New this month
Lori Henderson rounds up the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu, and Erica Friedman posts an updated edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu. Melinda Beasi looks at March releases in the latest edition of Manga Bookshelf.
David Welsh looks at some new and re-offered manga from the March Previews at The Manga Curmudgeon.
The Nick Simmons plagiarism scandal continued to roil the blogosphere last week, after astute readers posted images of Simmons’s new comic Incarnate side by side with pages from Bleach and noted the similarity. Deb Aoki has a comprehensive roundup of blog posts and tweets, incuding reactions from Bleach publisher Viz and creator Tite Kubo, as well as a discussion on Twitter about plagiarism versus piracy. Elsewhere, Melinda Beasi confesses her sordid past as scanlation junkie. At Anime Diet, Moritheil makes the distinction between copying and stealing and argues that Simmons did the former but not the latter. Matt Blind links to some articles about fansubbing at Rocket Bomber, and Scott VonSchilling wraps it up with some misheard “magma” titles at The Anime Almanac.
At Myth and Manga, Beth Wagner launches what looks like an ambitious history of manga and western comics with a look at Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga and the Bayeux Tapestry.
Patti Martinson talks to Amanda Ahlstrom, creator of the webcomic Pilgrim, at Sequential Tart.
Kris writes about one of her favorite artists, Momoko Tenzen, at Manic About Manga.
Sean Gaffey makes the argument for licensing Tokyo Crazy Paradise, by the creator of Skip Beat! Can’t wait for the license? Lori Henderson posts a helpful resource for those who want to learn Japanese.
Alex Woolfson is posting the first 16 pages of his yaoi comic Tough online, and you can download the whole first chapter for free as well.
Erica Friedman is so fed up with Yuri Hime Wildrose that she is giving away all five volumes to the commenter who comes up with the best plot.
Ed Sizemore guests on the Otaku in Review podcast, discussing the Christopher Handley case. And the latest episode of the Manga Jouhou podcast, Jouhou Cast, is up.
Con highlights: Junko Mizuno will be a guest at Wondercon. Also, Manga University is going on tour, with stops at six U.S. events including Sakuracon and C2E2.
News from Japan: Gia brings us news of a massive Tezuka erotica compilation, although it seems to be the naughty bits cherry-picked from his mainstream manga, not a newly discovered private collection. Three manga magazines for mobile phones will be debuting soon, and their publishers plan to extend their reach to North America as well. Also, the nominees for the 14th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize have been announced. Yasuhiro Nightow is working on a new two-part Trigun story, just in time for the opening of the movie Trigun: Badlands Rumble. And Canned Dogs brings us a few news tidbits, including proposed legislation that would ban any fictional character who appears to be under 18 and “has a possibility of causing youths to lust for or possibility of bringing this fantasy to real life.”
Reviews: David Welsh writes brief reviews of his weekend reading at The Manga Curmudgeon. Gia Manry posts both written and video reviews of vol. 1 of My Darling! Miss Bancho at Anime Vice.
Zoey on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (Manga Jouhou)
Michael May on vol. 4 of Anne Freaks (Robot 6)
Connie on vol. 1 of Arata: The Legend (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Aya Takeo (The Comic Book Bin)
Rob on vol. 4 of Barefoot Gen (Panel Patter)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Black Butler (Manga Recon)
Carl Kimlinger on vol. 22 of Blade of the Immortal (ANN)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Excel Saga (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Julie on vol. 1 of Fairy Idol Kanon (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Leroy Douresseaux on GoGo Monster (The Comic Book Bin)
James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Hanako and the Terror of Allegory (Anime Sentinel)
Sesho on vol. 3 of Happy Mania (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Erica Friedman on vol. 11 of Hayate x Blade (Okazu)
Michelle Smith on vols. 42-44 of InuYasha (Soliloquy in Blue)
Connie on vol. 25 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 10 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lissa Pattillo on vol. 10 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Kuriousity)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 17 of Love*Com (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean T. Collins on vols. 1-3 of Monster (Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat)
Rod McKie on MW (Rod McKie Illustrations and Cartoons) (Via Journalista.)
Connie on vol. 1 of Natsume’s Book of Friends (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 25 of Negima (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 33 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 33 of One Piece (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lissa Pattillo on Prisoner of the Tower (Kuriousity)
Mike Rhode on Shutter Island (Washington City Paper)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1 and 2 of Vampire’s Portrait (Fujoshi Librarian)
Connie on vol. 8 of Wild Act (Slightly Biased Manga)
Faith McAdams on vol. 2 of What a Wonderful World (Animanga Nation)
Susan S. on vol. 4 of With the Light (Manga Jouhou)
Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of X-Men: Misfits (Manga Recon)
Everytime I see Manic About Manga Kris’s name on here, I go “Wait, I didn’t write that!”
I’m so easily confused!
Also, I did not know Nightow was writing more Trigun. That’s exciting! Thanks for pointing that out.
….oh. I just looked down two whole tweets from yours, and there was the ANN tweet about the Trigun books. This seems to be a bit of a face palm moment.
It’s amazing the similarities between Incarnate and Bleach. Some panels look mildly similar, while others look like the same exact scene with different characters. I wonder what the penalties for this are.