The Manga Curmudgeon

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

Upcoming 10/3/2007

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Okay, it’s not entirely in keeping with Obscure Comic Month, but this week does offer a lot of titles that might be classified as under-read, in spite of varying amounts of critical appreciation.

Dark Horse offers the fourth volume of Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki’s The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, which I really, really enjoy. (Short version: unemployable psychic college students help dead bodies – or parts of dead bodies – with unfinished business in hopes of financial recompense.) There’s also the second volume of Adam Warren’s Empowered, which is simultaneously extremely tawdry, extremely funny, and very sweet. I can see how the tawdriness might easily overwhelm the other two qualities for some readers, but I think Warren keeps things in just the right balance.

If you missed them the first time around, Fanfare/Ponent Mon gives you another crack at the splendid anthology, Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators, and Jiro Taniguchi’s The Walking Man. Japan collects short works from Japanese and European creators that range from really good to extraordinary. The Walking Man is one of the most serene reading experiences comics have to offer.

Tokyopop provides the eighth volume of the constantly surprising, sometimes terrifying series Dragon Head, by Minetaro Mochizuki. The seventh volume was probably the most haunting yet, and the relatively long wait between new installments hasn’t diminished my interest in what happens next.

Viz digs into its back catalog for a new addition to its Signature line. This time around, it’s Junji Ito’s extremely unsettling horror series, Uzumaki. I found the early chapters to be the strongest in the three-volume series, but it’s solid all the way through. It’s just scarier before the pattern solidifies and you aren’t really sure what you’re dealing with.

And okay, no one would call these obscure or underrated, but I like these series a lot, so I’ll mention new volumes of Ai Yazawa’s Nana (Viz), Kairi Fujiyama’s Dragon Eye (Del Rey), and Tenshi Ja Nai!! (Go! Comi). Alas, this is the final volume of the funny soap opera of cross-dressing pop idols that is Tenshi. I’ll miss you, emotionally unstable and fundamentally dishonest teens!

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.

No, really?

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I have a pet peeve, and I’m wondering if it bothers anyone else. Does it ever irritate you when a publisher puts “A Novel” on the cover of… well… a novel? Like, “Oh, thank heavens, I would have mistaken it for a cookbook that had been mistakenly shelved here in the fiction section if it weren’t for that thoughtful note.” It’s kind of like when a store adds “-pe” to “shop,” just in case nobody could figure out it was supposed to be quaint.

It’s just me, isn’t it?

'Tis the Seasonal Sampler

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I need a bigger mailbox. I’ve had to go to the post office three times this week to pick up parcels that wouldn’t fit. I love getting parcels, but I could do without the extra errands.

They’ve been worth it, though. One parcel came from Top Shelf, and it contained their Seasonal Sampler. It’s a very handsome collection of excerpts from the publisher’s graphic novels, concentrating on upcoming and recent works, with well-written introductions and creator biographies. It’s over 250 pages long, and it’s free.

You can order it from Top Shelf’s web site while supplies last, or you can pick one up at SPX if you’re going. If you pick the latter route, get it early, so you can browse and focus your shopping at the Top Shelf booth later. You should also buy an Owly t-shirt, because they’re timelessly stylish and super-comfy.

It doesn’t adopt a particularly hard-sell approach. Top Shelf is obviously enthusiastic about their catalog; they wouldn’t have published the books if they weren’t. But for the most part, they let the work speak for itself, which is an approach I always prefer.

It also lets me browse some titles that aren’t readily available at the local comic shop. I’ve sampled a fair amount of Top Shelf’s all-ages books and really enjoyed them (the aforementioned Owly and Spiral-Bound in particular), and I think Renée French’s The Ticking is amazing, but it’s nice to get a sense of the publisher’s full range. (At the same time, it lets me know that I really don’t need to rush to get my hands on the works of Jeffrey Brown or snag a copy of that scabrous super-hero parody by James Kolchalka.)

On the bright side, it gives me added incentive to track down Jeff Lemire’s Essex County books, and Andy Hartzell’s Fox Bunny Funny has rocketed onto my must-have list. Strangely, the book that excites me most isn’t really a comic at all but a collection of essays about American vice-presidents called Veeps by Bill Kelter and Wayne Shellabarger. (I can even get past the designer’s choice not to use hyphens to make it look more olde-tyme-y.)

Scanning

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ICv2 looks at recent BookScan numbers, and they find a whole lot of manga with a hefty dose of ninja in the mix:

1. Naruto 16
2. Naruto 17
3. Naruto 18
4. Fruits Basket Fan Book
5. Fruits Basket 17
6. Naruto Anime Profiles
7. Negima 15
8. Naruto 1
9. Naruto 15
10. Bleach 20
11. Death Note 1

The imminent arrival of the Death Note anime on Adult Swim is obviously giving that series some new legs, and Viz must be happy with the placement of the first volume of Naruto. It looks like the massive roll-out strategy is working quite nicely, particularly if you can draw a direct line from the multiple new releases to the renewed interest in the beginning of the series. (I’m not entirely sure you can, but it’s at least a dotted line.)

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.

Elk's run

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I’m really pleased with this season of Top Chef. Maybe it’s partly due to the fact that last season was such a parade of personality disorders with little or no content that focused on cuisine, but there’s a much better balance this year. People still get to be obnoxious and dysfunctional, but rarely at the expense of what they’re cooking. More often than not, obnoxiousness actually results in a contestant’s downfall, as opposed to carrying them to the finale.

Speaking of the finale, spoilers after the cut:

I’m pretty pleased with the final three contestants. The weird thing is that I would have been happy with just about any combination of the final six. (Okay, any trio of contestants after the departure of Howie, who annoyed me by opting out almost as often as he competed.)

Hung is an egotistical dork, but at least he’s got significant culinary skills to partially justify his demeanor. He can cook, and he seems young, so a certain amount of hubris is to be expected.

I don’t really have strong feelings about Casey one way or the other, though I will say that I would eat just about everything she’s cooked. Her flavor combinations and preparations always sound tempting, she works hard, and she’s unfailingly collegial to her fellow competitors.

I’m shamelessly partial to Big Gay Dale, though. As with Casey, his dishes always sound good to me, and I think he’s generally funny and adorable without being caustic or unkind. (Or crying all the time, like season one’s Big Gay Dave.)

So, I won’t be too unhappy no matter who wins. That’s always fun.