MangaBlog

Our conversation with Tania Del Rio is up at Mangacast. I’m a fan of Tania’s columns at PopCultureShock, which have sparked many lively discussions on this site, and I’m looking forward to reading her new book, Mangaka America, which features art and how-tos by global manga artists. I got a look at the advance copy at the con, and it looks beautiful. Of course Tania also writes and draws Sabrina the Teenage Witch for Archie Comics. She talks about all this on our podcast, as well as a possible future project: a knitting manga. As busy as she is, Tania was gracious enough to join my panel on Manga4Kids and sit down with us for a chat afterwards, and she seemed to be having a good time.

Coincidentally, Tania just posted her latest column—and it’s about MangaNEXT! And she’s done a webcomic about it too.

There’s an unusually rich crop of manga news and commentary on the web today, so get comfortable and we’ll begin.

In this completely awesome LiveJournal post, manga editors name their favorites. Lots of scans and lots of opinions. Be sure to read the comments, too! (Via Journalista.)

Speaking of Journalista, in today’s post, Dirk Deppey ponders the greater meaning of Naruto winning the Quills award.

LiveJournaler Kethylia went to MangaNEXT and, unlike me, didn’t bring a 12-year-old, so she was able to go to lots of panels and write a thorough report. (Via Guns, guys, and yaoi.) At Okazu, Erica Friedman gives her take.

Newsarama interviews June Kim, the creator of the forthcoming Tokyopop global manga 12 Days. This book has a bizarre premise—a woman consumes her lover’s ashes in smoothies over 12 days—but sounds promising nonetheless.

Telophase reads Comic and Volume 2 of Dramacon. An interesting discussion on name changes follows in the comments. In another post, she catalogs Saiyuki links

Wai Wai has some advice for thieves who would target otaku: don’t bother, they’re broke cheapskates.

Foreign language links: Deutsche Mangaka has some sample pages of some original German manga. The pages are in German, but blogger Elae provides English translations of the text. And here’s a French article on the Frankfurt Book Fair, which I keep meaning to translate but never get around to.

Jarred Pine is like the sin-eater of the MangaNet this week. First he read the ghastly Innocent W, today he reviews the unreadable Judas. Better him than me! In happier news, Brain Food Lunch reviews volume 3 of Loveless.

Press releases from Active Anime: Pokemon manga from Viz! Because there’s always a new generation coming up. And Infinity Studios is having a contest: win volume 2 of Chun Rhang Yhur Jhun.

Fresh from three months as a Borders Exclusive, Yoki Koto Kiku goes into general release today.

Volume 11 of Naruto is still on the USA Today Booklist but slips from number 109 to 133. Still, this is week 8 for this volume; volume 10 lasted for 10 weeks, and it will be interesting to see if history repeats itself.

In other Naruto news, volume 7 won the Quill Award for Graphic Novel, inexplicably beating out Alison Bechdel’s beautiful and eloquent Fun Home and three other books. Not that I have anything against Naruto, but it lacks a certain, um, gravitas. Maybe that’s not what they were looking for.

One of the most enjoyable parts of MangaNEXT was meeting the nice people at Drama Queen and seeing their books. I had heard about their high quality, but none of the bookstores around me carry their line. Well, they did not disappoint. I visited the booth with my 12-year-old daughter, so we were quickly whisked away from the 18+ side to look at their new shoujo line. This was a treat, as the titles are really different from anything I’ve seen. Also, it was my first glimpse at manhua, Chinese comics. I’ll have reviews of a couple of titles up in a day or so, but in the meantime, MangaCast has the audio up of our interview with DQ publisher Tran Nguyen.

I’m buried in paying work at the moment, but here’s a quick wrapup of the latest links:

PWCW has a thorough wrapup of MangaNEXT. As writer Kai-Ming Cha mentions, for a small, first-time con they brought in some good guests and got some decent coverage. Also up on the front page (no permalink) is a brief review of Ode to Kirihito, one of the books the Vertical people were highlighting in their panel. (Hear it at MangaCast.)

I don’t know what they put into the vitamin-fortified bottled water over at MangaCast, but Jarred seems to have run off and Ed is hinting darkly at conspiracy theories. However the crew still manages to comment on this week’s comics releases. If you prefer your list straight up, David Taylor’s your man.

ChunHyang72 has some excellent advice for would-be writers: get it down on paper, let it “marinate” for a while, then give it a good edit. And once the piece is done, check out Yaoi 911’s advice for freelancers. Alex links to ten rules for not getting screwed that ought to be etched onto every writer’s computer screen. Don’t give it away! (Says the writer who’s blogging for free when there’s a paying deadline hanging over her head. Do as I say, not as I do.)

ComiPress has the latest on the Japanese anthologies. As usual, Simon Jones adds value on the 18+ titles, explaining the importance of extras (DVDs, underpants). Meanwhile, Manganews (no permalink) reports that the Japanese magazine Shounen Blood is on hiatus this month and shifting to web-only in December.

June Manga has a Halloween contest going, and they’re making it interesting by throwing in some tricks along with the treats.

Jarred Pine (oh, there he is!) reads Innocent W so you don’t have to. Seriously, it’s not often that I find a book with no redeeming features whatsoever, but this was it, and Jarred seems to feel pretty much the same way.

On a cheerier note, new-to-the-blogroll mangamaniaccafe.com gives volume 2 of Challengers a solid B. Comics-and-more gives high marks to Emma and volume 2 of Hikaru no Go.

ANN has reports from the Del Rey and Vertical panels at MangaNEXT.

Part 2 of Telophase’s doujinshi column is up at Tokyopop.

At the Manga Jouhou forums, everyone’s talking about e-manga.

Dirk Deppey completes his tour of the world of scanlations with some all-ages titles, including Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Yokohama Shopping Trip), which sounds … intriguing.

Volume 2 of Peach Fuzz is due out today, and the folks at Newtype USA are all excited.

Hot Gimmick claims another victim. (Via When Fangirls Attack.)

Another WFA find: Dark, But Shining interviews Queenie Chan.

ComiPress has more on the new Del Rey license, Le Chevalier D’Eon.

Manga arrives in Nepal. Also, anime; apparently Beyblade is a big hit over there.

This Japanese animation has been making waves with the children and needless to say, various product brands especially noodle manufacturers have been quick to capitalize on this trend.

Unfortunately, most of the manga is only available in Japanese. The article notes that fan-translated anime and manga are available on the internet, but adds, piously, “Mind you such an act is deemed illegal.” (Via The Comics Reporter.)

Jog has a lengnthy, thoughtful, and well-written take on Abandon the Old in Tokyo. Derik Badman reviews volumes 7 and 8 of Tezuka’s Buddha. Emily reviews Boku ni Natta Watashi.

Wank corner: Erica Friedman and I swapped notes at MangaNEXT about our brief appearances on Fandom_Wank. That’s one of the things I just can’t talk to the other soccer moms about! Anyway, here’s some Bleach wank for those who like that sort of thing. Oh, wait, this is even better: Pokemon wank, with a touch of yuri.