I’m sure by now everyone has heard the news about Nick Simmons’ alleged (and meticulously documented) plagiarism in his fledgling comic, Incarnate. For those who haven’t, Deb Aoki has a collection of links and Twitter conversations here in her blog. As you’ll see from her post, discussion of plagiarism has segued into discussion of piracy. I was foolish enough to wade into the comments section yesterday evening, which turned out to be frustrating, exhausting, and really nothing else.

As I mentioned to someone later on Twitter, I was not nearly as anti-scanlation when I entered the conversation as I was when I left. In the end, the pro-scanlation crowd had turned me against them to the point where I not only could no longer see any merit in what they were saying, but was frankly disgusted by the idea of being part of the same fan community. I have some examples to share, but first, a confession:
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Recently, a group of critics at The Hooded Utilitarian posted part one of an article naming their picks for Best Online Comics Criticism in 2009. It’s a great read with some fantastic links to follow. Johanna Draper Carlson linked to this at Comics Worth Reading, mentioning that she hoped the next installment would include more manga and more women, because “some of the most insightful critics currently are women talking about manga.”

I agree with Johanna, of course, and it got me thinking about how many manga blogs by women I read every day and how much these women have shaped my own experience with manga. Certainly one of the things I value most about the online manga community is that so many of its prominent voices are women, and it feels like a great privilege to be able to interact with all of them so easily.
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As some on Twitter may recall, December marked my official one-year anniversary as a manga reviewer. I’ve been blogging about manga since late 2007, but it was December of 2008 when Kate Dacey e-mailed me to ask if I’d be interested in joining the crew at Manga Recon. Having declared several times before then that “I don’t write reviews!” I was not especially confident, but I plowed in anyway and it’s been a fantastic year. My first review subject was volume thirteen of Claymore for the December 8th Manga Minis column. I’d like to think I’ve come a ways since then.

An old entry that springs to mind is one called Life of Me, posted on January 1st of last year, in which I included a photo of the desk where I write. I think you’ll notice the most significant change over the course of the year:
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Welcome to Manga Bookshelf’s Manga/Manhwa Holiday Gift Guide! I am one of many bloggers publishing such a guide over the next few days as a response to the New York Times Graphic Novel Gift Guide which turned up last week with not a single volume of manga included.

Now, with so many bloggers making recommendations at once, I’ve deliberately refrained from attempting to create anything like a comprehensive guide, instead focusing on series and genres I especially favor in fairly arbitrary groupings. For a rich, well-rounded shopping guide experience, I recommend making the rounds to everyone’s guides over the next week or so (Erica Friedman is keeping a list of participating bloggers over at Okazu and David Welsh is linking to entries as they go up at Precious Curmudgeon). But first, behold!
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Like many of you I’m a sucker for a sale and though I missed the recent sale on Vertical books while I was out of town (*snif*) I’ve perked up a bit over this week’s specials at rightstuf.com from Digital Manga Publishing, whose eclectic mix of titles (on sale through tomorrow, October 22nd) offers something for everyone. Taking a look at my review index, I realize I’ve actually reviewed very few of these, but my recommendations are as hearty as ever!

At the top of my list are a couple of titles from the brilliant Fumi Yoshinaga, Antique Bakery and Flower of Life, both wonderfully quirky series as only Yoshinaga can produce. She has a great gift for painting her characters through dialogue that is uniquely hers and it is this that draws me most to her work. Also, she’s funny–really, really funny, yet simultaneously poignant and frequently deep. If that alone is not enough to sway you, check out Michelle Smith’s lovely review of Antique Bakery and Shaenon Garrity’s hilarious overview of Flower of Life. As Shaenon says at the end of her write-up, “Thank you, Fumi Yoshinaga, for continuing to be better than everyone!”
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Today I have convention coverage to share! My report on manga industry panels at the New York Anime Festival has gone up, this year over at Johanna Draper Carlson’s Comics Worth Reading. As I mention in my report, publisher panels are my primary focus at anime conventions and though they seem to be happening less and less frequently at all the conventions I regularly attend, there was plenty to get excited about this year at NYAF, especially from Vertical, whose newly acquired licenses I rave on rather tirelessly about over in my report. With so many bloggers on the task, none of the new license information will be news to anyone at this point, so my coverage is intended as one blogger’s take on the licenses themselves, including some commentary on my experience in each of the various panels.

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I’ve made quite a few manhwa-heavy posts in the past six months or so, starting with Let’s Talk About Manhwa, in which I declared my love for Korean BL comics and asked for recommendations for all kinds of manhwa. The comments to that post were fantastic–filled with recommendations upon recommendations, only a fraction of which I’ve managed to get to at this point. I’m reading as fast as I can!

The truth is, I’ve really fallen in love with manhwa. It has many of the traits I most love in Japanese manga–lots of epic, dramatic, character-driven, single-creator stories with lovely art and well-paced, finite plots–but each these traits has its own particular quality unique to manhwa. I believe that even if I was presented with flipped manhwa (reading right-to-left like Japanese comics) I would be able to tell at a glance that it was made in Korea–something that has been proven to me already, actually, in the case of one of my favorite single-volume Korean BL stories, U Don’t Know Me. Some of this has to do with the art, particularly the character designs which favor a a particular kind of cheek and chin, full lips and heavily lined eyes, but the storytelling has its own flavor too, with its spunky, outspoken (often even violent) girls and arrogant, swaggering boys.

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Ongoing until August 27th, a whole slew of NETCOMICS titles are on sale at Right Stuf and I see a whole lot of titles there worth buying, so I thought I’d recommend a few!

First off, I’d recommend Yeri Na’s Do Whatever You Want, the story of two high school boys navigating school, love, and loyalty as they aim for their musical dreams. I’ve only read the first volume, but I’m dying to read the rest! From my review:

“What’s refreshing about this story is that though it is clearly relationship-driven, it is not obvious at this point that the story is headed toward any particular romantic pairing … Refreshing, too, is that each of the characters is distinctive, complicated, and realistically and sympathetically portrayed …

Don’t be fooled by this book’s cover. Despite its pretty boys, Do Whatever You Want is much, much more than a stylish boys’ love romp or a romance story of any kind, and in fact promises neither. What it does promise is a thoughtful story about friendship and ambition, with an appealing cast of complex young characters searching for their place in the world and with each other.”

*****

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It was almost two months ago, when I first started reviewing some DMP titles here, that the folks behind eManga.com asked if I’d review the website itself. Now that I’ve finally taken a good look at the place, I’m sorry it took me so long. With a few small caveats, my experience was very positive and I even discovered some new series I’d like to follow.

The general setup is similar to another pay-to-read website, NETCOMICS, with a few significant differences. While NETCOMICS charges a small fee (25 cents) per chapter for a 48-hour period (with no option to buy long-term), eManga charges by the volume–between 200 points (approximately $2) and 600 points (or less, if one takes advantage of their current sale), depending on the series. Manga released on their June imprint seems to be the cheapest, followed by 801 Media, with titles from DMP’s primary imprint coming in on top. Single volumes can be “rented” for a 72-hour period or purchased (not for download, but for unlimited online access) for an additional fee. Anything rented for a second time is automatically considered a lifetime purchase. Though the price per volume is nicely affordable, it should be mentioned that the minimum purchase is 500 points, so if you’re only interested in one low-price volume, there’s no way to buy only that.

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So, I picked up volume four of Pluto earlier this evening, anxious to dig in to the latest volume of my favorite manga series this year. My plans were dashed less than a chapter in, however, when I became so emotional that I actually had to put it down. Since this volume is new, I’ll avoid any details. Suffice it to say this was a fairly small incident (relative to the scope of the work as a whole) that just happened to hit me unusually hard. This isn’t a fatal issue, of course. I’ll pick it up again once I feel I’ve recovered, perhaps in a less vulnerable moment. Nor is it a criticism of Pluto, by any means. I want to be moved deeply by fiction. That’s why I read it. It’s a powerful testament to the craft of both Tezuka and Urasawa that the series is able to affect me so strongly.

What this experience brings to mind now as I remain here uselessly in my chair, not quite ready to pick up anything else, is other moments in manga that have brought me to tears.
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