You are here: Home / Archives for Tokyopop

Omissions corrected

March 6, 2008 by

Okay, I wasn’t used to the Previews shipping list format, so I missed a couple of items by assuming that “with mature items” meant “with the kind of comics Simon Jones tirelessly champions” instead of just… well… items with mature ratings.

Anyway, two additions to yesterday’s rundown:

One is volume 9 of Nana by Ai Yazawa, the most popular manga-ka in Japan (at least according to a survey at Oricon). I was pleasantly surprised when it showed up at the comic shop. Me: “Wow, it’s thicker than usual and wrapped in plastic!” Adorable shop employee, without missing a beat: “And still only $8.99!” I love her.

My skepticism always kicks in when a wildly enthusiastic press release shows up, but this one from Tokyopop (a leading provider of wild enthusiasm) does succeed in piquing my interest in the work of Hee Jung Park. Her stories sound intriguing, and Blog@Newsarama’s Kevin Melrose had a positive initial reaction to the art in Fever, which came out yesterday. Will Tokyopop be able to build a brand around a creator?

They’ve tried before, most notably with the works of Erica Sakurazawa, which come up in Johanna Draper Carlson’s run-down of “The State of Josei Manga.”

Filed under: Linkblogging, Tokyopop, Viz 1 Comment

Grading on a curve

February 17, 2008 by

Having read the third volume of Yuji Iwahara’s King of Thorn (Tokyopop), I find myself wondering when optimism reaches its expiration date. I’ll be the first to admit that Iwahara’s Chikyu Misaki (CMX) left me with absurdly high expectations for the creator’s work because of his ability to enliven familiar genre elements with terrific characterization and clever plotting. At the halfway point, King of Thorn is still a collection of set pieces.

For those of you just tuning in, the story follows a small group of people afflicted with a deadly virus. They were placed in suspended animation until a cure could be found, but they woke to find themselves abandoned in a dilapidated facility overrun with monsters. They try to survive the perils of their former sanctuary and figure out what happened while they were asleep.

This kind of stuff can work brilliantly. Take Mochizuki Minetaro’s Dragon Head, also from Tokyopop. Minetaro uses roughly the same recipe of survival set pieces and unanswered questions, but the essential difference is characterization. I care what happens to the characters in Dragon Head, as they’re rendered with layers and quirks. Their actions have the capacity to surprise and move me. I don’t feel like I’ve even met the ragtag group from King of Thorn, aside from their familiarity as archetypes.

In the third volume, the Tough and Secretive Loner urges the Meek Girl Who Becomes More Resourceful to trust him. It’s configured to be one of those turning-point moments where readers care whether the heroine chooses between sense and faith, by Iwahara hasn’t earned that level of investment yet. Neither has inner life enough for her choice to matter; the decision is going to seem under-informed either way.

Filed under: CMX, Quick Comic Comments, Tokyopop 1 Comment

Schadenfreude

February 14, 2008 by

Now that I’ve got the sentimentality out of my system, it’s time to address the flip side of the Valentine’s Day equation. Some (and trust me, I’m sometimes among them) find the whole concept kind of nauseating. So if you’d really like to rip Cupid’s bow out of his hands and do some real damage, here are some comics that allow you to bask in the misery and misfortune of others.

Bambi and Her Pink Gun, by Kaneko Atsushi (DMP): Dystopia populated by creepy, violent societal parasites? Check. Unsympathetic protagonist who cuts a giddy swath through their ranks? Double check. DMP dropped this delightfully nasty series after only two volumes, but oh, those two volumes are filled with cheerful misanthropy. I miss Bambi.

Dragon Head, by Minetaro Mochizuki (Tokyopop): You’ve probably said it to yourself: “If I see one more school trip in a manga series, it had better end really badly.” This is the manga for you. In ten volumes of pretty much relentless terror, with occasional side trips to mere creepiness, a handful of survivors try and figure out what the heck happened to Japan while their train was passing through a tunnel.

The Drifting Classroom, by Kazuou Umezi (Viz): If you could harvest the terrified screams of children and use them as an alternative fuel source, you could probably use this book to power the Mid-Atlantic Region for a few months, at least. I know I shouldn’t admit that watching elementary school children meet grisly and varied ends is a real hoot for me, but it is.

MW, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical): Tezuka is generally an optimist, but that doesn’t mean he’s naïve, or that he can’t be downright depraved when the situation calls for it. MW calls for it over and over, and Tezuka doesn’t shrink from any of the lurid possibilities of kidnapping, mass murder, blackmail, illicit sex, and so on.

Uzumaki, by Junji Ito (Viz): “Uzumaki” means “spiral,” as in “downward.” The third volume of Viz’s re-release of this grimly imaginative horror series is probably already available in bookstores, or you can wait until next week when it’s due to show up at the comic shops.

Filed under: DMP, Quick Comic Comments, Tokyopop, Vertical, Viz 9 Comments

Rom com

February 13, 2008 by

One of the things that was confirmed for me when I started reading manga in earnest was that I’m a big sucker for romance in the comic form. I’d always been more inclined to the soap operatic elements of super-hero comics than the adventure end of things, and many manga series allowed me to forego the flying fists entirely. With the imminent arrival of Valentine’s Day, here are some of my favorites:

Antique Bakery, by Fumi Yoshinaga (DMP): Okay, it’s more about coping with the challenges of adulthood in general than romance in particular, but I think Yoshinaga is at her funniest, sharpest, and most generous when she examines the bittersweet qualities of interpersonal relationships. It’s almost all sighs instead of swoons, but a story doesn’t have to offer anything resembling “happily ever after” to be romantic in its own way. All four volumes are available.

Emma, by Kaoru Mori (CMX): On the other hand, this one is all swoons, all the time, and it is glorious. It follows the fraught-with-obstacles romance of a housemaid and a member of the upper class (though tellingly, not the aristocracy), rendered with breathtaking emotional precision and lush, detailed illustrations. Only one more volume is due from this series.

Fake, by Sanami Matoh (Tokyopop): You’ve got to either embrace or ignore the wooly-headed stupidity of the police procedural aspects of this tale of detectives in lust, but it’s worth it. It’s a seven-volume pas de deux between bisexual Dee and undecided Ryo, fighting (snicker) crime and finding their way towards each other. Don’t think; just read.

Genshiken, by Kio Shimoku (Del Rey): Like Antique Bakery, this one isn’t a romance, per se, but some of the undercurrents kill me. Shimoku plays me like a fiddle with a will-they-won’t-they-probably-not subplot that runs throughout the nine volumes of the series.

Love Roma, by Minoru Toyoda (Del Rey): This one presents high-school romance in all of its goofy glory. This review at Sleep is for the Weak tells you everything you need to know about the book’s considerable virtues. All five volumes of its run are available.

Maison Ikkoku, by Rumiko Takahashi (Viz): Fifteen (thanks, Jun) volumes of romantic misunderstandings and near-misses should be exhausting, but it isn’t. Takahashi keeps her options open and populates her fictional boarding house with a likeable (and likeably awful) cast of characters that keeps things hopping. It’s heartfelt and funny in equal measure, a real classic.

Paradise Kiss, by Ai Yazawa (Tokyopop): Creative passion and young lust clash in this sexy soap about student designers and their muse, a gawky grind who discovers her inner supermodel (and lots of other stuff). If you’ve been enjoying Yazawa’s Nana (Viz), you owe it to yourself to give this one a look. (And if there was ever a series that begged for a glamorous, done-in-one omnibus treatment, it’s this one. Or maybe Antique Bakery. Or both.)

So what are your swoon-worthy choices?

Edited to add one more, because I can’t believe I forgot it:

Rica ‘tte Kanji!?, by Rica Takashima (ALC): This is perhaps the most adorable backlash comic ever. After growing seriously weary of the often tragic outcomes of most manga tales of lesbian love, Takashima decided to take a more lighthearted, positive approach. The result is this charming story of the budding romance between a young innocent and the not-much-older-but-certainly-wiser woman she meets in Tokyo’s gay district.

Filed under: ALC, CMX, Del Rey, DMP, Quick Comic Comments, Tokyopop, Viz 14 Comments

Upcoming 2/6/2008

February 5, 2008 by

After a couple of slow weeks, things kick back into gear in the comic shops.

I’ve often suspected that my cats have struck up demonic alliances, so it shouldn’t be surprising that there’s a comic based on that premise. It’s Ubu Bubu (SLG) by Jaime Smart. Here’s a preview.

Dark Horse delivers the second volume of Mi-Kyung Yun’s gorgeous, folklore-steeped soap opera, Bride of the Water God.

Go! Comi offers new volumes of two of my favorite ongoing series, each of which turns the traditional school setting upside down. Setona Mizushiro’s Afterschool Nightmare (now at volume six) makes adolescent anxieties manifest in a surreal dreamscape. Hideyuki Kurata and Tomomasa Takuma’s Train + Train has an entire planet as its classroom. Experiential learning is so trendy these days.

Looking for something gorgeous and restful? Look no farther than the second volume of Kozue Amano’s Aqua (Tokyopop), in which a young girl learns to navigate the waterways of Neo Venezia.

Also from Tokyopop is the third volume of Yuji Iwahara’s King of Thorn. I was really looking forward to this series, but I must admit that it’s testing my patience. I hope the characterizations start to deepen beyond survival-adventure stock figures and that the story comes closer to meeting the standard set by Iwahara’s thrilling illustrations.

Filed under: ComicList, Dark Horse, Go! Comi, Slave Labor Graphics, Tokyopop 1 Comment

Upcoming 1/9/2008

January 9, 2008 by

Now this is a light week in the comic shops. Really. It is. There are a few items of note, though.

Whenever I see people who don’t normally read super-hero comics recommend something from that category, it tends to go on my mental checklist. Combine that with people who don’t normally seek out comics by Warren Ellis recommending something from that category, and I’ve got a double, counter-intuitive recommendation on my hands. That kind of critical math worked out well with the first volume of Ellis and Stuart Immonen’s Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. (Marvel), so I’m looking forward to the second collection, I Kick Your Face.

Hey, is this the paperback debut of Black Hole (Pantheon) by Charles Burns? Maybe I’ll finally get around to reading it.

And while I don’t see it on the ComicList, consensus indicates that the first volume of Katsu Aki’s Manga Sutra: Futari H is due out from Tokyopop. White-hot edu-manga for newlyweds? Too weird to pass up. And I’ve been looking for something to pair with The Manga Bible for an upcoming Flipped column.

Filed under: ComicList, Marvel, Pantheon, Tokyopop 5 Comments

Seasonal affective disorder

January 8, 2008 by

I just can’t shake the holiday spirit, so this week’s Flipped is devoted to the lost, the lonely and the grieving. Fun!
(Okay, all the books under consideration are fun, but never put it past me to manufacture a theme.)

Filed under: DMP, Flipped, Tokyopop Leave a Comment

Previews review – Jan. 2009

January 6, 2008 by

It’s Diamond Previews time again. Let’s dispense with the formalities and get right to it.

There’s a clear and present Pick of the Month (that I probably won’t pick up at the comic shop because it will be widely available at a better price elsewhere). Pantheon is releasing the second volume of Joann Sfar’s The Rabbi’s Cat, which is certainly cause for raucous celebration, at least in my house. The debut volume was my first exposure to Sfar’s work, and I’ve been watching like a hawk for more of this intriguing story. (Page 327.)

I’m not familiar with the work of Ulf K., but Top Shelf’s solicitation for the Hieronymus B. graphic novel is intriguing. The book is being simultaneously released by five international publishers, and the preview pages at the publisher’s site are appealing. (Page 354.)

I was thinking yesterday that people using “with Oscar-winner so-and-so” to entice viewers to watch a given movie should only be able to use the phrase when the cited individual actually won and Oscar for the movie in question. I’m thinking along the same lines when I see a publisher say a book is like Scott Pilgrim, even when the book is being released by the publisher of Scott Pilgrim. Maybe they could give Bryan Lee O’Malley some kind of signet ring, and he could grant approval for use of the comparison, but he’s probably too self-effacing to go along with something like that.

Anyway, Oni is pitching Lars Brown’s North World to fans of not only Scott Pilgrim, but Gross Point Blank, Lord of the Rings, and Buffy, which is some kind of ultimate ven diagram of geekery. There’s no information up on Oni’s site yet, but you can check out the webcomic here. It looks like fun in a game-logic sort of way, with Brown blending role-playing game elements with comedic slacker angst. So… yeah… like Scott Pilgrim. (Page 326.)

If Tom Spurgeon’s holiday interview with Simon Gane made you want to read something Gane has drawn, you really couldn’t do better than Paris, written by Andi Watson. It’s a gorgeous, romantic mini-series that seemed to have been conceived with the sole purpose of letting Gane draw the hell out of it, which is all the purpose it really needs. SLG offers the collected version again in case you missed it. (Page 213.)

DC releases a full-color omnibus collection of the first sixteen issues of one of the best super-hero comics of the last fifteen years, James Robinson’s Starman. It’s got gorgeous Tony Harris art, a terrific cast, and a really nice generational-hero set-up without ever seeming like an airless exercise in continuity flogging. It’s kind of pricey at $49.99, so I would probably be inclined to wait for a paperback version if I didn’t already own the collected issues in one form or another. (Page 92.)

And last but not least, one of my favorite manga series comes to an end. Tokyopop releases the final volume of Minetaro Mochizuki’s Dragon Head. Mochizuki has served up some incredible thrills and chills in ten volumes of character-driven survival drama. I still can’t understand why this series wasn’t a big hit. (Page 351.)

Filed under: DC, Oni, Pantheon, Previews, Slave Labor Graphics, Tokyopop, Top Shelf 1 Comment

Upcoming 1/4/2007

January 2, 2008 by

For the first shipping day of 2008, it’s not especially auspicious in terms of debuts, but there are plenty of new installments of some of my favorite ongoing series.

Every time I see a mention of Kanako Inuki’s Presents (CMX), I think of John Jakala’s lovely phrase, “comeuppance theater.” The second volume of this kind of creepy, kind of funny, old-school horror series arrives Friday.

If you didn’t read it in hardcover or pick it up the first time it was released in paperback, NBM is giving you another shot at Rick Geary’s The Fatal Bullet, part of the Treasury of Victorian Murder series. This is one of my favorites, and it examines the assassination of James A. Garfield. It’s totally riveting, particularly for the gruesome coverage of medicine at the time.

Okay, so there is one auspicious debut, though it’s really more of a rescue re-release, but if Kozue Amano’s Aria is as pretty and soothing as Aqua (both from Tokyopop), it will be quite an arrival regardless of its pedigree. (I don’t need to worry about one being the prequel to the other, do I? I mean, it isn’t exactly rich in plot.)

In other Tokyopop, there’s a new volume of still-welcome-but-just-barely Sgt. Frog, and the fourth volume of Meca Tanaka’s Pearl Pink. I’m a big fan of Tanaka’s work on Omukae Desu (published by CMX), and I enjoyed the first volume of this, but I’ve fallen woefully behind.

Okay, so there are more debuts than I thought. Viz rolls out Kazune Kawahara’s High School Debut, and while I was a little uncertain based on the first volume, I’ve heard enough enthusiasm about the series from different sources to keep reading.

And oh my god, you guys, the first volume of Hinako Ashihara’s Sand Chronicles is here! When I started picking up Shojo Beat for Honey and Clover, I was stunned by how good and surprising this series is. It’s got real emotional punch.

And just to prove that my life isn’t entirely consumed by shôjo, I’m also excited by the imminent arrival of the fourth volume of Hideaki Sorachi’s Gin Tama and the eleventh of Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata’s Hikaru no Go.

Okay, back to shôjo. I’m sure lots of people miss its monthly presence in Shojo Beat, but I’m so glad that Ai Yazawa’s Nana is out of rotation and that digests are coming more quickly.

Filed under: CMX, ComicList, NBM, Tokyopop, Viz 4 Comments

The year in fun (2007)

January 1, 2008 by

From a fun comics standpoint, 2007 was absolutely awesome. You know how I know? I had a hard time keeping the list below to 26 items. Okay, it’s an arbitrary number, and I could have just listed everything, but I thought I would make a stab at some pretense of discernment.

I’m not saying these are the best comics of 2007, though I’d put several in that category. I’m never entirely comfortable with that label, because I haven’t read everything and worry that my tastes are too narrow to make a reasonable stab at such a project anyways. But I have no trouble telling which comics I had a lot of fun reading, so here they are.

(Doesn’t the jump create a breathtaking level of suspense? Well, doesn’t it?)

(Updated because I can’t keep my years straight.)

  • 10, 20, and 30, by Morim Kang (Netcomics): Korean josei, basically, following three women of different ages and temperaments as they manage romance (or the lack of it), work (or the lack of it) and family (or an excess of it).
  • Aya, by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie (Drawn & Quarterly): In my defense, this came out really early in 2007, so I must have been confused and thought it was on last year’s version of this list. Because seriously, it’s one of the best graphic novels of the year and delightfully fun to boot. A sensible, ambitious young woman in the prosperous Ivory Coast of late 1970s keeps her head as the people around her leap into amusing, romantic misalliances.
  • Azumanga Daioh Omnibus, by Kyohiko Azuma (ADV): It’s tough to pick which delights me more: the resumption of publication of Azuma’s Yotsuba&!, or this big fat bargain collection of his very funny comic strips about a group of high-school girls and their eccentric teachers.
  • Black Metal, by Rick Spears and Chuck BB (Oni): Antisocial metal-heads discover their secret destiny while playing old vinyl backwards. Very funny, with appropriately and appealingly crude visuals.
  • Bloody Benders, The, by Rick Geary (NBM): I should probably feel some kind of regret that Geary will never run out of gruesome tales to fuel his Treasury of Victorian Murder series. I don’t, because they’re consistently brilliant, informative, insightful, and unsettling. For the high-minded voyeur in all of us.
  • Empowered, by Adam Warren (Dark Horse): Warren is amazingly skilled at walking a thin, frayed tightrope between lurid spandex cheesecake and a witty repudiation of the same. Terrific characters and genuinely funny, imaginative takes on potentially repetitive scenarios make all the difference.
  • Flower of Life, by Fumi Yoshinaga (Digital Manga): When people bemoan the fact that so many manga titles center on the trials and tribulations of high school students, they can’t be talking about this one, can they? I’m just going to come right out and say it: it’s every bit as good as Antique Bakery, which means it’s absolutely great.
  • Gin Tama, by Hideaki Sorachi (Viz): This one’s all about attitude: coarse, goofy, hyperactive attitude. A fallen samurai takes odd jobs in a world that’s handed the keys to alien invaders. There’s enough canny satire to balance out the low-brow antics, making this book a very pleasant surprise.
  • Glister, by Andi Watson (Image): A really delightful combination of fantasy, manor-house comedy, and singularly British sensibility. This book manages to have a warm heart and a tounge planted firmly in its cheek.
  • Honey and Clover, by Chica Umino (Viz): Okay, so this goofy, romantic tale of students at an art college is still being serialized in Shojo Beat and hasn’t come out in individual volumes yet. It’s hilarious.
  • Johnny Hiro, by Fred Chao (AdHouse): In a year that offered more genre mash-up comics than I can count, this was probably my favorite for the underlying realism of the young couple at its center. Giant monsters and ninja sous-chefs are just part of the challenges urban life presents to Johnny and Mayumi.
  • Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip Book Two, by Tove Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly): Everyone knows these strips are timeless, international treasures, right? And that Drawn & Quarterly deserves some kind of cultural prize for getting them back in print? Okay, just checking.
  • My Heavenly Hockey Club, by Ai Morinaga (Del Rey): Under the flimsiest pretext of sports manga lurks a goofy love letter to two of my favorite deadly sins, sloth and gluttony. Easily the best screwball comedy that came out last year.
  • Northwest Passage: The Annotated Collection, by Scott Chantler (Oni): A handsomely produced collection of one of my favorite comics of 2006, featuring treachery and adventure in colonial Canada.
  • Parasyte, by Hitoshi Iwaaki (Del Rey): Okay, so the art is dated and, well, frankly just plain bad in a lot of ways. (Many of the high-school girls in the cast look like they’re pushing 40.) But there’s just something about a boy and the shape-shifting parasite that’s taken over his hand that warms my heart.
  • The Professor’s Daughter, by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert (First Second): There are certainly better, beefier works by Sfar, but this is still charming, beautiful stuff, with Sfar’s endearingly cranky voice getting a lovely rendering from Guibert.
  • Re-Gifters, by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel (Minx): A snazzy little story of romance, martial arts and self-esteem that avoids every single Afterschool Special pitfall through solid characterization, tight storytelling and spiffy art.
  • Ride Home, The, by Joey Weiser (AdHouse): I have yet to find a gnome living in my car, but maybe it just knows I’m on to it thanks to this charming, all-ages adventure about embracing change.
  • Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, by Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni): This series of a young slacker in love just gets better and better, which hardly seems possible. Great characters, a spot-on kind of magical realism, and plenty of twists and turns to keep things fresh and moving.
  • Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil, by Jeff Smith (DC): The Mary Marvel sequences are enough to put this on a Decade in Fun list, but Smith’s re-imagining of the origin of Captain Marvel is delightful from top to bottom.
  • Shortcomings, by Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly): Not all comics about whiny losers who are unable to sustain interpersonal relationships are intolerable. Some, like this one, are absolutely delightful and have what may be the year’s best dialogue.
  • Suppli, by Mari Okazaki (Tokyopop): Damnation, how did this one slip under my radar for so long? In this beautifully drawn josei title, an advertising executive throws herself into work after the end of her seven-year relationship. It’s exactly the kind of book tons of people have been begging for: funny, intelligent, moving and grown up.
  • Umbrella Academy, The: Apocalypse Suite, by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá (Dark Horse): It’s hardly the first comic to portray the super-team as a dysfunctional family, or maybe even the 50th, but it’s a clever, fast-paced, wonderfully illustrated example all the same.
  • Venus in Love, by Yuki Nakaji (CMX): Aside from the novelty of its college setting (as opposed to the shôjo standard, high school), this book has ample low-key charm. A straight girl and a gay guy become friendly rivals when they realize they have a crush on the same classmate.
  • Welcome to the N.H.K., by Tatsuhiko Takimoto (Tokyopop): I can take or leave the manga this novel inspired, but the source material is tremendously appealing reading. It’s like if David Sedaris wrote a novel about straight, dysfunctional Japanese people.
  • Wild Adapter, by Kazuya Minekura (Tokyopop): Charismatic, emotionally damaged boys pose their way through the stations of the noir cross. Mostly style, but what style, and a reasonable amount of substance to keep you from feeling entirely frivolous. (If frivolity isn’t a worry, you can easily ignore the substance.)
    • Filed under: AdHouse, ADV, Awards and lists, CMX, Dark Horse, DC, Del Rey, DMP, Drawn & Quarterly, First Second, Image, Minx, NBM, Netcomics, Quick Comic Comments, Tokyopop, Viz 2 Comments
    « Previous Page
    Next Page »