When I’m reading a comic and it makes me laugh out loud, my partner almost always asks me if it’s Sgt. Frog. Call it the Keroro Effect. The latest book to trigger this has been Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga by Koji Aihara and Kentaro Takekuma (Viz). It’s cynical and vulgar and sick and wrong and hilarious and perfect. It’s even bizarrely instructive. There are titles on the shelves that seem like they’ve followed this manual religiously.
Wheedle and you shall receive: Lea Hernandez is publishing her 24-Hour work as a mini-comic. Details are here. Try and resist the tulip illustration. I dare you.
Did the world really need a rambling mash note to Kindaichi Case Files? Probably not, but it did make Michael May crave fried chicken.
I wish I could link directly to the full text of “What Lies Behind the Global Success of Manga?” from the Journal of Japanese Trade and Industry, but I found it through Lexis-Nexis. A shorter version can be found here. It tracks manga’s market evolution via a lengthy interview with Stuart Levy, founder of Tokyopop.