Time for a look at this week’s ComicList:
Digital Manga brings us a little of that old-school shôjo charm in the form of Itazura na Kiss, written and illustrated by Kaoru Tada. The book has already received warm welcomes from the likes of Danielle Leigh, Johanna Draper Carlson and Kate Dacey, which is a very promising sign indeed.
Viz unleashes the third volume of one of my favorite new series of 2009, Detroit Metal City, written and illustrated by Kiminori Wakasugi. Viz’s solicitation text is on the oblique side, as always (“Death metal screams the despair of dying heathens! What the hell kind of song would you sing?!”), but I feel safe in promising hilariously distasteful mistaken identity satire.
There’s a lot of other stuff apparently on the way from Viz, much of it wonderful, but it’s all got the disclaimer, “release not confirmed by Diamond Distribution.” Chances are it’s already in bookstores but won’t be in comic shops for a week or so.
Yen Press will make fans of funny manga very happy this week with two by Kiyohiko Azuma. They’ve taken a crack at an omnibus collection of Azuma’s hilarious comic strip, Azumanga Daioh, featuring the highs and lows of a group of high-school girls. ADV published something similar a couple of years back, but Yen is promising a fresh translation. I’m undecided as to whether or not to buy it over again.
Also from Azuma is the seventh volume of the charming and witty Yotsuba&!, which Yen also rescued from ADV limbo. If there was a comics industry award for good karma, Yen would be the frontrunner.