In this week’s Flipped, David Welsh uses the tankoubon of Love & Rockets as a jumping-off point for a meditation on the importance of design.
Mark of the Succubus artist Irene Flores chats with a local reporter.
At Comicsnob, Matt Blind discusses the importance of the individual creator of manga, and suggests that Western publishers follow the Japanese lead.
Reality check! Tokyopop editor Tim Beedle has some advice for aspiring manga-kas from an editor’s perspective. Some of what he says may surprise you.
Also at Tokyopop, ChunHyang72 posts a nice collection of links on her latest Tokyopop roundup, and adds that she enjoyed a title I (and several others) recommended, Genju no Seiza.
Floating Sakura is back from vacation, and she has the goods on Jinki and Jinki: Extend.
ComiPress has the winners of the Shogakukan Manga Awards.
David Welsh to Dark Horse: How about a josei line?
At Shuchaku East, Chloe has some comments on publishers who drop a series in the middle: ’tis better to ‘fess up than to leave the readers hanging.
Japanator takes a look at Berserk.
First it was Tintin Pantoja’s Wonder Woman, now Rivkah re-imagines Batgirl.
Aargh! Presented for your derision: an ad company that will supply manga to sell your product.
We offer a unique service that nobody else does: The ability to create advertising using actual Japanese MANGA. Simply imagine the powerful impact it would have on your customers to see your ad in the language of MANGA. It will appeal to your customers like nothing before.”
Tell it to the commenters at the TCJ board!
At Mangamaniaccafe, Julie finds her enthusiasm flagging a bit at vol. 4 of Skip Beat. Anime on DVD’s Matthew Alexander knocks the adult title Kaerimichi for too much, uh, family entertainment. On Manga Monday, Comics-and-More hands out A’s to vol. 1 of Mail and vol. 9 of Death Note. Erica Friedman has an interesting take on vol. 1 of Life: while she finds it overly melodramatic, she likes the fact that Ayumu is a “woman-identified woman.” At Yaoi Suki, Jen Parker likes vol. 2 of Rin! a little less than vol. 1, but still finds it “a sweet story with a lot of heart.” Comicsnob’s Matt Blind reviews vol. 1 of Blank and vols. 1 and 2 of Yakitate!! Japan. At Comic Book Bin, Julie Gray reads vol. 3 of School Rumble. Slightly Biased Manga posted a flurry of reviews over the weekend; go check it out, there’s something for every taste.
Thanks for the recommendation—I can’t believe that Genju no Seiza hasn’t found more of a following!
it’s incredible that the first thing the floppy nerd-boys point out after seeing Rivkah’s Batgirl was her lack of cleavage. Just unbelievable. “Hey it’s okay to make a manga batgirl, just make sure her boobs are canon.” Just creeps me out.
I’m think I’m more creeped out by the the tentacle-sex impressions given on the Manga version of Witchblade. To each fanboy his own strange I suppose.
Thanks, Tina, I thought that was just me. I think that was the most horrible cover evarrr!
I think the entire adaptation of Witchblade to Japanese was a bad idea; I tried to give it a chance, forgetting the debacle that was Batman some years ago…but when I saw where they took the gauntlet and how they developed the female lead—it just turned me off. Then again, it was adapted for a different culture of [male] readers, and so my opinion on what suits their tastes is quite irrelevant. ^_-
I commented here because, I didn’t quite like the notion that somehow our ‘fanboyz BE shallow’ when on the side of Pacific, the tide gets just as low.
The Japanese cover for Witchblade is pretty tame compare to other in similar genre. I think you guys probably don’t know since this isn’t much covered in gaijin manga-dom: manga filled with sex and violence isn’t geared for fanboys or otakus – it’s geared toward average young males. Young Japanese guys, not obsessived fanboys but your everyday salariman or college students, enjoy over-the-top sex and violence since it’s so far removed from their real lives. Otakus are more into, well, otaku properties like KANON, FATE, or Haruhi. The two fanboy-dom has little in common, other than the creapiness and the sweatiness.
How did witchblade get into this discussion? I don’t think it’s selling well in Japan.
Tina, putting down comic fanboys doesn’t means otakus are any better. I don’t even know why you would be so defensive about it, being a woman and all. Don’t you find those comments strange and unsettling? Why would batgirl’s boob size matter? That’s just friggin creepy to me, as much as the group of otaku who’s obsessed with Rozen Maiden or Morning Musume would be. Witchblade cover by contrast is right up the alley of AMERICAN fanboys, being full of blood and boobage. Average Japanese otakus are more likely dreaming about a pure love interlude with a sexy robot while reading “DearS”. than to waste their time of something like Witchblades.
I think you guys probably don’t know since this isn’t much covered in gaijin manga-dom: manga filled with sex and violence isn’t geared for fanboys or otakus – it’s geared toward average young males.
Your cups o condescension aside, spandex action isn’t geared toward the average fanboys – it’s geared toward the average young American male, who reads comics. Fanboys [and fangirls] are the ones who cross the line beyond reading and into seriously considering all aspects of any given super-hero fandom. [I’m a Woman Woman fangirl.]
I don’t even know why you would be so defensive about it, being a woman and all. Don’t you find those comments strange and unsettling? Why would batgirl’s boob size matter?
I’m not defensive at all though, perhaps you’re just being too sensitive to me not agreeing with your take on the situation. I think that qualifies as ‘defensive’ in most personality-identification manuals.
Why shouldn’t Batgirl have a big chest? Not only am I a woman, but I’m a woman with a very large chest who appreciates other women with very large chests. I find large chests on actions heroes [male of female] to be quite aesthetically pleasing.
How did witchblade get into this discussion?
I brought it up.
Tina, I less of a problem with large chests than the total absence of small chests. Of course, it’s not like the males in those comics have very diverse body types either.
On body styles, because that seems to be what many critics love to pick on when it comes to Western action comics:
You know, one of the things I love about fighting manga like DBZ and Hanma Baki and others-are that those bodies are so outrageous! ^^ It just fits the genre. You’ll find more diverse bodies in ‘comics’ that don’t feature extensive ass kicking and world saving; and of course…spandex. ^_- Why some critics can’t get past this amazes me.
Bringing Witchblade back into the fray for a moment, Sara Pezzini was certainly not a diverse character-design. She was idealized to fit the mold of what ‘male readers’ find sexy and strong; if a woman had created her, perhaps this might be different…but who knows. I’m not slamming the Witchblade manga because the artwork on the cover reflects tits&tentacles *groans at that oft used term* but to be fair, I just didn’t like the writing. The female archetype was so mind-numbingly familiar, but not a familiar that I’ve ‘gotten used to’. No, it’s not because I’m some ‘gaijin-woman’ who doesn’t get it…it’s because I’m a fan of action comics from America, and have grown used to certain themes I know are a necessary annoyance, and have learned to just look past them and enjoy the stories. The audience for Witchblade is still the same [young men] on both sides of the water, but I tend to tolerate more of what men’s idealizations are of women in action comics. [And I’m certain Japanese women who read ‘young mens’ action comics in Japan enjoy the Japanese Witchblade on some level?]
On the latest Vs. Issue: I do agree that many western critics of manga, suffer from ‘genre-specific’ generalizing that limits them from enjoying manga overall. How can someone say they hate all Japanese comics because every shoujo or shounen manga they’ve read ‘does this, looks like that, and suffers from this’. 0_o. They need only to pick up Koike to see that all manga is not Fruits Basket or Naruto.
On that same note, how can fans Japanese comics be so defensive and then start criticizing western comics they admittedly don’t read, just because it’s most profitable ‘genre’ is spandex-driven? There are western comics that have zero to do with super-heroes, but boy, those are the easiest to pick nits with, aren’t they? ^^
Personally, I wish Western publishers would just forget about the bookstore market. Comic shops can sell the ‘prestige’ format just fine, there’s no reason to force your current market into a bookstore when they know exactly where they can find your books [in the comic shop of course—where Japanese manga is more often the minority].
-Tina