Manga News and Information
SpecialManga Top 250 Volumes and Top 100 Series for November 2008
- By Matt Blind If you post something often enough, and on a regular schedule, you don't have to keep making excuses and explaining yourself. Of course, I'm not at the point where these monthly reports can be considered regular-and-timely. Yet. (all apologies to gum; we'll do better next year!) ...but I think I have done enough of these (in a row) (and quite recently) that we can skip past an intro to: Top 10 Manga Volumes: 1. ↔0 (1) : Vampire Knight 5 - Viz Shojo Beat, Sep 2008 [2250] :: Top 10 Manga Series: 1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto - Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2003 [86.59] (commentary & full charts follow) Manga Top 250 Volumes and Top 100 Series for October 2008
- By Matt Blind For those of you following along with the home game, November '08 will follow within the week -- and I've something special in the works for December/The End of The Year. But October numbers come first: Top 10 Manga Volumes: 1. ↑2 (3) : Vampire Knight 5 - Viz Shojo Beat, Sep 2008 [2660.1] :: Top 10 Manga Series: 1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto - Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2003 [100] (commentary & full charts follow) Manga Top 250 Volumes and Top 100 Series for September 2008
- By Matt Blind The following charts may be a tad late, but I'm committed to posting in chronological order. (October and November will follow before the end of the year) Top 10 Manga Volumes: 1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto 31 - Viz Shonen Jump, Sep 2008 [3047.2] :: Top 10 Manga Series: 1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto - Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2003 [100] Yes, I think we all know that folks like Naruto. Past the two top 10s the charts get a little more interesting. Manga Top 100 Volumes and Top 25 Series for August 2008
- By Matt Blind So just what is the Manga Top 100? It's a chart of comparative manga rankings based on aggregate online sales listings. Yes, I know that's a bit of a mouthful and it might not make sense at first glance; the explanation for just what it means and why this isn't really a bestseller list (in the traditional sense) follows after the jump. I'm going to lead with this, though: Top 10 Manga Volumes: 1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto 30 - Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2008 [1741.2] Top 10 Manga Series: 1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto - Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2003 [6580.7] Charts of comparative manga rankings based on aggregate online sales listings from Matt Blind. Matt maintains his own site at RocketBomber.com where he posts on manga, book retail & publishing, and general fandom -- and also posts ever-changing variations and derivatives of these manga charts on a weekly basis. Readers with questions, comments or corrections should email Matt at, not surprisingly, matt[at]rocketbomber[dot]com. Black and White in a Color World: How Manga Has Retrained Our Rods and Cones
by Peter Gutiérrez In a world where computer monitors seem to offer greater color saturation than film stock, and where television now provides images that are more vivid than life itself, how incongruous is the success of this unpresumptuous little art form we call manga? Need more examples of manga's contrarian status in this regard? How about the vast color palettes of real-time immersive video games, or even conventional comic books, which have been using digital coloring effectively for more than a decade? Of course a perfectly natural reaction to such observations is a big, fat "So what?" And if that's the case, great. Guest articles and special features. Panelosophy - Thinking Lighter
by Chloe Ferguson Just when booksellers thought it safe to return to their graphic novel sections, in comes another mystery item to send them confused and scrambling back to the stock rooms. Light novels, or prose accompanied by illustrations (often centered on a manga or anime franchise, with illustrations by the series' author) bring with them a headache inducing slew of questions: is it a book? A comic book? And perhaps more importantly, where the heck does it get shelved? Panelosophy - Comical Journalism
by Chloe Ferguson We've all had the unfortunate encounter. It comes in the papers, on the internet, creeping discretely through the bit feature sections of local news, or splashed garishly across the "Arts" or "Business" sections of major outlets. Yes, the manga gimmick article is an old friend, albeit one you wish would simply stop visiting. ComiPress: First of all, please introduce yourself! Udagawa Takeo: I was born in 1957, and since the 80s I've been a commentator on popular culture, especially the music scene. Since the late 80s I've mainly concentrated on spreading the word about artists who don't get any recognition in the commercial culture industry. The name I give this field is 'Fringe Culture' [which is also the title of Udagawa-san's Japanese-language website]. ComiPress: When you first started writing Manga Zombie, why did you believe the authors featured are not as well-known as you believe they should? Why did you choose this format to promote their work? Udagawa Takeo: Japanese manga artists have started getting a lot of international attention in recent years, but the spotlight is mainly focused on artists from the 90s onwards. I felt that artists from before then weren't getting their work properly valued by critics and commentators on the scene. So that's why I decided to get an English-language version of Manga Zombie out. |
Manga Zombie
Finale: Panelosophy
An ongoing conversation about the philosophy behind manga both in the U.S. and abroad. Manga Ranking
Monthly charts of comparative manga rankings based on aggregate online sales listings from Matt Blind. |
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
