MangaBlog

I’ve been off the web a lot due to an unusual amount of work and a much-dreaded session with the eye doctor. Now that my pupils have returned to normal, here’s the latest roundup plus a few things I was saving.

Same Hat continues their European tour with a look at the work of Suehiro Maruo, who is much admired in certain circles despite the fact that works are all out of print here (the SH guys have remedied this by linking to many scanlations, some of which they did themselves). Turns out he’s a big deal in Spain. Who knew? (Warning: Images are not for the squeamish.)

Shaenon Garrity continues the Overlooked Manga Festival with a look at Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. Her peek includes the one thing missing from the American editions: the English cover text. Check it out.

Christopher Butcher responds, in a lengthy post, to Queenie Chan’s complaint about the three-volume structure imposed by Tokyopop. Butcher’s main point is that if you’re writing a three-act story, you don’t have to devote an entire volume to each act; his counterexample is Ranma 1/2, in which the second act takes up the vast majority of the series’ 36 volumes. Or to put it more succinctly:

If Tokyopop is giving these creators a lemon of a format to tell their stories, I invite them to make Lemonade. Hell, make a three-course lemon-inspired meal. But don’t think that you’re duty bound to include 2 pounds of appetizers, 2 pounds of the main, and 2 pounds of desert…

Butcher admits he hasn’t read Chan’s The Dreaming, and in fact he gets her name wrong, but he does revisit his review of Fools Gold to discuss its structure further.

The title “Four Centuries of Graphic Sex in Japan” promises more than it delivers, at least as far as this website is concerned, but it’s an opportunity to look at some old Japanese prints and some new manga while listening to the curator of the Museum of Sex describe their significance. All the naughty bits are covered with scholarly bits of text, however.

Yaoi Suki was poking around the net and found some unannounced DramaQueen titles. DQ subsequently confirmed them (I’m a bit late with this) and at MangaCast, Ed has cover scans. And while the holidays may just be getting started, Ed’s getting ready for spring with a look at the latest Diamond Previews.

Lotsa reviews today: At Blogfonte, Mitch continues to enjoy Skip Beat—he’s on volume 3—but has reservations about Night of the Beasts: “it scans like Red Sonja cast against type as Jane Eyre.” Blogcritics looks at a crossover attempt, Batman: Child of Dreams, by Kia Asamiya and Max Allan Collins. At MangaCast, Ed has a podcast review of Anne Freaks, Nana, and Boogiepop Doesn’t Laugh. Active Anime reviews two volume 3’s, Kame Kaze and Never Give Up. Anime on DVD’s Megan Meinhard looks at the mature title Art of Loving. Comic Book Bin checks out the Del Rey iteration of Train Man. Manga Punk kind of likes Goofyfoot Gurl: Let There Be Lighten Up!, a Christian “manga” from Real Buzz studios (of Serenity fame) but thinks they need to start calling it “comics.” And at Comics Worth Reading, Johanna suspends disbelief and enjoys volume 2 of Yakitate!! Japan.

If you’re curious what Marc Weidenbaum, the new VP of magazines at Viz looks like, ICv2 has a picture. They also report on Del Rey’s acquisition of Princess Resurrection:

The cute, but take-no-prisoners, chainsaw-wielding heroine of this series battles the forces of darkness with the help of a zombie servant and a robot sidekick—and the result is a bloodsoaked but stylish horror series with the body count of an Evil Dead movie.

Sounds like one for Ed and Jack.

More on the reviewer drama: the Newsarama blog summarizes the recent back-and-forth between reviewers and creators, and Josh Elder, creator of Mail Order Ninja, drops in to offer free copies of his book to anyone who wants to review it. And if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em: At The Engine, Elder announces that he will be the graphic novel reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times.

At MangaCast, Ed is looking forward to winter Comiket.

Yaoi 911 reviews Rin! Alex describes it as a “coming-of-age archery romance,” which sounds, well, different. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna enjoys Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators.

Shameless self-promotion: My review of the webcomic Inverloch is up at Digital Strips. If that doesn’t tempt you, click anyway to see my awesome avatar, drawn by Tania del Rio.

As they make their preparations for the holidays, the MangaCast crew looks over this week’s new comics.

ChunHyang72 has another excellent Tokyopop roundup and some tips on buying cheap manga on the internet.

Newsarama spends their manga minute—and then some—on a discussion of form vs. format. Readers pick up the thread in comments.

Kevin Church has some sensible advice for creators regarding dealing with reviewers. Again, don’t miss the comments on this one. Here’s a sample:

I’ll say this – every negitive review I’ve every received is 10 times more helpful than a positive one, and 20 times better than no review/response at all.

That should take the sting out of a bad review.

“Gay porn saved my marriage!” That’s the headline on one of the letters to SF Weekly, responding to Eliza Strickland’s article on yaoi.

Comics editor Jamie S. Rich loves 12 Days. (Via Lillian DP’s blog.) At AoD, Jarred Pine gives high grades to Night of the Beasts.

Lillian DP has more on Wild Adapter in her LJ, including some interesting comments on Mature-rated manga.

You know that SF Weekly story on yaoi we were all talking about last week? Lyle has the cover art.

The 801media Blog shines the spotlight on their production manager. Sound boring? This is 801 we’re talking about. Go check it out. (Via Manganews.)

Why am I not surprised that David Welsh hearts 12 Days? Maybe because I’m intrigued by it myself.

At Blogfonte, Mitch wonders whether Netcomics is letting their standards slip.

Erin F. has some tough love for global manga titles Fool’s Gold, Steady Beat, and Van Von Hunter at PopCultureShock.

The Manga Junkie reads a sports manga: Shanimuni Go, a tennis manga by Marimo Ragawa, the artist of Baby and Me.

At the MangaCast, Ed shows his range by reviewing Berserk, 0/6, and Nodame Cantabile, and Jarred waxes enthusiastic about E’S.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga-ka Hirohiko Araki celebrated his 25th anniversary in the biz with a party and some JoJo moves. Incriminating photos at ComiPress.

Announcements: The fourth volume of the yuri anthology Yuri Monotogari is now available and features a new story by the manga-ka of Rica ‘tte Kanji. And I think this has been floating around for a while, but Infinity Studios has announced a new series, Unbalance Unbalance. Volume 1 is 200 pages of color manwha, which is different.

With so many graphic novels falling into the love-comedy category, Unbalance Unbalance Volume 1 is a welcome change of pace with the serious love drama many fans have been demanding.

Apparently the fans have been demanding a story about a guy who finds a wallet and returns it to the owner after extracting a little finder’s fee, then discovers the owner is his new teacher. Stay tuned!

Viz has announced that Marc Weidenbaum will be the new Vice President, Magazines, and editor of Shonen Jump and Shoujo Beat. An awesome responsibility, to be sure.

Marc Weidenbaum started at VIZ Media as the Managing Editor of SHONEN JUMP and was promoted to Editorial Director, when he helped launch the successful NARUTO Collector series of magazines.

Previous to joining VIZ Media he was an Editorial Director at Citysearch.com and editor at Pulse!, the magazine published by Tower Records, where among other things he edited the comics pages for a decade and founded Tower’s first online publication. He has edited comics that have appeared in such books as Adrian Tomine’s Scrapbook (Drawn & Quarterly) and Justin Green’s Musical Legends (Last Gasp). He also wrote the afterword for VIZ Media’s award-winning manga SEXY VOICE AND ROBO.

OK, but where is Yumi Hoashi?

Tokyopop editor Tim Beedle is all fired up about Blank, the global manga he’s been editing, so he’s posting extras to his blog and art page all month. And Lillian DP is equally enthusiastic about Wild Adapter, which won’t be out until February.

Volume 11 of Tsubasa debuts at number 3 on the Book Standard Comics and Graphic Novel chart.

Simon Jones reassures us that the recent complaint about sex in shoujo manga in Japan won’t amount to much. And then he pimps his latest adult book. (NSFW)

Tina Anderson has more to say about creators and reviewers.

Comics-and-more devotes this Manga Monday to the first volume of La Corda d’Oro and the third volume of Hikaru no Go.

Queenie Chan discusses the challenges of writing a three-volume series. As a reader, I like three volumes, but I can see where it can force a writer to stretch a story unnaturally to fit the format. She comments that readers expect closure from each volume of a global manga, while they have different expectations of a Japanese manga because they know it is published one chapter at a time. I would add that the fact that Japanese manga come out every three or four months, as opposed to one volume a year, makes cliffhangers and loose threads more bearable. Anyway, check this out as it’s a useful counterpoint to Christopher Butcher’s review of Fool’s Gold and Johanna’s review of Mail Order Ninja (and subsequent commentary.)

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin devotes its Drawn & Quartered column to a primer on Dr. Slump.

Mangacast links to previews of Challengers, Love Mode, and Path of the Assassin.

You may have seen the news release about the anime awards to be given out at NYCC. ANN has more. They seem to have a single “manga” category, and I wonder whether it will skew toward titles that have been made into anime.

At Manganews, Floating_Sakura translates an article on sexuality in manga. While his language is a bit stilted, I think this guy makes sense:

Ryoukichi Yama (Director of Shogakukan) says that “We can permit kissing and sex scenes to a certain degree, as they are a natural flow of love. However, we should avoid things that center amusement on sexual techniques and rape.”

He adds, “in today’s society, children understand that rape and perverts exist. Getting to know them from fictional works like manga will help them understand reality. There has yet to be any cases of crime committed because of manga. If parents feel that there is a problem, they should talk to their children about these manga.”

Found via Irresponsible Pictures: Locate your section of the The Japan Hierarchy Chart, classifying all known categories of Japanese geekdom.

A manga shop grows in Guam.

Reviews: Nice meaty ones today. At ANN, Pata reviews volume 2 of Old Boy. Otaku Champloo finds nothing remarkable about Tokyo Boys and Girls but describes Koukou Debut as “a fresh tale on what it’s like to fall in love the first time.” At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna gives volume 2 of Dramacon a rave review.