Manga

That's the question Russo-Canadian cartoonist Svetlana Chmakova—by any standards one of the most successful North Ameircan manga creators—posed to a bunch of us at breakfast during TCAF. And Deb Aoki has responded with a comprehensive five-part series examining the question. Four parts are up thus far. Aoki starts with examining the reasons why manga by non-Japanese creators—whether you call it OEL or Global Manga or Bruce—has a hard time in the market, listing nine reasons. Among them:

After hinting at it on their Facebook page for a while, Tokyopop's surviving member, Stuart Levy, announced a little wee return...as a licensing entity, anyway. The Right Stuff, in conjunction with Genosha Comics, will republish three volumes of Himaruya Hidekaz's HETALIA: AXIS POWERS, including the first two—which came out from Toykopop before it imploded last year—and the never-before-in-English third book, which was in production when Tpop went away.

Best known for his hectic DRAGONBALL series, Akira Toriyama is probably one of the most successful cartoonists of all time. His first big hit was DR. SLUMP, a slapstick humor strip about an inventor who creates a little girl robot who is hopelessly naive about the world. Hijinks ensue. Hijinks that anyone who likes FAMILY GUY will appreciate. This is not sophisticated humor but it is energetic, wildly imaginative cartooning at the highest level. It's also world building in the classic McCloudian-approved way, with the setting of Penguin Village, like Springfield or Mr Roger's Neighborhood, a friendly place filled with colorful characters.

Oh, man... so much good stuff coming from Macmillan! And they're not even known for publishing graphic novels! Scan this list, and tell us what makes you squeel with joy!

. Here are a selection of books due out this month. All of the information presented below are from publisher or distributor websites. ALL information is subject to change, and something which might ship this...

After a 20-year break from making longform manga, Katsuhiro Otomo is starting a new longform manga.

Yusuke Murata is the manga-ka behind the very popular American football manga EYESHIELD 21. In between massive ongoing series—his next project is called onepunchman—Murata started posting a webcomic via Twitter, bsed on yet another series, Hetappi Manga Research Lab R. The story involves Murata being chased over a cliff by an editor and looming deadlines—no paranoia there!—and he uses unique folded paper and lighting effects to give the story more impact.

Archer, the wildly successful animated show that surpasses even Mad Men in the number of drinks the characters consume in a single episode has been renewed for a 4th Season. The Emmy and Annie...

Although their attempt to remake Akira as a movie about white people went down in flames, WB has not given up on manga source material—now they are planning a movie based on BLEACH, the hugely popular manga and anime by Tite Kubo. Will this be another, heh heh, whitewash? Probably—because Hollywood fears Asians as leads—but at least Masi Oka (from Heroes) is on board as a producer. Others involved are producer/potential director Peter Segal (GET SMART, THE LONGEST YARD), screenwriter Dan Mazeau (WRATH OF THE TITANS), and Oka and Michael Ewing of Callahan Filmworks. Viz Productions' Jason Hoffs and Branon Coluccio are also in the production mix.

New manga! Fast cars! Sexy women (and men)! Nazis! Cats! Rock 'n' Roll! Murder!

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:

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?: