Over at Good Comics for Kids, we had a lively roundtable on the question of whether manga should be flipped, and if it works better for some types than for others. Check it out, and tell us what you think in the comments! (Image is of Tekkonkinkreet, which did just fine despite being flipped.)
At Icarus Comics, Simon Jones has some followup thoughts on Shuuhou Sato’s post about the economics of manga, and he raises some larger questions about the Japanese business model, pointing out that manga magazines aren’t that different from newspapers.
Meanwhile, Joey Manley applauds Viz for going with the free webcomic model for this week’s release of Rumiko Takahashi’s Rin-ne, rather than some pay-per-view or iTunes type release. But he’ll be watching to see how they actually execute it.
Attention, everyone: John Jakala has declared this week to be Rumiko Takahashi Appreciation Week. All the details are available at his blog, Sporadic Sequential. You may now resume normal activities.
The winners of the 13th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize have been announced, and some of the winners will sound familiar: Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ōoku: The Inner Chamber and Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s A Drifting Life share the grand prize, Saint Young Men got the Short Work Prize, and oddly, the New Artist prize went to Suehiro Maruo, who has actually been around for quite a while, for Panorama Tōkitan. Both Ōoku and A Drifting Life have been licensed in the U.S., and Gia is agitating for Del Rey to pick up Saint Young Men as well. Is there a petition somewhere we can sign? (Image is from the Saint Young Men site which is, sadly, only in Japanese.)
Sadie Mattox lists her top 5 most addictive shoujo manga at Extremely Graphic.
Christopher Butcher reacts badly to the idea of hipster manga, but I think it’s a valid concept—manga that’s acceptable to the manga-is-crap crowd.
Also, Chris points us to a dense but interesting article about Osamu Tezuka and Hayao Miyazaki, Why is the Manga Version of Nausicaa So Hard to Read?
Are you reading Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto? If so, have you read vol. 3 of Astro Boy yet? Having done the exercise myself, I can tell you it makes a big difference, because it gives a good indication of where the story is going. And be sure to check out this very interesting chart that compares characters from Pluto to their Astro Boy analogues. (Via Comics Worth Reading.)
Lori Henderson has some thoughts on changes in the Shonen Jump lineup at Manga Xanadu.
Deb Aoki was at Kawaii-Kon last weekend, and she has all the highlights, in words and pictures, at About.com. And at Okazu, Erica Friedman reports on the Yuri Monogatari 6 launch party.
News from Japan: Banri Hidaka just wound up V.B. Rose in Japan, but she will be doing a one-shot manga, Berry Berry, for the next issue of Hana to Yume.
Reviews: At The Hooded Utilitarian, Bill Randall starts off the latest roundtable with a vivid description of the topic, Kyoko Okazaki’s Helter Skelter, which is not (legally) available in English. The Manga Recon reviewers read a varied selection of titles for this week’s Manga Minis. At ComicMix, Andrew Wheeler checks out four schoolgirl stories. And Melinda Beasi has some thoughts on reviewing and reviewers at her personal blog.
Marsha Reid on vol. 3 of Alice on Deadlines (Kuriousity)
Michelle Smith on vol. 26 of Bleach (soliloquy in blue)
Connie on vol. 4 of Captive Hearts (Slightly Biased Manga)
Alex Hoffman on vol. 1 of DearS (Comics Village)
Connie on Dogs: Prelude, vol. 0 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ken Haley on Dogs: Prelude, vol. 0 (Manga Recon)
Sesho on vol. 11 of Eden (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Tangognat on vols. 1 and 2 of Firefighter! Daigo of Company M (Tangognat)
Cynthia on vol. 1 of Hey, Class President! (Boys Next Door)
Kris on vol. 2 of Higurashi: When They Cry (Manic About Manga)
Faith McAdams on vol. 8 of High School Debut (Animanga Nation)
Julie on vol. 1 of Honey Hunt (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on I Saw It (Slightly Biased Manga)
Holly Ellingwood on vol. 12 of Kaze Hikaru (Active Anime)
Julie on Live for Love (MangaCast)
Kris on vol. 4 of Magical JxR (Manic About Manga)
Snow Wildsmith on Mr. Flower Bride (Fujoshi Librarian)
Oyceter on vols. 1 and 2 of Nabi (Sakura of DOOM)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 16 of Nana (there it is, plain as daylight)
Julie on vol. 1 of Nightschool (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vol. 4 of One Pound Gospel (Slightly Biased Manga)
Deb Aoki on Orange (About.com)
Julie on Princess Princess + (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Danielle Leigh on Princess Princess + (Comics Should Be Good)
Lissa Pattillo on Princess Princess + (Kuriousity)
Scott Campbell on vol. 3 of Ral Grad (Active Anime)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Wolverine: Prodigal Son (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Cynthia on You Will Drown in Love (Boys Next Door)
Snow Wildsmith on You Will Drown in Love (Fujoshi Librarian)
Speaking of Rumiko Takahashi, I found something interesting on Amazon:
http://www.popcultureshock.com/manga/index.php/features/monthly-inuyasha-starting-july/
I have to disagree with you on the ‘hipster manga’ tag; just strikes me as the usual reverse snobbery you see amongst, say, American genre comic fans that dismiss the entire output of publishers like Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly as navel-gazing and self indulgent. In all these kind of futile literary tiffs, there’s a good deal of hypocrisy going on – you object to someone making the generalisation that all mainstream manga as shallow and cliched, so you counter-riposte by making the equally silly generalisation that all alternative manga like Tatsumi’s is “hipster manga” (and therefore, by implication, that the work is valued more by its trendiness and image appeal than actual literary merit).
Thanks, Michelle!
Travis, I guess I place a more positive connotation on the term “hipster” than you do. Quite the contrary. I think of “hipster manga” as simply being more literary than the vast ocean of shoujo/shonen/seinen that most manga fans like. For a number of reasons, both historical and artistic, these manga appeal to people who are turned off by Naruto and Fruits Basket. Akira is one such title, and I find a lot of non-manga fans like Tatsumi as well. Interestingly—see the discussion linked above—a lot of these crossover titles are flipped, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
Brigid – Ah, well, that’s fair enough … though I have a suspicion that Heidi was using it in the more pejorative sense. Your tastes have always struck me as quite catholic and so I guess I was initially suprised by your use of the term (and hence my fairly over-aggressive comment!).
I would flip. It makes no sense to try and read a right-to-left layout with a left-to-right script – and I speak as someone raised with both reading orientations (French and Arabic). I’m translating my own comic to Arabic and flipping the pages because it’s such a headache otherwise.
Saint Young Men, sadly, fails to live up to the promise of it’s concept… very dissapointing.
I agree with your take, Brigid—- but I agree with Chris’ reaction to Heidi’s usage. I think Travis (& Chris) are correct that she was using it in a dismissive and straw-man way that isn’t all that harmful but is a bit boring and simplistic :)
Ryan!