Manga

Yeah like the rest of you East Coasters, we just had a little wee temblor. My mind refused to believe it was happening, preferring to think that it was a big truck driving by or the Second Avenue Subway rattling by...except that doesn't exist just yet. Having been in the Northridge quake, I knew it wasn't serious...yet, but the idea of the piles of books in Stately Beat Manor tumbling down filled my heart with dread. But the cat didn't even wake up. Hope the folks closer to the epicenter are okay. Virginian Colleen Doran tweeted:

Remember manga? It's still around, even if it isn't the juggernaut it was in the olden days. The big, big news in manga this week was the launch of Jmanga.com, best described as what if Marvel, DC, Random House, Dynamite, and Fantagraphics all teamed up to create their own comiXology. After years of sitting around anxiously watching piracy take a toll, the top Japanese publishers have finally banded together to create their own LEGAL online portal. The site just launched this week, and there been a ton of talk. J.K. Parkin has a great round-up of much of the reaction but it hasn't been universally loved:

Eiichiro Oda's ONE PIECE continues to be the fastest selling comic book of all times, with the new Vol. 63 selling at a record breaking clip:

Eiichiro Oda’s “One Piece” manga continues its strong sales record with the latest volume 63 passing the 2 million sales mark just within 4 days of its release. This amazing result outshine the performance by Vol 60 & Vol 61 which only managed to pass the 2 million mark after 1 week.

A previous volume of ONE PIECE, #60, set another record by selling 3 million copies in an 8-day period.

Otakon, the anime/manga show held each year in Baltimore, drew a record 31,000 fans. Brigid Alverson runs down the announcements from Viz, Bandai, Funimation and Aniplex .

This year's Bronze medalistAbby Denson alerts us to the call for applications for the 5th Annual International Manga Awards, presented by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At San Diego Comic-Con it was announced that Anne Rice's classic vampire novel, Interview With a Vampire, is being adapted into graphic novel format by webcomic creator Ashley Marie Witter for Yen Press, due out in 2012.

Manga publisher Viz has just announced VizManga.com, a digital comics site which immediately went live during the con. Viz's wide variety of manga titles are now available there in an array of digital formats, with first chapters available free, and first volumes available at 40% off for the first month.

In an effort to compete with the huge ad-supported pirated manga aggregator sites, the Japanese Digital Comics Association has announced that this August they will be unveiling Jmanga.com, a new English-language digital manga site with free content.

Can there ever be enough Jiro Taniguchi? Not really -- and a new book is on its way for Comic-Con:

The indestructible beat of NARUTO led the way.

While not generally included in lists of comics book movies, OLDBOY most certainly is one -- the tale of twisted vengeance is based on a manga by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya (published in the US by Dark Horse.) Turned into an acclaimed film by South Korean director Chan-wook Park in 2003, it won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes in 2004. Now Spike Lee will take a shot at making an American version to match the first filmed version. he's signed to direct the remake, his first film in three years, from a script by Mark Protosevich. Steven Spielberg and Will Smith were once attached to the film, but no longer. OLDBOY involves a man who wakes up in a room where is confined for 15 years. When he learns of his family's death via the TV in the room, he plans an escape and a grisly vengeance on those who imprisoned him.

There's been a bit of a blog tour about Josei, or manga for grown women of late. A podcast with Johanna Draper Carlson, David Welsh and Melinda Beasi can he heard here and includes lots of links.