SDCC and Otakon wrapup, scanlation debate, new manga

Lori Henderson attended the women in manga panel at SDCC and got some interesting insights, but overall she feels the con has become too crowded to be worthwhile. Lorena Nava Ruggero writes about the Best and Worst Manga panel, and Lissa Pattillo files her report on the Del Rey panel.

During the Yen Press panel, one panelist stated flat out that scanlations hurt the manga industry. Tiamat’s Disciple articulates the opposite point of view.

Back at Good Comics for Kids, Lori Henderson lists this week’s new all-ages comics and manga.

Erica Friedman checks in with the latest from Yuri Network News, and she also comments on the continuing conversation about women and comics—and urges us to buy the T-shirt!

Ed Sizemore reports on his experiences at Otakon (part 1, part 2) at Comics Worth Reading, and Scott VonSchilling reports on the highlights at The Anime Almanac. Grant Goodman checks in with part 2 of his con report at Manga Recon.

Completely OT, but fun to look at: A set of trade cards, published around 1900, that show what life will be like in the 21st century: Balloon rides to the North Pole, personal airplanes, roofed cities. Well worth a click. (Via one of my favorite non-comics blogs, Weekend Stubble.)

Reviews: Noting “It’s a great time to be a grown-up (manga fan),” Christopher Butcher reviews the new stories posted at Viz’s Sig-IKKI website. I gave some quick first impressions of Tokyopop’s new releases in the What Are You Reading? column at Robot 6.

Melinda Beasi on vol. 1 of Afterschool Nightmare (Comics Should Be Good)
Connie on vol. 1 of Angelic Runes (Manga Recon)
Connie on Anywhere But Here (Slightly Biased Manga)
Julie on vol. 1 of Bloody Kiss (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 4 of Emma (i heart manga)
Andrew Cunningham on vol. 7 of Faust (Japanese edition) (The Eastern Standard)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 2 of Goong (i heart manga)
Shannon Fay on vol. 1 of Ikigami – The Ultimate Limit (Kuriousity)
Michelle Smith on vols. 1 and 2 of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (Soliloquy in Blue)
Julie on In Odd We Trust (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Connie on vols. 25, 26, and 27 of Iron Wok Jan (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 1 of Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Sesho on vol. 36 of Naruto (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 23 of Negima (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Danielle Leigh on On Bended Knee and Unsophisticated and Rude (Comics Should Be Good)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Pig Bride (Soliloquy in Blue)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 4 of Pluto (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vol. 5 of Real (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 6 of Sand Chronicles (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 8 of Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Julie on vol. 2 of Steal Moon (MangaCast)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of A Strange and Mystifying Story (Soliloquy in Blue)
Billy Aguiar on Tail of the Moon, Prequel: The Other Hanzo(u) (Prospero’s Manga)
Diana Dang on vol. 1 of Tokyo Boys and Girls (Stop, Drop, and Read)
Melinda Beasi on Toxic Planet (There it is, Plain as Daylight)
Connie on vol. 4 of Vagabond (VIZBIG edition) (Slightly Biased Manga)
Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of Wild Animals (Tiamat’s Manga Reviews)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Zombie-Loan (Okazu)

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Comments

  1. I am a little disappointed Tiamat’s Disciple decided my comments were not worth keeping on the discussion of DLing scanlations and the effect on the manga industry.

    I hope that was just a computer glitch and not an attempt to squash dissenting opinion. Regardless, I’ll repeat my comments here:

    Technically licensed or unlicensed, [downloading manga] is the same thing, and goes against the Berne Convention.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works

    To me whether or not you buy the release or not, you are still getting entertainment for free and the creators and publishers are not only not in control of the work that Internet scanners essentially steal and post, but they are not getting paid. “I wouldn’t have paid for it anyway” is a bit of a bogus argument to me because it uses the same logic as squatters. “No one is hurt by me squatting in this empty house, so what’s wrong with me living there?” The problem is that isn’t how it works. What happens is then squatters get into the mind-set that the cost of rent should be zero. I see DLers all the time complain about the prices of manga. Of course they complain. When you are used to getting it free, any price seems like too much.

    I also have a problem with the conflicting arguments of “I prefer to hold the book in my hands” and “Publishers better get on the digital revolution.” Which is it? I prefer to hold the book in my hands, too, which is why I don’t DL (at least one reason why).

    In the end any action can only be justified if all people could do it. I am sorry, but I do not believe most DLers buy the books they download. There is no 24 rule, and no “sampling” rule. If you want to sample, go to the publisher’s website, or go to Borders. If all people DLed the industry would disappear within a year, therefore it cannot be justified for anyone to DL to me.

  2. I’m always leery about putting my work online – just knowing that it can be stolen by anyone since there’s no real security.. everything goes into a cache. So far I have been lucky though, but as I get my name out there, it’s just a little unsettling knowing how easy it is to steal manga images of mine..

    BTW: what’s your favorite convention to attend?

    ~kuro
    http://www.cafepress.com/kurostudios

  3. It looks like my comments are back on Tiamat Disciple’s site, so I am sure it was a glitch, and look forward to reading more on this important debate.

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