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Upcoming 12/28/2007

December 26, 2007 by

Friday is the last shipping day of 2007, but I learned last year that it’s not to be overlooked. (I posted my “Year in Fun” list, and then Glacial Period came out from NBM. Caution is the theme for this year.)

And what have we here? The second in the series of graphic novel collaborations with The Louvre, The Museum Vaults: Excerpts from the Journal of an Expert, by Marc-Antoine Mathieu. You won’t fool me again, NBM. I’m holding out in case of awesomeness.

New volumes are due for a couple of series I really enjoy: the third of Kairi Fujiyama’s Dragon Eye (Del Rey) and the ninth of Minetaro Mochizuki’s Dragon Head (Tokyopop). Clearly, I would probably also like series called Dragon Nostril, Dragon Earlobe, and Dragon Epiglottis.

Of course, having read the latest issue of Otaku USA, I realize I have some catching up to do on the Tokyopop front: there’s Mari Okazaki’s josei title, Suppli, and Yuki Nakaji’s Zig*Zag. I was very impressed with Nakaji’s Venus in Love from CMX, and I saw that they were doing a cross-promotion for the two Nakaji series, but what can I tell you? Something sparkly must have come into my range of vision and distracted me.

Filed under: ComicList, Del Rey, NBM, Tokyopop 4 Comments

Quick comic comments: Wild Adapter vol. 3

December 23, 2007 by

Are Kazuya Minekura’s Saiyuki and Saiyuki Reload as insanely entertaining as Wild Adapter (Tokyopop)? If they are, I have a daunting amount of catching up to do. (Dear Tokyopop: All I want for Christmas is an inexpensive Saiyuki omnibus series.)

The third volume of Wild Adapter offers everything I loved about the first two: improbably sexy characters posing through mostly outlandish scenarios, all of which manage to be unexpectedly involving beyond their considerable surface sheen. From time to time, it’s also hysterically, intentionally funny.

There’s a bit in the third volume that I don’t want to spoil, but it made me laugh out loud. It combines everything that I love about the book: deft plotting, high style, and Minekura’s standing as one of manga’s premiere teases.

Filed under: Quick Comic Comments, Tokyopop 5 Comments

Upcoming 12/19/2007

December 18, 2007 by

Wow, there’s quite a few comics worth nothing coming out this week.

Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá have created quite the entertaining comic in The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite (Dark Horse). The fourth issue arrives Wednesday.

DrMaster gets on the omnibus… um… bus with a collection of the first three volumes of Gokurakuin Sakuraks’ bluntly creepy Category Freaks. (I’ll probably pass on the collection, but it does remind me that I still need to catch up with the third volume.)

Go! Comi releases two first volumes this week: Yuu Asami’s A.I. Revolution and Kyoko Hashimoto’s Love Master A.

The third issue of Andi Watson’s absolutely charming Glister arrives from Image. What bizarre and mildly irritating difficulties will our heroine’s bizarre family manse present this time? I can’t wait to find out. (And okay, is it just me, or should the ratio of frame and banner to actual content be a little higher than it is at Image’s web site? It’s like Watson’s poor comic is hiding down at the bottom of the page. There’s very much of a “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” vibe to it.)

A new issue of Otaku USA arrives, which means I need to swing by Barnes & Noble. Not that I ever need a specific reason.

Queenie Chan’s The Dreaming (Tokyopop) concludes with the third volume. And if you’re looking for the gift that may secretly be plotting world domination, there’s a three-volume collection of Sgt. Frog.

And Viz releases its intermittent avalanche of Signature material, with new volumes of The Drifting Classroom, Naoiki Urasawa’s Monster, and Uzumaki. In the more commercial (though no less artistically worthy) corner of Viz-ville, there’s a new volume of Fullmetal Alchemist due as well. Oh, and a new issue of Shojo Beat, which I have to buy because of Honey and Clover and The Sand Chronicles.

See? Something for everyone. Or lots of things for me.

Filed under: ComicList, Dark Horse, Drmaster, Go! Comi, Image, Tokyopop, Viz Leave a Comment

Top Secret

December 13, 2007 by

Okay, I clearly just suck at this Previews look-through thing. (Either that or I’m very cleverly trying to stretch a single post over several days in a shameless attempt to pad content. I really think it’s just that I suck, though.)

Anyway, I inexcusably forgot to mention the listing of Ai Morinaga’s Your and My Secret, arriving via Tokyopop (page 331). And bless Tokyopop for picking it up, because I loved the single volume that ADV published three and a half years ago.

If you’ve been enjoying Morinaga’s My Heavenly Hockey Club (Del Rey), you should definitely give it a look. If you’ve found that book a little flighty and silly (never a problem for me, but I hear such things happen), you should give it a look anyways, because it’s very smart and subversive in its look at gender roles. I can’t wait to finally see what happens next.

(I couldn’t find the book’s page on Tokyopop’s web site, but I’m delighted to note the following passage in Katherine Dacey-Tsuei’s excellent Anime Fest wrap-up at Manga Recon:

“Tokyopop will be overhauling its website, making it easier to navigate and locate information about its own products.”

Seriously, Tokyopop’s site used to be the most navigable in terms of finding product information, and now it’s… considerably less so. Here’s hoping that the pendulum swings back with extreme prejudice.)

Filed under: Previews, Tokyopop 5 Comments

Upcoming 12/5/2007

December 4, 2007 by

I hear that in some cultures, people actually drive more cautiously in inclement weather conditions. Has anyone actually seen this behavior manifest itself? Because it’s apparently only folk legend in these parts. Anyway, if I live until then, here’s what caught my eye on the ComicList for Wednesday.

I’m a little confused. The list says that the fourth volume of Andy Runton’s charming Owly series is due out, calling it Don’t Be Afraid. Top Shelf calls it A Time to Be Brave and says it doesn’t come out until January. Amazon agrees with ComicList on the shipping date and Top Shelf on the title. Eh… it’ll show when it shows, and I’ll be happy.

Oni sent me a preview copy of James Stokoe’s Wonton Soup, and it’s interesting. There’s some serious mash-up going on… bits of Iron Wok Jan! and Men At Work and ninja-pirates in space, though no zombies that I can recall. It’s not bad, but I’m not quite sure it combines its ingredients to become its own thing. Stokoe certainly seems talented, though.

Tokyopop and Viz make up for essentially abdicating last week, pumping out about 40 volumes between them. I’ve been meaning to catch up with Welcome to the NHK once Genshiken finished (as it seemed ill-advised to cross the beams between those two), though I’m not quite ready for tomorrow’s fifth volume. And I seem to recall that Nosatsu Junkie got a really good review in Manga: The Complete Guide, so I’ll have to put that on the catch-up list as well. I’ll only be four behind on that one.

Filed under: ComicList, Oni, Tokyopop, Top Shelf 6 Comments

Quick comic comments: King of Thorn Vol. 2

November 14, 2007 by

The second volume of Yuji Iwahara’s King of Thorn (Tokyopop) offers more of exactly the same – a small handful of thawed-out survivors of a deadly disease navigate a now-monster-infested medical facility where they were cryogenically frozen until a cure could be found for their affliction.

I’d write a proper review, but it would end up sounding just like the one I wrote about the first volume, only with increased impatience — exciting set pieces, great art, and flat characters. It’s probably an unfair comparison, but I think Mochizuki Minetaro gave Dragon Head (also Tokyopop) a much more effective launch. There were just as many thrills and chills, but Minetaro’s characters were instantly arresting and specific, in spite of the extremity of their circumstances.

Has anyone read this series in Japanese or German or French? How long does it take for things to get weirder and more interesting, or at least more personal? I really want to like this series, because Iwahara’s Chikyu Misaki (CMX) is one of my favorite manga of all time, but I really need some reassurance that quirkier developments are coming.

Filed under: Quick Comic Comments, Tokyopop 5 Comments

Upcoming 11/14/2007

November 13, 2007 by

So clearly, the release of the week is Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together from Oni. The rest of the comics industry might be forgiven for just taking it easy in the face of such a formidable arrival, but they aren’t.

Heck, even Oni isn’t, and they’re releasing Courtney Crumrin and the Fire-Thief’s Tale from Ted Naifeh. (I’ve really got to catch up on this series, because I’ve loved what I’ve read.)

I’ll be covering it in more detail in next week’s Flipped, but I will say I really enjoyed Yuki Nakaji’s Venus in Love (CMX). It’s a sweet slice of college life about a girl and a guy who are in love with the same guy.

A new title from Fumi Yoshinaga is always worth a look, and Digital Manga offers Garden Dreams. I tend to favor her contemporary stories to her period pieces, but I generally can’t resist either, and I’m intrigued that this one isn’t part of the Juné imprint.

The previous volume of Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket (Tokyopop) offered the biggest bombshell in a while, and the eighteenth installment promises even more shocks. But really, the whole thing could be nothing but characters talking about their favorite onigiri filling and I’d still buy it.

And yes, I’m still a Shojo Beat junkie, thanks to the inclusion of Honey and Clover and Sand Chronicles. Well played, Viz.

Filed under: CMX, ComicList, DMP, Oni, Tokyopop, Viz 7 Comments

Upcoming 11/7/2007

November 6, 2007 by

It’s nice when there’s a clear and present Pick of the Week to be found on the shipping list. This time around, it’s the Azumanga Daioh Omnibus from ADV. (I know!) It’s like ADV is trying to balance its karma by keeping a steady stream of Kiyohiko Azuma manga. And it’s working. Anyway, much as I love Azuma’s Yotsuba&! (also from ADV… see? See?), I’ve yet to sample this gag-strip series. It’s like I was waiting for just the right opportunity.

There was a lot to like in the first Mammoth Book of Best New Manga (Carroll & Graf), and I’m sure I’ll find the same to be true the second volume. Even though it doesn’t seem to have a new chapter of Andi Watson’s “Princess at Midnight.” Which is just wrong. Though I did pick up Glister in Vegas, and that should prove an adequate substitute when I get around to reading it.

On the “new volumes of ongoing series” front, we have Eden: It’s an Endless World! Vol. 9 from Dark Horse, Kindaichi Case Files Vol. 16 from Tokyopop, and Gin Tama Vol. 3 from Viz. Goodness aplenty, and I’m particularly pleased with the preview blurb for Eden, which doesn’t even mention drug kingpins or crack whores.

In other news, Maintenance (Oni Press) takes on Starbucks. That should be fun.

Filed under: ADV, ComicList, Dark Horse, Oni, Tokyopop, Viz 1 Comment

Upcoming 10/10

October 10, 2007 by

Just because Jason Thompson’s Manga: The Complete Guide (Del Rey) is clearly the must-buy item on this week’s ComicList doesn’t mean it’s the only item worth mentioning.

If it weren’t for the Guide, the pick of the week might be the fifth volume of Kiyohiko Azuma’s absolutely delightful Yotsuba&! (ADV). Cardboard robot battles! A trip to the beach! Grapes! What more do you need?

Yes, they hunger for brains, but how do zombies really feel? Someone must have already asked this, but nothing comes to mind. This archly emo look at undead eaters of human flesh comes in the form of J. Marc Schmidt’s Eating Steve from Slave Labor Graphics. I’ve heard good things about Schmidt’s Egg Story, and the Eating Steve preview has some nice bits in it.)

I’m curious about CMX’s new wave of titles aimed at mature readers, particularly Kanako Inuki’s Presents. The excerpt that ran in a CMX sampler over the summer wasn’t too inspiring, but John Jakala’s review convinces me that it’s definitely worth a look. (But I really love “comeuppance theater.” “Tonight on ‘When Bad Things Happen to People Who Totally Deserve Them…”)

Adrian Tomine’s Shortcomings (Drawn & Quarterly) has gotten great reviews all over the place, so I’m sure I’ll take a look at it at some point. I’m guessing it will be all over chain bookstores, and the right convergence of opportunity and discount will arise somewhere down the line.

How have I managed to go this long without reading Lat’s Kampung Boy (First Second), even in the face of universal critical acclaim? And now the follow-up, Town Boy, is due. Must… catch… up! (Not with the help of Amazon, though. They have one of those “buy both” offers that actually allows you to pay about 75 cents more for the two titles than you would if you just added them to your cart individually, which leads me to believe that the buy-two pricing hasn’t caught up with the individual costs.)

Beyond lots of Fruits Basket product (which I hasten to note that I heartily endorse, because the series is very moving and surprising), Tokyopop offers two books that I’m eagerly anticipating. The first is the debut volume of Kozue Amano’s Aqua, which sounds lovely. There’s also the second volume of Yuji Iwahara’s King of Thorn. The first installment didn’t quite reach the heights of Iwahara’s Chikyu Misaki (CMX), but it was very solid, and it’s Iwahara, so I’ll happily stick around on the assumption that it will reach those heights eventually.

The excerpt from Yearbook Stories: 1976-78 that ran in Top Shelf’s Seasonal Sampler was extremely likable, so I’ll definitely look for it the next time I’m in a big city with a comic shop with a wide selection. It’s written by Top Shelf honcho Chris Staros and illustrated by Bo Hampton and Rich Tommaso.

Even factoring out the extra volumes of Naruto, Viz sure has a heck of a lot of product moving this week. Some of it, like Strawberry 100%, is resolutely awful, in my opinion. Some offerings, like new volumes of Bleach and Nana, are as welcome as sweater weather.

Yen Press rolls out three licensed titles, all of which sound like fairly standard bookstore fare, and none of which quite grab my attention the way With the Light did. I do like teen detective stories, so I’ll probably give Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning a look. Or maybe not, after reading Katherine Dacey-Tsuei’s take on the book. It’s not like I don’t have plenty of other options.

Filed under: ADV, CMX, ComicList, Del Rey, Drawn & Quarterly, First Second, Slave Labor Graphics, Tokyopop, Top Shelf, Viz, Yen Press 6 Comments

Dead of winter

October 3, 2007 by

The new Previews is out, with lots of offerings to get your mind off the gray chill.

The first product of DC’s partnership with Flex Comics arrives in the form of Daisuke Torii’s Zombie Fairy (CMX) which seems to start with a visit to a Japanese version of Antiques Roadshow and follows up with pesky ghosts (Page 100).

There seems to be a new global manga publisher in the Previews listings, Demented Dragon, or maybe I just haven’t noticed them before. There are solicitations for first volumes of The Phoenix Chronicles by Kenyth Morgan and Melissa Hudson, A Steel Wing Shattered by Chris Hazelton, and Stray Crayons by Yoko Molotov. Here’s their web site. (Page 265.)

Go! Comi goes global with the release of animator Aimee Major Steinberger’s Japan Ai – A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan. It’s a journal of Major Steinberger’s travels in Japan and her “passion for all things cute.” (Page 295.)

Houghton Mifflin, the publisher of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, offers Blue Pills: A Positive Love Story by Frederik Peeters. It’s a memoir about the creator’s relationship with an HIV+ mother and son. (Page 296.)

NBM releases the softcover version of Rick Geary’s ninth Treasury of Victorian Murder: The Bloody Benders. I’m crazy about these books, but I always wait for the paperback version. Yes, my love is cheap. (Page 312.)

Tokyopop drops the first volume of Kozue Amano’s much-admired Aria, with a new cover and “refreshed translation.” (ADV published it a while back.) It’s one of those books that’s always been on my “to try” list, and this seems like a good opportunity to start from the beginning. (Page 333.)

I just mentioned this book a couple of days ago, and voila, here it is in Previews: Fox Bunny Funny by Andy Hartzell (Top Shelf). I dug out my copy of The Book of Boy Trouble (Green Candy Press) to refresh my memory about Hartzell’s style, and his story is really funny in a mortifying, slightly perverse way. (Page 342.)

I’ve read a couple of chapters of Hinako Ashibara’s Sand Chronicles (Viz) in Shojo Beat and found them really effective and moving. The first collection is solicited in this issue. (Page 365.)

Filed under: CMX, Demented Dragon, Go! Comi, Houghton Mifflin, NBM, Tokyopop, Top Shelf, Viz 8 Comments
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