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Statuettes

May 13, 2010 by

The industry may be in turmoil, but prizes must be awarded, want must be sparked, and the cycle of enthusiasm begins anew. Whether there’s still enough of an industry to actually license, translate and publish any of these comics remains to be seen, but hey, I’m sure you’ll be able to download pirated versions via some fabulous app.

Anime News Network has the details on the 39th Japan Cartoonists Awards offered by the Japan Cartoonist Association.

ANN also has the rundown on the 34th Kodansha Manga Awards. One of the winners, Kuragehime, was a finalist for the latest Manga Taisho Award, and there seems to be a healthy amount of interest in it, at least based on my unscientific poll.

Asahi Shimbun covers the 14th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize winners. Top honors went to Hyouge Mono, written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Yamada. Ed Chavez wrote an appreciation of Yamada’s work for Otaku USA. This year’s Manga Taisho winner, Mari Yamazaki’s awesome-sounding Thermae Romae, won the short story prize.

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Done in one

May 4, 2010 by

The good folks at Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations asked if I’d like to contribute a list, and after some routine indecisiveness and procrastination, I decided to focus on single-volume manga. I tried to list books that are widely available (“In Stock” being the magic phrase) and that covered a lot of ground in terms of style and content and might have some good hooks for prose readers.

So that’s probably why I ruthlessly ignored your favorite stand-alone manga.

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For your further consideration

April 22, 2010 by

Harvey Award nominations are due tomorrow, and as Heidi (The Beat) MacDonald notes, “Only WE can save the Harveys.” Last year’s nominees in the Best American Edition of Foreign Material were slightly better than those of the year before, though they’d almost have to be. I doubt that my whining had anything to do with that, but I will toss out a few suggestions, just in case someone is staring at an uncompleted ballot.

First of all, I think any of the titles listed here would be fine nominees. Here are a few more:

And since I’m on the subject of awards, I should note that online voting is underway for the Eisners. I predicted at least one winner last year, and let’s see if I can repeat the feat by suggesting you cast your vote for…

Beyond being very entertaining and informative, this was a really ambitious project on Viz’s part, to offer a taste of a massive, commercially counter-intuitive series, and I would love to see them get some bling for their efforts. But I’m always curious as to which way the winds are blowing, so here’s a poll on the subject of Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia:

Updated: Aaron Costain suggested a second poll, asking which title should win, and I admit I forgot the distinction. So here you go:

Feel free to mention another, un-nominated title in the comments.

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Fanfare Eisner fanfare

April 15, 2010 by

Our next press release comes from Fanfare/Ponent Mon, and I have a sturdy tradition of shameless favoritism towards press releases from this fine publisher. This time around, it’s a run-down of their well-deserved Eisner nominations, which provides an opportunity for me to remind you that My Mommy Is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill is just grand in every conceivable way and should really win at least one of the awards for which it’s nominated.

Here’s hoping that Summit of the Gods (written by Baku Yumemakura and illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi) gets nominated for something next year. I actually liked it better than Taniguchi’s A Distant Neighborhood and am looking forward to the next volume.

AN IMPRESSIVE SEVEN 2010 EISNER AWARD NOMINATIONS FOR FANFARE / PONENT MON

INDUSTRY DISTINGUISHES THE LITTLE COMPANY THAT DOES

Ami and Stephen would like to thank Jackie Estrada and the 2010 Eisner Award panel for all their hard (and fast) reading!

Since Fanfare / Ponent Mon’s founding in 2003, the company has dedicated itself to publishing quality translations of some of the choicest European and Japanese graphic novels available for mature readers. With just four titles published in 2009 the recent announcement of seven 2010 Eisner Award nominations means Fanfare / Ponent Mon has put to rest any thoughts that it is merely the little company that could but rather the little company that does!

Receiving the second most nominations overall with three, My Mommy Is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill by Jean Regnaud (W) and Émile Bravo (A) was honored in the categories:

  • Graphic Album – New
  • U.S. Edition of International Material
  • Painter/Multimedia Artist: Émile Bravo

    • This bittersweet tale of a five-year-old’s childhood struggles while overcoming his mother’s absence is a powerful, yet sensitive, tour-de-force made all the more moving by Bravo’s deceptively innocent artwork.

    978-84-96427-85-3 — $25.00 / £13.99 — 120pp FC HC

    Years of the Elephant by Willy Linthout was distinguished in two categories:

  • U.S. Edition of International Material
  • Writer / Artist – Nonfiction

    • In his native Belgium, Willy Linthout is a household name through his cartoon Urbanus with over 130 albums and 10 million copies in print. But this graphic novel is far from his daily work. It is a poignant, heartbreaking tale of the creator’s emotional survival in the years following his son’s suicide and is
    presented in Linthout’s rough pencils, the author’s way of conveying that he, too, is not yet whole from the tragedy.

    978-84-92444-30-4 — $18.95 / £11.99 — 164pp B/W SC

    Since its inception. Fanfare / Ponent Mon has released several titles by Jiro Taniguchi – the fourth volume of the artist’s ambitious adaptation of The Times of Botchan makes its debut at the MoCCA Arts Festival as we go to press – so the company is most pleased to see the work of one of Japan’s contemporary manga masters honored with two nominations:

  • Graphic Album – New: A Distant Neighborhood (2 vols.)
  • U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia: A Distant Neighborhood (2 vols.)

    • Jiro Taniguchi was previously honored by a nomination for The Walking Man (2007), The Ice Wanderer and Other Stories (2008) and The Quest for the Missing Girl (2009). He also had a story in the nominated anthology Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators (2007).

    This two-volume work tells the tender and haunting story of a middle-aged businessman who finds himself reliving his days as a fourteen-year-old but with his adult memories intact. He returns to the period immediately before his father mysteriously leaves the family behind and naturally wonders whether he can now change this course of events. Or will events change him?

    It is an affecting tale that showcases both Taniguchi’s sensitive storytelling and his beautifully detailed artwork.

    978-84-92444-29-8 $23.00 / £12.99 208pp B/W SC

    With many thanks to our creators and good luck to ALL nominees

    http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_main.shtml

  • Graphic Album–New: A Distant Neighborhood (2 vols.), by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • Graphic Album–New: My Mommy Is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill, by Jean Regnaud and Émile Bravo (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • U.S. Edition of International Material: My Mommy Is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill, by Jean Regnaud and Émile Bravo (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • U.S. Edition of International Material: Years of the Elephant, by Willy Linthout (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • U.S. Edition of International Material–Asia: A Distant Neighborhood (2 vols.), by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • Writer/Artist–Nonfiction: Willy Linthout, Years of the Elephant (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • Painter/Multimedia Artist: Émile Bravo, My Mommy Is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
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    Teen scene

    April 11, 2010 by

    One more thought exercise for the weekend, still linked to the Eisner Award nominations, but this time I’m thinking about the Best Publication for Teens category. There was some lively conversation on Twitter on the subject, specifically why there’s never any manga in this category when so much of the category is aimed at teens and a lot of it is really, really good.

    Again, this isn’t meant to take anything away from the nominees. In fact, I seriously need to get around to reading more of them, as some received widespread critical acclaim. (I was about to say that there are too many good comics, but that’s not true. There’s just not enough time to read them all.)

    I am curious as to your thoughts on why shônen and shôjo titles are left at home on nerd prom night watching anime marathons instead of spending some time in the Eisner spotlight. As the Great Graphic Novels for Teens list reminds us, there are plenty of spectacular Japanese comics targeted at that audience. (Interesting digression: of the three manga titles that made the top ten list, only one of them was serialized in a magazine with a teen demographic, namely Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ôoku: The Inner Chambers, which ran in Hakusensha’s Melody magazine, though I believe it’s branded older in collection.)

    Of course, teen-targeted manga has received Eisner nominations before, just not in the teen category. Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare (Go! Comi) got a nod in the main manga category in 2007, and Fumi Yoshinaga was nominated for Best Writer/Artist in 2008 partly for Flower of Life (DMP). Takeshi Obata received a 2008 Best Penciler/Inker nomination for Death Note and Hikaru No Go (Viz), and Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo (Vertical) won the main manga award in 2009. (Of course, with Tezuka, demographic origins go out the window in the face of the fact that his works are classics.)

    But why do you suppose manga is ignored on this front? Could it be that the judges would rather favor works created during the nomination period rather than translated reprints of comics from various vintages? Could they want to shine the spotlight on titles with less of a market presence? Or is manga just discounted when it’s targeted at teens?

    Also, what are some worthy shônen and shôjo works that you’d like to see get a nod in this category? The window is now closed on Natsuki Takaya’s glorious Fruits Basket (Tokyopop) getting some Eisner love, but there’s still 2011 for Hinako Ashihara’s sublime Sand Chronicles (Viz). What about mega-popular titles that also happen to be really, really good?

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    Sharing the wealth

    April 10, 2010 by

    Just as a random thought exercise, and working on the assumption that the number of slots and that all other Eisner Award nominations remain the same, would your dream slate for Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia look the same? I think I’d be inclined to spread the nods around a little more and add some other titles to the hopper:

    I hasten to note that I don’t think any of the actual nominees are unworthy, because no sane person could say that about Taniguchi, Tatsumi, or Urasawa. (Okay, I will say that the Color trilogy is unworthy, though I would certainly agree with a nod for Kim Dong Hwa in the Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team category.) But it wouldn’t be awards season if you didn’t spend at least a little time second-guessing the judges. It’s part of the fun, right?

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    And the nominees are…

    April 8, 2010 by

    Tom (The Comics Reporter) Spurgeon was first out of the gate to post this year’s Eisner Awards nominations, and I thought I’d pull out the manga- and manhwa-related nominees with a little commentary.

    Best Continuing Series

  • Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)

    • This delights me, as I like 20th Century Boys just slightly more than Pluto, so I’m glad to see it get a nomination in this very high-profile category.

    I was a bit disappointed by the absence of manga in the Best Publication for Teens category, but the slate seems crazy strong, at least based on reviews that I’ve seen of the chosen works.

    Best Reality-Based Work

  • A Drifting Life, Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly)

    • A nomination for this excellent book was never really in question. It was just a matter of wondering which category (or categories) would claim it.

    Best Graphic Album — New

  • A Distant Neighborhood Vols. 1-2, by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

    • I’m a bit surprised that GoGo Monster didn’t snag a slot here (or anywhere). But Taniguchi does admirable work, and I’m very thrilled that Fanfare/Ponent Mon’s splendid My Mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill is keeping A Distant Neighborhood company.

    Again, I’ll express some mild disappointment that there was no nod for Black Jack in the Best Archival Collection/Project — Comic Books category. That’s an impressive effort on Vertical’s part, and they deserve plaudits for it.

    Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia

  • The Color Trilogy, Kim Dong Hwa (First Second)
  • A Distant Neighborhood Vols. 1-2, by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
  • A Drifting Life, Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Oishinbo a la Carte, written by Tetsu Kariya and illustrated by Akira Hanasaki (VIZ Media)
  • Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka, Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki (VIZ Media)
  • Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)

    • On the one hand, this is a generally excellent slate, and I’m thrilled to see Oishinbo included. I think I’m the only person in the world who didn’t like The Color Trilogy, so I’ll keep my opinions to myself on that front. And I don’t think it’s wrong to suggest that there might have been room here for some of the excellent works created by women, like Junko Mizuno’s Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu, Kaoru Mori’s Emma, or Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ôoku: The Inner Chambers, as they really were as good as just about any other comic published last year.

    Best Writer/Artist

  • Naoki Urasawa, Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka (VIZ Media)

    • Is there some kind of record for most nominations for a single creator?

    Best Lettering

  • Adrian Tomine, A Drifting Life (Drawn & Quarterly)

    • Best Comics-Related Book

  • The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, Helen McCarthy (Abrams ComicArts)
  • Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater, Eric P. Nash (Abrams ComicArts)

    • It wouldn’t be an Eisner slate if Tezuka wasn’t in there somewhere. As it should be.

    Here’s a link to my post of suggestions for the Eisner nominating committee, just in case anyone feels like looking back.

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    But not least

    March 26, 2010 by

    You know, it would be just plain rude if I didn’t take a look at the last two nominees for the Manga Taisho Awards. I’ve covered the other yet-to-be-licensed contenders in two previous posts, and I’m sure plenty of people will be talking about Bakuman, seeing as it’s by the creators of Death Note and has been picked up by Viz. But I keep thinking back on that scene in Brideshead Revisited when Charles and his ex-boyfriend’s married sister have hooked up on a cruise ship and she wistfully notes that they’re “orphans of the storm,” or some other quasi-romantic rationalization that adulterers indulge in during the afterglow, and I thought, “No… I will leave no Manga Taisho nominee behind.”

    So, what’s left?

    Well, there’s Chûya Koyama’s Uchû Kyôdai, which can be translated as “Space Brothers,” currently serialized by Kodansha in Morning. It’s about a pair of brothers who decide to become astronauts. As near as I can figure, one succeeds, and the other tries to shake off his mundane, earthbound life to join his sibling. I’m getting a (forgive me) down-to-earth comedy vibe off of it, though I could be wrong. It’s up to nine volumes so far, and it sounds like it would be a great companion read for Kou Yaginuma’s Twin Spica, due in May from Vertical. Space travel is just a dream for the young, is it? You can see some sample pages here.

    And lastly, we have Kengo Hanazawa’s I Am Hero, currently serialized by Shogakukan in Big Comic Spirits. There are times when Babel Fish is incredibly unhelpful, but I’m thinking what we have here is psychological horror about a 35-year-old cartoonist’s assistant, maybe like Taxi Driver but with a manga-ka? Here are some preview pages from the first volume. Since it’s from Shogakukan, it could either slide into Viz’s Signature line, or it could go to Fantagraphics, who might see the appeal in a heavily armed, emotionally unstable comic creator.

    Now, with the last of those Taisho titles out of the way, things can get back to normal. I’m thinking of looking into some yaoi about normal guys with jobs that’s still pleasantly smutty. Any suggestions?

    Filed under: Awards and lists, License requests 6 Comments

    By and about

    March 24, 2010 by

    I contributed to a list at Flashlight Worthy Books that observes Women’s History Month by recommending some “Graphic Novels: About Women. By Women.” I think it’s a great selection, but Fumi Yoshinaga shows up twice, so that was pretty much a given. What are some of your favorite titles that didn’t make the cut?

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    And the losers are…

    March 19, 2010 by

    I’ve already fished through this year’s nominees for the Manga Taisho Award, and, like any sensible person, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the winner will be licensed by some generous publisher. But looking at the results, I found my sympathies extending to the losers. Surely it’s an honor just to be nominated, and there’s no shame in losing an award like this, but to have your exact ranking revealed? That’s… kind of harsh. So I thought I’d see what I could dig up about the bottom rung of Taisho candidates.

    Kazuhiko Shimamoto’s Aoi Honoo launched in Shogakukan’s defunct Weekly Young Sunday, then moved to Monthly Shonen Sunday. It’s about a young man who dreams of becoming a manga-ka. I have to admit that portraits of the feckless youth of struggling artists are not always for me, unless those portraits are contained in Chica Umino’s Honey and Clover (Viz). Still, there must have been a good reason to nominate it, right?

    Eriko Mishima’s Koukou Kyuji Zawa-san is being serialized in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits and is about a girl who loves baseball, though I get the impression that it’s more for guys who like looking at girls who love baseball. Can anyone clarify this impression for me? (Speaking of manga about baseball, there was a flurry of excitement about this news from Viz.)

    Mitsurou Kubo’s Moteki is being serialized in Kodansha’s Evening. It’s about a 28-year-old who, after a lifetime of indifference from the opposite sex, suddenly becomes popular and determines to date all comers. I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened to late-twenty-somethings of my acquaintance.

    Akiko Higashimura’s Kuragehime is being serialized in Kodansha’s Kiss. It’s about a woman who moves to Tokyo to become a manga-ka and moves into a house full of hardcore fujoshi. It’s being adapted into an animated series.

    Okay, so I’m not left in a fever of anticipation for any of the above to be licensed, and my initial wish list is still intact. But just because I’m always interested in this kind of thing, I thought I’d run a poll to see which Manga Taisho nominees interest you the most. (Yes, I know that Viz has Bakuman.)

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