Manga Files

I was dismayed when I noticed in the latest Previews that Steady Beat Book 3 was listed as “cancelled by publisher”, because I have very much enjoyed the previous volumes. Then I saw that the author was having discussions with her publisher over whether the series should end with book 3 (Tokyopop’s choice) or 4 (her preference). Uh oh. (That thread also has some interesting lessons about art as a profession and speculation about the publisher’s decision-making.) So I emailed Tokyopop, who reassured me that the book was just running late, with no reschedule date yet. Whew! I’m glad there’s still hope, assuming all the decisions can get hammered out.

As if a Manga Bible or two wasn’t enough, now there’s a new series promising Bible heroes… but with robots!

That’s not the only … unusual choice made by new publisher JMG Comics. More on that after the press release.

THE COOLEST COMIC BOOK YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER EVER CONFISCATED!

New Comic Series Brings ‘New Twist’ to ‘Old Testament’

JMG Comics, a division of JMG Studios, is pleased to announce the upcoming release of its first comic book series, MECHA MANGA BIBLE HEROES.

(more…)

Wow, a week I’m excited about! Although some of it is bittersweet…

Superheroes

Diana Prince: Wonder Woman
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I was very pleasantly surprised by The Twelve #1, reading it multiple times with enjoyment. So I’m curious to see if I like the second issue as much.

I’m excited to see Alan Davis bringing back his superhero family in Clandestine #1.

That both of these are miniseries helps, since it gives me hope that they will have rewarding endings.

On the DC side, there’s Diana Prince: Wonder Woman, a collection of 60s-era Mike Sekowsky stories from Wonder Woman #178-184 and Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #93. They’re not great reads, but they have a certain energy.

Manga

I didn’t realize that Flock of Angels was a short series. Book two of three is out this week.

T Campbell and Amy Mebberson’s comedy of pop stardom, Divalicious, ends this week with book two.

My beloved Tramps Like Us ends with book 14, and I’m simultaneously looking forward to it and dreading it. Because I like it so much, I don’t want it to end.

Other

Exhibit A Press has a new issue of Mavis, number 5. You can read the description here.

Following up their teaser announcement, Tokyopop has announced details of their Dreaming prose competition.

Aside from cash prizes — one $500 and two $100 prizes will be awarded — there’s the “opportunity to be published by Tokyopop” (no promises):

All winning entries are eligible for: (i) publication in the TOKYOPOP 2008 Pop Fiction Sample book(s) presently scheduled for release in July of 2008, (ii) consideration for commission as a full-length prose adaptation of The Dreaming manga, and (ii) use by TOKYOPOP in its business activities including, but not limited to, marketing and publishing.

Yes, the two 2’s are theirs. The rules are stringent. You must print and mail your entry. No online entries of any kind (which seems kind of retro for a web-announced contest). No artwork can be included. No pen names. And you must sign an entry statement that grants Tokyopop

a worldwide, royalty-free, exclusive right and license, but not an obligation, to use, reproduce, publish, distribute, and display the winning submission and his or her name, address, and other personal information (in whole or in part) in any media now or hereafter known and in perpetuity

In other words, they own it, kids. And your likeness, too, for promoting the contest and the property. This is not surprising, given Tokyopop’s history of supporting young creators in return for large shares of their work.

And I’m quoting this guideline just for the heck of it:

Your entry will be disqualified if it describes blatant or explicit sexual content or grotesque carnage. This means that the judging panel will disqualify your submission if it contains explicit descriptions of nudity, disemboweling, decapitations, dismemberment, or other shockingly repellent behavior or scenes. Insinuations of sexual situations and slaughter are allowed; however, the judges will be extremely critical of gratuitous descriptions and dialogue.

“Insinuations of slaughter”. Isn’t that a lovely phrase?

In February, Digital Manga’s Juné imprint is releasing All Nippon Airlines: Paradise at 30,000 Feet by Kei Azumaya. Yes, this is the yaoi title with the very descriptive acronym. From the press release:

All Nippon Airlines
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ANAL – All Nippon Air Lines – is a unique airline company. All of its employees are beautiful gay men. On top of that, relationships between employees, or even between passengers and employees, are highly encouraged! This is of course the premise for many hilarious situations and strange adventures both for them and for their passengers.

To celebrate the release, June Manga is producing a limited edition dust jacket. “The bookstores didn’t want to actually see ANAL written on the cover,” explains sales manager Eric. “But the play on words is what really makes the book unique. We figured a limited edition dust jacket would be a way to give the fans what they want, but also make the bookstores happy.”

At the Juné site, there’s a comparison of the two jackets as well as details on how to request your own copy of the ANAL version. They’re giving them away at their convention appearances; you can order one if you buy the book from their online store; or you can send them your address and extra stamps if you live in the U.S.

I like this promotion idea. It’s difficult enough to fulfill to make it special for fans, but not so difficult that people will be turned away.

Amazon Unbox, the video download service, has announced that they have significantly increased the Japanese anime and movie downloads they have available. If you visit their anime store, they’re also offering the first episodes of the following series for free:

• Naruto
• Death Note
• Bleach
• Afro Samurai
• Basilisk
• Astro Boy

Plus, season purchases are 30% off the individual episode prices. Sadly, because they use a proprietary player, these videos are only available for Windows XP PCs in the United States or on TiVo DVRs.

I’m surprised, given how many have backed away from asking for submissions, to see any publisher make an open call these days, let alone one as reputable as Del Rey Manga.

We really want to hear from you. Del Rey has recently licensed a couple of outstanding original manga series from terrific new talents. But we’re always looking for exciting new work. Check out our official submission guidelines.

They state they don’t accept submissions from writers without artists. They’ll look at either book proposals or artist portfolios, but no fanfiction, only original work. Wanna be discovered? Check it out.

Tokyopop’s new Rising Stars contest is a lot more specialized. They’re having a prose Dreaming competition. They haven’t yet announced official rules, prizes (aside from “the opportunity to be published by Tokyopop”), or entry forms, but the gist is this: Write a 20- to 40-page story using the characters, concept, and the world of Queenie Chan’s The Dreaming. Due date is April 15.

I do like this paragraph:

Your story should stay true to canon as set out in The Dreaming manga, without revising or contradicting the existing manga story and/or characterizations. What does “canon” mean? It’s all the information that can be gleaned from the original three volumes of The Dreaming manga; in other words, anything that the great Queenie Chan has established about her characters and world in print.

It’s interesting to see both the emphasis on staying true to the existing story and the use of the adjective “great” to praise the creator.

I’m surprised to see the emphasis on writing. Can Tokyopop be seeking to match up their own creative teams? American publishers have traditionally used separate creators for different parts of the process in order to turn out work faster and avoid copyright claims. Or is Tokyopop responding to criticism about its young creators perhaps needing more help with story structure and other editorial concerns? Or do they just want to sell more books from this series as aspiring creators seek out the source material?

Regardless, aspiring comic writers get few enough chances to get “discovered”. Here’s wishing the entrants good luck.

This year, Kai-Ming Cha named a non-manga book by Jeffrey Brown to her Top 10 Manga of 2007 list for Publishers Weekly Comic Week. This obviously caused some discussion. I just read The Building Opposite, mostly because it was #1 on her Top 10 Manga of 2006 list, and discovered that it’s not manga either.

The Building Opposite
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It’s by Vanyda, a young French artist, and it’s a series of incidents in the lives of the inhabitants of a small apartment building. There’s a young couple on the top floor, an older couple with a large dog on the middle floor, and a single mother with a four-year-old on the first floor. It’s much more European than Japanese in both mood and art style, with loose linework and expressive figures. It’s not bad, but it’s not great, either — I don’t have much to say about it either way.

The book it reminds me of most, actually, is Gabrielle Bell’s Lucky, because of its episodic nature and its semi-autobiographical feel. (If the events didn’t happen to the author, they feel like they could have.) Others have compared it to Optic Nerve.

I just don’t understand why it would be called manga. It’s not in the usual digest format; instead, it’s graphic novel-sized, just a little shorter than a typical American comic book. The subject matter would fit right into an independent or “art” comic. It should go without saying that there aren’t any of the stereotypical manga elements included: no robots, maids, schoolkids, soap opera complications, fighting, science fiction, none of that. It doesn’t look like manga: no big eyes, large heads, exaggerated proportions. It doesn’t even look like the older-audience josei manga I’ve seen.

The only reason I can see to tag it “manga” is the publisher. Fanfare/Ponent Mon has put out some very good translated manga, including The Walking Man and Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators. They’ve also put out some books that they call “nouvelle manga“, which seems to be shorthand for “comics made by Frenchmen who like manga and Japanese women”. I kid, but if it weren’t for the publisher labeling these books as manga-influenced, I doubt anyone would call them that independently.

I have no problem calling books by non-Japanese creators manga (for instance, Dramacon) if they seem to fit and it’s a useful descriptor. In this case, though, I’m lost.

Viz Omnibuses

Rurouni Kenshin
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Viz is joining the omnibus trend (a much-applauded one on my end) by announcing the VIZBIG Edition imprint. These volumes collect three regular-size manga books for $17.99. It’s an obvious great deal for those who’ve never tried a series, but to entice those who already have the content, they’re also including “bonus color pages and added content such as author interviews, updated text, and character art.”

The first title, Rurouni Kenshin, comes out at the end of this month. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z are due in May and Vagabond in September.

I love bigger books for lower prices, but I wonder what kind of long-term effects these projects will have. It’s getting to be like DVDs … the longer you wait, the better package you get, so why buy at release? With the current Amazon preorder discount, the book is just over $12, which compares very favorably with the non-discounted price of $30! for the three books bought separately.

Dark Horse Shojo?

Oh My Goddess! Book 1
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You’ve likely already seen a link to this interview with Mike Richardson, CEO of Dark Horse. I’m curious about his quote, “we now have several shojo titles that are doing very well.” What are they? I only think of boy-targeted manga coming out from them, either horror or Oh My Goddess. I know they’ve got some CLAMP work planned, but the way I’m reading his comment suggests he’s talking about something already released. What am I forgetting?

(Mike goes on to say “it’s hard to get noticed particularly if you’re a writer, because we have to take time to read those scripts and that’s a hard thing to do with all the scripts we already have. … On the Internet though, someone who may not have been able to get noticed can put up their own strip.” How does a writer do that, exactly? Unless they’re James Hatton.)

An Excellent Top Ten List

Dallas Middaugh, Associate Publisher at Del Rey Manga, posts his top ten of 2007 list. I’m kind of “eh” on 6-10, but 2-5 are great, and I guess that means I should read #1.

He also asks some good questions about PW’s top ten manga list. For their other comic end-of-year coverage, they ask several people to participate to create a combined result (including me). I don’t understand why they don’t do the same thing when it comes to manga. For that matter, why do two different lists, since manga’s allowed on the “big list”, and this year, non-manga showed up on the manga one?

I hope Dallas does ask Japanese editors what they think of Jeffrey Brown — I’d love to know.

Viz Titles for Spring

Sand Chronicles Book 1
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Viz has always been my favorite manga publisher, because their works, especially shojo titles, are most consistently satisfying to me. I’m thrilled by their list of new series for first quarter 2008.

I’ve already covered (and recommended) High School Debut. After hearing good things, I have copies of Sand Chronicles and Honey and Clover on the way, and I expect to enjoy them too. The other titles branch out somewhat, covering different genres for wider variety of readers. Which are you looking forward to?

Undertown Daily Strip

OEL manga Undertown, just mentioned in Tokyopop’s manga magazine, is getting more promotion. It’s become a Sunday comic strip.

[Writer] Jim Pascoe announced today that his original English-language manga UNDERTOWN will be the new property running in TOKYOPOP’s syndicated slot starting … Sunday, January 6, 2008. Since 2005, TOKYOPOP has provided a rotating selection of manga to Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes comics and columns globally to newspapers. Over 50 papers plan to carry Undertown, including the Los Angeles Times, Denver Post, Vancouver Sun, and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

I’ve never seen one of these manga strips; I imagine it’s frustrating, getting only three or four panels of a story a week when it can be read as one book.

Read Gott Gauss Online

I haven’t had a chance to check it out, but artist Viviane would like you to read her manga Gott Gauss. It was originally published in German, and then translated into English and put online. Let me know what you think.

Good for the Goose…

This site thinks Death Note is great. (I thought it was terribly disappointing.) They attack criticism of the series as not being “detailed and intelligent”, yet their defense of the book consists of the words “fantastic”, “super smart”, and “great” repeated six times. If they want more intelligent criticism, maybe they should demonstrate it first?

They also remind us “What you like and what is objectively good do not always match up,” which I totally agree with. I have my own guilty pleasures, certainly. But it applies to them as well — just because they liked it doesn’t mean it’s good.