So I’m looking through the release list for the week and thinking I’m going to get off fairly cheaply. Then I hit the manga publishers. Surely that isn’t all coming out tomorrow, is it? I know Tokyopop tends to list its monthly releases up front, but Viz usually breaks things down week by week. And if all of that is arriving at the same time, I’m going to need to pop by the plasma bank on the way to the shop.

Tokyopop actually isn’t so bad: just the seventh volume of Sgt. Frog. (I know… “Just?”)

Viz, on the other hand… Case Closed Vol. 4, Imadoki! Vol. 5, the debut of Times Two, Whistle! Vol. 4… plus a bunch of other titles and some of the new shojo rolling out… Ye gods.

Ah, and Oni has the second volume of Love as a Foreign Language. I liked the first installment and plan to review the title at some point, but I feel like I need to read more of it before I do.

Speaking of Oni, did I miss the second volume of Scott Pilgrim? I remember pre-ordering it from the February Previews, along with the re-issue of Lost at Sea, and neither seems to have shown up. Not that I’m begging for the extra expense this week, and I’ll be perfectly happy to get them whenever they ship. I just want to make sure I haven’t missed them and need to start backtracking.

I don’t know when it happened, but I’ve gone from loving awards shows to being unable to stand them (with the exception of the Tony Awards). I like to know who’s nominated and who wins, and I loves me some Tom the Dog for his wondrous recaps, but whenever I actually see a red carpet on my television screen, I grab the remote.

So what did I watch instead? One of last year’s nominees, Lost in Translation, and I really enjoyed it. I thought the editing could have been tighter at certain points, but it was lovely. If it hadn’t been coronation year for Peter Jackson (which I’m not quibbling with), I think Sofia Coppola could easily have won the Best Director Oscar in addition to her Best Original Screenplay award.

I always like Bill Murray, but Scarlett Johansson really took me by surprise. I thought she was good (if not particularly remarkable) in Ghost World, and I wasn’t expecting too much from her here. But, wow, she has such a gift for facial expressions; I couldn’t believe how much she was able to communicate without words and how much intelligence seemed to inform her choices. I do think she could use some vocal training to help her invest her line readings with some more variety. Still, she was only 18 when the movie was made, so she’s got plenty of time.

In other “what took you so long” news, I picked up the great big book of Bone over the weekend. It wasn’t reliably available to me during its single-issue days, so it’s sat on the “I’ll try it in trades someday” list. The format made it irresistably easy to do so. Now I’ve just got to resist the urge to lock myself in a room and read it cover to cover in a sitting. Just delightful stuff, bound to become a personal favorite.

On Usenet, Paul O’Brien has posted his analysis of Marvel’s numbers for January. I’m particularly interested in how The Pulse has done in light of its Secret War crossover:

“45. PULSE
Feb Pulse #1 – 51,130 (+81.8%)
Mar Pulse #2 – 45,479 (-11.1%)
Apr n/a
May Pulse #3 – 43,655 ( -4.0%)
Jun n/a
Jul Pulse #4 – 39,883 ( -8.6%)
Aug n/a
Sep Pulse #5 – 37,812 ( -5.2%)
Oct n/a
Nov Pulse #6 – 40,895 ( +8.2%)
Dec n/a
Jan Pulse #7 – 34,779 (-15.0%)
6 mnth (-12.8%)

Back to normal numbers after the SECRET WARS tie-in. The title doesn’t seem to be holding on to its readers all that well. The bimonthly format may not be helping.”

Hm. Not much of a bump from the crossover (even with Wolverine on the cover!), then sheds what seems to be all of its new readers and a fair chunk of its existing audience (about an 8% drop from the September figure). I dropped it because of the crossover after enjoying the first arc, and I noticed a number of other bloggers did the same. Seems like we’re not alone. Of course, some might have switched over to trades or plan to pick it back up after the tie-in is done. (Must… mask… unseemly… schadenfreude.)

Y’know, if Marvel’s new content ratings are good for nothing else, they’ve at least provided fodder for online comedy. First, Scott at Polite Dissent riffed on the possibilities. Now, Jog (of the Blog) has been driven to heights of preventive abbreviation in his latest Komikwerks column. His test case is Wolverine 25:

“An X-Man, you see, would be dead by the end of that issue, and I was afraid my grief would drive me over the edge. And just imagine a child, a dear child gazing upon such an awful scenario! Unspeakable. Every flag in the United States of Jog flies at half-mast when an X-Man dies, and I spend weeks recovering.”

Good times.

There was lots of sneaking around going on in this week’s comics. And since the alternative is to consider the thick-as-flies Identity Crisis references in some of DC’s books, I’m happy to have the espionage theme to work with.

(Comments contain spoilers.)

Black Widow (Marvel) concludes with its sixth issue, resolving some of the mini’s major plot elements while (somewhat surprisingly) leaving things open for a promised sequel by writer Richard K. Morgan. This is an “everything you know is wrong” story, which normally isn’t to my taste. But Black Widow is an excellent choice for this kind of tale. Morgan re-imagines Natasha’s origins in a way that’s both creative and logical. At the same time, he paints a much more violent and ruthless portrait of the Widow, while implying that this is the character that’s been there all along, modulating her behavior to suit her spandex surroundings. It hasn’t been a perfect mini, what with Natasha condemning marketing assaults on womanhood while stuffing herself into a bustier, but the good stuff has outweighed the more iffy elements. (Am I the only one who’s kind of enjoying the recent trend of playing Nick Fury as a manipulative bastard?) I’m looking forward to the second volume.

What’s Legion of Super-Heroes 3 (DC) doing in a survey of sneakiness? Writer Mark Waid starts building dissent in the ranks in this issue. It seems like there isn’t as much unanimity of purpose to the youth movement as there’s been in previous incarnations. Given the strong and distinct personalities Waid is establishing, this makes perfect sense and sets up a nice subplot to drive things along. He also manages to give Triplicate Girl a fascinating character make-over, letting her abilities inform her identity in clever, creative ways as he did with Dream Girl last issue. Artist Barry Kitson does a nice job with the subtler character moments, which is good to see. I’ve found his work technically proficient but a bit cold in the past, so this is a promising development.

The Pickytarian does a splendid job talking about Losers 21 (DC/Vertigo), particularly the work of artist Jock, so go there and read it. I would just add that I’m finding this arc a little hard to follow. This title seems like it would work better for me in trade paperback format, without the lapsed time between issues. (Details get lost in my tiny, sieve-like brain over the intervening weeks.) It’s undeniably good stuff, but it seems stronger in big chunks. We’ll see.

Mystique (Marvel) wrapped up its 24-issue run this week, and I’ll miss this book. Writer Sean McKeever has done a nice job using a morally ambiguous character as a versatile protagonist. There are plenty of twists in this concluding chapter, and some of them seem to stem from events earlier in the run (which I didn’t read). Slight clarity issues aside, the story has a lot of momentum and surprise. McKeever also manages to put Mystique back where the series found her, informed by the events of the title but in an entirely usable state for other writers. (I can’t resist giving extra points for being a good citizen of a shared fictional universe.) This was one of the throng of mutant titles that seemed to have real potential and a distinct point of view. Too bad it didn’t make it.

I hate it when writers don’t respect my need for denial. I’ve been convincing myself that Sleeper (DC/Wildstorm) exists in its own little world and I don’t really need to know anything about comics I haven’t read and don’t plan to read. So when Ed Brubaker plops someone named Grifter smack in the middle of Sleeper 9, I get irked that my pristine reading enjoyment is marred by some too-kewl 1990s gunslinger. Brubaker gives readers information about who Grifter is, but the character’s presence is still a distraction. Either Brubaker’s character work on Grifter is fairly minimalist, or Grifter just isn’t very interesting. Grifter’s presence serves a narrative purpose, providing a useful distraction to allow the regular cast to engage in sneaky maneuvering. At the same time, it serves as a different kind of distraction for readers who viewed the book as a self-contained reading experience. (Maybe it’s just me and I’m annoyed out of all proportion.) Anyway, the issue ends with a nicely ambiguous twist that moves things forward, as it almost always does. Many readers are disappointed that this title will be ending, but I think it’s the kind of story that begs for closure. I’m looking forward to seeing how Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips wrap things up.

After reading the latest Tilting at Windmills at Newsarama and learning about how manga moves (or doesn’t) at the shop owned by columnist Brian Hibbs, I thought it might be interesting to hear from other comics retailers on the topic of manga for a future installment of Flipped.

Does it sell? Does it sit? Do your super-hero readers dabble? Have any manga-only customers started to show up? Do you market your shop as selling manga? Have you decided against adding manga to your stock? Do you wish publishers would take a break with all the new releases?

Any perspectives are welcome. I know whatever I put together would be entirely anecdotal, but, in my world, “comprehensive” is a synonym for “too much work,” and Ed Cunard promised me I could be as lazy as I wanted. And Ed, as a person with dogs, knows that promises are not to be made lightly.

So, if you feel like it, drop me a line at DavidPWelsh at yahoo dot com, and let fly. (Also, please feel free to tell me if this topic has been broached several hundred times before by minds much wiser than I, and that I should really, really reconsider.) Thanks!

Flush with the excitement of a new set of content ratings from Marvel, Scott at Polite Dissent offers some helpful suggestions. Parents may not find them particularly useful, but I know I’d rely on them.

Dorian at Postmodern Barney rattles off 100 annoying things about comics. The love shines through all the same.

At The Great Curve, Brian Cronin looks super-heroic death in the eye.

David Taylor at Love Manga looks at ICv2’s graphic novel numbers for January. Good stuff, and I particularly like his wrap-up remarks:

“The new audience that Manga is currently attracting, are not always your average comic readers, and the chance (however minute) that they may crossover into other non-manga graphic novels must surely be a good thing, for both us comic readers and comic publishers.”

In the latest installment of Past the Front Racks at Comic World News, Shawn Hoke wants more people to give The Comics Journal a try:

“If you email me (shawnhoke at gmail dot com) your reason for not trying TCJ yet in 500 words or less, I’ll enter your name in a drawing (I’ll pick the entry that entertains me the most) for my copy of the Bendis issue. That’s right, I’m giving away my copy of this issue, and creating a gaping hole in my Journal run, just so you, Mr. or Mrs. Non Journal Reader, can be exposed to the magic for free.”

Further details and regulations are at the end of Shawn’s column.

I’m just not sure about Doubt!! (Viz). After repeated readings (and over-thinking the heck out of it), I still can’t decide if it’s artful, deadpan satire or slight romantic comedy with a somewhat unfortunate world view.

At the outset, Ai Maekawa is grinding through the last days of a miserable junior high experience. She’s a typical jimi, plain and shy, and when she isn’t invisible to her classmates, they’re picking on her. After a humiliating low point, she vows to go to a high school where nobody knows her and become popular by any means necessary.

After a break devoted to starvation diets, gallons of zit cream, and expensive cosmetics (those pillars of female empowerment), she’s a stunner by her first day of high school. Equal parts artifice and Art of War, she’s determined to make a splash. Ai instantly draws the attention of popular, handsome Sô, who helps her become Head Girl of her class.

Unfortunately, she alienates her female classmates in the process. And while she’s got the looks for popularity, she doesn’t have the psychology. She’s constantly worried that her jimi past will be revealed, and her low self-esteem and residual outcast’s anger bubble up at the worst possible moments.

In one sense, Ai is a terrific protagonist for a screwball comedy like this. She’s obsessively determined to achieve her goals, acutely emotional, and just crafty enough to get herself in plenty of trouble. In other words, she’s her own worst enemy, which can be a real wellspring for comedy.

In another sense, she’s kind of sad. She may be popular, but she doesn’t seem any happier. Popularity is a tricky proposition, and it’s an awful lot of work for rewards that aren’t immediately apparent. Then there’s the question of whether her goals are worth pursuing in the first place. They’re shallow and transitory, but she’s too busy holding on to status to really think about what she gets out of it or what she might be giving up.

And that’s a tough conundrum for me as a reader. I know it’s a natural dilemma for people that age, but there’s something unsettling about the way it’s portrayed here. Creator Kaneyoshi Izumi uses a fairly light touch on material that might benefit from a somewhat sharper edge. If the intent is to poke holes in this kind of image-obsessed social climbing, it’s not entirely apparent. If that isn’t the intent, it’s too blithe an approach to subject matter that I think has kind of an ugly side.

As far as the mechanics of storytelling go, Izumi has real flair. She sets up screwball comedy nicely, and she uses character to drive it. Insecure Ai winds up in a range of sticky situations, and Izumi finds inventive, varied ways to resolve them. The comic set pieces also end up being pretty revealing, showing new sides of Ai’s classmates.

Those classmates are a pretty appealing bunch, by the way. Sô is a blend of pretty-boy entitlement, mischievousness, and a modicum of decency. Yuichiro, Sô’s “faithful assistant,” fills the role of level-headed foil nicely. Aggressive Mina is an amusingly pragmatic, would-be temptress. They provide a nice backdrop to Ai’s highly strung shenanigans.

I’ve seen Izumi’s art likened to that of Hot Gimmick’s Miki Aihara, and it’s an apt comparison. Izumi delivers clean, clear storytelling while stylishly conveying the story’s heightened emotions. While a bit less polished than Aihara’s work, it’s lovely to look at.

But even with all these strengths in its favor, I still can’t pin down exactly how Doubt!! feels about its subject matter. On another level, I’m wondering if I’m bringing too many politically correct expectations to the table or over-personalizing things with my own not-so-fond memories of high school social politics.

So I guess I ultimately have to ask if I want to know what happens in next. Izumi has displayed plenty of craft and inventiveness as a storyteller, and that goes a long way. And I do want to know how things progress. It’s not the same kind of “what happens next” feeling I get with Hot Gimmick or Imadoki!, where I’m swept up in the story, but it’s enough to keep me on board.

(This review is based on a preview copy provided by Viz. Doubt!! is set for release in March.)

Another installment of The Basement Tapes, another confused reaction for me. This time out, Joe Casey and Matt Fraction talk about the end of the writer-driven era of mainstream comics.

Wait… there was a writer-driven era of mainstream comics? And it’s over? Damn it!

Sarcasm aside (for now), the problem I typically have with these columns crops up again. Casey and Fraction don’t do much to define their terms. They name-check the “writer-driven era” and put its peak in the early 2000s, dropping a few names along the way, but they don’t really stick with the idea. They also don’t convince me that there really was one.

Some of the names dropped – Brian Bendis, Warren Ellis, and Grant Morrison – still get name-above-the-title treatment, at least in terms of marketing. Honestly, would Ultimate Nightmare get anywhere near the attention it did if Ellis wasn’t writing it? Do I even need to list the examples of the leeway Bendis seems to get as a star writer? As long as there are star creators, writer or artist or both, there will be at least something of a star system.

Casey makes the following observation, which is blindingly obvious on its face and strangely telling at the same time:

“I guess I figure that — in the mainstream — the publishers are always there. They are the perennial Beast that must be outsmarted and somehow thwarted in our endless quest for Lasting Art (even in the area of capes and tights).”

And that’s the nature of work-for-hire, isn’t it? No one going into corporate comics should reasonably expect a free hand, should they? (I’m talking about expectations in the realistic sense, just looking at the overwhelming evidence of history.) And that’s the nature of corporate comics – it’s always going to be publisher driven, though they’ll incorporate whatever fads (name writers, hot artists, big events, retro, etc.) they think might prove profitable at that time. You don’t have to like it by any means, but it’s a little disingenuous to pretend it comes as a surprise.

I don’t think there’s a predictable cycle to these things, and I agree with something Fraction said:

“I’m having a lot of trouble discerning just what exactly is going on, to tell you the truth. If anything at all, honestly: if there’s a trend I don’t see it and I certainly don’t feel it. Is it about Superstar Creators? Maybe here and there, but it feels closer to the end than the beginning. Is it about Superstar Characters? Sort of, but it’s just gonna get marginalized down to two or three books per company, per line. Tie-In? Not if ‘Elektra’ is the harbinger of things to come. Realism? Grim and Gritty? Re-reloaded?”

For me, the question is whether it’s ever really been any other way. Marvel and DC will always throw a bunch of different things at the wall to see what sticks, even if they’ve got something going that’s working particularly well. It’s just the nature of the beast.

Pop Culture Shock has preview pages of DC’s Countdown(er) and Marvel’s House of M(isery). It makes BeacoupKevin wonder of DC couldn’t use a Zoloft or two. He ends with a perfectly reasonable request of publishers of super-hero comics:

“Show me people doing good things because they can. Show me heroes doing what they should do. Stop dragging them through the mud and elevate them. I don’t think the argument that they need to be characters to which the can audience relate means that they have to have awful things happen to them nor do they need to be ‘pushed to the edge,’ as is in vogue.”

Amen. I got the vibe Kevin asks for from the second issue of Legion of Super-Heroes. The third comes out this week. Hopefully, it can keep up the trend.

(Kevin focuses on DC downers. For a more expansive look at misery, stop by Kung Fu Monkey for a look at what John Rogers calls the “Year of the Bummer.”)

Marvel’s quota of fun will be filled by Spider-Man/Human Torch 2, brought to you by Dan Slott and Ty Templeton. I know it probably won’t happen, but I would love it if Gwen Stacy and Crystal (featured in this issue) ditched their dates and headed off to an East Village fortune teller to see what their futures hold. “Wait a minute… I lose my virginity to who?” “Ick, I marry Quicksilver? Doesn’t he have a thing for his sister? And I cheat on him?” Yes, Marvel’s maidens-gone-wild… who could blame them for dismissing such fearsome visions?

Those interested in female archetypes in Marvel comics might want to pop by Usenet. Shawn Hill is looking at the women of Marvel Comics through the maiden-mother-crone construct, and other people are putting in their two cents.

Viz ships out a new volume of Hot Gimmick, which ended with a pretty loaded emotional cliffhanger the last time out. Naturally, I’m eager to see where the A-plot goes, but would it kill Miki Aihara to give me more Akane and Subaru? Because those two? Are adorable.

Manga, manga, everywhere!

Johanna Draper Carlson does an excellent overview of DC’s CMX line of manga at Comics Worth Reading. (As a side note, I knew she’d like Alice 19th.)

Dorian at Postmodern Barney had pretty much the same reaction to IWGP that I did, which is always reassuring. He seemed to like Worst a bit more, though I agree that the character Hana is a winner.

Christopher Butcher talks about some of the week’s upcoming releases, including manga, at Previews Review. In the process, he points to Tangonat’s review of Doubt! from Viz. I’m a little more ambivalent about the title than Tangonat, and I think I’ll have to give it another read before I say anything more.

At Ninth Art, Alex Dueben jumps on the Planetes love train.

At Newsarama, Brian Hibbs provides a very detailed analysis of Bookscan’s graphic novel report for 2004. I would love to hear other retailers respond to something Hibbs has encountered:

“I truly don’t understand why we’re seeing such drastically different results in the DM than in the bookstores with manga. The other places on the list where BookScan shows great sales, I’m doing well with that work – but not manga. I can barely give manga away. Sales are compressed in the first weeks, then I never sell another copy again. I’m stuck with a disproportionate amount of unsalable stock, and more product is being released than I could possibly rack, even if the sales were there. This perplexes me.”

I’ve heard some stories that run from mirroring Hibbs’s experience to the polar opposite, that manga flies off the shelves and has brought in a whole new group of customers.

Last, and least, at Comic World News I gush about Paul Gravett’s Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics.