The YA lit blog Finding Wonderland interviews Svetlana Chmakova, creator of Dramacon and so much more. (Via Blog@Newsarama.)
David Welsh is buying a few new manga this week; there’s a brief but interesting discussion of Death Note in the comments.
Kai-Ming Cha has a nice interview with David Wise and Audry Taylor of Go!Comi. Also up at PWCW: A preview of vol. 5 of The Great Catsby. If you like it, you can read the whole thing for free on the Netcomics site.
New titles news at MangaCast: Ed is disappointed that Tokyopop allowed the announcement of 38 titles to leak before the summer cons, but he rallies and posts cover images anyway. He also points out that the “new titles” that Andre spotted from CPM are actually old titles that are finally showing up, but with Sweet Cream and Strawberries finally on the way, who can complain?
Meanwhile, Andre checks out CMX’s new titles for September. Simon Jones finds the manga in Adult Previews.
Simon also picks up on a recent case that may have far-reaching implications: A court in Japan recently ruled that the owner of a server could be found liable for copyright violations involving works stored on that server. Long story short: This could have a chilling effect on bootleg online manga and possibly scanlations as well.
Lyle has a good idea: How about a discount book club for subscribers to Shojo Beat and Shonen Jump, rewarding their loyalty with lower prices? (Via Sporadic Sequential.)
Mangaijin takes a look at Cowa, by Dragon Ball manga-ka Akira Toriyama. It’s a totally different comic with a totally different head, and it’s only available in scanlation at the moment.
Shogakukan has overtaken Kodansha as the biggest publisher in Japan.
The Japan Times has an entertaining article on the popularity of Japanese culture in Bahrain, while Yahoo News looks at manga and anime tourism.
Elae lists manga creator signings in Germany.
Reviews: Kethylia didn’t care for Mitsukazu Mihara’s Haunted House. At Active Anime, Holly Ellingwood reviews vol. 2 of Ichigenme, Scott Campbell checks out vol. 1 of Dragon Eye and vol. 1 of Brave Story, and Christopher Seaman reads vol. 6 of Pastel. Anime on DVD’s Julie Rosato enjoys La Vie en Rose. Dan Polley checks out vol. 5 of Pichi Pichi Pitch at Manga Life. Connie’s on a manga binge at Slightly Biased Manga, posting reviews of vol. 6 of Law of Ueki, vol. 10 of Swan, vol. 4 of Manhwa Novella Collection: Devil’s Trill, vols. 1, 2, and 3 of Peach Girl: Sae’s Story, and vols. 1 and 2 of Ouran High School Host Club. If that’s not enough Bisco Hatori for you, check out Julie’s review of vol. 2 of Millennium Snow at Mangamaniaccafe. Gina Marysol Ruiz enjoys the manga version of Romeo and Juliet at AmoxCalli. Matt Brady checks out the latest issue of Shojo Beat, which lots of people are picking up for the excerpt from Tezuka’s Princess Knight.
I haven’t seen anybody commenting on this rumor in the latest LITG:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13
“EUROPOP
I understand that Tokyopop are actively looking for French/European comics to licence, as the competition for Asian manga is hotting up – and TokyoPop don’t seem to be getting any new licenses.”
Do you think there is any truth to it?
I don’t think anyone is commenting on that CBR post because it sounds rather ill-informed. It’s true that the competition for Japanese licenses is very competitive, but Tokyopop doesn’t seem to be having and special difficulties securing licenses: of the 38 titles they just announced for the first half of 2008, at least 20 are Japanese (the rest are Korean or American). Tokyopop has already begun translating work by European artists for the American market (Gothic Sports is one example), so my guess is that they’re looking for more crossover titles between their American and European catalogs, not struggling to fill a void.
ChunHyang beat me to it: Yes, there’s a lot of competition, but Tokyopop seems to be doing OK.
One thing I hear from editors is that the Japanese publishers are very finicky about other uses of a licensed property. They may not approve of putting sample chapters online, making trailers, or other promotions. Korean publishers tend to be looser, which may be one reason why we’re seeing so much manhwa. And of course, if the creators work for Tokyopop, the sky’s the limit.
Just want to clarify something Brig… Not disappointed with TP about the Great 38 but I was disappointed with Amazon and the other distributors that allowed that info to go out before TP was able to.
I have heard that it is very difficult to coordinate that information with all the vendors and such but it does take the excitement away for fans like myself. You don’t see Harry Potter getting this treatment but then again is Futari H on that level?… For me it is.
Ed, what about the people who troll the Amazon listings looking for new titles before they are announced? Does that bother you? It seems like this is a favorite indoor sport for some folks.
What really intrigued me is the part about licencing French comics, I’d like to know if it means “Euromanga” titles like “Gothic sports”, (which I’m not sure if there are too many of them in France), or proper French Bande Dessinees.
Heh, troll fishing the Amazon… To be completely frank, I think its a pretty sad hobby but I don’t blame the trolls. They were not the ones who allowed the information to be released. Now that manga pubs are working with major distributors maybe they could get the same treatment as other books. I know PGW hasn’t leaked what books are down the pike for BroBooks and Dark Horse. Since the release of 20 titles from DramaQueen last winter Consortium has been good about that also.
You can still find a title here and there on the Simon & Schulster and HaperCollins lists announced early for Viz and TP, but generally they wait when it counts. I know I didn’t see the Tekkon Kinkreet release until a week after PWCW announced it. Same goes for CMX’s Presents. Even with all the cooks involved in sales there has to be some rules that should be followed to help pubs get the word out for maximum effect.