The Manga Curmudgeon

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

Previews review

by

It’s time for a look through the latest Diamond Previews catalog! (Only slightly related, but it’s also time for a lot of publishers to updated their web pages!)

Sometimes all it takes is a gorgeous illustration to make me want a book, and that’s certainly the case with Mi-Kyung Yun’s Bride of the Water God (Dark Horse, page 44). In my defense, the plot sounds interesting too, with a human sacrifice getting even more than she bargained for.

Sample pages (and great-looking art) go a long way towards piquing my interest in Mike and Louise Carey and Aaron Alexovich’s Confessions of a Blabbermouth (DC – Minx, pages 118-120). The fact that it’s about a blogger probably doesn’t hurt either.

For those of you who passed on Andi Watson and Simon Gane’s Paris (Amaze Ink/SLG, page 218) in single issues, it’s being released in collected form. The story is okay – two very different girls meet and fall in love in the City of Light – but the art is truly wonderful.

I snickered at part of the solicitation for Hoyuta Fujiyama’s Ordinary Crush (DMP – Juné, page 286) – “in an all boys school where 90% of the students are gay” – until I remembered the rumors about some of the parochial schools in the area where I grew up.

Well, lots of people have been wondering about the health of Ice Kunion, given shifting shipping dates and an unresponsive web site, but they’ve got listings in this month’s catalog (page 309). Take that for whatever it’s worth, which might be nothing.

My adorability sensors have been triggered by Mizuo Shinonome’s Chibimono (Infinity Studios, page 319). It’s about a guardian spirit for household items with some serious memory problems.

Bryan Lee O’Maley’s Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together (Oni Press, page 330) is almost here. That is all.

Vertical offers more classic stuff from Keiko (To Terra…) Takemia with Andromeda Stories (page 368), the first of a three-volume science fiction story.

There’s no cover image to lure me, but I’ll give anything in Viz’s Signature line a look. The latest addition is Taiyo Matsumoto’s TEKKONKINKREET: Black and White. (Okay, so it’s just a repackaging of a series that Viz has published previously. It’s still nice that they’re giving older, weirder books from their catalog another shot at an audience.)

Intellectual property

by

ComiPress takes a three–part look at the legal and ethical issues involved in online translations of web-based content. It’s one of those resources that I suspect will have a long, useful shelf life (even though they asked for my completely uninformed opinion on the subject). And in case you were wondering:

“Readers may translate and publish this article into another language without asking for specific permission from the copyright holder (that’s us!). However, it would make us happier if you inform us of your translation and credit us as the source :)”

Minxed messages

by

Blog@Newsarama’s Kevin Melrose links to an interesting, awkwardly titled piece in The Wall Street Journal about comics publishers’ attempts to attract female readers. Using manga as a starting point, writer Matt Phillips looks at DC’s Minx line and makes a conscientious effort to try and winnow out evidence of the trend at Marvel:

“Last year, Marvel launched its ‘Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter’ series of comic books, based on the swift-selling novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. The title character in the series tracks criminals through the sometimes-seedy vampire underground of St. Louis. The series has proven popular with women and brought a range of new shoppers into Carol & John’s Comic Book Shop in Cleveland, says co-owner John Dudas. ‘They came out of nowhere,’ Mr. Dudas says.”

I probably shouldn’t put too much weight on a sound byte, but “They came out of nowhere” strikes me as extremely telling. I’m guessing that the average comic shop was probably viewed by these customers as “nowhere” too, though, until they had a specific reason to brave its interior.

Speaking of potentially unhelpful sound bytes, take it away, Karen Berger:

“DC Comics has an existing manga imprint, called CMX, which is translated from Japanese. The new Minx series will mimic the general look and price-point of manga. But Ms. Berger stresses that the books are designed with American readers in mind. They read in the standard, left-to-right, manner. And they’re written in English, not translated.”

Maybe it’s just a clumsy paraphrasing of what Berger actually said, but plenty of American readers don’t really seem to demand that level of consideration. (Unless they bought those 9.2 million units of manga just to be polite.) And what was DC going to do? Make its creators work right to left? (Bonus points to Phillips for mentioning that DC already has a manga line, though.) It sometimes seems like Berger is trying to lure readers of manga by assuring them that the Minx books are nothing like manga. I could be misinterpreting her intention, though.

Speaking of Minx, the second part of Mariah Huehner’s look at the Minx line is up at Sequential Tart, which is interesting reading:

“What I care about are the creators who have worked damn hard to make these books and who have, to some extent, gotten a raw deal when it comes to the critiques. More people are focusing on who’s publishing this line than who is directly involved in making the actual books. To me, that’s more important.”

I don’t think that’s entirely true. Don’t get me wrong – I think there’s considerable talent involved in the Minx line and I’m interested in all of the books in the initial launch. I’ll probably read all of them, because I generally admire the creators involved and the books’ premises intrigue me.

That doesn’t prevent me from considering the marketing messages and strategies and considering Minx in context of DC’s core product line. There’s some genuine clumsiness in the way DC has discussed and positioned this initiative, and it’s fair to point that out, partially because it does a disservice to the creators involved and their work.

Blast from the past

by

I stopped by Barnes & Noble yesterday to pick up a copy of Otaku USA, and I got a pleasant surprise while looking through the new paperbacks display. First of all, there are new editions of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series, which look nice. Second, every one of the new covers announces the imminent arrival of a sequel, Michael Tolliver Lives (from HarperCollins).

The Tales books were tremendously important to me when I first read them, way back during my college years. They were the first books I’d come across that didn’t present homosexuality as a problem or an issue. They were also the first books I’d read featuring gay and lesbian protagonists that were actually funny. They portrayed people of all sexual orientations living alluringly rounded lives in relative harmony, and their soap operatic structure certainly didn’t hurt. (The first four books were originally serialized in The San Francisco Chronicle.) Reading them was like receiving dispatches from the interpersonal Promised Land.

I haven’t read them in a long time, so I have no idea how they’ve aged or what my current reaction to them would be. I’m a little reluctant to do so, for fear that their initial impact and my nostalgia for them led me to enshrine them beyond their actual merit. And I’ve found that I haven’t been able to fairly evaluate Maupin’s other novels, Maybe the Moon and The Night Listener, probably owing to my fondness for the Barbary Lane crowd. (I think they suffer from a case of Serious Novelist Syndrome, and sly callbacks to the Tales books didn’t make me any fonder of them.)

But it will certainly be interesting to reacquaint myself with the Tales cast and to see how Maupin approaches them. And in a summer that doesn’t promise new installments from some of my favorite mystery authors (Elizabeth Peters and Tony Hillerman, for two), the book will nicely fill a gap in my summer reading.

Quick comic comments: MPD-Psycho

by

Just a couple of initial reactions to MPD-Psycho (Dark Horse):

  • Was anyone else put off by the font used for the dialogue? It seemed excessively bold to me, like everyone was shouting all the time. At the same time, it almost struck me as kind of whimsical, like the specialty font that might be used for a fantasy character to provide contrast. (It’s possible that I’m just a little overly sensitive to lettering.)
  • If the Nymphet controversy didn’t provide sufficient evidence of cultural differences in terms of age-appropriateness of material between Japan and the U.S., the fact that this book was originally published in a kids’ comic (it was in a shônen magazine, according to the author’s notes) should bolster the argument. Nipples! Dismemberments! Fetish gear!

    • It was a pretty absorbing read, though, once I got used to the font. I like the premise and (surprisingly, given my general level of squeamishness) wasn’t too bothered by the explicit gore and violence. I’m not entirely sold on the series yet, but I’ll definitely be back for the next volume.

    Why, why, WHY?

    by

    Okay, this is clearly just a pet peeve of mine, and I should just accept it as a matter of course and move on, but that’s never been my best event.

    So why is it worth Publishers Weekly Comics Week’s notice that Marvel’s The Road to Civil War has spent two months at the bottom of its best-seller list, but it’s not noteworthy that three volumes of popular manga series (Fruits Basket 16, Fullmetal Alchemist 12, and Naruto 13) have managed the same feat, and at higher sales ranks than Road on their May and June charts? In light of the ongoing discussion of the commercial viability of comics for girls, they might also have pointed out that for the past two months two of the top five slots on the lists have been occupied by shôjo manga. Admittedly, there’s not a whole lot left to be said about the commercial success of Fruits Basket any more than there is regarding Naruto’s, though you’d think that subsequent placements of first and third place might earn it a sentence or two of narrative.

    Get on the omnibus

    by

    I’m a big fan of the omnibus concept, even though I’m usually too impatient to hold off on purchasing individual volumes of a given series. John Jakala has drawn attention to Del Rey’s omnibus editions of some of its popular series, and he’s even weeded through a panel report at Book Expo America to winnow out rumor of possible Naruto omnibus editions from Viz. And, just to take the concept even farther, he’s compiled a list of series that might benefit from the omnibus treatment.

    There are several series that I think would benefit from an omnibus release, either to collect the content in a more handsome package or to provide inexpensive introductions to long-running series (like Bleach) and make it easier for new readers to catch up. I’d definitely second John’s votes for Love Roma (Del Rey), which I thought was underappreciated in terms of sales during its five-volume run, and Sgt. Frog, for the reasons John details.

    Before I go any further, I should admit that I’m not really sure what kind of negotiations these repackaging would require. I’m guessing they’re pretty specific and that the prospect of a reprint in a different format would require a new round of licensing negotiations, so I might just be thinking wishfully. That’s obviously never stopped me before, so here we go:

    Antique Bakery (Digital Manga): Critically acclaimed, and rightly so, this is a book that I think deserves a high-end omnibus treatment. That’s not to say that DMP’s treatment of the individual volumes looked bad, but a keepsake approach, with some additional extras and a gorgeous hardcover package would probably get quite a warm welcome. Ice the cake.

    Chikyu Misaki (CMX): Only three volumes long, this series would fit quite neatly into an omnibus edition, and it would give a boost to a critically appreciated but (I think) underperforming series. As far as packaging, it could go either way. I can see it packaged as a higher-end novel-like product, or as a more economical done-in-one volume.

    Paradise Kiss (Tokyopop): Five volumes of content might be tricky to jam into one book, but what content! And what a book it would be! As Stephanie Chan noted at Blog@Newsarama, Ai Yazawa’s fashion-student manga has broad appeal, and it would be a good way to take advantage of the increasing popularity of Yazawa’s Nana.

    Planetes (Tokyopop): I think higher-end packaging would be the way to go with this series, which I still think would appeal to fans of science fiction in prose form.

    Scott Pilgrim (Oni): Oni has demonstrated its willingness to play with the omnibus experiment, and they’re always good about re-listing older material, and this could provide some nice series support. They could also fold in Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Lost at Sea as a bonus. (Oni might also consider putting together a Courtney Crumrin omnibus, now that I think about it.)

    Hot properties in general: It might seem kind of odd to suggest this, given that the titles are still gaining new readers for individual volumes, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to consider omnibus editions of Fullmetal Alchemist (a glaring omission from my list of favorite comics from women creators, thankfully rectified by Kevin Melrose at the aforelinked Blog@ piece), Fruits Basket and Death Note, either in tricked-out or quick-and-cheap versions.

    Shôjo in general: I think this would work on a couple of different levels. Shôjo series tend to have shorter runs than their shônen counterparts, so they’d be easier to package in omnibuses.

    Yaoi and shônen-ai in general: I could be wrong, but I suspect there might well be an audience for keepsake versions of favorite series, or even omnibus collections of shorter works from favored creators.

    I would also think that Tokyopop’s original works would really lend themselves to the omnibus treatment, once their initial three-volume runs are completed. Again, I’m not sure how contractual arrangements would influence that kind of strategy.

    As far as existing omnibuses (why isn’t “omnibi” a word?!) that I would have snapped up if I hadn’t already purchased the individual volumes, I’d recommend Girl Genius (though I’d miss the gorgeous colors), Bone and Northwest Passage.

    The geek shall inherit

    by

    This week’s shipping list seems designed to thrill the hardcore manga consumer.

    First up is Dark Horse’s release of MPD-Psycho, and here’s what the publisher has to say about it:

    “Originally licensed by another U.S. publisher, MPD-Psycho was deemed too shocking for them to release. But Dark Horse is always prepared to give manga readers what they want!”

    Sometimes only a couple of weeks after they were originally solicited! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) The book is written by Eiji Otsuka, of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service fame, so that’s promising. It’s illustrated by Sho-U Tajima, whose name doesn’t ring a bell, but Dark Horse promises “controversial and unflinchingly grotesque glory.” This sort of thing isn’t my usual cup of tea, but I find myself overwhelmed by pre-release buzz.

    Early word on the debut issue of Otaku USA (Curtis Circulation) has been overwhelmingly positive, which shouldn’t be surprising given the credentials of many of the contributors. Here’s Jog’s run-through, and here are the views of the good folks at Heisei Democracy. (That last link was found via Simon Jones.)

    I’m still not entirely clear on what to expect from Aranzi Aronzo’s Aranzi Machine Gun from Vertical, but I’m intrigued all the same by the promise of “a massive assault of cuteness and ridiculousness, with a special craft section at the end of every issue, to make practical use of the hilarious (if useless) inside scoops you got in the rest of the book.”

    My sides (and sinuses) hurt

    by

    This week’s Flipped takes a look at some new and upcoming comedy series and measures their respective guffaw quotients.

    One thing I neglected to mention about Gin Tama (Viz – Shonen Jump Advanced): the first volume also features a really spiffy back-up story, “Dandelion.” It’s basically a less benevolent take on the same material covered in Omukae Desu (CMX), but with a healthy dose of cynicism and a strangely successful gangster vibe.

    From the stack: Solfège

    by

    Given the amount of praise I’ve heaped on the manga of Fumi Yoshinaga over the years, it seems only fair to note when she doesn’t entirely deliver. And while the concept of “mediocre Yoshinaga manga” still suggests a higher general level of quality than many mangaka could muster, I still found Solfège (Juné) disappointingly average.

    In it, a pompous but talented music teacher, Kugayama, takes an interest in a dim but promising young singer, Tanaka. Given his lack of academic promise and musical ability, Tanaka has set his sights on admission to music school. Kugayama overcomes his natural apathy to tutor Tanaka in music theory and arranges voice lessons for the boy with a friend. When Tanaka’s troubled family life threatens to derail his ambitions, Kugayama takes Tanaka into his home.

    Of course, their relationship turns sexual, and complications ensue. Surprisingly, they’re the kind of complications you’d expect to emerge from an illicit-by-definition student-teacher liaison. Not so surprisingly, Kugayama feels the loss of their separation more keenly than he would have expected, which leads to some rather dire consequences.

    If that all sounds rather linear for a Yoshinaga outing, it is, which is one of the disappointments. There are none of Yoshinaga’s usual narrative meanderings, and the plot ticks along with craft but without much surprise.

    Another shortcoming is in the area of characterization. I’m used to Yoshinaga’s creations leaping off the page, and while the portraits here are solid and serviceable, there isn’t much leaping in evidence. Since the cast lacks specificity and quirkiness, the opportunities for character-driven comedy are minimized.

    It’s just so straightforward – perfectly competent in execution, but never really coming to life. Anyone expecting a visit to the warmly weird, richly rendered world Yoshinaga usually composes is in for something of a letdown.