media. “This story has found a common ground between Western comics and Eastern manga. Here you have two amazing creators, all this action, robots, and the universal theme of pure good vs. pure evil, all the while staying in high school youth culture and the drama and depth of everyday kids.”
For more information on ULTIMO, please visit www.shonenjump/ultimo.

ULTIMO: KARAKURI DOJI ULTIMO  © 2008 by Stan Lee–POW! Entertainment/Dream Ranch, Hiroyuki Takei/SHUEISHA Inc.

Melinda Beasi presents all the latest manhwa news and reviews in her Manhwa Monday post at Manga Bookshelf.

Kate Dacey and David Welsh look at this week’s new releases, and the Comics Village team picks the best of last week’s new manga.

At The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey adds her thoughts to the recent conversation about blogging with an essay on the importance of editing.

Reviews: Lots of good critical essays this week; David Welsh discusses the works of Natsume Ono at The Comics Reporter, and Kinukitty contributes her take to the xxxHOLIC roundtable at The Hooded Utilitarian. The Manga Recon team turns in another solid set of reviews in their latest Manga Minis column.

Johanna Draper Carlson on All My Darling Daughters (Comics Worth Reading)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Crown of Love (Manga Bookshelf)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 16 of Gin Tama (A Case Suitable For Treatment)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Kimochi no Katachi (Okazu)
Joy Kim on vols. 1-9 of Land of the Blindfolded (Joy Kim)
Julie on vol. 2 of The Name of the Flower (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Dave Ferraro on not simple (Comics-and-More)
John Thomas on Only One Wish (Comics Village)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 5 of Parasyte (i heart manga)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 3 of Pig Bride (Kuriousity)
Snow Wildsmith on Secret Moon (Manga Jouhou)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of Shinobi Life (Kuriousity)
Sesho on vol. 9 of Sorcerer Hunters (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 6 of Yotsuba&! (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)