§ Ed Sizemore hosts the Manga Moveable Feast spotlight on Mushishi

The concept is simple enough: for one week each month, bloggers and reviewers agree to write about one particular manga. By getting a diversity of opinions, we hope to challenge each other to see not just the featured manga, but all manga, in new ways and to incorporate this new understanding into our future reviews. The intent is to foster dialogue among the review community to help us sharpen our critical and writing skills. For April, the chosen title is Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara, published in the U.S. by Del Rey.

Book bloggers do this kind of rotating spotlight quite a bit…it’s definitely something that comics bloggers could pick up on — it’s also a great way to publicize a book, as well as get a diversity of opinion out there.

§ Fantaraphics’ Eric Reynolds went to MoCCA & CCS and then blogged about it!

I don’t have the stamina to really write up the highlights from my three days in WRJ, but I couldn’t have had a better time. Our hosts — the aforementioned Mr. Sturm and CCS President and co-founder Michelle Ollie and CCS Secret Weapon Robyn Chapman — were wonderfully gracious hosts and clearly have created something special in WRJ. I’ve been to a few other schools that offer curriculums in cartooning, and hands-down, the quality of work coming out of CCS was the best I’ve ever seen. Very little work derivative of the dominant genres in comics — namely, manga and superheroes — and instead a focus on personal expression and style with little regard for learning what it takes to be a “commercial” artist. We all did portfolio reviews one afternoon and I was frankly dreading it a bit but found myself thoroughly enjoying it.

§ ICv2 invents a whole new metric to quantify how much manga is being carried at book chains, dubbing it The Naruto Index

There are 47 volumes of the Naruto manga in print and available at Amazon, giving it a Naruto Index of 100%. In years past, Borders and Barnes & Noble stores were often in stock on all but a handful of volumes on lengthy manga series. But that’s not the case now. Despite the fact that Naruto is presumably the highest priority manga series, with the biggest sales in the category, the two big book chains were out of stock on a fairly high percentage of titles.

§ It is a fact not commented on enough that Ty Templeton is a very amusing fellow, but this list of The Top Seven Comics Creators who can KICK YOUR ASS has changed that — meaning it has been commented on plenty. Ty is still very funny.

Dc Korak 046-28

§ We can never, ever resist linking to Carson of Venus by Len Wein and Mike Kaluta. Why doesn’t someone just use this as a storyboard for a movie already? (Via)

§ Another link from Flog, this time Mike Baehr’s list of Things to see that is so awesome we have stolen some for their own posts.

Woma002B001 Col

§ Faith Erin Hicks went places and did things, like Animinitime in Halifax. She also posted a sweet panel from her story in Girl Comics.

Iron Man Ii

§ J. Caleb Mozzocco investigates a John Romita Jr illustration in USA Weekend, tying in with IRON MAN 2, hence the bitchin’ Whiplash above.

Pulseofpower-Cover-Booth11

§ OUTSTANDING example of the Brokeback!

5 COMMENTS

  1. That brokeback pose… did they rearrange her organs up to her chest? Once you account for the spinal column, skin, and muscles, there’s no room for anything else in her midsection. Is her upper thigh thicker than her waist?

    The cover is by Brett Booth, the cover artist for Marvel’s Anita Blake books.

  2. Not to be picky, but CCS is already used by the Center for Creative Studies college of art and design in Detroit. I see a street rumble coming in the near future to settle this…
    Maybe the schools could have a Brokeback draw-off?

  3. Does your blog have a contact page? I’m having a tough time locating it but, I’d like to shoot you an e-mail. I’ve got some creative ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great blog and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.

Comments are closed.