The Manga Curmudgeon

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

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Harmonic convergence

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For a while now, people have been driecting a sometimes critical eye at the treatment of women characters in Marvel and DC comics, wondering if there might not be some unfortunate trends in evidence. (Latest example: half of one of a few happy super-hero couples was found dead in her kitchen, the venue of choice for such discoveries, by her husband, who’s really, really sad.)

Then, people were discussing the state of comics journalism and whether its practitioners might aim a little higher.

Then, prominent comics bloggers started to notice one of those cyclical mini-waves of people dropping Marvel and DC monthlies.

Now, Newsarama has posted an interview with Brian Bendis with the apparent purpose of congratulating him on avoiding that silly, knee-jerk feminist backlash that so often results from sequences like that found in New Avengers #35. After accepting the kudos of Matt Brady and bemoaning our excessively sensitive times, Bendis assures readers that he went out of his way to avoid the interpretation that…

“…something rapey was happening.”

Well, I’m convinced.

The Monday randomizer

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I didn’t get around to putting together a Flipped column for this week. I read lots of horror manga, but I ended up being too paralyzed with fear to write about any of it! (Okay, the truth is I had a day-job event and a delightful houseguest. Sue me.)

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I also made oatmeal cookies, and after considerable scientific research and extensive comparison, I’ve decided that they just taste better with dried cranberries in them. Sorry, raisins, you dried fruit of the average palate. (I’ve never made them with dried blueberries or, dare I suggest it, dried cherries, so Craisins could be bumped off of the throne any week now.)

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Not long ago, I was pondering ‘tween-friendly musicals like Legally Blonde, and MTV was kind enough to broadcast a taped performance of the show. It was pretty awful, so of course I watched all of it. Aside from “Gay or European,” the songs were incredibly uninspired, and the performances were really competent but not quirky in the ways they needed to be to really sell the resolutely so-so material. The audience for the performance ate it up, though, cheering on cue like the center of the basketball team just walked on stage.

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I knew I wasn’t the only person who found the “Poor, Poor Tigra” stuff creepy, but there’s something incredibly reassuring about seeing that it also bothered Graeme McMillan. Not that I want him to be bothered, obviously, but you know what I mean.

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“This is the worst column ever by the way Chris. I’m going to build an underground railroad just to get you out of this column. To help you escape.”

— From Part 2 of Chris Mautner’s interview with Tom Spurgeon over at Blog@Newsarama.

It’s not true at all, obviously. If you want to see Spurgeon in action as a critic, he thoughtfully provides more comics reviews in a single weekend post than I seem to manage to write in a year. Not that I’m feeling inadequate or anything.

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Still on the subject of reviews I enjoyed reading, check out Katherine Dacey-Tsuei’s look at With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child over at Manga Recon.

From the stack: Manga: The Complete Guide

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As Chris Butcher noted, there’s a whole lot of manga shipping every week. (Okay, so The Beguiling isn’t exactly representative of the average comic shop or even chain bookstore. It used to be the only place in North America where you could order books from Fanfare/Ponent Mon online.) Still, it’s a crowded field, and it never hurts to have a reference.

So what a handy coincidence that today marks the arrival of the eagerly anticipated, slightly delayed, wonderfully useful and readable Manga: The Complete Guide by Jason Thompson (Del Rey). Thompson and some colleagues have assembled a staggering number of reviews of basically every Japanese comic available in English at the time of publication. They’re well-written, succinct, and provide a clear sense of what the title has to offer (or what it fails to deliver).

Beyond that, there are informative pieces on different categories and genres, discussion of the history of manga, and profiles of some of its greatest creators. If Paul Gravett’s Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics is the ultimate introduction to the category (and I think it is), The Complete Guide is the ultimate user’s manual. It’s something that every library could use (and stock on its reference shelf), and it would be a great resource for retailers who want to start stocking more manga but may not know where to start.

It’s also terrific for fans. Aside from making me feel shockingly behind in my reading, it’s provided a potentially financially devastating number of additions to my “to read” list, which wasn’t exactly anemic to begin with. And it’s just plain fun to read. (The only thing I might have added is an appendix that listed books by rating, so that all of the four-star books were name-checked in one place.)

I’ve collected links to interviews, reviews and previews of the book after the jump. If I missed yours, just let me know in comments or via e-mail, and I’ll be happy to add it.

Interviews with Jason Thompson:

  • Flipped
  • PWCW
  • Comics in the Classroom
  • The Comics Journal
  • MangaCast
  • Patrick Macias

    • Reviews of the book:

  • Ferdinand at Prospero’s Manga
  • John T. at Mecha Mecha Media
  • Readilbert at MangaCast
  • Matt Blind at Comicsnob
  • Katherine Dacey-Tsuei at Manga Recon
  • Carlo Santos at Anime News Network
  • Steve Raiteri at The Library Journal
  • Kevin Melrose at Blog@Newsarama
  • Erin F. at Manga Recon
  • Julie at Manga Maniac Cafe

    • Other links:

  • Jason Thompson on “Best Worst Manga” (Part One)
  • Thompson on “Best Worst Manga” (Part Two)
  • Thompson on “Top Ten Manga for Newbies”
  • Otaku USA, Thompson’s regular gig
  • Thompson explains the super-hero/shônen connection at Blog@Newsarama

    • Monday linkblogging

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    Chris Butcher takes a much more thorough look at Perry Moore’s Hero than I did, and I’m relieved that he shares my concerns about the book:

    “On the other hand, even though the kid completes the hero’s journey in the end and the novel aims to be a positive statement about coming of age as a homosexual in American society, I’d kind of be afraid to give this to an at-risk gay teenager because it’s so incredibly bleak, right through the ending of the book during which the superhero establishment still can’t… or won’t… cut the kid a break specifically because he’s gay. Sure, I’m a fan of happy endings, but I’m also a fan of balance, and I found the tone really unbalanced in an off-putting way.”

    Beyond that, I absolutely agree with Butcher’s glowing assessment of the action sequences, which burst with inventiveness and clarity. (The latter can be a real problem in super-heroic prose.) Passages where the protagonist’s D-list squad kick ass are really delightful reading, especially for someone who always though the Legion of Substitute Heroes got a raw deal.

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    Beyond being thought-provoking reading in general, I love Tom Spurgeon’s piece on webcomics for introducing the concept of the “Suck It, Grampa letter” to my consciousness.

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    Picking a favorite from John Jakala’s week of dream crossovers is almost impossible, but if I could pick only one to become a reality, I think we all know which one it would be.

    Update: Now you can go vote!

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    Jeff (Bone) Smith kind of looks like he’s posing for print ads for a cologne targeted at the gay, blue-collar demographic. Also, I hope he had some serious SPF protection at work, because that desert sun is ruthless. Also, dude is RIPPED. Who knew?

    See no evil, speak no evil

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    A common thread in many of the discussions about that Eightball business in Connecticut was the level of maturity of the works on the school’s approved reading list. It comes up again in this column from The Hartford Courant:

    “But how ironic that in educated and affluent Guilford – where the summer reading list for high school includes Charles Bukowski, Augusten Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg – it’s a graphic novel that’s causing a stir.”

    The common conclusion is that it’s okay to cover mature themes in prose – just don’t illustrate them, and Courant columnist Rick Green agrees:

    “The problem with ‘Eightball #22’ is that it violates the first rule of dirty: The book doesn’t just talk about breasts and sex. It has images, if only a few. In high schools and Superbowl halftime shows, we find that shocking.”

    Apparently, the second rule of dirty is “Don’t read it aloud.” This piece in The New York Times talks about the anniversary of a ruling in favor of Ginsberg’s Howl and a radio station’s decision not to air a reading of the poem designed to test the zealousness of the Federal Communications Commission:

    “Janet Coleman, WBAI’s arts director, said that when the idea of airing the poem to test the law was proposed, ‘I said, “Yes, let’s try it.”’ The radio station has a history of championing the First Amendment, having broadcast the comedian George Carlin’s ‘seven dirty words’ routine that resulted in a 1978 Supreme Court ruling on indecency. But after several harsh F.C.C. rulings in 2004 — against CBS for a glimpse of Janet Jackson’s breast during the Super Bowl halftime show and against Fox for curse words used during the Billboard Music Awards — ‘our lawyer felt it was too risky,’ Ms. Coleman said. The commission can impose ‘draconian fines,’ she said, that could put WBAI out of business.”

    Tyranny of the tween

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    If you’ve ever bemoaned the apparent demographic homogeneity of the manga selection at your local bookstore, you might find sympathy from an unexpected source: Broadway. This New York Times article looks at the Great White Way’s new target market of choice, the tween.

    “Increasingly, though, some worry that the sugar-and-spice enthusiasm may be misplaced, because while teenagers and tweens may be helpful in creating a hit, they are far from enough to ensure one. For that, you still need grown-ups — lots of paying grown-ups — to want to come to a show.

    “Indeed, the producers of these new shows, as well as those of the $10 million ‘Legally Blonde,’ say they are hoping for a general audience, teenagers and tweens included. ‘Repeat business among that group is a big deal and does help you,’ said Bob Boyett, a producer of ‘13.’ ‘But you have to go for a broad audience.’”

    It’s not a perfect comparison, I know, given the vast differences in method of distribution (thousands of chain stores across the nation versus a couple of blocks in Manhattan). But I did find some of the points in common kind of interesting.

    Oh, and I’m sure somebody’s already got one in development, but why is it taking so long for somebody to mount a musical version of Bring It On?

    Obscure comics month?

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    In his latest “Everyone’s a Critic” column for Blog@Newsarama, Chris Mautner throws down an interesting gauntlet:

    “Still, it seems as though many comics critics/bloggers (croggers?) are stuck in the now, and not providing enough of a critical reasessment of past artists and books. I’d like to see more of the latter. I want someone to make me jump out of my chair, into my car and go pouring through the back bins of my local shop. I want an excuse to go vainly searching through Alibris.

    “With that in mind, I have a proposal. Sometime within the month of October, I want you, assuming you blog about comics regularly, or hell, even if you don’t, to write about a long-lost comic book, series, graphic novel, artist, writer or whatever that you feel is criminally underrated or ignored (preferably the latter). The more obscure the better. Genre doesn’t matter, nor does if the book comes from your collection or not, though I would like to see folks pick something a little out of their comfort zones for this.”

    Sounds like fun. I’d even be willing to host pieces from the blogless if there’s an obscure/underappreciated comic they’d like to tout.

    Will you walk away from a fool and his or her money?

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    John Jakala is pondering the possibilities of downloadable super-hero comics, making persuasive arguments for the delivery system. As I said over at John’s, I do think removing the necessity of a trip to a specialty shop might increase interest from casual consumers who are downloading music and games and movies anyways. It’s not much of a stretch to picture someone who’s curious about Spider-Man or Wonder Woman but wouldn’t set foot in a comic shop paying a little for a download just to see what’s up.

    But I can understand there being reluctance to adopt that technology on a number of fronts. Comic shops have helped keep Marvel and DC alive, at least in terms of moving monthly product, so anything that shifts brick-and-mortar retailers out of the equation would have to be approached with extreme caution. (I still think the bulk of regular visitors to a comic shop who are looking for super-hero comics would keep coming. I’ve never seen much indication that those kinds of collectors or hobbyists are looking for a new way to get their fix. I could be very, very wrong, obviously.)

    I also wonder if there isn’t some way for publishers to cut supportive retailers in on the action, if they do add downloads to their delivery systems. Let’s say it works like an on-line game provider, where you can deposit a certain amount into an account to be used at your leisure. Would it be possible to allow comics retailers to vend those credits? When you go to pick up whatever Wednesday offers, you can buy $10 in “Marvel Money” or $20 in “DC Dollars” to add to your online coffers? Gift certificates or cards or whatever, with a code that people can type in whenever they log on to whatever platform the publishers use?

    I can’t see Marvel and DC teaming up for something like this, so platforms would probably be inconsistent and users would probably need separate accounts. I’m still wondering if the DC-Flex deal isn’t leading to some kind of electronic delivery system for the rest of DC’s product. (The first CMX/Flex co-publishing title just showed up in the latest Previews, by the way.)

    It does seem to me that there are ways to implement this without cutting traditional retail outlets entirely out of the equation, which would strike me as extremely disloyal. And I know that loyalty can’t always be a factor in business decisions, but it seems like it should be in a relationship as weirdly symbiotic as the one between super-hero publishers and local comic shops.

    The blood-soaked trousseau

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    I was checking out that “Wedding Special” thing via Occasional Superheroine, and the ending definitely sounds icky and dumb and sensationalistic, but I will admit that some atrophied fanboy reflex kicked in when I saw that last panel.

    I just don’t believe for a moment that Ollie would wear boxers. He must be a clone.