Adam Arnold on Aoi House

Newsarama has an interview with Adam Arnold of Seven Seas on his web manga Aoi House, which will be coming out in print on May 31. In addition to writing Aoi House (it’s drawn by Seven Seas artist Shiei), Adam has worked on Love Hina and Pita Ten and is editor of Boogiepop. So even if you’re not an Aoi House fan, the interview is worth reading for Adam’s insights into the creative process and webcomics vs. print.

For those unfamiliar with Aoi House, Newsarama gives the executive summary:

Aoi House is a comedy webmanga in the spirit of Love Hina, The Real World and Comic Party. It follows the trials and tribulations of two down-on-their-luck college boys who join an anime club dominated by crazed yaoi fangirls.

Adam’s original vision was of a shoujo romance set in an anime club, but Seven Seas editor Jason DeAngelis wanted him to make it “more shonen.” The result is what Adam calls a “harem comedy.” The manga started out as a gag-a-day webcomic, but it has evolved since then:

When we relaunched it from the ground up, I was able to write it in a way you’d actually write the series in screenplay format. So instead of me writing everything panel by panel and forcing the artist to draw it a certain way, writing a series as a screenplay allows the artist to become the director for the series and decide the pace and panel structure on their end.

Adam also talks about the way Seven Seas uses webcomics to test the waters for print manga:

The way the manga market is now, you can’t just throw a book out there and expect it to sell. You have to build a fan base first.

The print version will have omake content and some dialogue will be tweaked, but the biggest difference, Adam says, is that the art will be fully toned.

Also, stop by and check out Adam’s room.

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