Manga

Rich Johnson's thoughtful post on the Manga Era of comics has drawn some equally thoughtful responses. Brigid Alverson found much to agree with, but also took issue with some of Johnson's conclusions, including the importance of piracy:

The news that DC was shutting down its CMX manga line drew a surprisingly caustic reaction across the web, as summed up by Johanna Draper Carlson. Now, we're well aware that there is a very vocal bunch of online fans who love to bash DC no matter what they do -- if someone at DC used a firehose to put out a fire, these fans would complain DC was wasting precious water. However these complaints were from manga commenters and librarians, a usually less volcanic crowd. But they were near-universal in their disappointment that DC had shut down a line that seemed to be hanging in there despite rarely getting any attention or promotion

As we mentioned a few days ago, Publishers Weekly (where I still edit part time) is moving offices at the end of the month,...

By the time the New York Times gets around to spotting a trend, that usually means it's something your grandma loves. IN this case, the recent manga implosion gives this New York Times spotlight on manga something of a more urgent undertone. The story focuses on budget cuts in the Queens library system, where the kids -- of widely diverse ethnicities -- have embraced the manga:

Ever since the cutbacks at Viz on Monday, the online chatter has been surprisingly quiet. People close to the situation have mainly been in...

As word of the layoffs at Viz spread yesterday -- 60 people laid off and the entire New York branch closed -- the reaction around the industry, at least as expressed by Twitter and Facebook status updates -- was complete and utter shell shock. Viz personnel we contacted for confirmation were devastated. While the exact cause of the downsizing and the effects it will have on Viz's publishing plans are just emerging, a few manga reporters were commenting:

Carl Macek, a pioneer of bringing anime to America, died of a heart attack on Saturday, April 17th. He was 58. Jerry Beck, ...

A couple of publishing announcements that caught our eye the other day. • Tokyopop will publish Kenji Sonishi's NekoRamen. a manga about a cat...

Cartoonist/reality star Nick Simmons issued a statement yesterday regarding being caught redhanded lifting images from Bleach and other very well known manga: “Like most...

Among mamy comments on the Nick Simmons plagiarism case, Chris Butcher has the strongest words for the connection between those who swipe art...

Christopher Handley, the manga collector from Iowa who pled guilty to possessing child pornography, has been sentenced to six months in jail, followed by...

Manga-ka Keiko Tobe has passed away at age 52. Tobe is known for her award-winning WITH THE LIGHT (published in the US by Yen...