I’m starting with this just because the art is so pretty: The Malaysian blog Voize interviews Kathryn Chong, whose manga Puppet Eyes was first runner-up in the latest Morning International Manga Competition. (Image from Chong’s deviantART page; click on it to see more.)
Secondly, everyone who posted an answer to my question about reading manga in bookstores vs. illicitly online gets an A. That provided a lot of food for thought. The kid in question is not mine, but I think I’ll suggest the library to her. I find that I can get quite a few manga via inter-library loan, but there are two problems: They tend to only have the earlier volumes, and they don’t have many of the more mature titles. John Thomas mentioned that Dark Horse donates manga to libraries, which is great, but my library still shelves most manga in the YA section, and even if they put it in the adult section, they may be wary of titles with graphic sex and violence.
Mark Crilley’s delightful Miki Falls is soon to be a major motion picture; Paramount and Brad Pitt’s production company have picked up the movie rights.
Here’s a great resource for parents, teachers, and librarians: Lori Henderson has listed all the currently available All Ages manga on a single page, with handy links to the publishers’ catalog pages. Lori also posts her thoughts on reading manga on the Nintendo.
Ed Chavez has the full menu of the upcoming food manga, Oishinbo, at the MangaCast.
Erica Friedman rounds up the yuri news of the week at Okazu.
ComiPress posts an informative history of Comiket.
ICv2 reports that the Dabel Brothers will produce manga versions of two Dark-Hunter novels by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Vampire manga? Who knew.
News from Japan: Comic Alive will launch two new game-based manga, Queen’s Blade and Chaos;HEAd. And because you can never have too much pastry porn, Natsumi Matsumoto, creator of St. Dragon Girl, is starting a new manga titled Yumi-Iro Pâtissière (Dream-Colored Pastry Chef) in Ribon magazine. (Art lifted from the ANN post.)
Reviews: Let’s start with two from The Comics Reporter: Tom Spurgeon reviews Tokyo Zombie and David Welsh weighs in on Yen+ magazine. I think David sums it up nicely:
The magazine has variety and it has heft, but it doesn’t yet possess the flashes of oddball brilliance that might keep a reader coming back.
New reviews are up at Comics Village: John Thomas on Tokyo Zombie, Sabrina on vol. 1 of The Gorgeous Life of Strawberry-Chan, Lori Henderson on vol. 11 of Nana and vol. 18 of One Piece, and Charles Tan on vol. 5 of Eyeshield 21 and vol. 2 of Gyo. Dan Grendell pulls on the Manga Zubon and posts short reviews of a number of titles at Comic Pants. Michelle Smith reviews vol. 1 of Slam Dunk at PopCultureShock. Dave Ferraro reviews kids’ title Cowa! at Comics-and-More. Continuing in the all-ages vein, Lori Henderson checks out The Palette of 12 Secret Colors at Manga Xanadu. Guest reviewer Jen has the lowdown on vol. 1 of Hidamari Sketch (Sunshine Sketch) at Okazu. At the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie has Shirley, vol. 12 of Tail of the Moon, vol. 8 of Chibi-Vampire, and vol. 5 of I Hate You More Than Anyone! stacked on the table next to her. Kethylia reviews vol. 1 of A Wise Man Sleeps, vol. 1 of B.O.D.Y., and Caged Slave.
Hi Brigid…
Just to be clear, I don’t think Dark Horse is trucking cases of Gantz and Berserk to to libraries, but more Oh My Goddess! and other non 18+ fare as well as non-manga trades, though on their library website I posted yesterday they do have an 18+ section (I don’t think my library carries those, though).
If the stores aren’t going to tell the kids not to be “spine-bending aisle leeches” then it is up to the parents.
Ed was just one-upping my attempt at Oishinbo coverage.
THe library’s I’ve been too simply shelve adult graphic novels [like say, Watchmen or Battle Vixens] in with the adult books, instead of the kids or teens sections. The only problem with this I’ve noticed is the occasional overzealous censorship parent [or pervy minor?] or cuts out nude scenes……
In terms of getting later volumes, it depends on their resources, but generally, the more something circulates, the more copies of it they’ll buy- so if something’s a hit with a sizeable number of people, you can expect more volumes. Suggestions to the librarian never hurts either. Still, it’s all the trade-off for free manga/books….
Wow, Kathryn Chong’s art is gorgeous. Thanks for the heads up Brigid! You can also see her entry in the Morning contest as well if you go to her website.
Good point, John. Oh My Goddess was one of my kids’ first manga, and they took every volume out of the library. I still have the one we had to pay for after they spilled hot chocolate on it.
Erin, sorry, I saw Ed’s first! Now I see yours is so comprehensive, I’ll link to it tomorrow.