Bat-Manga is certainly attracting plenty of attention; Geoff Boucher blogs about it at the LA Times and is clearly taken by it, although he notes the controversy surrounding the decision not to credit Jiro Kuwata on the cover. Meanwhile, Chip Kidd tells his side of things at Blog@Newsarama, and Christopher Butcher defends him at Comics 212. Hipster Dad is not convinced (via Comics Worth Reading), but I think John Jakala has the most measured and sensible take on the whole thing.
From Batman to men with bats: Alex Woolfson shows off the pencils for the first 12 pages of his planned yaoi manga Tough at Yaoi 911.
The Manga Recon team post a cover gallery of this week’s new manga, plus their picks of the week.
Erica Friedman rounds up the week’s yuri news at Okazu. Plus: Entertain Erica and win a copy of vol 1 of Hayate X Blade.
At Mania.com, Nadia Oxford starts a countdown of her favorite Tezuka manga.
Erin Finnegan posts her reports on the New York Anime Fest at Manga Recon, including notes on the show and coverage of the State of the Manga Industry, State of the Anime Industry, Del Rey, and Media Blasters panels.
I spotted this a while ago but forgot to link it: Undertown creator Jake Myler was surprised to learn that his manga has been translated into Japanese and converted to an e-book.
Reviews: Lisa Katayama picks four favorite Black Jack episodes at io9. Khursten takes a look at the oddball food manga Kishoku Hunter and Mangamaniac Julie reviews You Make My Head Spin at MangaCast. Back at the Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie gives her take on vol. 1 of Shinobi Life and vol. 2 of Parasyte. At Comics Village—which, don’t forget, is looking for new reviewers—Lissa Pattillo checks out vol. 1 of Future Lovers and Katherine Farmar reads vol. 1 of A Gentleman’s Kiss. Ai Kano reads vol. 3 of One Pound Gospel at Animanga Nation. Jason Yadao has a pithy review of Black Jack at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
That Bat-Manga thing is a shame. I enjoyed the book, and I think Jiro Kuwata gets proper attention within the pages of the book, but I think he probably deserved some recognition on the cover. There are good points made on both sides. You know, it doesn’t have Bob Kane’s name on the cover either, and Kuwata was commissioned to do the stories.
In the end the mini-controversy had gotten Kuwata’s name out there. I certainly didn’t know it a month or two ago.