MangaBlog

DrMaster has licensed Divine Melody, a fantasy romance by the creator of Real/Fake Princess. I believe this is a Chinese title, and it sounds quite lovely. The first of six volumes is set for release in January 2009.

DRMASTER LISTENS TO DELIGHTFUL MUSIC WITH DIVINE MELODY

SAN JOSE, CA – June, 2008 – DrMaster Publications announces the licensing of the fantasy shojo manga Divine Melody. Divine Melody is a fantastic tale set in mystical ancient China, where fairies and demons secretly coexist with humans. I-Huan, the popular author of Real/Fake Princess, creates another splendidly enchanting series that weaves swoon-worthy romances, heart-wrenching drama, and mystifying exhilarating action and adventure into her divinely beautiful tapestry of artwork that will leave readers entranced in her fantasy world.

Divine Melody follows the in a Cai-Sheng is a young celestial fox demon being raised by a bevy of wild fox demons, who hope that she will someday master the celestial ability to transform into a male demon and save them from extinction. One day, she sneaks out of her room and ventures to the nearby village, where she befriends a little boy and girl. When the boy and girl save Cai-Sheng from a dog attack, her caretaker marks them with special symbols that will not disappear, even if they are reincarnated, until Cai-Sheng returns repays her debt to them.

Two hundred years later, Cai-Sheng has grown up and secretly mastered the ability to transform into her male form. She inadvertently meets the reincarnated boy and girl again, who still have the special symbols marked on their bodies. The boy has been reincarnated into a somewhat ineffective exorcist’s apprentice, while the girl is the town’s beauty and the precious daughter of a rich man. Cai-Sheng decides to repay her debt to them by trying to match-make the pair, who initially seem to be attracted to each other… But things get complicated when the girl falls in love with Cai-Sheng’s male form! Adding more drama to the love triangle, a powerful deity-in-training appears and confronts Cai-Sheng, claiming that he was ordered to cleanse her of her demon life-style and return with her to Heaven, meanwhile an old enemy of hers appears and seems to have very sinister plans… You don’t want to miss out on all the romance, drama and action in this delightfully divine series!!!

Availability
Divine Melody will be available January 2009, and will be priced at $9.95. The series has six volumes and will be released bi-monthly.

Netcomics has really diversified its line in the past year: They added global manga from Yaoi Press as well as a mix of titles from Japan last year, and now they are putting American comics online. The first one, Tales of the Closet, is not superhero stuff; it has more of an indie feel. Check it out.

NETCOMICS launches American comics on its website

Glendale, CA, June 9, 2008—NETCOMICS, the graphic novel publisher that specializes in the online pay-per-view service of manhwa and manga titles, is launching its first American comic: Tales of the Closet, on its website (www.NETCOMICS.com) today. As with all NETCOMICS titles, online readers can sample the first chapter for free, and pay 25 cents per chapter to read the subsequent chapters.

Ivan Velez, Jr., author of such titles as Blood Syndicate, A Man Called Holocaust, Abominations, Ghost Rider, and Static, and co-author of Dead High, among others, is an advocate of creating comic books about everyday people. Working with Milestone Media, his publisher, Velez has championed his ideal that comic books don’t necessarily have to be about superheroes. “All comic books before [Milestone] tended to be told from a very upper-middle-class viewpoint,” states Velez, in a recent interview with the New York Times. Shying away from the traditional superhero bent, the non-traditional heroes Velez creates are complex, down-to-earth, and, above all, real people.

In his longest running series to date, Tales of the Closet, Velez takes his credo of creating people who look, sound, and act like most people in the world and runs with it. The first volume, alone, introduces the readers to gay and bi-sexual teens, homophobic jocks, and everyone in between. From the already “outted” Scott Lind, to the deeply troubled Ramona, we’re given not only a look into their school lives, but the home life that frames and dictates who they’ve become. Each of the characters struggles with the ideas of their own sexuality, coming to grips with how society, family, and even they, themselves, will deal with their burgeoning self-identities. High school life is bad enough, but when torn between conformity and being true to one’s self, the reality can be harsher than we’d hope for.

Since its launch in January 2006, NETCOMICS has been offering its full line of manhwa titles in both online and print formats. As of 2007, the publisher has extended its online offerings to include Japanese manga titles, as well as titles from Yaoi Press, LLC, who specializes in yaoi manga created by western artists. NETCOMICS.com currently offers about 200 volumes in 61 series.

The MangaCast crew look over this week’s new manga and pick the titles most likely to please. David Welsh lists his picks as well at Precocious Curmudgeon. Danielle Leigh selects the best upcoming titles from the June previews in her latest Manga Before Flowers column.

Two more former Tokyopop employees, trade sales manager Trond Knutsen and production artist Keila N. Ramos, give brief interviews to David Welsh.

Alex Woolfson concludes his two-part interview with Simon Jones at Yaoi 911. Simon discusses licensing, marketing, and the most important thing a small publisher can do: Get enough capital! Well worth a read.

Anne Ishii takes a look at medical manga in this week’s Publishers Weekly Comics Week.

As voting comes to a close on the Eisner Awards, About.com’s Deb Aoki takes a brief look at the manga nominees, and provides samples in a preview gallery (Warning! Interstitial ads!).

Ryan Cody bemoans the fact that the kids he teaches in his art classes want to draw in the manga style, not in traditional American style:

There is good manga and good manga art out there, but the problem is I don’t see any kids out there right now, at least in my neck of the woods, learning how to draw like Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Ron Garney, Ryan Ottley or Eric Canete. They all want to draw gigantic eyes, tear drops on the forehead and spiky hair.

I suspect that the age group has a lot to do with it, because American-style comic art is not that accessible, especially to teenagers. It’s complex and difficult to read, so it looks like it would be hard to draw as well. It’s aimed at mature audiences, so the kids probably aren’t reading it, whereas the manga is written just for them. Perhaps the new DC and Marvel lines aimed at younger kids will change that.

Matt Blind looks at last week’s online manga sales at Comicsnob.

Lissa Pattillo checks out the Canadian online store BigPfeiffer.com and is pleased with the results.

News from Japan: Manga Sutra manga-ka Kastsu-Aki will launch a new manga serial, DokuxKoi (PoisonxLove) in Shueisha’s Super Jump magazine.

Reviews: Connie reads vol. 22 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure at Slightly Biased Manga. Chloe Ferguson tries some manhua (Chinese comics), vol. 1 of White Night Melody, at Manga Recon; unfortunately, she doesn’t think too highly of it. Emily takes a look at Puri x Puri at Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. Lissa Pattillo checks out CLAMP’s Angelic Layer at Kuri-ousity. Down at the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie’s meal is getting cold while she reads vol. 1 of Fairy Cube. Briana Lawrence reviews vol. 1 of In the End and Danielle Van Gorder checks out vol. 20 of Berserk at Anime on DVD.

Kate Dacey’s Manga Recon rounds up the week’s releases and pens a few brief reviews in the latest Weekly Recon. Japanator lists the new manga releases as well.

David Welsh’s open offer to interview former Tokyopop employees hit a snag when he learned that Tokyopop made everyone sign non-disclosure agreements as a condition of receiving their severance pay. Former editor Peter Ahlstrom, who has always been ready to discuss his work on forums and in blog comments, read the fine print and answered David’s questions, giving an interesting look at the life of an editor (Seven books a month? Mercy!) as well as a generous peek at his own background.

Meanwhile, the deathwatch for individual titles continues. Translator Andrew Cunningham reveals that Gosick, Missing, and the Chibi Vampire novels have been cut.

And Queenie Chan updates readers on the The Dreaming fanfic contest, as well as her other recent projects.

Christopher Butcher has more on the mysterious Cthulhu, who set the blogosphere abuzz with his assertion on Comics212 that Kodansha plans to launch a U.S. arm and cut out its licensees. Chris reveals that Cthulhu didn’t respond to his followup e-mail, which is a bit suspicious, and he does a bit of detective work on his own. By the end of the day, he’s still not 100% convinced one way or the other. Neither is Heidi MacDonald, who keeps hearing rumors about Kodansha entering the American market.

Kids like manga. Kids don’t like Shakespeare. The Baltimore Sun takes a look at what kids think when you combine them. Predictably, they find a couple of adults who just hate the idea. This is excellent, of course, as it makes the books more attractive to the kids. Nice marketing ploy!

At Okazu, Erica Friedman rounds up the week’s yuri news and reports on MoCCA.

A Zogby survey reveals that 11 percent of the people they talked to would read an e-book. ICv2 has an interesting analysis of this otherwise unremarkable fact. Also: They calculate that even with InuYasha ending shortly, American fans can expect about 20 more volumes.

News from Japan: I didn’t really think this was a manga story, but since everyone else is posting it: Some disturbed guy stabbed seven people in Akihabara. Save yourself some time and go directly to Japanator, which has a comprehensive account of what happened. Canned Dogs has a bit more on the otaku angles of the story. Also: The husband-and-wife team who created He Is My Master have divorced, and former wife Tsubaki Aku is no longer interested in continuing the project. At least that’s what husband Mattsu has posted on 2chan. MangaCast has the weekly manga rankings from Taiyosha. Chibi Vampire (Karin) creator Yuna Kagesaki has a new manga in the works. And here’s the job from hell: Sensual Phrase creator Mayu Shinjo explains why she left her job at Shogakukan’s Shoujo Comic (Sho-Comi) magazine: Her editors were jerks.

Reviews: John Jakala thinks the young-looking main character makes Honey and Clover a bit creepy, at Sporadic Sequential. Carlo Santos looks at some totally creepy manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column. Ed Chavez has an audio review up of the first volumes of Minima, Zombie Loan, and Fairy Tail at the MangaCast. Matthew Brady enjoys vol. 1 of One Pound Gospel at Warren Peace Sings the Blues. Tiamat’s Disciple takes a look at vol. 4 of Heavenly Executioner Chiwoo. Ferdinand checks out vol. 1 of Kitchi and the Magic Books at Prospero’s Manga, and he critiques After School Sex Club for its lack of plot (imagine that!) in his adult review blog, Prospero’s Manga – Mature. At Okazu, Erica Friedman reads Shiroi Bara no Otome, a josei take on the Maria-sama ga Miteru theme, and likes it more than she expected to. Ken Haley reviews vols. 14 and 15 of Black Cat, and Phil Guie checks out vol. 1 of Gimmick! at PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog. Deb Aoki is looking at this year’s Eisner nominees, including the odd and artsy New Engineering. Andrew Wheeler checks out two manhwa titles from Yen Press, vol. 1 of Croquis Pop and 11th Cat Special, at ComicMix. (Thanks, Journalista!) New posts at Active Anime: Holly Ellingwood on vol. 15 of The Wallflower, Davey C. Jones on vol. 10 of O-Parts Hunter and vol. 1 of Gimmick! Michelle looks at vol. 12 of Hikaru no Go and vols. 5 and 6 of Love*Com at Soliloquy in Blue. Dave Ferraro reads vol. 1 of Monkey High! at Comics-and-More. Erin Jones reads vol. 1 of Aqua and Danielle Van Gorder reviews vol. 12 of Nodame Cantabile. Lissa Pattillo reads all of Chobits at Kuri-ousity. Julie looks at vol. 9 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs at the Manga Maniac cafe. Sakura Kiss reviews Seduce Me After the Show at The Yaoi Review.

There are manga publishers who never send out a press release, and then there’s DrMaster, who seem to send out a press release for every volume they publish. Admittedly, they have a much smaller output than Tokyopop Viz and Del Rey, but it’s interesting that they think the sixth volume of a series is as important as the first. In this case, since I don’t read the series, the PR was rather enlightening. The book won’t be out until February, though, so really this is a clever way of getting us (me) to check out the first five volumes. Read on for more.

DRMASTER TO RELEASE LUNAR LEGEND TSUKIHIME VOL. 6

SAN JOSE, CA – June, 2008 – DrMaster Publications announces the impending release of Lunar Legend Tsukihime volume 6. With much anticipation, the sixth installment of the popular horror action series by Sasakishonen and TYPE-MOON will be released in February 2009. Lunar Legend Tsukihime is based on the video game by TYPE-MOON’s well-known video game Tsukihime, which has also spawned an anime series.

In volume six, the violent bloody action continues when Shiki loses control of his senses and reveals his true “monster” nature within him as he goes on a mad killing spree. Subsequently, Shiki begins to recall fragments of his childhood memories, which reveal some important secrets of the Tohno family. Just when Shiki collapses from his killing spree, Roa appears with the intention of killing him, while Akiha tries desperately to defend him. Ciel later joins the fight against Roa, and more secrets of Ciel’s painful past are revealed. Don’t miss out on all the blood, gore and supernatural action in the sixth volume of Lunar Legend Tsukihime!

About Type-Moon:
Type-Moon is a doujin game publisher that has released several games with fanatic followers. Their works include: Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night, and Kara no Kyokai [Borderline of Emptiness]. Tsukihime is actually a novel type game with over 5000 pages of text, which makes it difficult for people who don’t understand Japanese to enjoy it. However unlike other doujin games that resort to please the carnal pleasure of the players, Tsukihime has a solid story, unique characters, great graphics and music that was as good or even better than games created by the big game companies, which eventually led to the anime adaptation of the game.

About Sasakishonen:
Sasakishonen has worked on quite a number of comic anthologies including Mabu Love, Air, Kanon, Comic Party, Leaf, and Tsukihime. Lunar Legend Tsukihime will be his first full-length comic book.
Availability

Lunar Legend Tsukihime vol. 6 will be available February 2009, and will be priced at $9.95. Lunar Legend Tsukihime volumes 1-5 are available now.

Mike Kiley provides a few more details on Tokyopop’s division into separate publishing and media companies. Kiley, who held the title of “publisher” in the old Tokyopop, has moved to Tokyopop Media. Here’s part of what manga readers want to know: They’re cutting back to 20-22 releases a month for the foreseeable future, or a schedule of about 225 books a year. That means 80 fewer books this year than were planned. He shed no light on what titles would survive the purge, however, or even what type would be most likely to live on. He was pretty vague on the relationship between the two new companies, but he did say that Tokyopop Media would get the website, although it will continue to feature Tokyopop books.

Meanwhile, Lissa Pattillo gets an e-mail telling her that her pre-order for vol. 3 of Kingdom Hearts II was cancelled, and when she goes online, she finds lots of future volumes missing. Coincidence?

And in case you missed my post last night, Japanator talked to Del Rey’s Ali Kokmen, who squelched the rumor that Kodansha is planning to set up its own U.S. arm, thus cutting out all its American licensors (like Del Rey). Gia wonders “Did we all just get uber-trolled, or is something going on?” Simon Jones is staying uncommitted for now, but his take (NSFW!) is fun to read anyway.

Alex Woolfson of Yaoi 911 talks to ero-manga publisher Simon Jones about what it takes to survive as a small yaoi publisher in today’s market. (Simon doesn’t do yaoi, but he’s experienced as a niche publisher of adult-oriented manga, and anyway he always has interesting insights on the industry.)

Perhaps these people should be reading that interview? It looks like there may be a new yaoi publisher waiting in the wings, although their website doesn’t specifically mention manga. They will be at Yaoi-Con, so we’ll find out soon enough. (Found via comments at Kethylia’s blog, where she and Tina Anderson trade guesses.)

Heterochromia critiques academic papers on manga, saying that the professors (and the grad students) focus on the old stuff and ignore what’s happening now. Matt Thorn drops in in comments to add his $.02. (Via the Icarus blog, which is always NSFW.)

According to a Zogby poll, 8% of online book buyers say they buy graphic novels.

The Studio QT Bleargh links to some recent Dark Horse previews.

Takeshi Miyazawa posts some sketches from an unfinished project.

A “Professional Navy Centric blog” takes a look at the success of that manga about the USS George Washington, the aircraft carrier that will be stationed in Japan.

News from Japan: The Big News of the day is that Rumiko Takahashi is bringing InuYasha to a close after 12 years of hunting for those pesky jewel shards. (Image taken from the indispensable Rumic World.) Remember the Raiku, the creator who sued the publisher Shogakukan for losing some of his original art? Canned Dogs links to a blog, purportedly by the creator of Yakitate!! Japan, that defends the editors and claims that Raiku is defaming them. Oddly, by the time that commenters get to it, the blog appears to have disappeared, and the 2ch crowd is speculating that it wasn’t him after all. On a lighter note, the Gottsu-Iiyan blog has a cute post on manga mascots. And a new Saber Marionette manga is launching in July.

Reviews: Over at our sister blog, Good Comics For Kids, Kate Dacey takes a look at Dark Horse’s Dayan collection. Mangamaniac Julie reviews Red at the MangaCast, and she checks out Like a Love Comedy and vol. 3 of Venus in Love at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Tiamat’s Disciple posts on a stack of Yen Press manhwa, all acquired from the former Ice Kunion: vol. 5 of Bring It On, vol. 5 of Chocolat, vol. 4 of One Thousand and One Nights, vol. 5 of 11th Cat, and vol. 3 of Freak. At Kuri-ousity, Lissa Pattillo reviews Heat Guy J and vol. 2 of Legend. Deb Aoki cools down with a look at The Ice Wanderer and Other Stories at About.com. Lots of summer reading going on at Active Anime, where Sandra Scholes reviews vol. 1 of Manga Sutra and Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 1 of One Pound Gospel (second edition), vol. 2 of Shakugan no Shana, vol. 2 of Hero Heel, vol. 2 of Nightmare Inspector, vol. 1 of Forget About Love, and vol. 1 of .hack//xxxx. Snow Wildsmith reviews Laugh Under the Sun at Manga Jouhou. Sesho has a podcast review of Color of Rage at Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews. James Fleenor takes a look at vol. 20 of Hunter X Hunter at Anime Sentinel. Tangognat reads vol. 3 of High School Debut. Vol. 9 of School Rumble earns only average grades from Carlo Santos at ANN. Lori Henderson checks out vol. 1 of Vampire Hunter D and daughter Jenny reviews vol. 1 of Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Adventure at Manga Xanadu.