MangaBlog

PW Comics Week has yet another interview with Fred Gallagher on the Megatokyo move from Dark Horse to CMX. Because webcomics are the talk of the blogosphere these days, I was interested in Gallagher’s take on why people would pay for a collection of comics they could read for free online.

“I don’t want people to buy it unless they like my work,” Gallagher says, adding, “I put as much complexity and depth into it as I can so people will reread it.” He also points out that publishing online provides its own publicity. “The time between books isn’t empty, with no exposure. Nothing fades. It’s not a bad model if you can get it to work.”

Also, ten points to Dark Horse for being gracious about the whole thing:

During New York Comic-Con, Dark Horse publicist Lee Dawson said, “Dark Horse was founded on creator rights. We want creators to do what’s best for their property. We respect [Gallagher’s] right to publish where he wants to.”

Jamie Coville has a nice interview with Rivkah that covers lots of ground, from technique to the Big Questions of Life. Here she is on OEL manga:

I actually don’t think we’re competing against the Japanese comics on the shelves. People who enjoy the pacing and style and art of manga but don’t like the Japanese perspective because of the unfamiliar cultural content can be satisfied with a variety of titles and genres written from an American or Canadian or English or Australian perspective.

On the other side of that question, neither do I believe OEL is competing against OEL. I have yet to see TOKYOPOP publish two similar original titles, and I still believe there is yet more to be made.

… what she likes about manga:

A lot of Japanese art has a focus on line rather than form. I simply love the line quality because it’s so elegant and fluid—almost ethereal—when compared to many American comics.

… and self-publishing:

It doesn’t work for people who’ve never been published. It works for those who HAVE, and who’ve done a good job making a name for themselves. It is incredibly difficult to get a self-published book in mainstream bookstores… I also don’t believe it’s possible to distance oneself enough from a work to self-edit. It takes a team to make it happen.

(via Manga Talk.)

The keen-eyed folks at Anime On DVD have spotted the latest additions to the Go!Comi line: Night of the Beasts, by Chika Siomi, and Afterschool Nightmare, by Setona Mizushiro. Check out the AoD blog for confirmations and comments by Jake Forbes and Audrey Taylor of Go!Comi, as well as links to some of the art. Love Manga has the covers.

The blogs are still abuzz about the comment by 4Kids CEO Al Kahn that kids in the U.S. don’t read. (Audio of the panel discussion is available at MangaCast.)

David Taylor at Love Manga was wondering if anyone had statistics. Well, here’s a roundup of Bookscan numbers from 2005 that sheds some light:

As for adult books versus children’s titles, the latter category enjoyed the stronger growth in 2005. For the year, children’s books scanned 162.2 million units, and that represented a whopping 19.3% increase over the 136 million counted in the prior corresponding 52-week year. Adult-book sales in the U.S. tallied 480.7 million scans in 2005, up 7.6% from the 446.8 million copies shifted in 2004.

In other words, growth in children’s books was close to 20 percent in 2005. Also notable is the fact that the best selling title of the year was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I suggest Mr. Kahn attend one of the midnight release parties for the Potter books; he’d learn a thing or two about kids and reading.

Last week I read to a class of second-graders as part of my city’s Community Reading Day. When I asked them if they liked to read, every kid had a tremendous response, and they all had to tell me their favorites: Junie B. Jones, Polk Street Kids, Horrible Harry. And when I brought out a handful of all-ages manga, they went nuts. Yes, they watch anime on TV, but they also read the books. This week I’m teaching a class of 8th graders in the middle school, as part of their Writer’s Week. One girl is a Rurouni Kenshin fan. Imagine, a 13-year-old reading about Meiji-era Japan!

While Kahn’s comment is both offensive and incorrect, I’m not sure why anybody is listening to him. He’s very upfront about the fact that his main interest is in making lots of money on licensing and merchandising. He’s not a publisher or editor; he’s a salesman whose products happen to intersect with manga from time to time. In fact, the biggest manga “problem” Kahn has is that people who read manga, like my kids, notice when he eviscerates the anime that follow.

And really, he may not be such a bad guy. He’s just not in the book business, so he doesn’t get what makes the rest of us tick.

Corruption of the innocent? Six junior-high-school boys were arrested in Tokyo for stealing about 400 comic books from bookstores.

“I wanted to read popular comic books and stole them. I sold some of the books to friends because I wanted money,” one of the suspects was quoted as telling investigators.

The boys, aged 14 and 15, only sold 21 of the books, and only netted 4,000 yen (the stolen books were worth 183,000 yen). If they’d rather read than fence, I’d say there’s hope for these lads yet. Perhaps they should read the new manga about changes in the Japanese court system.

I remember when… At Buzzscope, Tania del Rio enjoys all the manga action at NYCC and compares it to a less enlightened time.

Megatokyo artist Fred Gallagher will be appearing at Sakura-Con.

Japanzine has compiled a “best of Japan on the web” list, and it includes two sites I visit frequently: 3Yen and Anime News Network. It’s worth looking over the whole list, as I’ve found several new sites that look interesting.

And since he often is credited as the first manga-ka, it’s worth mentioning that Hokusai has a one-man show at the Smithsonian.

OK, that’s enough serious stuff. It’s Saturday morning, after all, so here’s an article about the growing trend of six-fingered characters in manga.