Kate Dacey of The Manga Critic and Red Baylon of Japanator check out this week’s new releases.
ANN has the latest lineup of new titles from 801 Media and Juné Manga.
Bamboo and Sara talk to global manga artists Lanny Liu and Ziang Her about the realities of the marketplace, submitting to different companies, and the trade-offs involved in choosing or rejecting contracts. Lots of interesting practical information in here.
Meanwhile, Simon Jones (somewhat NSFW) has an interesting take on the standard criticisms of Tokyopop (most recently heard at the global manga panel at AX):
The sales levels the panelists alluded to, the ratio of hits to misses, quality versus speed – none of those things were out of the norm for the typical comics publisher… and TP wasn’t actually doing anything different than typical comics publishing. So if the results were dictated not by particular failures on TP’s part, but the common nature of the market, then the problem really rests with expectations -on the part of TP, creators, and readers- more than anything else. In other words, even if TP had done everything right, the state of their program still might not be any rosier.
Brazilian artists Fabio Shin and Rafael Kirscher are cooking up a Michael Jackson manga, according to Rich Johnston.
Troy Lewter, editor of Tokyopop’s Warcraft manga, interviews creator Dan Jolley.
Melinda Beasi explores outward signs of geekiness at There it is, Plain as Daylight.
Patrick Macias ogles his advance copy of Junko Mizuno’s Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu.
Last Gasp is planning a hardcover edition of Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms.
Attention Malaysian manga creators: The 2009 National Manga Competition is now under way.
Reviews: David Welsh takes a fond look at the works of Yuji Iwahara—Chikyu Misaki, King of Thorn, and Cat Paradise—at The Comics Reporter.
Michelle Smith on vol. 4 of Black Cat (Soliloquy in Blue)
A Library Girl on vol. 2 of Blank Slate (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Connie on vol. 3 of Bride of the Water God (Slightly Biased Manga)
John Thomas on The Cat in the Coffin (novel) (Mecha Mecha Media)
Lorena on vol. 1 of Fall in Love Like a Comic (i heart manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 4 of Gunsmith Cats Revised Edition (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Shiki on Gyo (Psychedelic SoulJam)
Shojo Flash on vol. 2 of Honey Hunt (Shojo Flash)
Justin Colussy-Estes on vol. 1 of Iron Wok Jan (Comics Village)
Deb Aoki on the iPhone version of Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan (About.com)
Lissa Pattillo on Legend of Zelda – Oracle of Ages (Kuriousity)
Julie on vol. 4 of Monkey High! (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Sesho on vol. 33 of Naruto (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Shirley and vol. 8 of Emma (Tangognat)
Diana Dang on Socrates in Love (Stop, Drop, and Read!)
Anna on Star Blacks (2 screenshot limit)
Billy Aguiar on Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Manga, Bounkenshin (Prospero’s Manga)
Ken Haley on vol. 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Manga (Manga Recon)
Connie on Swallowing the Earth (Slightly Biased Manga)
Shiki on Uzumaki (Psychedelic SoulJam)
Andre on vol. 3 of Vampire Hunter D (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 18 of Yakitate!! Japan (Slightly Biased Manga)
I think unlike the average Marvel/DC reader, manga fans actually expect their comics to not suck.
The problem with most, if not 99%, of Tokyopop’s OEL is that the titles aren’t any good. Even with a bestseller psuedo manga like Warriors, the art is just completely awful. AWFUL. Most OEL manga are not thought out very well and not plotted out. They seem to be produced by amateurs. The only exception so far in my experience? Hollow Fields. That manga is awesome. That’s the only OEL manga that can stand toe to toe with Japanese works. That’s it. The ONLY title out of the dozens I have tried. I still do try to give these titles the benefit of a doubt.
Oh, is it Tokyopop hating time again? *checks watch* Hm, I guess every time they try to talk about what they’re doing as a company, this starts up again…maybe they should keep their mouths shut. Y’know, like all the OTHER comic companies that do stuff similarly to Tokyopop but don’t get trashed for it. But then would they get trashed for not being open enough? Hm.
I’ll hold my tongue on the shared copyright thing, because I don’t like it in theory, but a LOT of the information about that came second- and third-hand and policies can and do change there really frequently (and often in response to complaints), so I don’t know where they stand on that now, particularly with the OEL halts that came about a year ago. But everything else just reeks of arbitrary hate. I’m so tired of this.