April, 2008

From ITP AlumniBlender comes an article titled "Character facelifts," manga style, which looks at how DC Comics and other publishing companies are trying to create manga versions of their properties.

Matt Thorn ponders why all manga characters look Caucasian in "The Face of the Other."

OregonLive.com looks at the works of Yoshihiro Tatsumi in "Yoshihiro Tatsumi's Good-Bye."

According to Canned Dogs, MediaWorks' Dengeki Daioh maybe relaunched in June:

The June issue of Dengeki Daioh which will be released on the 21st of April contains a mysterious ad depicting a baby feeling up Shana and a message saying that a brand new Dengeki Daioh will be revealed in June.

Date: 20th April 2008

--NEW PUBLISHER, DIMENSIONAL MANGA COMING TO ORBITAL MANGA IN LONDON, 1PM, SATURDAY 26TH APRIL'2008

TO PROMOTE THE LAUNCH OF THEIR FIRST SERIES –-

PROVIDES FANS WITH NEW CONCEPTS AND CONTENT

DEMON PRINCE: CHILDREN OF GAIA

SATURDAY 26TH APRIL'2008, 1PM, AT ORBITAL MANGA

EXCLUSIVE SIGNINGS AND LIVE WALL DRAWING FROM LEAD ARTIST!!!!!

Date: April 26th 2008
Time: 1pm
Location: Orbital Manga
Address: 4c Orion House, Upper St Martins Lane, London WC2H 9NY
Tel. 0207 2405577
Email: manga@orbitalcomics.com

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topThe French association of comics, critics and journalists, Association des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée, has released its annual report on the state of the comics industry in France. Below is a partial translation of the report by guest translator Loup Solitaire:

2007, VITALITY AND DIVERSITY
A year of comic books in the European French-speaking territory

by Gilles Ratier, secretary-general of the ACBD
French to English translation by Loup Solitaire, mangavore
Adapted by Anthony Andora

I. Production: growth continues for the 12th consecutive year: 4,313 comic books were published in 2007 (of which 3,312 strict novelties), a growth of 4.4 %.
II. Publishing: more players on the market, which is a sign of vitality: 254 publishers published comic books in 2007, while only 17 groups account for 74 % of the production.
III. Optimization: 90 series enjoyed enormous mises en place and continued to rank among the best sellers, all book genres included.
IV. Translation: 1,787 foreign comic books (of which 1,371 from Asia and 253 from USA) were translated: a slight decline of 0.67 % from last year.
V. Adaptation and media influence: comics continued to adapt literary works (96 books in 2007), while inspiring other means of expression more and more.
VI. Magazines: presence of 77 specialized magazines in kiosks and bookstores while comics found a new creative field in internet publishing.
VII. Deceases and accolades: 13 French-speaking creators died in 2007 and some 128 works dating from more than 20 years have been republished.
VIII. Gratification: despite everything, 1,357 comic book authors continue, all the same, to make a living from their occupation.

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The top 15 manga (March - April 08) in France according to BdZoom:

  1. Fullmetal Alchemist (16)
  2. Naruto (35)
  3. One Piece (42)
  4. Nana (18)
  5. Bleach (26)
  6. Naruto (34)
  7. Negima! (12)
  8. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (17)
  9. Berserk (24)
  10. Death Note (8)
  11. Dofus (8)
  12. Naruto (33)
  13. Detective Conan (56)
  14. Parmi eux (19)
  15. Get Backers (26)

A round-up of new acquisitions announced during this weekend's NYCC:

Yen Press:

  • Bamboo Blade by Igarashi/Totsuka
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni by Ryuukishi ZeroNana
  • Nabari no Ou by Kamatani Yuuki
  • Soul Eater by Atsushi Ohkubo
  • Sumomomo Momomo by Oohashi Shinobu

Dark Horse:

  • Clover by CLAMP

DMP:

  • Swallowing the Earth by Tezuka Osamu

Del Rey:

  • Gakuen Prince by Jun Yuzuki
  • Samurai 7 by Mizutaka Zuhou
  • Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei by Kouji Kumeta
  • The Case of the Dragon Slayer (novel) by Kouhei Kadono

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According the English news page of German publisher The Wild Side's official website, the publisher has acquired the German language rights to "two Global Boy's Love titles by Tina Anderson: Only Words (art by Caroline Monaco and Roulette (art by Laura Carboni). Roulette is currently runs in DramaQueen's yaoi anthology RUSH, while Only Words is published by Iris Print.

Also mentioned is that The Wild Side is in the process of acquiring the rights to the new Dany and Dany manga, Anima, from Yaoi Press.

A round-up of various new reports on the this year's NYCC (updated constantly):

General:

Photos:

Videos:

ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference:

Publisher-Specific:

Canned Dogs is reporting that Type-Moon's latest projects have been leaked. The new projects include a remake of Tsukihime, as well as a new game called Girl's Work":

Pictures have leaked from the upcoming Type-moon Ace magazine which is supposed to be released on the 21st revealing that Tsukihime is going to get a remake and yet another upcoming Type-moon game called Girl's Work.

Shueisha will be launching a new monthly manga magazine on May 1st. The magazine, temporarily titled Monthly Young Jump, is a special issue of Weekly Young Jump.

Currently 4 serialization have been revealed:

  • Karē naru Shokutaku Bangaihen by Funatsu Kazuki
  • Juujika no Majutsushi by Okazaki Kei
  • SINfinity by Sasaki Takumaru
  • Hideyoshi de Gozaru!! by Tanaka Kanako

Source: Muhyojo

The June 2008 issue of Ichijinsha's Comic Yurihime magazine will officially announce the titles of girl's light novels that will be published under Ichijinsha's new light novel label, Ichijinsha Bunko. LightNovel.org has a list of the titles in English.

Source: 2ch

Hit Shuppansha's adult/loli manga magazine Comic Shoujo Tengoku will be succeeded by a new loli manga magazine titled Comic ino.. The first issue of Comic ino. will be released on April 18th.

Comic Shoujo Tengoku was published monthly for 5 years - from March 18th, 2003 to March 18th, 2008.

Source: Toranoana

The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending April 13th:

Also, Comicsnob posts the weekly online manga sales rankings:

Company Will Welcome Comics Legend For A Special Press Event On Historic New Manga Collaboration As Well As Offer Attendees A Relaxing Manga Lounge And A Variety Of Screenings And Insightful Panel Discussions

NEW YORK, NY, April 18, 2008 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced its plans to participate in a variety of exhibits, special events, programming, panels and related industry roundtable discussions at the 2008 New York Comic Con, taking place April 18-20 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. New York Comic Con has emerged as the East Coast's biggest and most popular pop culture convention covering the latest in comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, and television.

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From Icarus Publishing's blog comes a preview (NSFW) of the adult manga that are shipping in May 2008 based on Diamond Previews.

From Otaku USA comes an interview (in podcast) with Stan Lee on his latest project ULTIMO.

Also, Okazu has an interview with Erin Subramanian, translator of the yuri scanlation group Lililicious.

Dynamic Musical Duo Attends the Nation's Largest Anime/Manga Convention

Anaheim, California (April 15, 2008) ‹Anime Expo® 2008 is proud to announce the attendance of Jyukai-the musical duo consisting of Manami (vocals) and Dewa Yoshiaki (composition) to this year¹s Anime Expo® 2008 held from July 3-6, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. More information can be found on the website www.anime-expo.org.

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According to Canned Dogs, artist Ishii Meguru was arrested in Yokohama for committing "indecent acts with a 15 year old girl through November and December last year for a total of 4 times.":

The article reports that Ishii Meguru was an artist for the novelized version of Higurashi no naku koro ni (though he only did some art for Ichijinsha's novel anthologies, the artist for the official higurashi novels is Tomohi), and that he was also popular among fans of gothic lolita.

According to MangaBlog, Word Balloons, a new group blog aimed at comics for children has been recently launched:

Recently, I became aware of a hole in the blogosphere: Nobody seemed to be blogging regularly about children's comics. I mentioned this to a couple of like-minded folks, and the next thing I knew, Word Balloons was born. [...] Word Balloons will go beyond manga to cover kids' comics in all their glory, including classy graphic novels, cheap and garish floppies, and even webcomics.

Recently the Japanese news program "Broadcaster" ran a report on the anniversary collaboration between Shonen Sunday and Shonen Magazine. Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura was mentioned in the report as the key to Shonen Sunday's sucess in the 1980s.

Source: Rumic World

The nominees for the 2008 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are up, and several manga can be found on the list:

Best Short Story
- Book by Yuichi Yokoyama
- Town of Evening Calm by Fumiyo Kouno

Best Continuing Series
- Naoki Urasawa's Monster by Naoki Urasawa

Best Publication for Kids
- Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma

MangaBlog has the full list, and The Beat has a full report of the award.

Special Two-Night Event Will be Shown in Select Theatres Nationwide

San Francisco, CA, April 14, 2008 - VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media, LLC that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, has announced that it will team with NCM FATHOM, the entertainment division of National CineMedia, to present a special two-night multi-city debut at over 300 theatres across the United States for the live-action special event DEATH NOTE on May 20 and 21, at 7:30 pm. local time.

This special two-night event includes a specially produced 20-minute feature on how the manga translates to live action as well as the first-ever interview with Director Shusuke Kaneko.

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Do you have a website? Join the DLSite Affiliate Program and start earning DLSite Points today!!

HERNDON, VA - April 14, 2008 - DLSite.com today announced their recently added affiliate program. If you own a website, start earning some points and get some free products from DLSite.com!

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