MangaBlog

Udon isn’t a company that I see too often, perhaps because I’m not into games at all. Still, I’m disappointed that I missed their panel, the last one at NYAF, because I’m curious about what they do, and their manhwa sounds interesting. Apparently they announced some game-related manga at NYAF; details after the cut.

EW MANGA! NEW MANHWA! NEW STREET FIGHTER COMICS!
UDON announces new titles from their 2008 publishing line up

Toronto, ON – Dec 10, 2007 – This past weekend at the 2007 New York Anime Festival UDON Entertainment unveiled a swath of exciting announcements to a room full of thrilled anime and comic book fans. Just in time for Street Fighter’s 20th anniversary (highlighted by the all-new Street Fighter IV video game and the upcoming live action movie), UDON plans to release three pulse-pounding Street Fighter comic book series in 2008.

First up, Street Fighter II Turbo will be a 12 issue maxi-series continuing the core story of UDON’s Street Fighter universe. Featuring the dynamic and energetic artwork of Chamba (Sinbad: Rogue of Mars), this latest arc pits the World Warriors against each other in an epic tournament-style slugfest.

Secondly, artist Omar Dogan (Sakura, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles) follows up his run on the popular Sakura mini-series with Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li. This new 4 issue mini-series focuses on a young Chun-Li, revealing how she grew up to become the world’s most famous female fighter.

Finally, Joe Ng (Red Sonya: Sonya Goes East, Transformers, G.I. Joe VS Transformers) brings his skilled line work to the pages of Street Fighter III: New Generation. This 6-issue series will not only explore the new characters introduced in the Street Fighter III video games, it will also show fans for the first time what classic characters like Guile, Sakura and others are up to during the SF3 era!

Beyond Street Fighter, UDON is diving back into other publishing projects in 2008. The studio will be expanding their successful Capcom Manga line with several new titles including Onimusha: Twilight of Desire and Devil Kings Basara. Fans can also look forward to more Capcom art books including Onimusha Dawn of Dreams: Official Complete Works and the Darkstalkers Graphic File.

In addition, UDON is also kicking its Korean Manhwa line into high gear with new titles including Daring Students’ Association, Dear Waltz, Reading Club, Evyione and Chronicles of the Grim Peddler.

Release dates and more detailed information will be forthcoming in future press releases, so stay tuned to the blog section of www.udonentertainment.com for all the latest UDON news!

So, the big announcement of NYAF was this: Del Rey is going to do manga based on Marvel characters, a shoujo version of X-Men and a shonen version of Wolverine. The X-Men title will be written by the husband-and-wife team of Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier and illustrated by the Indonesian artist Anzu; Wolverine will be written by Antony Johnson. Each series will be two volumes, and the manga will be standard format: 200 pages, black and white interior, 5 x 7 1/2 trim size. The first X-Men manga will be published in spring 2009.

MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT AND DEL REY MANGA ANNOUNCE TWO NEW SERIES BASED ON X-MEN, WOLVERINE

NEW YORK, NY – December 9, 2007 – Marvel Entertainment and Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today plans to publish two new manga series based on Marvel Entertainment’s highly popular X-Men series.

The manga, created with the cooperation and consultation of Marvel editors, will take the classic characters from the X-Men series and re-imagine them in a manga style. The first project, scripted by the husband-and-wife team of Raina Telgemeier (writer and illustrator of The Babysitter’s Club graphic novels) and Dave Roman (creator of the comic Agnes Quill), will focus specifically on the X-Men team. Indonesian artist Anzu will illustrate the two-volume series, which will go on sale in Spring 2009.

It’s the X-Men as you’ve never seen them before, with the storyline fashioned as a private school shôjo comedy. (Shôjo manga is aimed at girls and often covers popular subjects such as comedy, romance, and drama.) As the only girl in the all-boys School for Gifted Youngsters, Kitty Pryde, a mutant with phasing abilities, is torn between the popular Hellfire Club, led by flame-throwing mutant Pyro—and the school misfits, whom she eventually bands together as the X-Men.

A second manga series, to be published in Spring 2009, follows the adventures of Wolverine, a breakout member of the X-Men team known for his attitude and unbreakable adamantium claws.

Dallas Middaugh, associate publisher of Del Rey Manga, says, “The X-Men are some of the most well-known characters in the world, and it’s the strength of those characters-along with strong and unique storylines-that make the X-Men a perfect match for the manga form. It’s an amazing opportunity, and we’re eager to bring new interpretations to the fans through the prism of manga.”

The X-Men made their comics debut in The X-Men #1 in 1963 and have since become a mainstream pop culture phenomenon with the development of an animated television series, several video games and a blockbuster live-action film trilogy.

Ruwan Jayatilleke, Vice President of development of Marvel Entertainment, Inc., said “Del Rey Manga has been an innovative force in the manga landscape—-consistently growing the medium and breaking the boundaries of print. We have found a partner who will bring the X-Men and Wolverine into the fastest growing segment of graphic fiction, with superior storytelling and visual fireworks. Comic book fans and manga readers have much to look forward to.”

Manga, the Japanese term for comics, is a Japanese cultural phenomenon that accounts for nearly half of all the books and magazines sold in Japan. Read by men and women of all ages, manga covers a wide variety of themes including adventure, romance, fantasy, and more. Manga has experienced incredible growth in the US and Canadian graphic novel market in the past few years. According to industry source ICv2 manga sales reached between $170 million and $200 million in 2006.

About the Creators
Raina Telgemeier is best known for her work as the writer and illustrator of The Babysitter’s Club graphic novels. She received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts and has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Eisner, Ignatz, Cybil, and Web Cartoonists’ Choice awards.

Dave Roman currently works for Nickelodeon Magazine as an associate editor. The co-creator of the Harvey Award-nominated series Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden and the Ignatz award-winning Teen Boat, he also pens his own webcomic, Astronaut Elementary. He is also the creator of the comic Agnes Quill.

Anzu, a manga artist based in Indonesia, will make her US manga art debut in April 2008 with the first volume of The Reformed, written by Chris Hart. She has contributed to Hart’s bestselling How to Draw Manga series.

Yen Press made quite a splash at NYAF. You couldn’t miss the huge Yen Press banner as you walked in, and the huge banner of Svetlana Chmakova’s Nightschool hanging in the main concourse. And then before anyone even had a panel, Yen kicked off the fest by announcing they had signed a deal with James Patterson, decribed by Yen co-publisher Kurt Hassler as “the best selling author in all the country.”

The first four books are 4-koma, four-panel cartoons, the same format as Azumanga Daioh:

Shoulder a Coffin, Kuro, by Satoko Kiyuduki. This manga is based on Western fairy tales and features a little girl who walks around with a coffin on her back. She is very philosophical, but she travels with a little man who is both the voice of reason and the voice of snark, according to assistant editor Tania Biswas. As with the original, color pages will be interspersed throughout the book.

Sunshine Sketch, by Ume Aoki, is known to anime fans as Hidomari’s Sketch. It’s about a group of girls in a dorm in an all-girl school—”It’s kind of like a harem manga without the guy,” Biswas explained. You can see a sample on its Wikipedia page.

Suzunari! by Shoko Iwami, is about a girl who finds a twin sister with cat ears on the street; she brings the new girl home, and her parents treat her like a member of the family. Hilarity ensues. You can take a peek at the cover of the Japanese edition on its Baka-updates page.

And finally, SS Astro: Ashaio Sogo Teachers Room takes a peek at what really goes on in the teachers lounge. Hilarity, apparently.

(Satsuma, who blogs at One Potato Two, is translating Shoulder a Coffin, Kuro and Sunshine Sketch, so she posted covers on her blog.)

Biswas also mentioned the three Lily Hoshino BL manga that Yen announced at Yaoicon: Love Quest, Mr. Flower Bride, and Mr. Flower Groom.

Then it was time to talk about Yen Plus, the manga anthology magazine that Yen will be releasing monthly beginning this summer. The magazine will contain a mix of original and licensed material, both manga and manhwa, and the headline story will be Nightschool, which Svet described as “Harry Potter meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The idea is that vampires and other creatures go to school at night, in a regular public school that is transformed just for them. The main character, Alex, is a witch who has guardian demon spirits but also manages to be a surly teenager.

The anthology will also include two manhwa, Jack Frost, by Jin-Ho Ko, and Pig Bride, about an arranged marriage between a boy and a girl who hides her face behind a pig mask, by Kook-Hwa Huh and Su-Jin Kim.

And then there will be Maximum Ride, based on the James Patterson novels. “This is one of the best selling young adult novels in the country, there are film plans in works, we could not be more excited that this is going to be an anchor of the Yen Plus magazine,” Hassler said. It should also bring in new readers, as Patterson fans (like the five who showed up in Maximum Ride costumes at Hassler’s house this Halloween) pick up the magazine. Which they will, because Hassler says it will not just be in bookstores but also in mass-market stores like Target and Wal-Mart, at the allowance-friendly price of $8.99 for 460 pages.

One final note: Yen is taking over the Ice Kunion library, and co-publisher Rich Johnson said the books are arriving in the Hachette warehouse now and should be in stores shortly. The Yen Press logo will go on when the books are reprinted.

NYAF is smaller than NYCC; it’s down on the lower level, in the space where the first NYCC was in 2006. The Friday crowd was healthy but not overwhelming, with a nice assortment of cosplayers.

I stopped by the Tokyopop booth for a chat with their people; watch for a revamp of their website next year that should make it easier to navigate. They had a tea party to launch the third volume of Dramacon, and Svetlana Chmakova was on hand to sign copies for a long line of ardent fans. For some reason Stu Levy was tearing around the floor in a tuxedo with a camera crew in tow; I suspect we’ll find out more about that at their movie panel today.

Then I dropped by the Lime Manga booth to visit with David Boller and Mary Hildebrandt, the creative team behind Evergrey and Yaru, (currently being published in Germany) and some rather nice doujinshi in English, Gilt and Karma, both of which you can read online. David had some copies of the French global manga anthology magazine Shogun, which is satisfyingly hefty and now comes in three flavers: shonen, seinen, and “life,” which for some reason the editors found preferable to “shoujo.” And he gave me a copy of his josei manga in French, Executrices Women. Casey, who blogs as Kethylia, stopped by while I was there, and it was great to meet her in person. Christopher Hart came by as well, and we had a mini-reunion, as I edited his first cartoon book for Watson-Guptill 20 years ago.

Before heading out to the panels I visited the Vertical booth, where I talked to their marketing manager, Stephen Vrattos, and looked over their stunning display of manga, novels, and sudoku and oekaki books. Crafters will be pleased to know that they have some new Aranzi Aronzo books, these ones in a bigger format but as cute as ever. I was very taken by their new Guin Saga manga, based on a best-selling series of novels that’s up to over 100 volumes in Japan. And of course, their hardcover edition of MW is gorgeous. (Totally unsolicited and irrelevant plug: Vertical’s sudoku books are on a whole different plane of existence than the sudoku you find in your daily paper. Solving them is almost like meditation. Highly recommended!)

Today and tomorrow will be busy, with lots of panels and hopefully some interesting announcements. Stay tuned!

Audry Taylor kicked off the panel with the new manga announcements, although she admits they got scooped by the sharp-eyed folks at Anime on DVD, who spotted the Amazon listings a few weeks ago. (And Ed posted the covers at MangaCast.) Still, she gamely presented the latest lineup, which includes two series by the creators of earlier Go!Comi titles.

Three in Love, by Mizuki Shioko, the creator of Crossroad. Just what it sounds like, but with Mizuki as the creator, it has to be good.

Kurogane Communication: A teenage girl is the last human left on earth, but she has plenty of robot company.

Bogle: A high school girl moonlights as a cat thief, stealing only from those who deserve it.

Son of the Hanging Sky: Set in an alternate world, this one is reminiscent of Native American folklore.

Yddgrasil: A fantasy about a boy and a girl playing a strange MMO that mixes reality with the game.

Ultimate Venus, by Takako Shigematsu, creator of Tenshi Ja Nai. This is sort of a Pygmalion story, with a hot guy setting out to civilize an unruly girl. “She’s a stubborn girl,” Audry explained, adding, “People are constantly kidnapping her, and they are often hot young men.”

Aimee Major Steinberger, creator of Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan, was there in full Trinity Blood regalia to narrate a slide show of her adventures, alternating sketches with photos of the real thing. Check the Go!Comi website for more drawings and photos.

Wendy Pini, creator of the Masque of the Red Death webcomic, was also there, in deep colors reminiscent of her art in that comic. Masque has a Flash interface that is more cinematic than most webcomics, and it’s possible that Go!Comi will ultimately release it as a DVD as well as a print manga. The first print volume is due out in summer 2008.

Other coverage: Deb Aoki at About.com

Today was the first day of panels at NYAF, and the publishers certainly came through with the new manga announcements. Del Rey had an interesting mix of a few unknowns and a few works by creators we’ve heard of before.

Let’s start with manga:

Mao-Chan, concept and character design by Ken Akamatsu, art by RAN. “He is very much in this case working in Ken Akamatsu’s style,” said Del Rey associate publisher Dallas Middaugh. The concept: Japan has been invaded by cute aliens whose powers of cuteness overwhelm the military; only an eight-year-old girl can save the country from this cuteness attack.

Kamichama Karin-Chu by Koge-Donbo. This is the sequel to Kamichama Karin, and in case you haven’t read it, Middaugh had a quick summary: “It’s not easy to be a goddess and a girl in love.

Gankutsuoh by Mahiro Maeda. This one drew applause, because many in the audience were already familiar with the Studio Gonzo anime, which is based on The Count of Monte Cristo. Only two volumes are out so far in Japan.

Papillon, by Miwa Ueda, creator of Peach Girl. Sweet, shy girl has to compete with her teen-queen twin sister. Manganews has a nice summary.

… and a global manga, Kasumi, written by Surt Lim and illustrated by Hirofumi Sugimoto. Lim is American, but Sugimoto is Japanese, so the book will read right to left. The main character is a girl who has the power to become invisible—but only when she holds her breath. This one sounds like fun.

In addition to the manga, Middaugh had two new novels to announce, both by the singly-named Nisioisin: xxxHolic: Another xxxHolic, and Kubikiri Cycle, the first book in the nine-volume Zaregoto series.

xxxHolic: Another xxxHolic comprises three original stories set in the world of xxxHolic. (Nisioisin is also the author of Death Note: Another Note, which Viz has licensed.) Del Rey will publish this as a hardcover with a cover similar to the cover of the Japanese edition.

As for Zaregoto, Andrew Cunningham describes it as “Catcher in the Rye crossed with Agatha Christie but run through a healthy filter of the distinct kind of madness you need to be a fan of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.”

Middaugh also talked a bit about Faust, the fiction and manga anthology that will debut in the summer and will feature work by CLAMP, Takeshi Obata, Yun Kouga, and Fred Gallagher, among others. This is an English edition of an anthology Kodansha has been publishing, more or less irregularly, since 2003.

Other coverage: Ed Chavez at MangaCast
Deb Aoki at About.com
Gia at a geek by any other name