MangaBlog

Over at Comic Book Resources, Brian Hibbs does his annual reading of the entrails of an owl the BookScan charts and attempts to draw conclusions from what he sees. He admits right off the bat that he’s hampered by the fact that BookScan doesn’t cover all bookstores (estimates are in the 70-75% range), and the numbers are far from perfect:

Really, what I’m trying to get across to you is that this really is entirely unreliable data in terms of the absolute and total number of books sold, and is only able to give the broadest outline of what’s happening in book stores, based upon the data-set that I’m being given, which is in no way comprehensive.

Got that? There’s a pretty long argument about just how accurate the numbers are in the comments thread to this post at The Beat. When he gets to the manga section, Brian accuses manga blogs of only looking at that part of the data. I’m pretty sure he’s not talking about me, but it doesn’t really inspire me to do any analysis of my own, as I really don’t care how many copies of Watchmen sold last year. You can download the BookScan list of the top 750 graphic novels from his article if you like, though, and play along at home. Matt Blind does just that at Rocket Bomber, comparing his online sales estimates to the BookScan numbers, and Dirk Deppey vehemently disagrees with Hibbs on the subject of art comics and the validity of BookScan numbers in general.

For those who are following the business end of things, Simon Jones and ANN note several titles that were cancelled by Diamond, and then Simon adds another: No Starch Press’s Manga Guide to Statistics, which is at the top of my review pile right now. Note that this just means Diamond won’t be distributing the books to comics stores; they are still available in plenty of other venues.

The Comics Village team looks over the most recent batch of new releases.

Queenie Chan checks in to let us know what she’s working on, including a second In Odd We Trust manga.

Erica Friedman rounds up this week’s yuri news at Okazu.

ComiPress publishes a big roundup of links to NYCC posts.

MangaCast has the 411 on the newest titles from DrMaster.

News from Japan: The Eastern Edge updates us on Billy Bat, Naoki Urasawa’s current manga series. Caution: Spoilers! Ed Chavez takes a look at the most recent manga magazine sales numbers at MangaCast, and the picture isn’t pretty. He also rounds up the latest manga news in his MangaScope column. Rumiko Takahashi is drawing a one-shot manga, Unmei no Tori, for Big Comic Original magazine; the issue goes on sale March 5, ANN reports. Heisei Democracy (possibly NSFW) has a brief story on a creator’s cafe in Akihabara, which offers would-be manga-kas a desk, computer with Photoshop, and everything else they need—except inspiration and talent, of course—for an hourly fee. Canned Dogs has news of a new manga based on the doujin game Himawari, which will debut in the new magazine GanGan JOKER.

News from Korea: The Korean Times notes the popularity of a science-themed comics series.

Reviews: Wilma Jandoc and Jason Yadao of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin have a Kitchen Princess cook-off, testing several of the recipes from the palate-teasing shoujo series.

A Library Girl on vol. 7 of After School Nightmare (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Connie on vol. 6 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vol. 14 of Claymore (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Snow Wildsmith on The Dawn of Love (Fujoshi Librarian)
Kris on Double Trouble (Manic About Manga)
Connie on The Gentleman and the Lady (Manga Recon)
Kris on Glass Sky (Manic About Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 4 of Goong (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Lori Henderson on vol. 5 of High School Debut (Comics Village)
Michelle Smith on vols. 2 and 3 of Hissing (soliloquy in blue)
Connie on vols. 18, 19, and 20 of Iron Wok Jan (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vol. 2 of Kiichi and the Magic Books (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vols. 15 and 16 of Law of Ueki (Slightly Biased Manga)
Deb Aoki on vol. 1 of Maximum Ride (About.com)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 6 of Moon Boy (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Papaya Gundan (Okazu)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Shojo Beat’s Manga Artist Academy (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie on Sighing Kiss (MangaCast)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Tokyopop’s March titles (Comics Worth Reading)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 20 of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles (Kuriousity)
D.M. Evans on vol. 4 of Variante (Manga Jouhou)
Lissa Pattillo on Waru (Kuriousity)
Brenda Gregson on vol. 1 of Yokaiden (Animanga Nation)

The MangaCast team looks over this week’s new releases.

I haven’t been following the USA Today booklist like I used to, but it’s worth noting, as ANN did, that all four volumes of Naruto made the top 150 list last week for the second week in a row.

Lori Henderson has found some links and videos regarding manga on the Sony E-Reader.

Matt Blind brings in the online sales numbers, with his weekly rankings summary, emerging trends report, new releases and pre-orders summary, and top 500 list.

JoeMac posts more cartoons of former Tokyopop employees.

News from Japan: Here’s a site for those of you who read Japanese: Yomban, a Bandai-run site that posts free manga and novels. I took a quick peek and the reader is simple and easy to use; I just wish I could read the words. Kodansha’s Morning Special has word of new manga from the creators of Get Backers and Boys Be…

Reviews: At comiXology, Tucker Stone gives Slam Dunk the Tucker Stone treatment. Danielle Leigh is intrigued by vol. 1 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei at Comics Should Be Good. Jennifer Tanko enthuses about CLAMP’s Wish for the Towson University student paper. At Sequential Tart, Sheena McNeil is impressed that the artist of vol. 1 of Tantric Stripfighter Trina understands the physics of boobs so well. Other reviews of note:

Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of 07-Ghost (Comics Village)
Sam Kusek on vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys (Manga Recon)
A Library Girl on vol. 6 of After School Nightmare (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Julie on vol. 1 of Bakegyamon-Backwards Game (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Michelle Smith on vol. 2 of Case Closed (soliloquy in blue)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 5 of Comic (Kuriousity)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 5 of Comic (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Patti Martinson on vol. 10 of Crimson Hero (Sequential Tart)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 12 of D.Gray-Man (Sequential Tart)
Grant Goodman on vols. 1-4 of Emperor’s Castle (Manga Recon)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 3 of Fairy Cube (Sequential Tart)
Michelle Smith on vol. 5 of Fairy Tail (soliloquy in blue)
Snow Wildsmith on The First Stage of Love (Manga Jouhou)
AstroNerdBoy on Genshiken Official Book (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
TSOTE on Gyo and Uzumaki (Three Steps Over Japan)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Hayate x Blade (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 17 of Iron Wok Jan (Slightly Biased Manga)
Diana Dang on Love*Com (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Maximum Ride (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 14 of Nana (Sequential Tart)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 1 of Pluto (Sequential Tart)
Casey Brienza on Red Blinds the Foolish (ANN)
Connie on vol. 15 of Tail of the Moon (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Togainu No Chi (Manga Recon)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Tsubasa: Those with Wings (Tangognat)
Anna on vol. 1 of Ultimate Venus (Tokyo Jupiter)
Phil Guie on vol. 1 of Wild Animals (Manga Recon)
Emily on Yokae Mae (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Sarah Boslaugh on vol. 3 of Yozakura Quartet (PLAYBACK:stl)

Sorry about my untimely absence yesterday—I had an unusually busy morning. If you haven’t caught this already on someone else’s blog, I hope you’ll check out my interview with pioneer translator and manga scholar Matt Thorn. That’s him in the drawing at left, which was done by est em, his former student and the creator of Seduce Me After the Show and Red Blinds the Foolish, which Matt translated. Also up at PWCW: Lynn Andriani on cooking manga.

ICv2 also has an interview with a manga pioneer, Tokoypop CEO Stu Levy, who talks about the early days at Tokyopop and his plans for the future (part 1, part 2)

David Welsh scans this week’s new manga at Precocious Curmudgeon, and Kate Dacey compiles a handly list of Viz titles he’d like to see in omnibus format.

At MangaCast, Ed Chavez does some NYCC followup with cover images of the new titles announced by Viz and Del Rey. Meanwhile, Deb Aoki has a thorough report on the CMX panel and a photo gallery up at About.com.

John Jakala is pleased by the prospect of Japanese Spider-Man manga from Marvel.

Tangognat has more manga recommendations for kids; this time it’s manga for a 6-year-old girl.

Here’s a cute set of artwork by a former Tokyopop designer, depicting some of his former colleagues.

Lissa Pattillo spots more possible new releases on Amazon.

News from Japan: InventorSpot notes an otaku-friendly blood donation center in Akiba, which started out with maids doing the dirty work and now offers free manga for donors to read while giving blood. At The Eastern Edge, Gottsu-Iiyan spots a comic-within-a-comic from 20th Century Boys making a real-life appearance in Big Comic Spirit. He also notes that the am/pm convenience stores’ manga rental program is kind of redundant, as people loiter in the stores and read the manga for free anyway. Ed Chavez posts the weekly manga rankings from Taiyosha at MangaCast.

Reviews: The Manga Recon team combs through the latest Viz releases in the On the Shojo Beat column.

Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys (Prospero’s Manga)
Charles Tan on vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys (Comics Village)
A Library Girl on vol. 5 of After School Nightmare (A Library Girls’ Familiar Diversions)
Julie on vol. 5 of Basilisk (Manga Maniac Cafe)
John Thomas on vol. 3 of Black Jack (Comics Village)
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane on vol. 2 of Captive Hearts (Manga Life)
Lissa Pattillo on The Devil’s Secret (Kuriousity)
Barb Lien-Cooper on Dororo and Real (Manga Life)
Dick McVengeance on Gimmick! (Japanator)
Micole on vol. 11 of Her Majesty’s Dog (coffeeandink)
Connie on vol. 2 of Hotel Africa (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 5 of I Shall Never Return (Slightly Biased Manga)
Melinda Beasi on vols. 1-15 of Let Dai (Manga Recon)
Julie on vol. 11 of Love*Com (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Kiara on vol. 2 of Metro Survive (Manga Jouhou)
Michelle Smith on vols. 2 and 3 of One Piece (soliloquy in blue)
Emily on Ookamitachi no Gohoubi (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Connie on vol. 11 of Pastel (Slightly Biased Manga)
Dale North on vol. 1 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei (Japanator)
Micole on vol. 1 of Shinobi Life (coffeeandink)
Chloe Ferguson on vols. 2 and 3 of Walkin’ Butterfly (Manga Recon)

Lots of questions have popped up about Diamond’s decision to stop carrying over 1,000 Viz items, mostly manga. I pitched a few at Viz spokeswoman Evelyn Dubocq and got some answers:

MangaBlog: Are these volumes going out of print?

Evelyn Dubocq: No.

MB: What other retail channels will carry them?

ED: Simon & Schuster, AAA Anime, Baker & Taylor, Ingram among others

MB: Some of these series, such as Bastard and Prince of Tennis, are still ongoing. Do you plan to continue releasing new volumes of these?

ED: There are no plans at this time for discontinuing these series

So there you have it. The series are still available in bookstores and other sales channels, and none are slated to be cut. I’m guessing that these titles sell better in those venues than in comics stores, and that’s the reason for the de-listing. Ev wouldn’t comment on why Diamond took this step, referring me to them for info on their business decisions, which is reasonable enough. I’ll give that a shot tomorrow.

At Comics212, Christopher Butcher has posted a list of over 1,000 items, all from Viz, that Diamond will no longer be carrying. I have asked the Viz folks for some clarification of what this means from their end, and when they come through I’ll post what they have to say. In the meantime, two observations: 1. These are mostly old series that ended over a year ago and may not be picking up new readers, and 2. The books will still be available through other channels, such as bookstores and Amazon. I searched for a handful of these on Amazon today and most were listed as in stock. Diamond distributes to comics stores, but who goes to a comics store to buy Boys Over Flowers or Inu Yasha anyway? At Savage Critics, Brian Hibbs makes a different point: He says the books aren’t selling anyway. Simon Jones has some additional thoughts and questions at the Icarus blog (possibly NSFW). At The Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon looks at the larger implications of all Diamond’s recent moves, while David Welsh makes some general comments and takes a long, hard look at the causes and possible effects of the manga slump.

Erica Friedman puts a different spin on the business news at Okazu, looking at five things that niche companies (including Viz!) are doing right. And then she rounds up the week’s yuri news for us.

At Manga Recon, Erin Finnegan turns in a thorough report on the ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference (part 1, part 2), with lots of good facts, figures, and quotes.

One of the most fun things I did at NYCC was participate in a bloggers’ roundtable (literally!) with Scott VonSchilling of Anime Almanac, Alain and Kate (a.k.a. Hisui and Narutaki) of Reverse Thieves, and Greg (who doesn’t seem to have a website), hosted by Evan Minto of Ani-Gamers. The resulting lively discussion is now online for your listening pleasure, and I highly recommend it; this was a smart bunch of folks who know their anime and manga (and other comics as well).

Deb Aoki files her Viz and Yen Press panel reports from NYCC, with a lot of the details that didn’t get mentioned in the first rush of reporting. (At right: The cover of Natsume Ono’s Not Simple, one of the new titles Viz announced at NYCC.)

The MangaCast team skim the cream of last week’s new manga. Also, Ed Chavez takes a look at the lineup, with art, for the alt-manga anthology AX.

At Japanator, God Len looks at this week’s new releases.

And if you need to make room for those new releases, Kate Dacey has some suggestions for selling your manga on E-Bay at Precocious Curmudgeon.

Lissa Pattillo takes a peek at DMP’s new cover designs at Kuriousity.

The Eastern Edge translates parts two and three of Quick Japan’s interview with Naoki Urasawa.

Congratulations to Danielle Leigh on the first anniversary of her Manga Before Flowers column at Comic Book Resources.

At Advanced Media Network, Serdar Yegulalp has an in-depth interview with Camellia Nieh, the translator of Black Jack, MW, and the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex novels, with lots of shop talk and interesting insights into the process. Fun stuff. (Hat tip: John Thomas.)

Udon will publish a newly translated edition of Silent Mobus, including three volumes that were previously unreleased in English translation.

The Dreaming creator Queenie Chan will supply the manga for a “hybrid manga/advice book,” The Boy’s Book of Positive Quotations.

Scratching your head over why everyone is making such a fuss over Yotsuba&!? At Anime Vice, Gia explains it all to you in this short video made in Hawaii, apparently just to make the rest of us jealous.

Lori Henderson discusses Calibre, a cross-platform e-book manager, at Manga Xanadu.

News from Japan: Canned Dogs has some interesting magazine news: A report on the demographics of the top three shonen magazines, and word that the delay in release of Dragon 9 has left some empty space in Famitsu magazine. ANN notes that Oishinbo is back from hiatus, and Gia reports that D.Gray-Man will be back in the March issue of weekly Shonen Jump, after creator Katsura Hoshino took a break due to health problems. Also, Naoki Urasawa is such a great creator, even his characters can draw their own manga. Ed posts last week’s doujin rankings at MangaCast.

Reviews

Everyone’s talking about Monster, and be warned, both these links include spoilers, because the end of the book is a big part of the discussion. Christopher Butcher has some thoughts on the ending and the series as a whole at Comics212; Lissa Pattillo reviews the entire series at Kuriousity. I reviewed the last volume for the final issue of Comic Foundry, so you’ll have to wait for that to come out to see what I thought. Looking ahead, Jog takes a look at Naoki Urasawa’s two new (to the U.S.) series, 20th Century Boys and Pluto, at The Savage Critics. Carlo Santos also kicks off his latest Right Turn Only!! column with a look at vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys.

At his blog Madinkbeard, Derik Badman analyzes two pages of Mushishi. The Manga Recon team turns in another set of pithy Manga Minis. Other reviews of note:

James Fleenor on vol. 2 of .hack//XXXX (Anime Sentinel)
A Library Girl on vol. 4 of After School Nightmare (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Connie on vols. 24 and 25 of Berserk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of B.O.D.Y. (Slightly Biased Manga)
Justin Colussy-Estes on vol. 1 of Golgo 13 (Comics Village)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Hero Heel (The Comic Book Bin)
Julie on vol. 8 of High School Debut (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 10 of Hoshin Engi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on Hot Steamy Glasses (Manga Jouhou)
Connie on vol. 7 of Human Club (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 16 of Kekkaishi (The Comic Book Bin)
Erica Friedman on Kitsune to Atori (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 8 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Slightly Biased Manga)
Carlo Santos on vol. 8 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (ANN)
Kris on L’Etoile Solitaire (Manic About Manga)
Lissa Pattill on vol. 2 of Love Recipe (Kuriousity)
AstroNerdBoy on The Manga Guide to Databases (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Leroy Douresseaux on Millennium Darling 2006 (The Comic Book Bin)
Julie on vol. 3 of Monkey High! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rio McCarthy on vol. 1 of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom (Japanator)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom (The Comic Book Bin)
Lissa Pattillo on Object of Desire (Kuriousity)
Dave Ferraro on Orange (Comics-and-More)
Michelle Smith on vols. 2 and 3 of The Palette of 12 Secret Colors (soliloquy in blue)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 6 of Parasyte (Comics Worth Reading)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Phantom Dream (Tangognat)
Connie on vol. 2 of Pluto (Slightly Biased Manga)
Cynthia on Red Blinds the Foolish (Boys Next Door)
Julie on vol. 3 of Silver Diamond (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Julie on Sweet Regard (MangaCast)
Kris on Time Lag (Manic About Manga)
Cynthia on vol. 1 of Tomcats (Boys Next Door)
Dan Polley on vol. 3 of Toto (Comics Village)
Cynthia on Tricky Prince (Boys Next Door)
Michelle Smith on vol. 3 of Two Will Come (soliloquy in blue)
Connie on vol. 2 of Vagabond, Vizbig edition (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kris on Wagamama Kitchen (Manic About Manga)

Here’s your must-read for the weekend: Christoph Mark interviews Naoki Urasawa and his editor, Takashi Nagasaki, about their collaboration on Billy Bat. Great quote:

“People often think he’s the pitcher and I’m the catcher, but in our discussions for this story, I was the pitcher, he was the batter,” Nagasaki explains.

There’s plenty of interesting background, so go, read. (Image of the Billy Bat cover swiped from ANN.)

Tina Anderson, who was planning on submitting a comic for Viz’s original comics line, says that it has been put on hold and also that Marc Weidenbaum, who spearheaded the line in addition to being top editor for Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat, is no longer with the company. (Via Kuriousity.)

At Rocket Bomber, Matt Blind brings us the latest online sales numbers for the week ending Feb. 8: rankings summary, new releases and pre-orders, emerging trends report, and top 500.

The Manga Recon team has a roundtable discussion of their manga creator dream teams.

At Kuriousity, the very curious Lissa Pattillo has found some new Blu listings on Amazon. Ed Chavez posts the Japanese covers at MangaCast. Ed has covers of the new Yen Press titles and updates on Fanfare/Ponent Mon and Bandai—now there’s an odd couple—as well.

The Electric Ant zine blog is posting anything anyone can find on the upcoming AX anthology.

Reviews

Tangognat recommends some manga for an 11-year-old girl.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of 20th Century Boys (The Comic Book Bin)
Connie on Bambi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 23 of Berserk (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 5 of Black God (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Robert Harris on vol. 9 of Hayate the Combat Butler (Mania.com)
Briana Lawrence on vol. 4 of Hell Girl (Mania.com)
Connie on vol. 1 of Kikaider Code 02 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Emily on Koi ja nai no da! (Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page)
Aspi on The Manga Guide to Databases (Blogcritics)
Julie on vol. 7 of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lissa Pattillo on Necrataholic (Kuriousity)
Casey Brienza on vol. 1 of Otomen (ANN)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of The Palette of 12 Secret Colors (soliloquy in blue)
Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Pixie (Prospero’s Manga)
Jeremy Shepherd on The Reformed (Advanced Media Network)
Charles Tan on vol. 2 of Slam Dunk (Comics Village)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Two Will Come (soliloquy in blue)
Connie on Where Has Love Gone? (Manga Recon)
Erin Jones on vol. 1 of Yonen Buzz: Plastic Chew (Mania.com)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 5 of Zombie Loan (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)