The Manga Curmudgeon

Spending too much on comics, then talking too much about them

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Rough seas, dead trees

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cotsbackcover

You know what’s great about print versions of comics that are available for free online? Back covers featuring grizzled old men covered with tattoos — that’s what’s great about them. Now, I will freely admit, when I saw Kate Dacey’s beautiful review of Daisuke Igarashi’s Children of the Sea, I almost switched topics for this week’s Flipped, because seriously, what else needed to be said that The Manga Critic hadn’t already covered much more artfully than I could? But I’d painted myself into a corner, and I really wanted to write about the book because it’s lovely in some very unusual ways, so you’ve all been spared my treatise on 10 sizzling shônen bromances… FOR NOW.

When nerd worlds collide

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I love the “Five for Friday” feature over at The Comics Reporter, but I very rarely remember to respond when the question goes out. This is because I’ve usually shut down the computer and curled up with Mr. Hendrick by the time the call goes out. I even forget when I’ve suggested the week’s topic in a previous Five for Friday; in this case, I suggested Tom ask contributors to “Name Five Comic Properties That Should Be Adapted Into Broadway Musicals.” So here are my choices:

Fumi Yoshinaga's "Antique Bakery" Vol. 2Antique Bakery, by Fumi Yoshinaga (DMP): I think just about anything by Yoshinaga would translate well into a musical, because her characters could just as easily burst into song as they burst into monologue. I do think Antique Bakery would be a great starting point, as it’s got four solid male leads and a whole bunch of Tony-bait supporting roles in the mix. The leads also lend themselves to different musical styles for solo pieces, and their number holds promise for bizarre barbershop sequences. I admit that food-based stage productions are hell for the props crew, but there are ways around that.

pollyPolly and the Pirates, by Ted Naifeh (Oni): Given the quantity of apparently horrible family-friendly stage musicals Disney has unleashed on Broadway in recent years, it’s probably cruel to suggest an adaptation of this delightful but underappreciated mini-series. Still, it’s got a lot of things going for it: a spunky ingénue part in the title character, a big chorus of rowdy pirates, an exciting plot, and some fun staging and design opportunities.

10203010, 20, 30, by Morim Kang (Netcomics): Swinging in the other direction in terms of production scale, this look at the lives of three different women muddling through three different decades of life (teens, twenties, and thirties) would make a nifty chamber piece that would be very portable to university and community theatres. All you really need are interesting characters with distinct voices, I think, and this book has them.

palomarPalomar, by Gilbert Hernandez (Fantagraphics): Hernandez’s Palomar stories have an embarrassment of riches for composers, lyricists, librettists, and directors. A cast bursting with great characters, a community that could easily function as a formidable chorus, a lovely setting with just enough of a magical-realism quality to justify the bursting-into-song aspect, and a magnificent “Big Lady” lead role in Luba all suggest a musical that would write itself.

dragonheadDragon Head, by Minetaro Mochizuki (Tokyopop): Okay, this is probably me just being perverse, undoubtedly influenced by that PBS special on the Lord of the Rings musical that aired on PBS. In my defense, history has shown us that Broadway will adapt anything – ANYTHING – into a singing-and-dancing extravaganza, so I see no reason for them to shy away from this post-apocalyptic treasure. And someone’s probably still got that helicopter from Miss Saigon lying around, so there’s a cost savings right off the top. It could be Carrie: The Musical or it could be Sweeney Todd, and I think it’s worth it either way.

License Request Day: Paros no Ken

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parosnokenEarlier this week, Erica Friedman of ALC Publishing and Ozaku wrote a nice piece on the joys of talking manga on Twitter. I completely agree with her, and here’s an example: last night, as I was pondering this week’s license request, I knew I was in the mood for old-school shôjo, but which one? Fewer than 140 characters later, a wish-list ensued. There were plenty of perennial would-be favorites (like Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight and Riyoko Ikeda’s The Rose of Versailles), and lots that I’d never even heard of and now want, but one really caught my attention.

Wikipedia describes Paros no Ken (or The Sword of Paros) as a “yuri historical fantasy manga,” which is probably reason enough to want it in English. It was written by Kaoru Kurimoto, author of the Guin Saga novels (published in English by Vertical, along with one of its manga adaptations), and illustrated by Yumiko Igarashi, creator of the award-winning, lawsuit-triggering Candy Candy.

parosnoken2The plot involves royalty, destiny, warfare, feminism, upstairs-downstairs lesbian romance, and lots of other nifty-sounding stuff in a relatively short three volumes, originally serialized in Kadakowa Shoten’s Monthly Asuka. In a shocking turn of events, it does not seem to be available in French, so if someone hurries, we might be able to beat them to the punch. The series seems to be out of print, but here are entries for the three volumes on Amazon Japan.

I’d try to go into more depth on Paros no Ken, but I can’t let all of those heartfelt tweets go to waste, so here’s a list of all of the titles people suggested with whatever links I could find:

  • Aim for the Ace! by Sumika Yamamoto
  • Akogare by Chieko Hosokawa
  • Bara no Tameni by Akemi Yoshimura
  • Bride of Deimos by Etsuko Ikeda and Yuho Ashibe, published by ComicsOne but out of print
  • Claudine…! by Riyoko Ikeda
  • Crazy for You by Karuho (Kimi no Todoke) Shiina
  • Fire! by Hideko Mizuno
  • Hime-chan no Ribon by Megumi Mizusawa
  • Oniisama E by Riyoko Ikeda
  • Ouke no Monshou by Chieko Hosokawa
  • Shiroi Heya no Futari by Ryoko Yamagishi
  • The Calling by Reiko Okano
  • The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio
  • The Song of Wind and Trees by Keiko Takemiya

    • Running out of ammo

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    The Motley Fool takes a look at the seemingly always-imperiled Borders Group and notes that graphic novels and young-adult literature are key to its survival gambit:

    “Although comic books are probably considered a more male-oriented form of entertainment in the U.S., one Japanese publisher says women comprise 70% of the cellphone manga readers. (English-language manga has also become popular among women and girls in the U.S.)”

    How is that last bit parenthetical? Seems like they’re burying their lead to me.

    Pinoko says…

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    Um… sure you are, Pinoko, but remember what we talked about? How you were going to mention Kate Dacey’s Black Jack Contest over at The Manga Critic? It ends at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5, and it’s open to United States residents 18 years of age or older.

    pinoko2

    Well, then you could enter to win the first six volumes of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack from Vertical. It’s about a gifted but unlicensed doctor treating all kinds of maladies for ridiculous fees, and you’re in it, too!

    pinoko3

    Lots of people do. According to this week’s ComicList, the sixth volume arrives in comic shops today.

    Other promising arrivals include the eighth volume of Girl Genius: Agatha Heterodyne And The Chapel Of Bones (Airship Entertainment) by Phil and Kaja Foglio and Cheyenne Wright and the 16th volume of Nodame Cantabile (Del Rey) by Tomoko Ninomiya.

    On the less promising front, at least by my taste, is the first volume of Kanoko Sakurakoji’s Black Bird (Viz), which seems to be anticipated with some eagerness. I agree entirely with Kate Dacey’s review. Those covers with the blood-flecked girl being manhandled by some dude are entirely accurate.

    Portents

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    Comic-Con International 2009 is over, and many people have provided engaging coverage of the event’s panels, products, and people. To find the best round-up of manga-related links, you need only visit Brigid Alverson’s MangaBlog (as always). You might want to start here and here. The number of license announcements seems lean to me, but there are some eye-catchers.

    51waysOf greatest interest to me is Usumaru Furuya’s 51 Ways to Save Her, which was snatched up by CMX. Furuya’s Palepoli strips from Viz’s out-of-print Secret Comics Japan still amaze me, so I’m thrilled to see more of his work headed for English release. 51 Ways was originally published by Shinchosa. It’s a disaster drama, but I suspect that anything by Furuya will defy simple categorization.

    The other highlight from CMX’s roll-out is Sato Fujisawa’s Nyankoi!, a Flex Comix property. I know next to nothing about it except for the fact that it’s got an awesome premise for a cat-lover: a guy who’s allergic to felines falls in love with a girl who dotes on them and must do 100 good deeds for cats or face the wrath of the local cat-god.

    bakumanOn the Viz front, there are two new Shonen Jump titles, one by the creative team behind Death Note. Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata reunited for Bakuman, about two students who dream of becoming successful manga-ka. Here’s the Wikipedia entry, and here’s Shueisha’s entry for the book.

    Providing nightmares for vegans and animal rights activists is one possible side effect of Toriko by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, about a guy who hunts down rare beasts for finicky chefs. Okay, so I won’t be finding any useful recipes from this one, but cooking manga is cooking manga. Here’s the Wikipedia entry, and here’s Shueisha’s page.

    artoftezukaI’m not sure if this was announced first at the convention or if I just missed it when mentioned elsewhere, but I’m also looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Helen McCarthy’s The Art of Osamu Tezuka from Abrams ComicArts. By the way, I take total credit for Tezuka’s Eisner win, as I spent weeks passive-aggressively suggesting people vote for Tezuka’s Dororo.

    What happens in Vegas…

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    … has nothing to do with what’s about to happen in San Diego at the 2009 Comic-Con International, except for the fact that I might actually go if it were happening in Vegas. I love comics, I really do, and there are some great-sounding panels and activities (which I cherry pick in this week’s Flipped), but I can’t see taking a plane and everything that entails just for a comics convention. I’m going to SPX this year, but that’s an easy and pleasant drive for me to one of my favorite metropolitan areas. If CCI moved to Vegas, I could combine it with a bunch of other destinations that I really love, like Zion National Park in southern Utah and… well… Vegas. (And yes, I know that exhibitors are concerned that their potential convention customers would be waylaid by shiny, jingly slot machines and the like and not spend anything on comics. That’s a perfectly reasonable concern, but as usual, I’m coming at this from an entirely selfish perspective.)

    Update: Speaking of cons, there’s a terrific roundtable on girls and fandom up at Robot 6.

    Elsewhere at The Comics Reporter, Tom points to this article about someone snatching up domain names of people, including an emerging queer performer, to post virulently anti-gay evangelical comics. (I know they aren’t just anti-gay, but that’s what initially got my hackles up.) Nothing communicates a heartfelt desire to share one’s faith like ambushing people expecting something completely different while robbing an artist of a potential venue to promote his or her work.

    Upcoming 7/15/2009

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    It’s a slim one, but let’s take a quick look at this week’s ComicList:

    swallowingThe week’s standout (at least in terms of items actually confirmed to be shipping through Diamond) is Osamu Tezuka’s Swallowing the Earth (DMP). Early reviews have been mixed on some points, most notably a rather un-evolved portrayal of women, but we all know that any newly translated Tezuka is worth reading. And when it’s crazy early gekiga from Tezuka, it’s even worthier. Here’s part of the plot summary: “What brought this woman to conspire for decades against patriarchal society – against an entire gender – and can anything be done to stop her plans?”

    littlemouseI don’t see it on the ComicList, but the weekly arrivals e-mail from the local shop indicates the arrival of Jeff Smith’s Little Mouse Gets Ready (Toon Books). As with Tezuka, anything from Smith is worth reading, and this book looks adorable: “There’s lots to do before Little Mouse is ready to go visit the barn. Will he master all the intricacies of getting dressed, from snaps and buttons to Velcro and tail holes?” Yes, it’s a book for children, but that’s never stopped me before, and it certainly isn’t going to stop me now.

    If you find yourself with extra cash in the comics budget and a surfeit of new arrivals to meet your needs, you might head on over to Twitter and check out the weekly #mangamonday tweets. The recommendations range from hot-off-the-press items to vintage oddities.

    And while it isn’t a new release yet, I’m thrilled to read Deb Aoki’s news that Last Gasp will be publishing a hardcover version of Fumiyo Kouno’s exquisite, extraordinarily moving Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms. I already own the softcover, but I’ll definitely go for the hardcover as well, then donate the paperback to the library.

    Rough guide

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    You know those travel shows that visit places you’d never go yourself because they seem unhealthy or dangerous? But you watch the shows all the same because the host is charming and you want to reaffirm your decision to avoid these places?

    At ComiXology, Shaenon K. Garrity provides a valuable service by visiting high-profile comic-book message boards and reporting her findings. I can’t pick a money quote, because there are too many.

    (Found via @LostPhrack, Ken Haley of Manga Recon.)