In yesterday’s year-in-review piece, Christopher Butcher commented that Yen Press had a “notoriously difficult time” getting licenses and wondered whether With the Light, their manga about autism, had sold well. Yen Press co-publisher Kurt Hassler, no stranger to the internets, popped up in the comments section to assert that With the Light surpassed all expectations and the company has no problem getting licenses; he threw in an interesting anecdote about how they came to acquire ICE Kunion as well.
Kurt also commented on Tiamat’s Disciple’s post about the gray market in the UK, noting that YP acquires UK rights for all its books and markets them through its UK sister company, Orbit. TD is impressed.
And here’s a treat: The Daily Yomiuri interviews With the Light creator Keiko Tobe.
Shaenon Garrity is finally folding the tent on her Overlooked Manga Festival, having run out of obscure manga to celebrate. She wraps up her segment on out-of-print Viz manga this week, and for the final installment, she’s asking readers to recommend their own favorites.
This Forbes article on the Romanian manga scene has a slightly manic tone that makes it that much more fun to read. And hey, Asterix doujinshi!
Now this is meta: Del Rey will publish Kujibiki Unbalance, the favorite fictional manga of our favorite fictional otaku, the characters in Genshiken.
David Welsh has a few random nuggets of wisdom to share, and Carlo Santos posts another Right Turn Only!! column up at ANN, in which he ruminates on Dramacon, Secret Comics Japan, and more. Ryan at Same Hat! Same Hat!! lists what he has been reading lately.
Giapet writes about another underappreciated manga at Fanboy.com: Bokurano, which is so underappreciated that it hasn’t even been licensed yet.
Talk about underappreciated! The publisher of Comic Gumbo, the first free manga magazine, has filed for bankruptcy.
Are comics part of a well-balanced adult lifestyle? Tom Baker of the Daily Yomiuri asks the experts. Also, Roland Kelts looks at how U.S. politics may affect anime and manga.
Have you always dreamed of building your own gundam? It’ll cost ya.
Historical curiosity: Steve Bunche takes a look at Takao Saito’s James Bond, the beta version of Golgo 13. (Via The Beat.)
Here are some free manga previews for you, but they’re in Japanese: Media Works has set up a website for its Dengeki comics, and they have put some chapters online (click on the gray buttons in the three boxes in the center, the ones with the open-book icons). And one of them is Inukami, which was recently licensed by Seven Seas; apparently fanservice is a universal language.
ICv2 has more on the demise of Newtype USA.
ComiPress is looking for new contributors.
Reviews: Stephen Taylor reviews Megatokyo for the Daily Yomiuri. Kethylia is the rare dissenter from the general praise of Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms. Julie enjoys vol. 9 of Yakitate!! Japan at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Sandra Scholes checks out vol. 1 of Poison Candy and Holly Ellingwood reads Trinity Blood: Rage Against the Moons Novel 2: Silent Noise at Active Anime. Billy Aguiar reviews vol. 1 of V.B. Rose at Prospero’s Manga and The Manga Bible at CBGXtra. Ishaan reviews vols. 3 and 4 of Junk at Manga Jouhou. Tiamat’s Disciple posts an overview of Tail of the Moon. Connie reviews vol. 1 of Kedamono Damono and vol. 10 of Lupin III at Slightly Biased Manga.
It made my day when Kurt posted his comment on my post, and his subsequent email impressed me even further. Yen Press is the first publisher who actively release in both the US and the UK at the same time, rather than as the odd release here and there like the other companies.
It certainly helps that they acquired some high profile manga to get them going (SPiral, Zombie Loan, Black God)
I for one have high hopes for them, and am looking forward to there future releases. Though i have to admit, it’s the first time that a publisher has taken the time to contact me, and listen to what i, as a fan, have to say. I actually felt like i was talkking to a human being, rather than a robot which is how i usually feel when talking to Tokyopop and others.