OK, here’s incontrovertible evidence that manga really has arrived: Macy’s is having a Fruits Basket event, complete with photo ops with the characters, in their flagship Herald Square store (the only real Macy’s, in my opinion).
David Welsh takes his pick of this week’s new manga (and takes a little advice from me) at Precocious Curmudgeon.
Pressing Digressions, the Midpoint Books blog, is posting a page a day of The Obama Story.
Johanna Draper Carlson talks to Gina Biggs, creator of the manga-style webcomic Red String.
Trigun creator Yasuhiro Nightow will be a guest at Anime Expo this year.
Oddity of the day: KURUTTA takes a look at the Osamu Tezuka version of Crime and Punishment, which Kodansha published in a bilingual edition many moons ago.
Speaking of Tezuka, the Japanese refer to him as “the god of manga,” and Vertical’s Yani Mentzas makes the argument in this month’s Words Without Borders that this can be taken as literally true. (This hinges on regarding him as a god, not The God.) He certainly has been a benevolent god to Mentzas, whose company has published a number of Tezuka’s works (MW, Ode to Kirihito, Black Jack) to great popular acclaim.
Chloe interviews David Doub, creator of the manga-influenced comic Dusk, at Shuchaku East.
Jonathan lists new German licenses at Manly Manga and More, including the news that Egmont has picked up several former Tokyopop titles.
I believe I have linked to mentions of this show before: Manhua: Chinese Comics Now!, which is running at Durham University (in the UK, not North Carolina) until Sept. 27. What caught my eye this time is that I recognized the poster image—it’s the cover of Benjamin’s Orange, published by Tokyopop earlier this year.
News from Japan: The 38th Japan Cartoonist Awards have been announced, and while the grand prize winners may not ring any bells for American readers, the judges gave an Award of Excellence to Children of the Sea, which is due out soon here from Viz. Gia reports that the historical drama Tenchijin is being adapted into a manga—a yaoi manga for mobile phones. Also, BL publisher Libre’s Be-Boy Gold will have a sequel to the Finder series (the one by Ayane Yamano, not the one by Carla Speed McNeill), and the August issue of The Sneaker will include a supplemental volume of Haruhi Suzumiya (presumably the novel, not the manga). ANN notes that a member of the opposition party has criticized Taro Aso’s planned anime museum, referring to it as a “national manga cafe.” Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure manga-ka Hirohiko Araki drew the cover for a new single from the band Base Ball Bear.
Reviews
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 2 of 20th Century Boys (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 11 of Banana Fish (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 36 of Boys Over Flowers (Slightly Biased Manga)
Ed Sizemore on vols. 4-6 of Fairy Tail (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie on vol. 1 of Gakuen Prince (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Dan Polley on vol. 2 of Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (Comics Village)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1-4 of Gorgeous Carat (The Manga Critic)
Erica Friedman on vol. 1 of Manga no Tsukurikata (Okazu)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Nabari no Ou (Comics Should Be Good)
Connie on Narration of Love at 17 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Melinda Beasi on vol. 7 of One Thousand and One Nights (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei (Comics Worth Reading)
Tiamat’s Disciple on issues 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Yen Plus magazine (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Thanks for the link! We will be profiling many more books as we go along. Stay tuned!
There is no Finder sequel being made. That’s a mistranslation of an announcement for supplements in the next two Be-Boy Gold issues: a drama CD and a “special fanbook.”
http://www.chuosha.co.jp/html/0905/0501_1.html
I like how you differentiate between the Finder series by Ayane Yamano and the Finder series by Carla Speed McNeill. I’ve had people make the same mistake. DO NOT GO LOOKING FOR MCNEILL’S FINDER AND PICK UP AYANE YAMANO’S. Instead of brilliant, feminist sci-fi you’ll get some borderline jailbait photographer having film cannisters shoved inside him by ironic yazuka.
CrystalFalls, thanks for the clarification.
Lianne, I’m relieved to hear that I’m not the only one who has had a moment of confusion over this!