.漫画

I didn’t get to preview interesting manga titles for the Fall 2011 season, and frankly, others do a much better job of listing the latest and greatest.

I do not list volumes from ongoing series, as you’re already familiar with the previous volumes, or you’ll probably not be interested in a series which is on it’s eighth or fifty-eighth volume.  Of course, if there’s something interesting you think I’ve overlooked, feel free to comment below.

CAVEAT:  As I discovered while doing the publisher posts, some titles have been canceled or postponed.  The titles below, the information is subject to change.  Some may already be out and on sale, some may be vaporous.

Oh, and the advisory:  I am employed as a bookseller.  Nothing I say here or anywhere else online has any connection to my employer.  I know my employer can take umbrage at any association people may make between my private and professional activities, so I’m careful to let commuting possums be.

This contains yaoi and hentai titles.  It might NOT be SAFE FOR WORK.  If a cover might offend, I have shrunk it.  If you wish to study how offensive the cover might be, click to enlarge.

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GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, Volume 1

Tohru Fujisawa

Trade Paperback, $10.95

9781932234886, 1932234888

Born in 1967, Tohru Fujisawa is a veteran Japanese comic artist and multimillion unit seller. Best known globally for his international sensation Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), Fujisawa was awarded the 22nd Kodansha Comic Award in 1998 for his work on the hit series. The GTO property would go on to inspire two animated TV series and an internationally distributed live action TV series by the same name. Since GTO, Fujisawa has gone on to thirteen more comic series, with four of those properties (TOKKO, Rose Hip Rose, Rose Hip Zero and Shonan Junai-gumi) landing on American shores. At 44 the Hokkaido native continues to be one of the most beloved manga artists of this generation.

After guiding the infamous Tokyo Kissho Academy through a crash-course of his unique brand of life-lessons, a battered and bruised Eikichi Onizuka takes a well-deserved trip to his hometown of sorts, a typically quiet surfers paradise called Shonan. Unfortunately, with child neglect and abuse becoming a global phenomenon the self-proclaimed GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) quickly finds himself back in the saddle for what he hopes is a painless two-week long field trip with some teens in need. And while Onizuka’s curriculum may not rely on the reading, writing and arithmetic that is common in most classrooms, he has more than a few good lessons in personal development, fisticuffs and fun to teach a new generation of trouble teens.
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Durarara!!, Volume 1

Ryohgo Narita, Akiyo Satorigi

Paperback, $11.99

9780316204903, 0316204900

Welcome to Ikebukuro, where Tokyo’s wildest characters gather!! Meet an ordinary boy who daydreams about the extraordinary. A naive stalker girl. The strongest man in Ikebukuro. A shut-in doctor with questionable credentials. A hedonistic informant…and the “headless rider” astride a pitch-black motorcycle!? As their paths cross, this eccentric cast weaves a twisted, cracked love story…

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About Love (koi ni tsuite)

Narise Konohara

Trade Paperback, $12.95

ISBN-13: 978-1-56970-243-7

Asaka is a dedicated wedding planner who’ll do anything to guarantee his clients’ happiness. Sadly, his own love life has all but vanished thanks to his ridiculous work schedule! But when Asaka’s first patron resurfaces, the precious spark of true love may finally fly for him. Can he plan the perfect affair…or will it just have to happen by chance?
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Three P (Hentai Manga)

Hiroshi Itaba

Trade Paperback, $17.95

ISBN:    1-934129-51-8
ISBN 13:    978-1-934129-51-7

Come and check out these three sizzling-hot college gals: Reika, Sara and Mizume. Reika – she looks conservative, like a girl next door, but watch out! She’s the wild one! She always gets what she wants! Sara – men just don’t know how to say “no” to her pretty cute face! And Mizume is the beautiful one and she plays hard-to-get with men. These gal pals have no secrets between each other! They talk about their boyfriend problems, sex problems, and compare notes! This one-shot contains nine short stories of these three gals having lots of naughty sex!

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Mr. Convenience (Yaoi)

Nase Yamato

Trade Paper, $12.95

ISBN:    1-56970-241-1
ISBN 13:    978-1-56970-241-3

When a jack-of-all-trades company gets a slightly odd request email, cute worker Takashi thinks it must be from a lonely weirdo! But when the customer turns out to be a gorgeous, shy business director named Aki, Takashi realizes he’s never had someone this hot (and wealthy) ask for a friend…

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The Strange Tale of Panorama Island

Suehiro Maruo

Trade Cloth, $19.99

ISBN:    0-86719-732-3
ISBN 13:    978-0-86719-732-7

The Strange Tale of Panorama Island follows the twisted path of a failed novelist Hitomi Hirosuke, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a former classmate, the son of a rich industrialist family. Learning of the rich man’s sudden passing, Hitomi fakes his own death, digs up and hides the other man’s body, and then washes himself up starving on a beach near the home of the dead man’s family. After successfully impersonating the now-dead son, Hitomi takes over all aspects of the industrialist’s life, including his company, his fortune, and eventually his wife. The failed author soon redirects the family’s fortune to his own perverse aims. On a remote and mysterious island, he builds for himself a playground of hedonistic excess — replete with waterfalls, grand palaces, and gardens — a backdrop for his decadent feasts, orgies, and dark secrets. Stunning artwork by master manga artist Suehiro Maruo deftly illustrates this Japanese pulp classic in fine detail. Maruo adapted this graphic novel from a novella by the Godfather of Japanese detective fiction, Edogawa Rampo.

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World War II: What Almost Was Pocket Manga

Ted Nomura

Trade Paper, $14.99

ISBN:    0-9843375-3-9
ISBN 13:    978-0-9843375-3-8

Antarctic Press’s ace of altered history, Ted Nomura, returns to weave more tantalizing tales of wars waged in worlds that almost were! The battlefields of World War II are rich enough in actual history, but on the edges of their reality are at least as many tales of what might have been if this person who lived had died (or vice-versa), or if that key invention had seen actual combat instead of dying on the drafting board.

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Tales of the Abyss: Jade’s Secret Memories, Volume 1

Ayumi Kanou

Trade Paper, $10.99

ISBN:    1-60496-300-X
ISBN 13:    978-1-60496-300-7

Tales of the Abyss: Jade’s Secret Memories is a manga side-story of the Tales of the Abyss video game license. The property, a video game RPG much like the Final Fantasy franchise, has spun off dozens of successful sub-properties in Japan and the US over the past two decades. This manga adaptation from the POV of one of the series most popular characters, Jade the Necromancer, is timed for release alongside the US release of the series” anime adaptation.

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Secrecy of the Shivering Night (Yaoi)  (furueru yoru no himitsu goto)

Muku Ogura

Trade Paper, $12.95

ISBN:    1-56970-245-4
ISBN 13:    978-1-56970-245-1

When Himi was a small boy, he became terrified of the dark thanks to a trauma suffered during a earthquake. His dorm mate Furuya is afraid of bright lights, so what can they do? Featuring a gentle tale of school romance that is born when two souls reach out to comfort one another.

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Edo Cats: Tails of Old Tokyo

Ryuto Kanzaki, Glenn Kardy

Trade Cloth, $9.99

ISBN:    4-921205-26-4
ISBN 13:    978-4-921205-26-3

Acclaimed manga artist and historian Ryuto Kanzaki takes readers on a whimsical tour of Edo (Old Tokyo) as seen through the eyes of the local cats. Discover the costumes, customs, and color of bygone Japan. Teeming with history and nostalgia, Edo Cats: Tails of Old Tokyo will delight manga fans and feline-lovers alike!
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Storm Flower (Yaoi GN) (hana no arashi wa)

Runa Konjiki (Artist)

Trade Paper, $12.95

ISBN:    1-56970-244-6
ISBN 13:    978-1-56970-244-4

Sagano and Hazime Itirou face off at school and in their private lives, where traditions such as flower arranging and tea ceremony carry heavy responsibilities. With the weight of these things and the accompanying dark emotions, love can only come in a storm..but is it a love that can survive?
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Embrace & Bloom (Hentai GN)

Kuon Michiyoshi

Trade Paper, $17.95

ISBN:    1-934129-52-6
ISBN 13:    978-1-934129-52-4

Shige feels like the luckiest guy in the world. His girl Mayu is short, cute and…uh, “well-endowed.” Shige is obsessed with her “assets,” but it turns out, Mayu wants more than just a quick fondle. Meanwhile, Souta is down in the dumps after his date stands him up at the beach. Good thing he meets Yui who works at the beach Cafe. She’ll do anything to cheer him up! This collection of naughty vignettes from creator Kuon Michiyoshi features just about every fetishist’s far-our fantasy. Waitresses, office girls, college sweethearts, childhood sweethearts, one-night stands, extra-marital affairs, girls with dual personalities, girls with glasses… you name it, it’s in there!!
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Gold Digger Sourcebook Pocket Manga, Volume 1

Fred Perry,Doug Dlin

Trade Paper, $14.95

ISBN:    0-9801255-8-8
ISBN 13:    978-0-9801255-8-0

This is it! The book Gold Digger fans have been clamoring for! Get ready for the ultimate Gold Digger information guide! This indispensable handbook series will tell you exactly who’s who and what’s what in the GD-verse! Get glorious character stats (perfect for role-play gaming!), histories, aliases, allegiances, and more! Volume one gets you started right at the top, bursting with info on everything from Abyssalisks to Dragons, from pilot supreme “Ace” Koss to draconic villain supreme Dreadwing! It’s GD A-to-Z!

For over fifteen years, Fred Perry has brought the world the always-entertaining adventures of super-scientist/archaeologist/adventurer Gina Diggers and her family and friends. In all that time, Gold Digger’s ever-expanding universe has developed an astounding breadth and depth, so as is only appropiate for a book about wild exploration, A.P. set out to provide readers a guidebook to the GD-verse.

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Manga University Presents…My First PC: The Comic, Book That Teaches You about the Internet

Manga University Staff, Yu Shinozaki (Artist)

Trade Paper, $9.99

ISBN:    4-921205-28-0
ISBN 13:    978-4-921205-28-7

Manga University, whose award-winning manga have taught young people how to read and write kanji, cook Japanese food, and understand the history of the samurai, goes high-tech in its latest offering. My First PC, geared toward readers ages 7-13, follows the adventures of three classmates who are assigned to plan a school party. To make things easy, the scientist mother of one of the students suggests they use the family’s home computer to create invitations and promote the party. Their first challenge: discovering what exactly a computer is, what it can do, and how it works. With a wisecracking robot mascot at their side, the three friends soon discover that computers can be a whole lot of fun.
Accompanying the full-page manga panels are standalone pictures and text descriptions of computer parts, what they do, and how they work.

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Lost in the storms of outrage over every boob shot and inker change at various superheroes comics is the real underreported story of the last six months; the decline in graphic novel sales and the concurrent decline of manga. While the former is definitely partly caused by the latter and both are undoubtedly influenced by the bankruptcy of Borders, the full causes behind both have yet to be fully analyzed.

The manga side of the equation is covered in depth, however, in a lengthy column by Jason Thompson at io9 called Why Manga Publishing Is Dying (And How It Could Get Better). Thompson is no stranger to the manga field, having authored the essential reference Manga: The Complete Guide and the manga King of RPGs for TokyoPop. So his analysis is well worth following:

If in 2007, manga was like a foreign movie star who had arrived on American shores to make it big, the last four years have been like watching that star run out of roles, run out of money, sell their house, go into rehab, and end up barely limping along in infomercials.

Thompson goes over all the recents crackups in the US market, from the fall of Tokyopop to the closure at Bandai. It’s a landscape littered with broken toys. While the reasons for the America downfall aren’t too hard to see — the aging of the original demographic and the rise of scanlations — Thompson points out that the situation is also crumbling in Japan:

But the problem isn’t just about fickle Americans — the Japanese manga market is hurting too. Sales of manga magazines, the traditional delivery medium for manga in Japan, peaked in 1995, and have been falling ever since. Graphic novel sales remained steady longer, but have also declined.

Manga is hurting the way that all print media is hurting — but in some ways it’s worse, because manga is ill-equipped to adapt to New Media. Like American comic books, manga started out as cheap entertainment for kids, but while American comics faced their dwindling readership by turning into an adult collector’s item with color, thicker paper and higher production values, manga magazines (and to a lesser extent, graphic novel collections) still use cheap ink and cheap paper to cram in as much pages-per-yen value possible.

Piracy is definitely the backhoe clearing out the grave, however: as Thompson points out, when you google manga you get seven pirate sites and NO legitimate publishers.

Other problems: hidebound publishers who insist on sticking with the magazine model when it’s as outdated in Japan as it is here, the mixed results of initiatives like jmanga and the Digital Manga Guild — a banding together of all the top publishers to present an e-manga site, and a crowdsourced translation site, respectively — as tepid failures lacking blockbuster properties.

And of course, there’s the reason baldly stated by a commenter: “Manga is expensive and we’re all broke.”

Thompson also sees some patches of bright sky ahead — doujinshi is now an area of huge innovation where new hits are emerging. The rise of gag panel strips and multimedia hybrids is also encouraging. Of course manga isn’t going to go away — it’s just that the ways we get it are going to change. And once again, a huge dinosaur of an industry that was at the top of the pack didn’t see the newer, faster predators coming up right behind them.

Avi Arad, the energetic movie mogul who once ran Marvel, but now just helps out with things like the new Spider-Man movie…has written a comic book.

And it’s a manga?

Why did you want to do a manga story?
I’ve been in the world of comics all my life, and specifically into Japanese comics in the early days, before manga attempted to penetrate this market. I wanted to do The Innocent a long time ago. It stayed with me quite a while. Once I got out of Marvel Comics, it was one of the things on my bucket list to do a manga. I had an idea and I followed it, and here we are.

Did you grow up reading manga?
I discovered manga later, really when I came here. I came to the united States in 1970 and it became one of the formats of comics that I really liked, but we couldn’t get going here. U.S. publishers have had a really hard time with publishing them. I’ve been involved with many publishers in Japan, and still am— I’m now making movies based on Japanese video games, translating them to American movies that will play around the world—and I thought, Let’s give it a shot!

Wow, it’s a wonder we never saw that Wolverine in Japan storyline when Arad was running Marvel.

Published by Yen, THE INNOCENT has a script by Junichi Fujisaku from Arad’s story and art by YaSung Ko.

Not your usual Holmes and Watson

The past year has seen an unusually large number of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, both in comics and on the screen, but not all Holmeses are created equal. Last night, British viewers got to see the last episode of Season 2 of the BBC’s wildly popular series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (we Americans will get it this spring), and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadowsstarring Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law is still doing well in theaters a month after it opened. So if you’re in a Holmesian mood and wondering what to read next, here’s run down on the Holmes adaptations which have come out or had new installments in the past year. Varying from inspiredly odd to unreadably awful, don’t go to the comic store without reading this first!

First, for the sake of context, let’s start with the live action adaptations.

Not Jam Watson, despite appearances.

Sherlock(BBC television series), created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat

Variation on the theme: The characters are transplanted to modern Britain. Holmes is still in his early 30’s and a bit emotionally immature, as well as possibly Aspergers. Watson is highly capable and dangerous, but obfuscates cuddly harmlessness. Sherlock and Mycroft have Mommy issues.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Very, very close and more equal than usual. Not only do they work cases together, they sit around their apartment joking and watching ridiculous television during down time. And apparently in the second season, John is officially Sherlock’s partner in the detecting business, providing publicity through his blog.

Typical case: What do these mysterious symbols terrorizing a young woman mean? Could it be an international crime ring?

Bad CSI villain to Napoleon of Crime Moriarty villain scale: 1 for performance, 7 for setup. In person, Moriarty is a brilliant but murderous lunatic who can’t keep his accent straight and just really, really wants to destroy Sherlock Holmes.

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 6. Sherlock rarely expresses emotions beyond anger, boredom or excitement over a case – these, however, are done with an eccentric dramatic flair. He does let down his guard around John when they’re goofing around together.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 5, About on par with Doyle’s work, except for a certain crime lord going to ridiculous lengths to destroy Sherlock.

Verdict: If you’re okay with a slightly gorier modern sensibility and you’re not looking for costume drama, watch this!

Sherlock Holmes with copious explosions

Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, directed by Guy Ritchie.

Variation on the theme: Sherlock Holmes is an enormous ham, a complete brat, usually on drugs and an emotional mess, practically chewing on the scenery with his histrionic emoting. He’s also extremely charming and genuinely socially capable when he feels like it. This is the kind of Sherlock Holmes who gets into bareknuckle boxing matches and bad drag pretty much for the hell of it. Watson is rakish, capable and dangerous and he makes absolutely no secret of it.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Holmes and Watson are friends, but are having relationship problems. Holmes is wildly emotionally dependant on Watson and is coping very badly with Watson’s new marriage. Watson is getting a bit tired of Holmes’s brattiness and is happy to move out and marry Mary, though he still cares about Holmes and enjoys their cases together. The word partner does not come up – they are Holmes’s cases, Watson is just an extremely useful and beloved friend who helps out.

Typical case: Someone evil wants to Take Over Britain! Scooby doo plot ensues.

Bad CSI villain to Napoleon of Crime Moriarty villain scale: 9, Moriarty and Lord Blackwood are both genuinely terrifying and capable of outsmarting Sherlock on several occasions.

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 10, Wacky Bohemian. Prone to extravagant (if deeply weird) displays of emotion.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 10, a villain wants to blow up Parliament and declare himself the Witch King of Britain. Wait what?

Verdict: A humorous take on Holmes, heavy on explosions and Holmes/Watson banter. The least heartbreaking Reichenbach Falls story ever. If you want Wacky Bohemian Holmes with bonus cross-dressing, this is the Holmes for you.

And now for the comics:

Do not tell me this man is not Sherlock Holmes

Ruse: The Victorian Guide to Murder by Mark Waid and Mirco Pierfederici, published by Marvel

Variation on the theme: “Holmes” is named Simon Archard, and is more rich and famous for his successes than in Conan Doyle, but otherwise he’s Holmes. “Watson” is a woman named Emma Bishop.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Emma Bishop considers herself Archard’s partner, although she does recieve a paycheck, and she’s not shy about giving him a piece of her mind when he gets a little too outrageous, or keeps her out of the loop. Archard frequently reminds her that he could hire someone else for her job. But he also trusts Emma implicitly to drive a runaway carriage, win in a fist fight he drops her into and keep up with his spur of the moment schemes and improvisations, and eventually he refers to her as his partner.

Typical case: Lightbourne (apparently a combo of Moriarty and Charles Augustus Milverton) has set out to blackmail pretty much the entire upper class, including the heir to the throne, in order to secretly control the WORLD! Or possibly just win India in a bet.

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 4. Cranky banter and shouting at villains.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 9. Betting India

Verdict: Good solid fun and worth a read. The original incarnation of this comic, which came out from Crossgen, is even better, if slightly weirder. Emma has secret magical powers in it. The most truly Holmesian of all the Holmes comics listed, even if Holmes is called Simon Archard.

The one with the eyepatch is Watson and the puppy is Holmes, yes.

Sherlock Holmes (manga)by Toya Ataka, available onJmanga.com

Variation on theme: Holmes is has magical powers that assist his detection. Also, he’s naive, adorable and about 14. Watson is an adult with an eyepatch and is slyly world weary.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Watson is Holmes’s amused but caring mentor figure, young Sherlock looks up to him.

Typical case: Someone murdered an operatic soprano using magic while she was onstage in the middle of an opera.

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 8. Cheerful but eerie child.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 7. Small scale murder, but using magic.

Verdict: An amusing but deeply odd read. 

Let me guess, you like jam?

Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Draculaby Ian Edginton and Davide Fabbri, published by DC Comics

Variation on the theme: Sherlock Holmes fights the undead, as well as solving crimes. Watson appears to be a fat old buffer, twenty to thirty years older than Holmes, and not terribly bright.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Holmes and Watson seem fond of each other, but Watson’s contribution to casework consists of occasionally saying things like ”By Jove!” Aside from minor medical skill, he resembles Kate Beaton’s Jam Watson.

Typical case: Dracula will give Britain bubonic plague if he is not allowed to take over the nation.

Bad CSI villain to Napoleon of Crime Moriarty villain scale: N/A

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 3, Very restrained, but recognizably human Holmes.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 9, Dracula wants to take over Britain!

Verdict: Not awful, but not worth buying.

I was not making the stalker thing up.

Sherlock Holmes: Year Oneby Scott Beatty and Daniel Indro, published by Dynamite Entertainment

Variation on theme: Sherlock Holmes and Watson are younger and meet in an entirely different way. Holmes has all the personality of a rock. Watson apparently was a cavalry soldier in Afghanistan, instead of a military doctor, and does anachronistic CSI work for the police. No actual detecting gets done, but there are fights. Many, many fights.

Holmes/Watson relationship: Watson meets Holmes by chance, is impressed by his detective skills and… decides to stalk him. Holmes is uninterested in Watson

Typical case: A serial killer is basing his crimes on the Emperors of Rome.

Bad CSI villain to Napoleon of Crime Moriarty villain scale: 2, Math professor with a stupid, nonsensical plan to take over England.

Human robot to wacky bohemian scale of Holmes emoting: 7, Shouty Holmes hits people he gets in arguments with.

Christmas goose to exploding parliament scale of outrageous: 8, a mansion is staffed entirely by criminals.

Verdict: Run, do not walk, in the opposite direction.  Almost as awful as the Syfy original movie in which Sherlock’s real name is inexplicably Robert.

The dangers of media adaptation.

Although we think San Diego is the biggest and the craziest comics event on earth, all dedicated conologists know that Japan’s Comiket is actually the biggest. Held twice a year, the Winter edition just wrapped up and over 500,000 people attended the three-day festival.

The incredible thing about Comiket is that it is an amateur press show: the fans are there to buy doujinshi — fanzines based on popular manga by “amateur” creators. We know Japan is full of amazing wonders and enigmas, but the huge popularity of fanfic is definitely among them.

Anyway, the above is a video showing the crowd waiting outside and then being moved into the show hall to buy their comics. The first 2 minutes are in the dark but you can see little glimmers of people already lined up to get in. After that, day breaks and Japanese precision discipline takes over.

Although 500,000 sounds like a lot of people, it is down about 20,000 people from last year — the population of a good-sized American con all by itself — and this decline seems to have raised some hysterical “COMIKET IS FINISHED!!!” sobs (link NSFW)

Comiket 80 saw 540,000 visitors, whilst Comiket 79 saw 520,000 (the record for a winter Comiket). Summer 2009′s C76 is the event’s high water mark, with 560,000.

Organisers claim this decline is “primarily due” to “the influence of the earthquake” (this appears to be stretching things as there is no longer any discernible impact outside Fukushima prefecture), and “the strong yen” (which implies that tens of thousands of international otaku have been discouraged from attending, something which there is some scepticism about).

Strangely, the fact that Tokyo is being run by a political clique of elderly LDP curmudgeons who view the culture of young people as aberrant is not mentioned – Comiket’s organisers have apparently chosen the winning strategy of hoping their critics will go away if they do nothing hard enough, perhaps noting how effective it was in fending off the Tokyo government.

We’re not entirely sure now much of this story is inter-Otaku spin, but 500,000 still seems like a pretty healthy audience.

Via Kevin Melrose

Chocolate Apple 1991-2011, a manga released at the just passed amateur manga show Comiket — which drew some 500,000 people — presents the author’s heartfelt appreciation of the late Steve Jobs and his creations, while portraying Jobs as a cute Japanese girl.

According to Crunchyroll, where this was spotted, this gender swap is quite common in Japan.

Well, that didn’t take long.

2012 has claimed its first publishing casualty as Bandai Entertainment has announced they will be canceling their manga and home entertainment publishing to focus on licensing their brands as they undergo a restructuring.

Their Facebook and Twitter accounts will also be shut down.

It had been a long time Bandai had made any manga publishing news but still…

UPDATE: Here’s background from Bandai’s Ken Iyadomi:

In a decision made last October, but only now becoming public knowledge, Bandai Entertainment’s corporate parent at Namco Bandai Holdings made the decision to exit the American home video business. Iyadomi says he wasn’t privy to the fine details. “The decision was made in Japan by the contents SBU (Strategic Business Unit).” That business unit originally included the video games division, but recently was merged with all of the company’s audio visual businesses, including Sunrise, Bandai Visual and Bandai Channel.
But the broader reasons are quite clear from the outside. The physical anime business in North America has shrunk substantially over the last five years, and shows no sign of returning to its former glory. “A couple of times we were hit with huge returns, and the financial result was pretty bad,” Iyadomi admits. Still, he believes the division might have been able to keep going for a few more years, had the SBU allowed it.

’00s nostalgia.

Official PR:

Bandai Entertainment announced today that it will stop releasing new titles on DVD, Blu-ray and Manga formats starting in February of 2012. The company will continue to sell catalog titles and shift its operation to licensing which will include digital distribution, broadcast and merchandising.

As a result of this change in strategy for the North American Market, Bandai Entertainment’s organization will be restructured at the end of January 2012.

The following previously announced anime titles have been cancelled: TURN-A GUNDAM, NICHIJOU and GOSICK.

Similarly, the following manga titles have been cancelled: KANNAGI 4-6, CODE GEASS: RENYA, GURREN LAGANN VOL. 7, GUNDAM 00I, LUCKY STAR BOO BOO KAGABOO, NICHIJOU MANGA, CODE GEASS R2 NOVELS, and TALES OF THE ABYSS: JADE 1 and 2.

Additionally, Bandai Entertainment’s facebook and twitter will be shut down.

About Bandai Entertainment Inc.
Bandai Entertainment Inc. is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings (USA) Inc. and a premier
distributor of Japanese animation in North America. Titles include K-ON!, Gundam 00, Code Geass:
Lelouch of Rebellion, Lucky Star, Gurren Lagann,The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Cowboy Bebop,
Outlaw Star, Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, My Otome.

Gantz, Hiroya Oku’s popular, super-violent manga about a team of operatives and their mysterious missions, is ending its run in Young Jump next year, it’s being reported. More than 30 volumes of the manga have appeared in Japan — in the US, Dark Horse is up to volume 20. It’s also been adapted into a TV series and two movies.

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In Commonwealth countries, the day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day, when servants and trades people were given boxes of gifts and bonuses by employers.  In modern times, it is now a secular holiday, known in some parts of the world as the Second Christmas Day.  Since it immediately follows Christmas, it long ago became the start of year-end clearances, and thus one of the biggest shopping days of the year.  (When I worked on the front lines of retail, our Holiday season began the first Friday of November, and ended around the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, with the clearance sale tapering off into February.)

But now, with various devices which can access the Internet 24/7, another shopping day has become popular: Christmas Day.  I don’t think anyone has coined a clever term yet, so I will:  unBoxing Day.  That is, specifically, the day people receive new electronic devices and gift cards, unbox them, and immediately go online to purchase content for those devices, which can include mp3 players, e-readers, tablets, laptops, cellphones, and computers.

How big is this new shopping day?  IBM Coremetrics Benchmarking, via Forbes Magazine, reports on sales figures for Christmas Day 2011:

• Apple iPads accounted for 7% of sales, iPhones had 6.4%, and Android devices 5%, meaning that 18.4% of all online sales were from mobile devices.  This does not include apps and such from app stores, but people using these devices to shop other websites.  Last year’s stake: 8.4%, an increase of 117.8 percent
• Online sales grew 16.4% compared to Christmas Day 2010.
• “Mega-Monday” sales  also exceeded those of last year.

Back when Amazon announced their exclusive agreement with DC Comics, people wondered how popular these titles would be.  Would e-book graphic novels sell?  I knew the big wave of users wouldn’t hit until Christmas Day, when a lot of people would get Kindle Fires as presents.  Last year saw a surge of web traffic on Christmas Day as people eagerly downloaded e-books to e-readers, and I expected this year, with even more viewing options available on Kindles and Nooks, to be even more hectic.  Of course, Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble usually offer generalities when discussing sales and usage, so we won’t know for certain.

So, how are graphic novels selling on the Kindle Fire today?

Here’s the page.  “Best Sellers in Comics & Graphic Novels”

Here’s a screen shot:

Since the resolution is gonna be awful, here are the top ten paid titles, with links from Amazon:

1.  How To Be A Super Villain (A Beautifully Illustrated Children’s Picture Book; Perfect Bedtime Story) [Kindle Edition] ($0.99 , #623 overall)

2.  Ex-Heroes [Kindle Edition] ($2.99 , #1,817)

3.  5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (And Other Useful Guides) [Kindle Edition] ($7.39 , #2,074)

4. Batman: The Complete Hush [Kindle Edition] ($9.99 , #2,279)

5.  Watchmen [Kindle Edition] ($9.99 , #2,501)

6.  1,000 Comic Books You Must Read [Kindle Edition] ($13.49 , #3,150)

7.  Batman: The Long Halloween [Kindle Edition] ($9.99 , #3,572)

8.  Superman Earth One [Kindle Edition] ($9.99 , #3,596)

9. Anabella Giggles All Night! (I Love Anabella) [Kindle Edition] ($2.99, #3,645)

10.  Ex-Patriots (Ex-Heroes Book 2) [Kindle Edition] ($9.99 , #3,869)

The number one book?

A self-published children’s picture book.  Written and drawn by a 14-year old girl. Telling a fun story enjoyed by parents and children.    Outselling DC’s dark brooding bestsellers.  Outselling Miller, Loeb, Lee, Moore, Straczynski, Gaiman, Willingham, Vaughan…

One second while I search the web for the proper response…

Ah… here it is! ☞☞☞

(Or, if you want a soundtrack, Cesar Romero hooting as the Joker.)

Sure, it’s only $0.99.  But… it’s self-published.  It’s a children’s picture book.  It doesn’t have the marketing muscle (or the dedicated Amazon storefront) of DC Comics.  No one in the comics industry knew about this title.  A teen-age girl from nowhere, influenced by manga, is beating DC (and every other comics publisher) without hardly trying.

And, most important of all, she’s coming from the manga side of comics.

People have wondered about all those teenagers reading manga.  Would they write and draw their own comics?  Was it just a fad?  How would that influx of new talent, some drawing since they were in grade school, affect the small press community?  How would it affect the big publishers?

Well, here’s one answer.  Rachel Yu has published nine titles in two years.  She’s improving with every book, and she still has her high school career ahead of her.  (Comics fans will remember another high school cartoonist who showed lots of promise.) She’s publishing her titles via Amazon’s CreateSpace and Amazon Digital Services, selling her titles direct to tablet owners.  She’s having fun.

And… there are thousands of teenagers just like her.  They’re making comics after school via the Comic Book Project.  They’re making comics digitally, intuitively, copying their favorites (just like a lot of other comics professionals used to do in grade school), and making new stories, just like the comics circles in Japan making dōjinshis, and selling them cheaply.  They’re raising the cartooning bar at art schools, entering with skills and talent not seen before.  Will the U. S. see a Comiket-like event, drawing thousands of amateurs and hundreds of thousands of fans?  Or will it just remain online, replicating the APA, mini-comic, and webcomic communities?

Will the “Twenteens” be the decade when digital comics explode, transforming the industry like graphic novels did in the “Aughties”?  Time will tell, and I can’t wait to see what happens!

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As I noted in the first part, Random House distributes a variety of large and smaller publishers, from National Geographic to Vertical Books.

Here are some of the many graphic novels available this season, sorted by publisher.  Quite a diverse list!  How diverse?  How about:

Superman versus the Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate

From National Geographic Children’s Books!

This book tells a group of intertwining stories that culminate in the historic 1947 collision of the Superman Radio Show and the Ku Klux Klan. It is the story of the two Cleveland teenagers who invented Superman as a defender of the little guy and the New York wheeler-dealers who made him a major media force. It is the story Ku Klux Klan’s development from a club to a huge money-making machine powered by fear and hate and of the folklorist who—along with many other activists—took on the Klan by wielding the power of words. Above all, it tells the story of Superman himself—a modern mythical hero and an embodiment of the cultural reality of his times—from the Great Depression to the present.

There’s even an ebook!

Or perhaps you’d like some inspiration of real world superheroes?  Campfire Graphic Novels, of India, offers three biographies this season:

Nelson Mandela: The Unconquerable Soul

Muhammad Ali: the King of the Ring

Leonardo Davinci: the Renaissance Man

Then there are the fictional books…

Ravana: Roar of the Demon King

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Reloaded

Macbeth

400 BC: The Story of the Ten Thousand

Titan Books has been publishing an eclectic variety of titles for thirty years, and this season’s books are quite amazing!  Comic strip collections!  Reprints of British and American comics!  Hard-boiled crime novels!  Movies!  Rock and Roll!  Artists retrospectives!

Drew Struzan: Oeuvre

The Simon and Kirby Library – Crime

Drawing the Head and Hands

Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema

Charley’s War (Volume 8) – Hitler’s Youth

The Wizard of Id: The Dailies & Sundays – 1971

Hagar the Horrible (The Epic Chronicles) – Dailies 1976–77

Modesty Blaise – Million Dollar Game

Blue Apple Books is a publisher of stylish kids books.  They have a strong how-to and activity book catalog, as well as their new Balloon Toons books, which are aimed at ages 6-9, beginning readers.

Balloon Toons: The Totally Awesome Epic Quest of the Brave Boy Knight

Balloon Toons: The Super Duper Dog Park

Balloon Toons: A Day in the Office of Doctor Bugspit

Balloon Toons: Prickles vs. the Dust Bunnies

In addition to archival titles licensed to Dark Horse Comics and IDW, Archie also publishes a strong list of contemporary graphic novels themselves!

ARCHIE: THE MARRIED LIFE BOOK 1

Knuckles the Echidna Archives, Volume 1

Sonic Legacy Graphic Novel, Volume 1

Sonic Universe: The Shadow Saga, Volume 1

Archie Christmas Classics, Volume 1

Archie: Obama & Palin in Riverdale

Mega Man: Let the Games Begin

The Magic of Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Vertical has been publishing some of the best manga and Japanese fiction in the U. S. in the past ten years, and just last February, were acquired by Kodansha (see below) and Dai Nippon Printing.  This season, they are publishing two highly anticipated series (interesting enough to interest me, who doesn’t read much manga), and starting two other series.  (As a general rule, I don’t mention on-going series here in the new releases, since most readers will have already have heard of them, and because there are so many new volumes these series being produced, and I have only so much time and sanity available for this reality.)

The most anticipated manga title of the year, in my estimation, is The Drops of God, written by the sibling team Tadashi Agi, and illustrated by Shu Okimoto.  This series, about the estranged son of a Japanese wine critic and his competition with his father’s selected heir to find the twelve greatest wines and describe them in detail, as well as locate “The Drops of God”, the quintessential wine.

Since being published in Japan and Korea, this series has been cited as the main reason for the explosive popularity of wine in both countries.  Some French vineyards have even stopped offering their varietals for sale internationally, after a mention in the series caused sales to skyrocket.  The reader learns about wine along with our protagonist, making the series enjoyable as well as educational.  (The first volume introduces the technique of decanting, as well as describing how terroir can influence the character of a wine.)

If you’d like to know more about this title, Vertical has a free preview, and the New York Times featured the authors back in October 2008.

Most fans of manga and literary comics know that Vertical publishes books by Osamu Tezuka, the grandmaster of Japanese comics and animation.  This season, Vertical offers TWO new series, one a well-known classic, the other a disturbing tale of baby boomers in post-war Japan.

Princess Knight tells the tale of a princess who is given two hearts at birth by a mischievous angel.  Both male and female, Sapphire is raised as a prince, so that she may ascend the throne.  Will her secret be discovered by those who seek to thwart the king?

The other book, The Book of Human Insects, is from Tezuka’s later period.  Let me quote from the website:

Flitting like a butterfly from one field to another, never tied to any single one, absorbing influences with rapacity, Toshiko Tomura’s metamorphoses are all the more intriguing set against the ongoing transformation of the author himself, who famously included the character for “insect” in his pen name. Despite being serialized only at the dawn of postmodernity, what The Book of Human Insects captures with bravura conviction—and some visceral fear—is the progressively protean and neotenic nature of man- and womankind.

Also offered:

No Longer Human, Volume 1, a left-to-right manga adapting the novel by Osamu Dazai.

Velveteen & Mandala by Jiro Matsumoto, a disturbing graphic novel.

Kodansha…  They are the Japanese equivalent of Random House.  A large publisher of books, with some of the most popular manga titles.  I’m going to just list the titles, and let fans gush in the comments.  Me, I’m eager to read the Sailor titles, just so I can recommend them to my nieces!

Shugo Chara Chan, Volume 1

Tokyo Mew Mew Omnibus, Volume 1

Codename: Sailor, Volume 1

Sailor Moon, Volume 1

Love Hina Omnibus, Volume 1

At Full Moon, Volume 1

Around the World

by Matt Phelan, award-winning author of The Storm in the Barn.  This book chronicles three real-world circumnavigators of the 1890s: Thomas Stevens, Nellie Bly, and Joshua Slocum!  There are also lots of extras at the above link, include previews, a teacher’s guide, and notes from the author!

Candlewick also publishes Toon Books, and this season, they offer Nina in That Makes Me Mad, written by Steven Kroll and illustrated by Hilary Knight, best known as the illustrator of the Eloise books.

McClelland & Stewart is one of preeminent Canadian publishers, with a long and strong tradition of publishing Canadian authors (as well as importing notable authors from around the world).  While not known for their graphic novels  (I only found ten),  they do have some quality titles, such as Stitches and Alison Dare.

This season, they publish the paperback edition of a hardcover from October 2010: Two Generals, written by Scott Chantler.

Available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book, the book chronicles the experiences of his grandfather, Law Chantler, who shipped out in 1943 as part of the Highland Light Infantry of Canada, and who participated in the invasion of Normandy.

The book is part of the curriculum in Ontario schools, and was a Top 40 finalist (one of three graphic novels!) in the 2011 edition of Canda Reads.

And finally, the last publisher, Universe Publishing, a division of Rizzoli USA. Rizzoli, an Italian publisher of lavish art books, uses their Universe imprint for pop cultural titles.

While not as serious as some of the high brow titles, Universe does have the same great design, and this season’s graphic novel title continues that tradition.

1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die: The Ultimate Guide to Comic Books, Graphic Novels and Manga, edited by Paul Gravett with a foreword by Terry Gilliam, does what it says.  Arranged by decade (there’s an alphabetical list in the front of the volume, with a creator index in back), it gives lots of recommendations.  (If you visit the link above, there’s a preview, which includes four incomplete pages of listings, if you wish to judge his selection before buying.)  Of course, the best way to judge a book like this is to see how many titles you have already read and/or own, which you disagree with,  and then see what his crack team recommends of the unkonwn.

The first page (page 940) of the index shows many creators which I am familiar with, but I would say about a third are new to me.  (And I’ve been actively reading great comics for over twenty-five years!)

(And speaking of which… Universe will be publishing Corto Maltese in March!)

So, if you read this far, you got the secret info about Corto Maltese, and my gratitude!  What caught your eye?  Is there an older series from these publishers you like and recommend?  Anything that made you consider tossing the book in the shredder, so no one else would suffer as you had?  Let us know!

Yen Press has announced two manga style adaptations of bestselling YA novels: Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Chronicles of Nick and Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices trilogy.  HyeKyung Baek is attached to The Infernal Devices as artist.  Both series will initially be serialized online at Yen Plus before graduating to a print edition.  Does “online serial followed by print edition” sound familiar?  It should.

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YEN PRESS ANNOUNCES MANGA ADAPTATION OF SHERRILYN KENYON’S

CHRONICLES OF NICK SERIES

NEW YORK, NY (10/14/2011) — Yen Press, the graphic novel imprint of Hachette Book Group, announced that it has entered into an agreement with internationally acclaimed author Sherrilyn Kenyon to create a two volume manga adaptation of her #1 New York Times bestselling Chronicles of Nick series.

Chronicles of Nick, a YA prequel to Kenyon’s immensely popular Dark-Hunter novels, reveals the path of a young Nick Gautier and the circumstances that led him to become the man with whom readers first became familiar in Kenyon’s earlier books.  Chronicles of Nick and the forthcoming manga adaptation from Yen Press to be titled  Dark-Hunters: Infinity provide a perfect entry point for young readers into the world of the Dark-Hunters as well as rich and visual  back-story for existing fans.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with Yen Press,” Sherrilyn Kenyon said. “As a major otaku, I’ve been a fan of their manga and magazine for years. I count Soul Eater and Spice & Wolf among some of my all time favorite tales. I know Chronicles of Nick couldn’t be in better hands, and I look forward to a partnership I know will thrill my fans and make the stories come alive for a whole new audience.”

Kurt Hassler, Yen Press Publishing Director, said of the project: “The first time I had the pleasure of meeting Sherrilyn, I was truly impressed by her level of enthusiasm for manga and anime. We had a great conversation about cosplay and various characters and series. It’s that level of enthusiasm  that will truly make this an extraordinary endeavor, and we look forward to finding the perfect artist to bring Sherrilyn’s beloved characters to life in Dark-Hunters: Infinity!”

Chapters of  Dark-Hunters: Infinity will be serialized in Yen Press’s monthly online anthology magazine, Yen Plus (www.yenplus.com), with publication of the first volume slated for Fall 2012.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon is a powerhouse with more than 25 million copies of her books in print in over 30 countries. Since 2006, she’s placed over fifty novels on the New York Times list with over a dozen of them landing the #1 slot. During that same time, she claimed ten #1 slots on Publisher’s Weekly. Sherrilyn lives a life of extraordinary danger…as does any woman with three sons, a husband, a menagerie of pets and a collection of swords. But when not running interference (or dashing off to the emergency room), she can be found chained to her computer where she likes to play with all her imaginary friends.

Born of Silence (The League Series # 5) will be published by Grand Central Publishing May 1, 2012.

Yen Press is an imprint of Hachette Book Group dedicated to publishing graphic  novels for adults and young readers.  Yen Press’ focus is primarily on licensed manga, but also publishes across the wide spectrum of the graphic novel market, including,  but not limited to: original manga publications, original American comics/graphic novels, webcomics, licensed adaptations, and children’s graphic novels. For more information, visit www.yenpress.com

Hachette Book Group is a leading trade publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the second largest publisher in the world. Hachette Book Group’s product lines include adult, illustrated, religious, children’s and audio books under the  Little, Brown and Company, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Grand Central Publishing, FaithWords, Center Street, Orbit, Yen Press and Hachette Book Group Digital Media imprints.  For more information, visit www.hbgusa.com.

This is interesting.  Viz is migrating Shonen Jump to a digital edition that’s only 2 weeks removed from the Japanese original.  (And you can probably chalk that up to translation time.)  They’re on the library model for this.  Full access annual subscription or $0.99 4-week rental.   The annual access subscription comes out to roughly $0.54/issue.

Technology marches on.

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VIZ MEDIA TO DEBUT WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA

NORTH AMERICA’S ONLY NEAR-SIMULTANEOUS

DIGITAL MANGA MAGAZINE

WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA Brings Fans The Most Popular Manga In The World Faster Than Ever Before

San Francisco, CA, October 14, 2011 – VIZ Media, the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in the North America, announces the countdown to the launch of WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA (WEEKLY SJ ALPHA), a weekly serial anthology of some of the most popular manga series in the world: BAKUMAN｡, BLEACH, NARUTO, NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, ONE PIECE, and TORIKO. The first issue of WEEKLY SJ ALPHA goes on sale January 30, 2012, and will be available through VIZManga.com and the VIZ Manga apps for iPhone™, iPod™ touch and iPad™.

Each new digital issue of WEEKLY SJ ALPHA brings manga fans in North America the latest chapters of their favorite series only two weeks after it debuts in Japan’s massively popular WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP Magazine. Currently, Japanese releases are often several months to years ahead of North American print titles; WEEKLY SJ ALPHA eliminates the delay in unprecedented fashion.

“Simultaneously publishing an official translation of the most popular comics magazine in the world has been a dream since manga publishing began in North America in the 1980s,” said Alvin Lu, Senior Vice President & General Manager. “This is how manga is meant to be read in English – weekly, current, authorized and on the go. Now with WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA, it’s about to happen for real.”

WEEKLY SJ ALPHA will be made available through an annual membership that provides access to 48 weekly issues for 52 weeks for just $25.99. Single issues of WEEKLY SJ ALPHA can be read for a four-week rental from the time the reader purchases it for only $0.99. Each issue, once received on one device, can be read on all other enabled devices through the easy-to-use integrated VIZ Manga app and website.

To prepare fans for the debut of WEEKLY SJ ALPHA, VIZ Media is also offering the SHONEN JUMP DIGITAL WARP, a limited collection of digital graphic novel speed-ups that will bring North American readers up-to-date with Japanese releases. In some cases, the digital speed-ups will jump ahead of the print releases in North America. The SHONEN JUMP DIGITAL WARP will begin with NARUTO Volume 53 (available now) and BLEACH Volume 49 (coming soon).

As more fans migrate to the digital WEEKLY SJ ALPHA edition, VIZ Media plans to phase out the print edition of SHONEN JUMP Magazine. The popular, one-of-a-kind monthly magazine led the rapid growth of the manga market for much of the last decade and was VIZ Media’s flagship publication since it launched in 2003. The farewell April 2012 issue hits newsstands March 2012.

For more information on WEEKLY SJ ALPHA and exclusive subscriber offers, please visit ShonenJump.viz.com orVIZManga.com.

# # # # #

Media Contacts:

About VIZ Media, LLC

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan.  Owned by three of Japan’s largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular monthly manga anthology SHONEN JUMP magazine and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and INUYASHA, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages.  VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products.  Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.

BY JEN VAUGHN -  From all over the globe, scholars, professors, panelists and attendees are swooping into White River Junction as this weekend The Center for Cartoon Studies hosts the International Comic Arts Forum. Past incarnations of ICAF have been hosted at SPX (they used to plan programming too!), the Library of Congress and the School for the Art Institute of Chicago.

The academic community is itching to share their papers and argue on panels about topics such as East Asian comics and Building Postmodern Geographies. In this small area, the crowd might find just how comics-loving the community truly is! If you are in the Vermont/New Hampshire/Boston/New York area, White River Junction is within spitting distance and since ICAF if free, a true gem for the weekend. Despite the fact I live near him and talk to the man himself daily, one of the highlights of the conference is sure to be Steve Bissette’s Friday night talk called “Uncanny Geometries: Junji Ito’s UZUMAKI and Dread Geometries in Comics & Manga”

For the comics hungry crowd of international and national academics, CCS is also hosting a Marketplace complete with free graphic novels from publishers, lots of student and alumni work being sold and signings by the professional faculty members like Jason Lutes, Steve Bissette, James Sturm and David Berona. As a community that believes in the study of comics, what better place for ICAF to be this year?

So while ICAF is running 9am to 9pm this weekend, the cartoonists who are getting a day or two outta school are smartly tabling at the Center for Cartoon Studies on 94 South Main Street from Noon to 7pm, Friday and Saturday, September 20th and October 1st. Bring those dollars and get some work from the next generation of cartoonists!

The whole town is getting into the swing of things, they know that comics are king! Local lovely coffee shop, The Tuckerbox, is running a special ICAF drink. Even in a neighboring town, the local AVA Gallery hosts a Words Without Pictures exhibition curated by David Berona and featuring comic work by Alec Longstreth, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Jon Chad and myself.  Traveling around the bars (there are three) at night will prove if there are special ICAF drink-drinks. I thought the Charlie Brown would be a cold class of milk and the internet CONFIRMED that it is is milk white and chock full of booze.

Graphic novels are popping up in windows all around town like the vintage clothing store!

If we don’t see you ol’ White River Junction, check back on THE BEAT and the Schulz Graphic Novel Library Blog for more academic comics goodness.

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Jen Vaughn is in love. With comics. Maybe you better leave; she’s gonna get lousy with paper cuts.

Taiyo Matsumoto is a groundbreaking manga-ka whose Tekkon Kinkreet is one of the most striking works of its time. But he has a whole body of remarkable work, which Chris Butcher introduces for you here along with an interview with the man himself.

But as great as the films are, it is Matsumoto’s manga that most captivates me. VIZ Media has also released Blue Spring, a collection of short stories inspired by Matsumoto’s youth, Go Go Monster, an original graphic novel of 400+ pages (a true rarity in Japan!) detailing a Shining-esque haunting of two young boys at an aging elementary school, and the sci-fi superhero thriller No.5 (Number Five). While I count Go Go Monster and Blue Spring amongst my favourite manga, it’s No.5 that has made my soul ache since its original release in 2002.

No. 5 was published as a manga by Viz in 2002-3. But now you can read the whole thing in English on your iPad. The first volume is 99 cents; subsequent volumes are $4.99.

The manga industry, like the publishing industry in general, now appears as a community that “makes a difference.” This public image boost is certainly merited, having raised both money and spirits for the victims of March 11. Yet sometimes I think the press has been a little overgenerous. For example, in the weeks immediately following the quake, many of the top comics magazines – including Shōnen Jump, Shōnen Magazine, Young Magazine, Morning, and Shōnen Sunday – could be read for free on the web and in some cases on cell phones.

Ryan Holmberg, who normally writes about alternative manga, has written a long, excellent, piece on how the Japanese manga industry has reacted to the 3/11 earthquake.