MangaBlog

I don’t usually post press releases in full, but this one looks good.

Call for Proposals

Attention Manga/Graphic Novel Artists and Writers!

Do you have a special affection for and knowledge about science? Can you make that come alive in a graphic novel or series of Mangas featuring girls who solve mysteries, go on big adventures, or otherwise make their way in the world using their knowledge of real science to help them?

As part of a National Science Foundation grant, The Feminist Press is exploring new ways to interest girls and young women in science. We want to take advantage of the explosion of interest in graphic novels to publish a new Manga series for girls (along the lines of Ai Yazawa, Junko Mitsuno (a little less dark, perhaps), Yukito Kishiro, Kaori Yuki, etc.) that uses real science in exciting ways as part of the plot. We would like the interpersonal/relationship appeal of shojo, but some of the action and adventure of shonen. Outer space, underground, and fantastic narratives are acceptable as long as they are grounded in scientific fact. The stories need to be exciting and accessible to non-scientific readers. They need to show, not tell, how science works, and they need to be inspiring for the next generation ofgirls who will become the scientists of the future. Bring on your riveting adventure stories, real and imagined! Detectives, partners in crime-solving, forensics, chemists, computer programmers, engineers, etc. might be involved.

All proposals will be reviewed. Several proposals will be offered standard contracts.

Publisher: The Feminist Press at The City University of New York as part of a National Foundation grant. (see feministpress.org)

Deadline: October 31, 2006

Format: For writers, proposals should be double spaced word docs or pdfs describing the project, the plot, characters, and length. For artists, up to four sample boards relating to this project for look and feel, and a portfolio (can be online). For writer/artists, combine both in your proposal. Images embedded in the file should be included as small jpgs. Please do not send emails with over 1 MB attachments.

How to submit: Electronic submission to mary@maryflanagan.com with the subject line “MANGA.” Please include in the body of the email your address, phone number, email address, and a short bio. Please also attach information on prior published work on a resume, and for artists, a link to your portfolio.

I thought I would write something profound about the Great Yaoi Controversy, but after reading all the posts and comments, my head is spinning. Chris Butcher started the latest round with this post at Comics.212, and I’m pretty much in agreement with him. As he says in the comments section (slightly out of context, but it’s too good to pass up):

Here’s the thing: We’re not in Japan. You know it and I know it. Boys in Japan aren’t reading Shoujo manga, under penalty of getting the crap kicked out of them. But boys here will buy girl manga and it’s really no big thing. I think it’s really… narrow-minded, but also unprofitable to be deliberately excluding a market that is drawn to the material.

For some reason this really bugs Tina Anderson:

Quite frankly, this reverse-entitlement issue is nothing new and the whole issue in Japan passed quite quickly, like around mid 90’s, when BL got popular. Again, another case of the Queens in Court getting their balls in a snit because the Double-Xers were making a fetish of gay sex. Oh, but they were making money while doing it and that’s just ten times wrong…

I get that there’s value in a house like Drama Queen publishing books “for women by women,” but this isn’t a zero-sum game. The guys aren’t taking away the girls’ books; they’re supporting the market. My daughters aren’t threatened by David Welsh’s shoujo habit, after all; he’s just helping keep the books they like in print.

In comments on David’s post on the topic, Tina asks

Why would a woman want to write a manga for gay men?

That question stops me dead. Why wouldn’t a woman want to write a manga for gay men? Are we only supposed to write for women? And can gay men only write for other gay men? Am I trespassing because I enjoy David Sedaris’s pieces in the New Yorker? The notion that a writer would only write for one type of people just boggles my mind. Yes, we all have our intended audience, the folks we aim our writing at. But if someone else reads what I’ve written, I’m delighted—not appalled.

David has a similar response to mine:

Why would any manga creator want to limit their audience?

And Tina says

A manga creator that writes for a what is all ready a specific audience. There’s no need to have your hand in every pie.

But I don’t think adding men to the audience means the woman has to change her style. In fact, she shouldn’t: The men like the yaoi the way it is.

As for men writing yaoi, for men or for women, Alex Woolfson says of his work:

They are action-romances where yes, guys love each other and try to protect each other and kiss and get naked and a whole lot more — and I want to tell those stories in a way that can turn on a straight woman in Florida as much as a gay guy here in San Francisco.

Is it yaoi? A couple of years ago it was hard to argue that a manga-style comic written outside of Japan was manga, but genres evolve, and so does language. Maybe yaoi written by men for men will evolve into a separate sub-genre, or maybe it won’t. Either way, I don’t think anything is gained by trying to shut out one type of writer based on who they are.

I don’t read much yaoi, but I do read a lot of shoujo and josei manga, and my daughters cringe when their Unspeakably Old Mother heads for the manga section in Borders. “Grow up,” I tell them. “This is America. I can read what I want.” My father read kids’ comics all his life, or until Alzheimer’s stole his ability to enjoy them, and he never got a cease-and-desist letter from the people that publish Archie and Jughead. Read what you like, write what you want, no need to apologize. Life is too short.

Coals to Newcastle department: Chris Arrant has a meaty interview with Canadian-born manga-ka Takeshi Miyazawa, who is moving to Japan to try his hand at Japanese comics. This comes on the heels of the news that Tokyopop is translating global manga into Japanese and selling it in Japan. The big question: Will it be flipped or retain its “authentic” format?

Simon Jones of Icarus Publishing has an interesting post about doujinshi and the problems it may face in the U.S. (Warning: Image at the top of the page is NSFW.)

Active Anime has an advance review of the Viz version of Densha Otoko.

Are you a Tokyopop or a Viz? John Jakala delves into the personalities of comics publishers. (Via Precocious Curmudgeon.)

ComiPress has a new look, and a nifty new feature: a bar on the right that gives latest updates from other blogs (including this one).

Viz is dropping Godchild from Shoujo Beat,. Discussion follows at the ANN forum.

Art theft: Not just for Tokyospace any more. Scroll halfway down this page for the details: Someone swiped an artist’s work and submitted it to the British anthology Mangaquake, which used it on the cover. They’re trying to recall it, but it’s doubtful fans will send back their (potentially collectible) copies for a more legit version. On the plus side, posters at the Sweatdrop forums really liked the artist, Hoon, so perhaps the free publicity will take a bit of the sting out of the swiping.

The MangaBlogCast is a little late this week, but it’s as chock full of manga news and commentary as ever. Check it out! Here are notes and links from this week’s show:

The great scanlation conspiracy revealed!

Love Manga expressed some skepticism about a site called Golden Age of Manga, whose “about us” page purported to reveal the Great Scanlator Conspiracy.

Love Manga
Golden Age of Manga

Manga-kas: Not overpaid

ComiPress translates a Japanese article from the Japanese media about the low pay of manga-kas. American commenters take note.

ComiPress article
Commentary at Newsarama
Discussion at The Engine

History of manga

Translator William Flanagan explains how U.S. manga evolved to its current format.

Natsuki Takaya speaks!

Time magazine interview with Fruits Basket manga-ka Natsuki Takaya

Furuba makes the top 30

Volume 14 of Fruits Basket debuts at number 29 on the USA Today Booklist; commenters at MangaBlog speculate about which manga will crack the top ten.

Time discovers the manga lifestyle

Another Time article focuses on the business side of manga.

Preaching the One Pound Gospel

Rumiko Takahashi will resume work on One Pound Gospel and bring it to a close.

Announcement at Rumiko Takahashi fan site
Review of One Pound Gospel

Warcraft artist interview

Publisher’s Weekly Comics Week interviews Korean artist Jae-Hwan Kim, who draws Warcraft.

Harder-core yaoi

Digital Manga releases some details on its new company, 801 Media

Works in progress

Updates on upcoming books:
Broccoli progress report on several volumes
Details on Flower of Life, from DMP
Preview of Emma, from CMX
New Negima manga series announced in Japan

Incoming…

Notable books to look out for this month:

Suzuka, plus fresh volumes of School Rumble, Negima, Basilisk, and ES
Volume 4 of both Monster and Golgo 13

I’m running out the door to indulge in that great suburban sport, hitting the yard-sales, but before I go I wanted to point everyone towards Christopher Butcher’s latest entry in the conversation about yaoi. It’s long and interesting and has already drawn some comments. I’ll be back to weigh in with my take later, but in the meantime, check it out.

Spandex Anonymous: David Welsh explains why he cut Marvel and DC out of his comics diet, and a year later he’s happier and healthier. The comments thread turns into an encounter group of sorts.

Meanwhile, at LiveJournal, Yaoi sends a reader over the edge:

This is worse than the Victorian romance novels—it makes Mrs. Gaskell and Wilkie Collins look like wimps. (Though if Louisa May Alcott were still alive, she would be writing these comics…)

(Via When Fangirls Attack.)

This Christian Science Monitor story about tweens and graphic novels is a couple of days old, so you may have seen it already. I just can’t let this bit go:

Graphic novels that follow the Japanese art form of manga – featuring characters with wide-open eyes – are especially popular among girls who like stories about cats and princesses. Other subjects include teenage life and biographies of “American heroes,” including Amelia Earhart.

On the other hand, they quote Robin Brenner and recommend Yotsuba&! so at least they got some things right.

The New York Times gives the new Fullmetal Alchemist movie a good review. (Registration may be required.) And there’s this:

“The Conqueror of Shambala” is the end of Mr. Mizushima’s association with “Fullmetal Alchemist.” He and Mr. Aikawa are already at work on a new television series. Its story “takes place in the Edo period and involves some master craftsmen who are trying to make a gigantic fireworks rocket that can reach the moon,” Mr. Mizushima said. “It’s a slapstick comedy, so it’s very different.”

But Ms. Arakawa has said she has no plans to end the “Fullmetal Alchemist” manga, so the adventures of the Elric Brothers will continue on the printed page.

Sign me up for the gigantic fireworks rocket movie! Is there a manga associated with that?

Blogroll alert: The blogger at Four Voices. One Heart has moved to a new site with a refreshing new style, IsShoKenMai. Check it out and say hello! And while you’re there, take a look at the thorough review of Kuro Gane.

I never thought of comics as a route out of poverty before, but this guy made it work—until he got caught.

Bringing anime to the iPod: Not really. The NegiPod is just an extra-expensive iPod that comes loaded with 38 songs from the Magister Negi Magi anime, plus two exclusives, and a design engraved on the back. All this will set buyers back an extra 20,000 yen (about $170).

The Daily Yomiuri devotes an entire column to tangentially manga-related items, including a manga-ka-turned-TV-commentator criticizing a boxing dad, manga TV dramas, and the need for a swimming instruction manga.