Pie really isn't that easy, you know

Because sometimes you just need to abuse what little power you have and play favorites, this week’s Flipped is devoted to Fumi Yoshinaga’s Antique Bakery.

Har

A panel from "Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga"

After last week’s Flipped, I decided a lightening of tone was in order.

Moving on to deeper issues, am I really the only one who cares that an all-male theater troupe is doing a stage version of Fruits Basket? Seriously?

Update: The estimable John Jakala offers five more funny books. And by that I mean “books that are funny” and not grandpa saying, “In my day, funnybooks cost a nickel, and Dr. Light kept his tights on, consarn it.”

Girls + vampires = WIN

This week’s Flipped is given over to the rather murky state of affairs currently in play in the manga industry. I have to say, it’s much more fun writing about actual comics than writing about the business of comics.

From the "Belated" section

For this week’s Flipped, I finally get around to taking a look at Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s The Push Man and Other Stories (Drawn & Quarterly), which is the most entertaining bummer comic you’re ever likely to read.

People… people who eat people…

A panel from "Parasyte" volume 1

Come on. You know you want to see that panel in context. It’s from Hitoshi Iwaaki’s marvelous Parasyte (Del Rey), which is the subject of this week’s Flipped.

Who, indeed?

A panel from "Oishinbo," published in English by Viz Media

Oh, calm down, you burly, nitpicking SOB. You won’t find the answer to Kaibara’s imperious query in this week’s Flipped, but you will see my thoughts on the first volume of Oishinbo (Viz).

Playing favorites

I always feel kind of Tom Sawyer-ish when the effort I expend on a Flipped column is limited to writing a couple of transitional sentences and begging other people to contribute the rest, but I always enjoy the results. This week, I asked some folks in manga publishing to offer up their favorite titles from 2008.

Looking forward

In an uncharacteristic burst of optimism, I devote this week’s Flipped to the exciting prospects of 2009. Deb Aoki has already weighed in on the topic over at About.Com, which probably renders mine redundant, but hey…

Clippings

Flush with the thrill of trimming the dog’s toenails without removing any actual toe, I directed my excess energy to writing a Flipped column inspired by Tom’s “five memorable comics moments of 2008” query.

More braiiiiiiiiiiins

After the rich visuals and general uplift of Takehiko Inoue’s manga, I decided I needed a change of pace. So this week’s Flipped focuses on Tokyo Zombie (Last Gasp).