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I nag because I love

January 23, 2007 by

It’s a breezy trip through this week’s ComicList, with only two entries really catching my eye, but what entries they are.

David Petersen’s surprise hit Mouse Guard (Archaia) concludes with its sixth issue. It’s been a lot of fun watching this beautifully drawn adventure story earn critical praise and go into multiple printings, because it absolutely deserves both. And I notice on the Archaia page that a hardcover collection is in the works, which should be gorgeous and make librarians very, very happy.

Hiroki Endo has been wowing me with the complex science fiction of Eden: It’s an Endless World! (Dark Horse), so I’m really looking forward to his collection of shorter pieces, Tanpenshu. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this book from people like Christopher Butcher, so even if I wasn’t already Endo-inclined, I would be giving it a serious look.

Speaking of the Torontonian retailer, Chris does a much better job than I did of highlighting the licensed Japanese goodness on display in this year’s Angoulême short list, including this comment about Daisuke Igarashi’s Sorcières, which I can only second:

“Absolutely beautiful, and I could totally see Dark Horse picking this up and fitting it seamlessly into their current slate of releases. YOU HEAR ME, CARL?”

Dark Horse has been doing a great job of delivering manga that I really, really like (Eden, The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Mail). Maybe I should start nagging them about launching a josei line.

(Edited due to a spelling flame-out.)

Filed under: Archaia, ComicList, Dark Horse, Linkblogging 5 Comments

Wednesday again

January 16, 2007 by

It’s a short trip through this week’s ComicList, though there are some choice items on offer.

Fantagraphics delivers the fourth issue of the second volume of Linda Medley’s Castle Waiting. The stories are delightful and the characters engaging, though I find myself starting to wonder if the reading experience wouldn’t be more satisfying in a big, collected chunk than in individual floppies.

Netcomics offers the fourth volume of Marley’s Dokebi Bride, one of my favorite series. (Marley will be attending this year’s New York Comic-Con, along with Doha of The Great Casby fame.)

With all of the understandable excitement over To Terra…, it might be easy to forget that Vertical is still releasing beautifully produced paperback versions of Buddha. The fifth volume arrives in comic shops tomorrow.

Shaman Warrior, the other title in Dark Horse’s manhwa line, makes a belated arrival to keep Banya company.

And Tokyopop’s only offering for the week is a re-issue of the second volume of Fruits Basket, which must mean the series is still drawing new readers in addition to the legion who are already enjoying it.

Filed under: ComicList, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, Netcomics, Tokyopop, Vertical 3 Comments

The wayback machine

January 10, 2007 by

A discussion over at MangaBlog about racial stereotypes in a recent volume of Eyeshield 21 (originally highlighted at Digital Femme) reminded me of how another publisher handled similar material. Here’s an introductory piece in the second volume of Dark Horse’s printing of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, published in 2002:

“Many non-Japanese, including people from Africa and Southeast Asia, appear in Osamu Tezuka’s works. Sometimes these people are depicted very differently from the way they actually are today, in a manner that exaggerates a time long past, or shows them to be from extremely undeveloped lands. Some feel that such images contribute to racial discrimination, especially against people of African descent. This was never Osamu Tezuka’s intent, but we believe that as long as there are people who feel insulted or demeaned by these depictions, we must not ignore their feelings.

“We are against discrimination, in all its forms, and intend to continue to work for its elimination. Nonetheless, we do not believe it would be proper to revise these works. Tezuka is no longer with us, and we cannot erase what he has done, and to alter his work would only violate his rights as a creator. More importantly, stopping publication or changing the content of his work would do little to solve the problems of discrimination that exist in the world.

“We are presenting Osamu Tezuka’s work as it was originally created, without any changes. We do this because we believe it is also important to promote the underlying themes in his work, such as love for mankind and the sanctity of life. We hope that when you, the reader, encounter this work, you will keep in mind the differences in attitudes, then and now, toward discrimination, and that this will contribute to an even greater awareness of such problems.

“—Tezuka Productions and Dark Horse Comics”

The cases are obviously very different. Tezuka is an undisputed manga master, and republication of his work for wider audiences has archival significance. Also, Astro Boy was originally published in the 1950s, where as Eyeshield 21 launched in 2002, like the Dark Horse reprint quoted above.

But I do admire Dark Horse’s straightforward approach to questionable material. It seems like a frank and sensible way to respect both the creator’s rights and the sensitivities of the audience.

Filed under: Dark Horse, Viz 7 Comments

Seinen sign-in

January 9, 2007 by

This week’s Flipped is up with reviews of Housui Yamazaki’s Mail (Dark Horse) and Kashimashi ~ Girl Meets Girl (Seven Seas).

While looking stuff up for the column, I was interested to see the titles that have been serialized in seinen anthology Dengeki Daioh, mostly because many of them don’t fit with my conventional (and probably too narrow) definition of seinen.

I mean… Yotsuba&! is seinen? Who knew?

Filed under: Dark Horse, Flipped, Seven Seas 5 Comments

I need to come up with a tag for these Wednesday posts

December 19, 2006 by

Major booksellers seem to be on a mission to clog my e-mail in-box with in-store and on-line offers. I think I’ve made pretty good use of some of them, though I managed to resist the one-day discount thing Barnes and Noble sent yesterday, since it was only usable yesterday and, well, I had things to do that didn’t involve extra left turns.

And I do have to save some of my retail expenditures for the local comics shop, because I’ll feel like a soulless Big Box pawn if I don’t. So let’s look at the week’s ComicList, shall we?

If the season’s huggy, over-stuffed sentiment is getting to you and you want something a little faster and leaner, Dark Horse offers a tonic in the form of the second volume of Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man. While the title character hasn’t actually exploded yet, he’s done just about everything short of it in terms of action-adventure behavior. It’s a lot of fun, and Kim Young-Oh’s art is gorgeous.

One of these days, I’m going to have to delve further into Clamp’s xxxHOLiC (Del Rey). I read the first two volumes long ago, was baffled and put off by the irrelevant crossovers with other Clamp series, then read the third and became intrigued. So perhaps I’m not quite ready for the eighth volume, but I will be someday.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about So-Hee Park’s Goong (Ice Kunion). In spite of a massive recent overhaul of its web site, the publisher still doesn’t seem to have any previews available for the series, but it’s a what-if story about what Korea might be like if the monarchy was still in place. It was popular enough in Korea to be adapted into a television drama, which I believe is still an unusual development. Wikipedia has a spoiler-y summary of the manhwa.

Oni launches Maintenance, a sci-fi workplace comedy from Jim Massey and Robbi Rodriguez. I read a preview a while back and really enjoyed it.

Viz provides new volumes of Monster and Train Man: Denha Otoko. Monster is always reliably entertaining, and this volume seems to promise more of the Knots Landing antics of saintly Tenma’s hell-on-wheels ex-fiancée, so there’s really no down side. As for Train Man, Hidenori Hana’s adaptation of the story is easily my favorite of the competing versions.

Filed under: ComicList, Dark Horse, Del Rey, IceKunion, Oni, Viz Leave a Comment

BAMmage

December 17, 2006 by

The local Books-A-Million is having a buy-two-get-one-free sale on Dark Horse and DC trades, including the Absolute editions from DC. I’m guessing it’s chain-wide (there were official-looking stickers and everything), so you could save a nice chunk of change if you had some of those books on your shopping list.

Filed under: Bookstores, Dark Horse, DC 1 Comment

Conspicuous consumption

December 12, 2006 by

The past few weeks have obviously lulled me into a false sense of security, because a look at the ComicList for Wednesday… well… it’s like Manga DEF CON 5. Pawn some heirlooms, clear space on your shelves, do what you have to do.

For simplicity’s sake, I’ll just go with a list of what I would like to buy, were money no object:

  • Anne Freaks Vol. 4, ADV
  • Mail Vol. 1, Dark Horse (written and drawn by Housui Yamazaki, artist on The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service)
  • Emma Vol. 2, CMX
  • After School Nightmare Vol. 2, Go! Comi (first volume recently reviewed by Brigid here)
  • Train + Train Vol. 1, Go! Comi
  • Fruits Basket Vol. 15, Tokyopop
  • Sgt. Frog Vol. 12, Tokyopop
  • Shout Out Loud Vol. 3, Blu
  • Beauty Pop Vol. 2, Viz – Shojo Beat
  • The Drifting Classroom Vol. 3, Viz – Signature

    • And that doesn’t even count series like Aishiteruze Baby, Bleach and Phoenix where I need to catch up on previous volumes. Other corners of the shipping list seem a bit more forgiving to me, but overall, it looks like employees of manga-friendly comic shops are going to be swamped this week.

    Oh, and until teen girls can be liberated from comics poverty when Minx comes riding over the hill, they’ll just have to settle for stuff like this.

    Filed under: Blu, CMX, ComicList, Dark Horse, Go! Comi, Graphix, Tokyopop, Viz 2 Comments

    February debuts

    December 3, 2006 by

    Here are the manga, manhwa, and global manga debuts from the latest Previews, covering titles shipping in February. Whenever possible, I’ve linked directly to title information. As always, if I’ve missed something, let me know.

    ALC

    Works, by Eriko Tadeno

    CMX

    The Time Guardian, written by Daimuro Kishi and illustrated by Tamao Ichinose
    Go Go Heaven!!, by Keiko Yamada

    Dark Horse

    Appleseed Book 1: The Promethean Challenge, by Shirow Masamune

    Del Rey

    Mamotte Lollipop, by Michiyo Kikuta

    Digital Manga Publishing/Juné

    The Moon and the Sandals, by Fumi Yoshinaga
    Wagamama Kitchen, by Kaori Monchi

    Drmaster

    Chinese Hero, by Wing Shing Ma

    Icarus Publishing

    Taboo District

    Ice Kunion

    You’re So Cool, by Young Hee Lee

    Kitty Press

    Thunderbolt Boys Excite

    NBM

    Unholy Kinship, by Naomi Nowak

    Netcomics

    In the Starlight, by Kyungok Kang

    Tokyopop

    Divalicious, written by T. Campbell and illustrated by Amy Mebberson
    Kedamono Damono, by Haruka Fukushima
    Metamo Kiss, by Sora Omote
    The Twelve Kingdoms, by Fuyumi Ono

    Tokyopop Blu

    Innocent Bird by Hirotaka Kisaragi

    Viz Shojo Beat

    Backstage Prince, by Kanoko Sakurakoji
    Gentlemen’s Alliance, by Arina Tanemura

    Yaoi Press

    Yaoi Volume 1: Anthology of Boy’s Love, by Izanaki, Wilson, and Studio Kosaru
    Desire of the Gods, by Insanity Team

    Filed under: ALC, CMX, Dark Horse, Del Rey, DMP, Drmaster, Icarus, IceKunion, NBM, Netcomics, Previews, Tokyopop, Viz, Yaoi Press Leave a Comment

    October numbers

    November 19, 2006 by

    Direct market sales figures for the month of October are up at Comic Book Resources and The Pulse. As with bookstores, Tokyopop’s Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories leads the manga pack, coming in at number 9 in graphic novels overall.

    It’s a good month for Juné, with three manga titles and a novel making the manga top 10. They all lag behind Tokyopop’s Loveless in the BL stakes; the third volume came in second in manga and 22 in graphic novels. And while Juné’s books ranked higher, Blu’s books were nipping at their heels.

    A total of 28 manga titles made the top 100 GN list. I’m particularly glad to see Dark Horse’s Ohikkoshi (reviewed here by Jog) crack the GN rankings, placing at roughly the same spot Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (reviewed here by Christopher Butcher) did in September.

    On the much-discussed global front, the second volume of Svetlana Chmakova’s Dramacon leads the pack, hitting #25 in manga and #89 in GNs, Kingdom Hearts aside. The second volume of Sokora Refugees just missed the cut, hitting #30 on the manga list.

    For me, the oddest question posed by the list is why did the fourteenth volume of Fruits Basket (Tokyopop) return to the list when it’s been on the shelves for months? It hit 17 in manga and 75 in graphic novels in October, and came in 32nd in GNs in August. I love the series, and I’m used to seeing earlier volumes crop up on these lists from time to time, but the resurgence of this chapter seems odd. Did Tokyopop ship it again?

    Filed under: Blu, Dark Horse, Juné, Sales, Tokyopop Leave a Comment

    Playing catch-up

    November 13, 2006 by

    There won’t be a new Flipped this week, as we had company over the weekend (and I’m generally lazy). I’m still catching up on the slew of interesting links Brigid has found over the last couple of days.

    The one that immediately caught my eye was the announcement of the American Anime Awards, summarized at ICv2 and printed in full at The Beat. I have to say, if I had been inclined to guess what the first New York Comic-Con awards program would look like, I wouldn’t have picked anime. It’s obviously a driver for manga sales, but given how expansive the NYCC seems to want to be, it seems awfully specific.

    I don’t think I really have a problem with it. Anime is a significant subsidiary or companion industry for manga publishers, so it makes sense to me that manga-friendly comics conventions factor it into their programming. And maybe the folks at NYCC didn’t want to compete with existing comics awards programs like the Eisners and the Harveys. But it does strike me as narrow in focus and not entirely in keeping with the general vibe the event projects.

    And launching any kind of awards program is tricky in much the same way as assembling a “best of the year” list. A focus on a specific category might be a more sensible approach than the kind of awards programs that lead to frankly bizarre co-nominees in some categories. As the graphic novel market expands, it might be easier to pick a sector when you’re looking to pass out accolades.

    *

    Also eye-catching was the New York Times piece on Dark Horse Comics (found via Comics Worth Reading). As NYT pieces on graphic novels go, it’s something of a relief. Going just from memory, the paper’s comics coverage often involves the reporter swallowing whole some bit of malarkey from either Marvel or DC on how deep and meaningful their spandex themes are.

    And while this piece is seriously flattering to Dark Horse, it also successfully makes the argument that, regardless of how varied their product is and how varied its origins are, their business plan manages to cohere. And with a mixture of creator-owned comics made specifically for Dark Horse, licensed manga and manhwa, and property adaptations, that coherence strikes me a significant accomplishment.

    It’s not at all unusual for comics companies to convey the impression that their left and right hands barely have a passing acquaintance with one another, much less a full understanding of their respective agendas. Dark Horse seems to have evaded that problem.

    Filed under: Awards and lists, Conventions, Dark Horse, Flipped, Linkblogging, Media Leave a Comment
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