MangaBlog

The MangaCasters look at this week’s new manga and discuss their picks. Also: Ed Chavez checks out the offerings in the July Previews and looks at the new manhwa recently announced by Tokyopop.

At TZG 2.0 Myk reveals what he’s buying this week.

I really enjoy the blog Polite Dissent, in which a real doctor fact-checks medical stories on TV and in comics. If you’re reading Apothecarius Argentum (and really, it’s worth a look if you like shoujo), stop by and check out his discussion of the poisons involved. (This blog is also a great companion to “House,” BTW).

Tokyopop web guy Jim Devico is working hard on version 2.0 of the site, and he’s looking for a few good beta testers.

CPM has confirmed the lineup Andre spotted the other day, and ANN has put them into a handy grid.

The Groovy Age of Horror has an introduction to horror manga.

Radio station KQED has a discussion on manga that you can listen to as a podcast. (Via Simon Jones.)

Will that recent court case holding server owners responsible for pirated works put a chill on scanlations? Mangaijin puts it in perspective.

The Japanese high school manga competition has begun, and the big publishers are sending scouts. Back in the U.S., Anime Expo is holding an amateur artist competition.

Speaking of manga competitions, Ryan and Evan post the winners of their 4-koma contest at Same Hat! Same Hat!!

The Jakarta Post examines the popularity of manga, manhwa, and manhua in Indonesia.

Curious about copyright? The Library of Congress sums up the basis in a manga-styled, slighly animated comic. It’s surprisingly cute and well done. If you want to take it to the next level, Heidi MacDonald has some advice for creators.

Reviews: At Read About Comics, Greg McElhatton says vol. 4 of Yotsuba&! was well worth the wait. Ferdinand is underwhelmed by vol. 1 of Eden: It’s an Endless World and Miranda is lukewarm toward vol. 1 of Gunsmith Cats Burst at Prospero’s Manga. At Manga Life, Dan Polley reviews vol. 5 of Kurogane. Kethylia reviews vols. 1 and 2 of Genju no Seiza. Holly Ellingwood checks out The Anime Encyclopedia and Scott Campbell reads vol. 8 of Claymore at Active Anime. The Anime on DVD gang lays down some Small Bodied Manga Reviews. Tangognat reviews vol. 1 of Apothecarius Argentum. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie reviews vols. 1 and 2 of Saint Marie, vol. 5 of Can’t Lose You, and vol. 3 of Saint Seiya.

One of the ways I get material for MangaBlog is through various e-mail alerts. Today I’m clearing out my in-box and serving up some juicy leftovers, articles that I somehow missed the first time around. All the links are still good—I checked! (After all, this is “old” in internet time, which means a couple of weeks at most.)

Scott Meaney reports on the Graphic Novels panel at BEA.

Kokoro Media takes apart that recent Wall Street Journal article on girls’ comics.

The Anime Today podcast features an interview with Shojo Beat editors Marc Weidenbaum and Megan Bates.

What if Nymphet were fine art? The Village Voice doesn’t quite know what to make of a lolicon-inspired art exhibit.

The Daily Yomiuri reports on the decline of manga magazines, and what publishers are doing about it.

At Comic Pants, Dan Grendell posts brief reviews of a month’s worth of manga.

Del Rey has previews up of Le Chevalier d’Eon and Dragon Eye. (Via Advanced Media Network.)

Trendspotting has lots of info on manga downloading in Japan and wonders whether it will spread to other countries.

Artist Jun-Pierre Shiozawa drew a manga about viewing Leonardo da Vinci’s “Annunciation.” (Via Metafilter.)

Sony has come up with software to turn blog posts into manga. No one is sure why.

A Singapore company is bringing manga to India.

Here’s a blog by a guy who wants to do manga. In fact, he has already done one in Japan. And he’s right here in Boston. Cool!

Lindsay Beaumont reviews Translucent and Bill Sherman checks out vol. 1 of Fake for Blogcritics. On his own blog, Bill catches up with recent volumes of GTO, Monster, and Naruto. Tina Tsai reviews shojo with attitude, Crimson Hero and Skip-Beat! for the Asian Times. At the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Jason Yadao looks over the many iterations of Train Man. Julie Gray reads vol. 1 of Kitchen Princess and Leroy Douresseaux reviews vol. 1 of King of Thorn and vol. 1 of the Trinity Blood novels for Comic Book Bin. In the they-should-know department, Zac Bentz of Japanator reviews the first issue of Otaku USA.

The YA lit blog Finding Wonderland interviews Svetlana Chmakova, creator of Dramacon and so much more. (Via Blog@Newsarama.)

David Welsh is buying a few new manga this week; there’s a brief but interesting discussion of Death Note in the comments.

Kai-Ming Cha has a nice interview with David Wise and Audry Taylor of Go!Comi. Also up at PWCW: A preview of vol. 5 of The Great Catsby. If you like it, you can read the whole thing for free on the Netcomics site.

New titles news at MangaCast: Ed is disappointed that Tokyopop allowed the announcement of 38 titles to leak before the summer cons, but he rallies and posts cover images anyway. He also points out that the “new titles” that Andre spotted from CPM are actually old titles that are finally showing up, but with Sweet Cream and Strawberries finally on the way, who can complain?

Meanwhile, Andre checks out CMX’s new titles for September. Simon Jones finds the manga in Adult Previews.

Simon also picks up on a recent case that may have far-reaching implications: A court in Japan recently ruled that the owner of a server could be found liable for copyright violations involving works stored on that server. Long story short: This could have a chilling effect on bootleg online manga and possibly scanlations as well.

Lyle has a good idea: How about a discount book club for subscribers to Shojo Beat and Shonen Jump, rewarding their loyalty with lower prices? (Via Sporadic Sequential.)

Mangaijin takes a look at Cowa, by Dragon Ball manga-ka Akira Toriyama. It’s a totally different comic with a totally different head, and it’s only available in scanlation at the moment.

Shogakukan has overtaken Kodansha as the biggest publisher in Japan.

The Japan Times has an entertaining article on the popularity of Japanese culture in Bahrain, while Yahoo News looks at manga and anime tourism.

Elae lists manga creator signings in Germany.

Reviews: Kethylia didn’t care for Mitsukazu Mihara’s Haunted House. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 2 of Ichigenme, Scott Campbell checks out vol. 1 of Dragon Eye and vol. 1 of Brave Story, and Christopher Seaman reads vol. 6 of Pastel. Anime on DVD’s Julie Rosato enjoys La Vie en Rose. Dan Polley checks out vol. 5 of Pichi Pichi Pitch at Manga Life. Connie’s on a manga binge at Slightly Biased Manga, posting reviews of vol. 6 of Law of Ueki, vol. 10 of Swan, vol. 4 of Manhwa Novella Collection: Devil’s Trill, vols. 1, 2, and 3 of Peach Girl: Sae’s Story, and vols. 1 and 2 of Ouran High School Host Club. If that’s not enough Bisco Hatori for you, check out Julie’s review of vol. 2 of Millennium Snow at Mangamaniaccafe. Gina Marysol Ruiz enjoys the manga version of Romeo and Juliet at AmoxCalli. Matt Brady checks out the latest issue of Shojo Beat, which lots of people are picking up for the excerpt from Tezuka’s Princess Knight.

DC has put out a press release on its investment in Flex Comics. Here’s the part we care about:

Flex Comix will create original manga titles that will be distributed digitally across the web and on mobile phones with subsequent print editions available through traditional book trade outlets throughout Japan.

The agreement will position DC Comics as the worldwide English language print and digital publisher of titles created by Flex Comix. In March 2007, DC established DC Comics Japan, Ltd. to invest into and manage its interest in Flex Comix. This marks the first time an English-language publisher has made a significant investment in an overseas manga company. The move will complement DC’s existing manga imprint, CMX.

The rest is mostly self-congratulation. ICv2 expands a bit more, noting that DC is likely to benefit from Flex’s experience in this area (althought the company is only seven months old).

At Comicsnob, Matt Blind posts this week’s manga watch list. And at PopCultureShock, Katherine Dacey-Tsuei starts a new feature, Weekly Recon, in which she lists the week’s new manga and provides brief reviews of a few. Over in Tokyospace, her alter-ego, ChunHyang72 skims off the cream in this week’s Tokyopop Round-Up. Matt Brady looks at this week’s new comics, and his selections include a few manga.

Tokyopop confirmed 38 new titles, including New Pet Shop of Horrors, Futari H, and Your and My Secret (to be titled Boku to Kanojo no XXX). Seventeen of the titles were spotted on Amazon.com by members of the Rosetta Stone Cafe shojo manga group and posted on this thread at Anime on DVD. Simon Jones has a little more on Futari H.

Meanwhile, sharp-eyed Andre finds some listings for future CPM titles.

David Welsh reads Shojo Beat, not his usual fare, and has a few comments. He also picks apart the May sales numbers from ICv2.

Michael Aronson reviews vol. 1 of Tsubasa and vol. 15 of Hunter x Hunter at Manga Life. Active Anime has some new reviewers, and they are jumping right in: Katie Gallant checks out vol. 3 of Scrapped Princess and Sandra Scholes reviews Only Words, while veteran Holly Ellingwood takes an advance look at vol. 1 of Love is a Hurricane. At the Mangamaniaccafe, Julie reviews vol. 2 of Backstage Prince and vol. 3 of Fullmetal Alchemist. Kethylia enjoys vol. 1 of Audition but compares vol. 2 of The Man Who Doesn’t Take Off His Clothes, the light novel, to being stuck on the Jersey Turnpike, which is never a good thing. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie is reading Lovers in the Night, vol. 5 of Loveless, vol. 6 of Boy Princess, vol. 1 of Innocent Bird, and vol. 1 of My Heavenly Hockey Club. Mangaijin checks out chapter 1 of the award-winning only-in-scanlation Ookiku Furikabutte. du9 translates Xavier Guilbert’s review of The Drifting Classroom; it’s worth a click just to see the French cover. At Q-ko-kun, Cameron reviews the light novel Boogiepop and Others. In this week’s Flipped column, David Welsh looks at vol. 1 of King of Thorn and vol. 1 of MPD Psycho.

David Welsh and Simon Jones weigh in on Friday’s announcement that DC is investing in Flex Comics, a fairly new Japanese company that develops manga for online and cell phone as well as print distribution. Everyone thinks that DC’s interest is not so much in Flex’s properties (which include Galaxy Angel II) as in their online manga skillz. Coincidentally, Todd Allen at Comic Book Resources just wrote a column about Kwanza Johnson, DC’s online editor, in which he speculates that DC will roll out their online comics in the fourth quarter. (Via Journalista.) And what about the possibility that DC will use online marketing to push its comics in Japan? Matt Thorn comments at Precocious Curmudgeon:

Just as Americans are reluctant to watch foreign (non-English-language) films, Japanese are for the most part unwilling to read comics that are “backwards,” in which the text is horizontal rather than vertical, which have a large amount of per page, and which, well, aren’t manga.

Hmmm… sounds like U.S. readers ten years ago.

There was some other news. ICv2 reports that graphic novels sales were up in May, at least in comics stores, but manga got nudged out of the top ten in the GNs chart again. The latest Naruto makes it to number 19, just below the first Minx entry, The Plain Janes. Oh, the humiliation!

The Kyoto police identified the 13 manga confiscated last week, and ComiPress has the titles. Simon Jones, who should know, says they are pretty hardcore. But he still has some questions about the way things were done.

The sharp-eyed AoD sleuths pick up some possible new titles from Tokyopop, including Your and My Secret (recently dropped by ADV), New Petshop of Horrors, Mamotte Shugogetten, and Manga Sutra—Futari H, which raised a few eyebrows.

Christopher Butcher looks at this week’s comics, manga and otherwise, and starts off with an appreciation of Death Note.

At MangaCast, Ed has info on four new titles from Kitty Media.

At Same Hat! Same Hat!!, Ryan and Evan take a look at vol. 1 of MPD Psycho, vol. 6 of The Drifting Classroom, and The Art of Hideshi Hino. Comics-and-more gets a jump on Manga Monday with a look at vol. 12 of Death Note and vol. 7 of Hana-Kimi. Ariadne Roberts checks out vol. 1 of Nosatsu Junkie at Anime on DVD. At MangaCast, Mangamaniac Julie reviews vol. 4 of O-Parts Hunter.

Over at Digital Strips, my co-blogger Daku and I did a podcast review of Angel Moxie, by Dan Hess.