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On the Rising

March 8, 2007 by

Brigid has the details on Tokyopop’s seventh Rising Stars of Manga Competition, and there are some aspects of this year’s event that really jumped out at me.

“Eight winners will share equal prizes, taking the top spot in one of eight different genre-based categories: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Romance or Sci-Fi.”

This strikes me as a terrific idea. All of these genres require different skill sets and showcase talents in unique ways, and it seems like it will give Tokyopop a chance to compare apples to apples. (And even among apples, there’s still tremendous variety. Pink Ladies! Grannies Smith! Golden Delicious!) It still must have been kind of mind-bending to categorize them, What if somebody submits a comedy-fantasy-romance? Or a horror-sci-fi-mystery? Maybe they should add an “Uncategorizable Fusion” genre next year.

It’s pretty amazing that the competition has grown to the point that they have enough submissions to present eight different $1,000 awards, plus $500 for the People’s Choice. Twenty-four finalists are vying for the People’s Choice prize, and you can view them and vote here.

Now I just have to overcome my archaic resistance to reading comics online to sample the contestants’ work.

Filed under: Contests and giveaways, Linkblogging, Tokyopop 8 Comments

Manga bestsellers

March 7, 2007 by

Once again, Publishers Weekly Comics Week hasn’t come up with anything to say about the manga entries on its monthly Comics Bestsellers list, and since I don’t have anything better to do…

1. Bleach, Volume 17. Tite Kubo. Viz Media, $7.99 ISBN 978-1421510415. The “Cartoon Network Effect” reasserts itself, placing this supernatural adventure series at the top of the list. Bleach was well into its run and had built a solid audience by the time its anime adaptation debuted on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block, but the extra exposure has given it an extra bump.

2. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Volume 2. Shiro Amano. Tokyopop, $9.99 ISBN 978-1598166385. With tie-ins to both Disney characters and a popular video game franchise on its side, it’s not surprising to see Kingdom Hearts properties moving extremely well.

3. Absolute Boyfriend, vol. 3. Yuu Watase. Viz Media, $8.99 ISBN 978-1421510033. Watase has earned reader (and retailer) loyalty with hits like Ceres: Celestial Legend and Fushigi Yûgi. While she hasn’t scaled the sales heights of Natsuki (Fruits Basket) Takaya, Watase is right near the top of the list of commercially successful shôjo manga-ka.

4. Tsubasa, Volume 12. CLAMP. Del Rey, $10.95 ISBN 978-0345485328. Along the same lines, there’s generally little risk in licensing a CLAMP title, particularly when it’s a sequel to a perennially popular work like Cardcaptor Sakura.

6. Loveless, Volume 4. Yun Kouga. Tokyopop, $9.99 ISBN 978-1598162240. The highest-ranked boys’ love title for March is also one of the bestselling boys’ love titles period. While the branding a boys’-love or yaoi imprint generally results in strong comic-shop sales, Loveless has succeeded without any marker, both in comic shops and bookstores.

8. Buso Renkin!, Volume 4. Nobuhiro Watsuki. Viz Media, $7.99 ISBN 978-1421508405. The recent conclusion of Watsuki’s Rurouni Kenshin apparently hasn’t quelled appetites for Watsuki’s work.

9. Full Metal Alchemist, Volume 11. Hiromu Arakawa. Viz Media, $9.99 978-1421508382. The placement of this mega-hit manga initially seems surprisingly low until you realize that it ranked second among last month’s bestsellers. The sales powerhouse is cited as one of the chief agents in the demise of Monthly Shonen Jump, having driven sales of Square Enix’s rival anthology, and it promises to be an evergreen seller here.

Filed under: Del Rey, Media, Sales, Tokyopop, Viz 1 Comment

Love, Weekly

March 1, 2007 by

Entertainment Weekly extended some warm fuzzies to comics in its March 2 issue. It’s a particularly good day for Eric Wright and Tokyopop; My Dead Girlfriend made “The Must List.” (Dear EW: Everyone knows what Paul Reubens looks like. Next time, run a cover shot of the just-released graphic novel so people know what to look for at the bookstore.)

While I think Keiko Takemiya’s To Terra… (Vertical) deserves at least an A- instead of a B+, and I think EW miffed a plot point, it’s nice to see the book get some praise from such a mainstream source.

Other blurbs:

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home: A-
  • Scalped: B
  • The Living and the Dead: B+
    • Filed under: Media, Tokyopop, Vertical Leave a Comment

    Mark your calendars

    February 28, 2007 by

    It’s Manga Month again in Diamond’s Previews, and while that’s not all the volume has to offer, there’s plenty of noteworthy new stuff from all over.

    Del Rey debuts the first volume of Ai Morinaga’s My Heavenly Hockey Club. I keep hoping someone will pick up the rest of Your and My Secret, which vanished after one volume from ADV. Maybe this will provide a satisfying, substitute Morinaga fix. (Page 269.)

    None of this month’s listings jump out at me, but it’s really nice to see Drama Queen’s offerings on the pages of Previews. (Page 288.)

    The Comics Journal #284 (Fantagraphics) will include an interview with Gene (American Born Chinese) Yang, and interviews with Yang are always worth reading. (Page 292.)

    :01 First Second unveils their spring season highlight (for me, at least): Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert’s The Professor’s Daughter, a Victorian romance between a young lady and a mummy. (Page 294.)

    I know printing money actually involves specialized plates and paper with cloth fiber and patent-protected inks, but it seems like there could be a variation involving delicately handsome priests at war with an army of zombies. Go! Comi will find out (as will we all) when they release the first volume of Toma Maeda’s Black Sun, Silver Moon. (Page 298.)

    Last Gasp promises “catfights, alien safari adventures, evil experiments, and a girl who dreams of becoming a pop idol singer” in its re-release of Junko Mizuno’s Pure Trance. Since its Mizuno, I’m sure that description doesn’t even begin to describe the adorable, revolting weirdness. (Page 313.)

    Mike Carey’s work as a comics writer is hit and miss for me. I’ve loved some of it, and found other stories to be pretty tedious. One of my favorite examples is My Faith in Frankie (Vertigo), illustrated by Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel. So I’m inclined to give the creative team’s Re-Gifters (Minx) a try. (Page 109.)

    Pantheon releases a soft-cover version of Joann Sfar’s sublime The Rabbi’s Cat. This was my first exposure to Sfar’s work, and I’ve loved it ever since. And in some cultures, the release of a soft-cover means a hard-cover volume of new material might be on the way, which would make me deliriously happy. (Page 324.)

    The Tokyopop-HarperCollins collaboration bears fruit with the release of Meg Cabot’s Avalon High: Coronation Vol. 1: The Merlin Prophecy. The solicitation doesn’t include an illustrator credit, which is an unfortunate slip, and neither does the publisher’s web site. Maybe Cabot drew it herself? (Page 333.)

    I’ve been hoping to see more work from Yuji Iwahara since CMX published Chikyu Misaki. Tokyopop comes through with Iwahara’s King of Thorn. (Page 335.)

    Top Shelf offered some all-ages delights last month, which made me happy, and presents a new (I think?) volume of work from Renée (The Ticking) French. Micrographica is a collection of French’s online strip of the same name and offers “pure weirdness.” I don’t doubt it will deliver in a lovely, haunting way. (Page 352.)

    Vertical rolls out another classic from Osamu Tezuka, Apollo’s Song, displaying the God of Manga’s “more literate and adult side.” For readers wanting something a little more contemporary, there’s Aranzi Aronzo’s Aranzi Machine Gun, featuring plush mascots on a tear. How can I choose? Why should I? (Page 355.)

    I can’t read every series about people who see dead people. I just can’t. I wouldn’t have any money left for food. But Viz ignores my attempts at restraint by offering Chika Shiomi’s Yurarara in its Shojo Beat line. Shiomi is enjoying quite the day in the licensed sun, with Night of the Beasts (Go! Comi) and Canon (CMX) in circulation. (Page 372.)

    And here’s an oddity, but an intriguing one: edu-manga from Singapore. YoungJin Singapore PTE LTD (you’ll forgive me if I hold off on adding a category) releases manga biographies of Einstein and Gandhi and adaptations of Little Women and Treasure Island. (Page 375.)

    Filed under: Del Rey, DramaQueen, Fantagraphics, First Second, Go! Comi, Last Gasp, Minx, Pantheon, Previews, Tokyopop, Top Shelf, Vertical, Viz 6 Comments

    Weekend reading

    February 5, 2007 by

    While John Jakala was playing “Just Imagine: Clamp” this weekend, I was reading actual Clamp. I had a coupon, and I’ve been meaning to read further into xxxHOLiC (Del Rey) to see if it clicks for me, because the first two volumes seemed to be right on the border between “oooh” and “eh.”

    After reading the third and fourth volumes, the series is still straddling that damned border. The book is gorgeous, and I love the subject matter, but something is keeping me from loving it. It’s not the crossover elements with Tsubasa (also Del Rey), though my thoughts wander to grocery lists and scheduling an oil change when they come up. It’s not that I have yet to come up with a mnemonic device to remind me how to capitalize the title.

    It’s that stupid Watanuki. He’s so whiny and shrill and emotionally tone deaf to the people around him. I’m sure he becomes less irritating as the series progresses, because he’d have to, but how much more can I endure before that happens? I’m torn between wanting Dômeki to just kiss him because it would shut Watanuki up, however briefly, and wanting much better for Dômeki.

    I do love just about everything about Yûko – her impeccable fashion sense, her bottomless appetite for libations, her languid cruelty. Put simply, she rocks, and I can even forgive her for constantly creating new reasons for Watanuki to sputter and whine, because I suspect he’d do those things without any kind of external stimulus.

    Okay, he’s not entirely obnoxious and ridiculous. There are brief moments when his behavior isn’t akin to fingernails on a chalkboard. But those moments are fleeting.

    It’s strange, because I spent a good portion of the weekend wondering how Kazuya Minekura had made what should have been a repellant protagonist so fascinating in Wild Adapter, and I’d almost used my coupon on some early volumes of Saiyuki instead, but I didn’t. And now I’m forced to ponder how Clamp has managed to make what should have been a sympathetic protagonist so grating.

    Or is it just me?

    Filed under: Del Rey, Tokyopop 6 Comments

    Afterwords

    February 4, 2007 by

    I generally don’t evaluate manga based on the quality of the extras available, because they vary so much from publisher to publisher and book to book. Sometimes those sidebar messages from manga-ka are fun, and sometimes you get Yû Watase providing a release schedule of anime, soundtracks, art books, and other products based on her manga. (Short version: “It’s all awesome!”)

    I know those sidebars aren’t really intended to be deeply informative or uniquely insightful. They’re around to fill the spaces in the tankoubon where the ads ran in the magazines, and possibly to generate a little rooting value by having the manga-ka speak directly (or “directly”) to the audience.

    The content is generally pretty repetitive. They’re working really hard, and they’re sorry they’re behind on their fan mail. This volume isn’t as good as they’d have liked, but they’re trying, and reader support keeps them going. They wish they had a kitty. That sort of thing.

    Sometimes the manga-ka will slide a little insight into the mix. I remember the bits from Ultra Maniac amounting to what was essentially Wataru Yoshizumi’s very polite take-down of the process of adapting the manga into an anime. (“Well, it really doesn’t bear much resemblance to the comic I’ve created, and I don’t really understand the choices you’ve made, but thanks for the extra income!”)

    Ai Yazawa’s back-up strips are always a pleasure. I love her repertory-company approach in the “Junko’s Place” strips in Nana, with the cast sort of hanging out and bickering over their comparative popularity levels. The strip in Paradise Kiss where the characters break into Yazawa’s apartment and steal her clothing is a particular favorite.

    I also like Minoru Toyoda’s little mini-summaries in volumes of Love Roma where he talks a bit about his creative process – what made him want to tell a particular story, or what effect he was trying to achieve with an individual chapter. And I’m crazy about the continuing struggles of the S.C.D., an alliance of one-appearance characters who are scheming for greater visibility.

    But for me, the undisputed ruler of creator talkback is Emma’s Kaoru Mori. Wikipedia informs me that Mori is “famous for her unflattering self-portraits” as much as she is for her incredible storytelling, and I can believe it. While I love the serenity and emotional detail of the manga, I’m totally enamored of the fanatical enthusiasm Mori portrays in those after-chats. (Mely provides an example at Coffee and Ink.) CMX kindly sent me a galley of the third volume of Emma, and Mori’s remarks begin with the disclosure that the chief editor of Beam described her as “a ‘weird woman.’”

    Well, duh. That’s the fun of it for me. While the release of watching Mori run rampant isn’t necessary to enjoy the story that precedes these bits, it’s still great fun. I could read a book that consisted of nothing but Mori’s after-chats.

    Filed under: CMX, Del Rey, Tokyopop, Viz 6 Comments

    From the stack: The Embalmer

    February 3, 2007 by

    I’m starting to think that someone could devote an entire blog to manga that involves characters dealing with the recently deceased. I’m also starting to worry that my blanket fondness for this kind of manga indicates a lurking morbidity in my otherwise sunny disposition.

    Maybe it’s simply a matter of taste. I like episodic manga, and I like stories about people who help dead people. So is it any surprise that I like Mitsukazu Mihara’s The Embalmer (Tokyopop)?

    The Embalmer takes a slightly different track than some of the other dead-people manga I’ve been enjoying lately. The restless spirits of the deceased are out of the equation, and protagonist Shinjyurou is more concerned with the peace of mind of the people they leave behind. While the Japanese (at least the ones portrayed here) generally view embalming as a ghoulish practice, Shinjyurou believes that the practice can bring closure to the grief-stricken, allowing them to see their loved ones in an idealized state as they bid them goodbye.

    Shinjyurou isn’t especially heroic. He doesn’t have the young-man-with-a-dream fervor of other manga protagonists trying to bring western practices to Japanese consumers. (That would actually make for a hilariously tacky shônen comedy, come to think of it — Yakitate!! Japan with cavity fillers.) Instead, he kind of wanders through life looking sexily tousled and occasionally coming across a scenario that might benefit from his expertise.

    His lazy glamour isn’t a façade. When he isn’t at work, he’s kind of a pig. He treats his numerous sexual conquests with indifference (though without cruelty or dishonesty) in the time-honored tradition of sex as antidote for death. Shinjyurou reserves his version of affection and tenderness for the dead, the grieving, and Azuki, his landlord’s daughter. He likes her too much to use her, but he’ll happily tease her.

    I’m not especially wowed by the ongoing narrative elements, but the individual episodes are moving and observant. Mihara seems especially cognizant of the inherent vanity involved in leaving a good-looking corpse, and she uses that awareness to balance the sentimentality. But she doesn’t resist sentimentality entirely, which is all to the good. As with her protagonist, Mihara gives the book a credibly beating (though not bleeding) heart underneath the sexy stylishness.

    Do I think The Embalmer is great manga? Not really. It’s attractive and often intriguing, but it doesn’t strike me as a series I’ll want to read again and again. It is a solid, distinct addition to the growing list of death-helper manga, though. If you like that sort of thing (as I obviously do), give it a try.

    Filed under: From the stack, Tokyopop 4 Comments

    Previews review

    January 31, 2007 by

    It’s time again for a trawl through the current edition of Previews. There’s lots of interesting new stuff, but there are also new versions of excellent comics that have been published previously and re-lists of some great books.

    The first in DC’s Minx line of books, The Plain Janes, rolls out in this edition, and DC provides some preview pages that look nice. It’s interesting to see how much effort DC is devoting to getting these books in comics specialty shops, but I sure hope there are concurrent efforts in the kind of outlets where the target audience actually shops.

    On the CMX front, there are a few attractive preview pages of Tomomi Yamashita’s Apothecarius Argentum, another period poison piece. But will it be completely insane?

    The solicitation for 801’s Affair by Shiuko Kano catches my eye with phrases like “real adult relationships.” It’s also a collection of shorts, which is one of my weaknesses.

    I’ve already enjoyed David Petersen’s terrific Mouse Guard (Archaia) in floppies, but I’m glad to see that the publisher hasn’t wasted any time in putting out what will surely be an attractive hardcover collection.

    The manga-with-princess-in-the-title wars rage on as Del Rey debuts Yasunari Mitsunaga’s Princess Resurrection. The tiara and the chainsaw balance each other out rather nicely, don’t they?

    Also from Del Rey is the first volume Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte, which has generated considerable anticipation. It’s one of their “older readers” books at the $12.95 price point.

    Drawn & Quarterly re-lists the first volume of Moomin: The Complete Tove Jannson Comic Strip for anyone who may have missed it. I’m crazy about this book and will mention it at any opportunity.

    The story described in the solicitation for Gipi’s Garage Band doesn’t immediately grab me, but First Second has demonstrated impeccable taste in the books they choose to publish, and I’ve been wanting to sample Gipi’s work.

    I like the idea of the multi-generational story described in the blurb for Morim Kang’s 10, 20 and 30 from Netcomics. I’ll have to swing by the publisher’s site and sample a few chapters when they become available.

    Oni focuses on new versions of already-published material, collecting Scott Chantler’s terrific Northwest Passage in an omnibus edition and delivering a “Definitive Edition” of Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber’s bottom-of-the-world thriller Whiteout. They also re-list a bunch of great books from their catalog, so if you’ve missed stuff like Past Lies, Capote in Kansas, or Banana Sunday, now’s your chance.

    New from Oni is James Vining’s First in Space, a 2006 Xeric Grant recipient, telling the tale of “a chimpanzee Americans trained for the first sub-orbital spaceflight.” I’m intrigued, but my “sad animal story” radar is pinging.

    Say what you will about the prospect of OEL from Avril Lavigne. It’s bound to be The Rose of Versailles compared to the Bratz Cine-Manga (Tokyopop).

    Tokyopop’s Blu imprint delivers more Fumi Yoshinaga in the form of Lovers in the Night. How many of her titles are left to license? It’s like we’re in the middle of a Yoshinagalanche. That’s not a bad thing, obviously. I didn’t like the opening gambit of Gerard and Jacques, but the series of explosions in the second volume was one of the funniest pieces of cartooning I’ve seen all year.

    Top Shelf delivers a new volume of Andy Runton’s Owly, A Time to Be Brave, which would be generosity enough for one month. But after taking a look at the preview pages for Christian Slade’s Korgi (via Blog@Newsarama), I realize that they’re determined to spoil me.

    Filed under: 801, Blu, CMX, Del Rey, Drawn & Quarterly, First Second, Minx, Netcomics, Oni, Previews, Tokyopop, Top Shelf 6 Comments

    Shôjoverload

    January 30, 2007 by

    I thought Dark Horse was supposed to be continuing its crusade to make me love them this week with new volumes of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and Mail, but it doesn’t look like that’s meant to be. I can wait, because the rest of the manga publishing industry is wooing me with a vengeance this week.

    I’ve already read a preview of the second volume of Penguin Revolution (CMX) and found it as solidly funny and adorable as the first, so that’s a lock.

    Del Rey delivers the eighth volume of Nodame Cantabile, which always manages to charm me in spite of what I realize is very little in the way of overarching narrative movement. Kitchen Princess offers the twin inducements of cute shôjo and culinary content, and I have very little resistance to either.

    Didn’t Go! Comi just release the fifth volumes of their first four series? It feels like they did, but new installments of Cantarella and Tenshi Ja Nai!! are always welcome.

    There’s been considerable enthusiasm over at Tokyopop for Wild Adapter, and while you’d expect a publisher to be enthusiastic about its books, this endorsement comes from Lillian Diaz-Przybyl. Books that Diaz-Przybyl really, really likes (like 12 Days and Shout Out Loud) tend to be books I really, really like.

    I’m not quite up to volume 17 of Bleach (Viz) yet, so I’ll have to content myself with the fifth volume of Nana, which is more than adequate compensation.

    And it’s not manga, but I found Marvel’s Defenders mini-series (by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire) to be really entertaining. I can’t seem to find a page on Marvel’s site for the Indefensible trade paperback, but here’s one for the first issue of the floppy version.

    (Quick housekeeping question: Is it useful to throw these posts into the various publisher categories, or is it just kind of irritating to have a laundry list of categories at the top of them? I can’t decide.)

    Filed under: CMX, ComicList, Del Rey, Go! Comi, Marvel, Tokyopop, Viz 5 Comments

    Sigh

    January 22, 2007 by

    While we all have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out which movies that I haven’t seen will be nominated for Oscars, you can see which comics GLAAD feels represent the most fair, accurate and inclusive depictions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered individuals.

    Those comics apparently don’t include 12 Days, Off*Beat, or Shout Out Loud!

    Buck up, Tokyopop. Maybe someday you’ll be mainstream enough.

    Filed under: Awards and lists, Blu, Tokyopop Leave a Comment
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