MangaBlog

Joe McCulloch (Jog to most of his readers) has an interesting essay on Astro-Boy at comiXology. If that whets your appetite, check out Astro Boy Magazine, which is now bringing Astro Boy to your iPhone/iPod Touch. (Second link via Robot 6.)

Congratulations to Matthew J. Brady, who is entering his fourth year of blogging at Warren Peace Sings the Blues. To celebrate, he’s giving away two copies of vol. 1 of Moyasimon; click the link for the details.

Just Bento is giving away a copy of The Manga Cookbook.

Christopher Butcher has more photos and commentary from his latest trip to Japan at Comics212.

Off topic, but possibly of interest to genre fans: I took a look at teen-friendly genre webcomics for this week’s SLJ Teen newsletter.

Reviews

Matthew Rozier on vol. 5 of 20th Century Boys (Comics Village)
Peter Gutierrez on vol. 1 of Akira (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Connie on vol. 3 of Arm of Kannon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danielle Leigh on Crimson Shell and vol. 1 of Jormungand (Comics Should Be Good!)
Connie on vol. 15 of D.Gray-Man (Slightly Biased Manga)
Brigid Alverson on Domo: The Manga (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Peter Gutierrez on vol. 1 of The Ghost in the Shell (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Girl Friends (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 12 of Golgo 13 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 6 of Goong (Slightly Biased Manga)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Honey Hunt (Soliloquy in Blue)
David Brothers on vol. 1 of Jormungand (4thletter)
Shannon Fay on Love Code (Kuriousity)
Courtney Kraft on vols. 1-3 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Danica Davidson on vols. 1-4 of Narration of Love (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Julie on vol. 7 of O-Parts Hunter (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Snow Wildsmith on vol. 1 of Rin-ne (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Kinukitty on Two of Hearts (The Hooded Utilitarian)
Danica Davidson on vol. 1 of Zombie Loan (Graphic Novel Reporter)

David Welsh and Ben Huber check out this week’s new releases. Also, today’s edition of David’s shoujo/sunjeong alphabet is sponsored by the letter F.

Lissa Pattillo checks the retail sites and finds a number of possible omnibus editions in the works.

Viz editor Andy Nakatani talks to CBR’s Danica Davidson about Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto.

Yamila Abraham of Yaoi Press has an interesting proposition: She wants to team up with Digital to sell Kindles preloaded with yaoi to overseas customers.

John Thomas discusses Moyasimon on the latest Sci-Guys podcast.

News from Japan: Nihon IT Manga Shimbun now offers IT news in manga form.

Reviews: Park Cooper has short takes on a number of new manga at Manga Life.

Tangognat on vol. 5 of 20th Century Boys (Tangognat)
Justin Colussy-Estes on vol. 1 of Antique Bakery (Comics Village)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on Boys Over Flowers: Jewelry Box (Manga Life)
Sam Kusek on vol. 1 of Hero Tales (Manga Recon)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of The Lizard Prince (Comics Worth Reading)
Emily on vol. 1 of The Lizard Prince (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Joy Kim on vol. 2 of Maximum Ride (Manga Life)
Jennifer Dunbar on vols. 1 and 2 of MeruPuri (A word is a unit of language)
Julie on vol. 17 of Nana (Manga Maniac Cafe)
David Brothers on vol. 6 of Pluto (4thletter)
Sandy Bilus on Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (I Love Rob Liefeld)
Billy Aguiar on World of Warcraft: Death Knight (Prospero’s Manga)
Barb Lien-Cooper on vol. 2 of Yotsuba&! (Manga Life)

In his latest podcast, Japanamerica author Roland Kelts talks manga with Tyler Brule, editor of the UK magazine Monocle.

Christopher Mautner presents Osamu Tezuka 101 at Robot 6.

At the Icarus blog, Simon Jones comments on a recent report that things aren’t going too swimmingly for the manga industry in Japan:

But it all comes down to fewer companies being able to produce mainstream products, because a growing segment of mainstream audiences are no longer willing to pay for them despite increasing demand. So instead, companies focus on a specific set of consumers who are willing to pay top dollar to own official releases – i.e. otaku (doujinshi already work on the same principle. Fans regularly pay $10+ for 20-page parodies that have low print runs.) I’ve mentioned this before… the less the masses support art directly, the more likely art will revert back to the patron system of old, where a few individuals dictate the direction of art.

Jones also looks at a specific manga on which the creator initially took a loss (which is not unusual) and explains why publishers are necessary for the current model. It’s well worth a click.

At The Eastern Edge, Gottsu-iiyan shows off some drawings from Takehiko Inoue’s sketchbook that were reproduced in a Japanese magazine.

Danielle Leigh has more personalized recommendations in her latest Manga Before Flowers column.

At Same Hat, Ryan posts Deb Aoki’s pic of Shintaro Kago at Comitia (NSFW, if you look closely enough).

Noah Buchan of the Taipei Times has an interesting article about Yoshitaka Amano’s fine art career.

This ShojoYourMojo column at the Tokyopop site has a quick overview of sunjeong manhwa as well as a quick look at a number of different titles. (Via Manga Bookshelf’s Manhwa Monday column.)

Reviews: Johanna Draper Carlson takes a quick look at some recent Del Rey titles at Comics Worth Reading. And the Manga Recon team has a bonus set of Manga Minis for us this week.

Julie on vols. 1 and 2 of Blood+ Adagio (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Deka Kyoshi (Comics Worth Reading)
Lexie on vols. 1-10 of Emma (Poisoned Rationality)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 1 of Happy Boys (Kuriousity)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Happy Mania (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Night Head Genesis (Prospero’s Manga)
Sophie Stevens on vol. 1 of Kimi ni Todoke: From Me To You (Animanga Nation)
Snow Wildsmith on Liberty*Liberty (Fujoshi Librarian)
Scott VonSchilling on vol. 1 of The Lizard Prince (The Anime Almanac)
Connie on vol. 6 of Mixed Vegetables (Slightly Biased Manga)
Oyceter on vols. 1 and 2 of Nightschool (Sakura of DOOM)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of Ooku: The Inner Chambers (i heart manga)
David Welsh on vols. 1 and 2 of What a Wonderful World (Comics Reporter)
Lori Henderson on the November issue of Yen Plus (Comics Village)
Erica Friedman on vol. 18 of Yuri Hime (part 2) (Okazu)

Check out what’s on top of my stack this week in the latest What Are You Reading? column at Robot 6.

The Comics Village team looks over the latest new manga releases.

Lori Henderson ably sums up the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu, and Erica Friedman posts the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Danielle Leigh has another round of personalized manga recommendations at Comics Should Be Good!

Sam Leith explains manga, Tezuka, and Astro-Boy to newcomers at The Guardian.

Lissa Pattillo spots some possible new licenses on Amazon.

ICv2 has a bit more on Shueisha’s plan to sell manga for mobile phones in Japan and the U.S. The comics will be sold through the Microsoft Store and will run on the Microsoft Mobile OS, which has a relatively small market share in the U.S.

The Houston Chronicle reports on First Storm Manga, a group for aspiring manga artists.

News from Japan: The Mayoi Neko Overun! light novels are being adapted into both an anime and a manga.

Reviews: Kate Dacey has short reviews of recent volumes of Detroit Metal City, Jormungand, and Ooku: The Inner Chambers at The Manga Critic. And the Manga Recon team starts off the week with a round of Manga Minis.

David Cabrera on Afterschool Charisma (Subatomic Brainfreeze)
Julie on Crimson-Shell (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Thomas Zoth on vol. 1 of Deka Kyoshi (Mania.com)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Four-Eyed Prince (Comics Worth Reading)
Jennifer Dunbar on vols. 3 and 4 of Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden (A word is a unit of language)
Michelle Smith on vol. 4 of Gestalt (Soliloquy in Blue)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Gunsmith Cats Burst (Okazu)
James Fleenor on vol. 2 of KimiKiss (Anime Sentinel)
Lissa Pattillo on Liberty Liberty! (Kuriousity)
Kris on Love/Knot (Manic About Manga)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Nabari No Ou (Soliloquy in Blue)
Julie on vol. 1 of Night Head Genesis (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Pandora Hearts (Manga Bookshelf)
Amy Grockl on vol. 1 of Punch (Comics Village)
Deb Aoki on Red Snow (About.com)
Lori Henderson on the December issue of Shonen Jump (Manga Xanadu)
Tangognat on vols. 7 and 8 of Swan (Tangognat)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Time and Again (Manga Bookshelf)
Connie on vol. 5 of Vagabond (VizBig edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of WaqWaq (Slightly Biased Manga)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of World of Warcraft: Death Knight (Anime Sentinel)
Julie on vol. 6 of The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls: Revenge of the Hori Clan (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Erica Friedman on vol. 18 of Yuri Hime (Okazu)

Doesn’t it seem redundant for the Chicks on Anime roundtable to have Girls’ Night Out? It’s a fun night, though, as yuri publisher Erica Friedman joins them for a chat about girls who like girls who like girls.

Kai-Ming Cha has a nice piece on the end of Emma at PWCW.

Fred Schodt talks Tezuka at The Onion’s AV Club.

Vampire Knight, Naruto, and more favorites top the NY Times best-seller list.

I’ll second David Welsh’s request that CMX license Otoyomegatari; it looks utterly gorgeous.

Jason Thompson has a fascinating article on military and political moe manga and anime at io9. It’s marked NSFW but doesn’t look terribly so to me (although I didn’t look at any of the videos).

Tangognat tells us the inside story of the new Manga Views website, including how it was created, while Jacob Martin looks at its value to users.

Viz is offering a free preview of Rumiko Takahashi’s Mermaid Saga at their Rumic World site.

Danielle Leigh posts her first round of manga recommendations at Comics Should Be Good.

ANN has more details on Shueisha’s cell phone manga program.

The Power of Friendship, a podcast by two self-described fangirls, has a special shoujo manga podcast. (Via When Fangirls Attack.)

News from Japan: Word is that Miwa Ueda’s Papillon is coming to an end. Same Hat has the trailer of a documentary on Kazuo Umezu.

Reviews: Ed Sizemore reviews some recent Tokyopop releases at Comics Worth Reading.

Ed Chavez on vol. 2 of Alive (MangaCast)
Sterg Botzakis on vol. 3 of Astro Boy (Graphic Novel Resources)
Kris on Awaken Forest (Manic About Manga)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Beast Master (Manga Bookshelf)
Brad Rice on Bokurano (Japanator)
Martin on Eden: It’s an Endless World! (Mono no aware)
Michael Buntag on vol. 9 of Emma (NonSensical Words)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 9 of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden (Kuriousity)
Shannon Fay on Hey, Sensei? (Kuriousity)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Higurashi When They Cry: Curse Killing Arc (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Jack Frost (Stop, Drop, and Read)
Johanna Draper Carlson on The Manga Artist’s Workbook (Comics Worth Reading)
John A. Wass on The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology (Scientific Computing)
Connie on vol. 1 of Please Please Me (Manga Recon)
Matthew Brady on vol. 6 of Pluto (Warren Peace Sings the Blues)
Gia Manry on Rin-ne (Anime Vice)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Silent Möbius (Comics Should Be Good)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 7 of Zombie Loan (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)

nemu-nemu reaches a big milestone—the 500th episode. Jason Yadao lists his favorite episodes at Otaku Ohana.

Japanator’s Brad Rice talks to Viz’s Leyla Aker about their SigIKKI online manga site. Also: This week’s new releases.

David Welsh looks at the November Previews at Precocious Curmudgeon.

Hindsight is 20-20 for translators Alethea and Athena Nibley, as they acknowledge in this week’s column at Manga Life.

Robot 6 features the manga-filled bookshelves of Emily, the owner of Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page.

The Eastern Edge has some comments on the Christopher Handley case.

This could be interesting: The Japanese publisher Shueisha will offer manga on U.S. mobile phones next year, according to a report on the Japanese television network NHK.

Reviews

Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of Alive: The Final Evolution (Comics Village)
Joy Kim on vol. 1 of Cirque du Freak (Manga Life)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1-3 of Gestalt (Soliloquy in Blue)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vols. 6 and 7 of Goong (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of Nabari no Ou (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Julie on vol. 3 of Shaman Warrior (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Small-Minded Schoolgirls (Manga Recon)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of St. Dragon Girl (Anime Sentinel)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 8 of Vampire Knight (Manga Life)
Steven M. Bari on vol. 20 of Yakitate!! Japan (Manga Life)
Topher Cantler on Yotsuba&! (Japanator)