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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Marvel

US Manga Market on the Rebound

July 21, 2015 by Katherine Dacey

Deb Aoki rounds up the major manga news from Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con, while Heidi MacDonald and Calvin Reid weigh in on the overall state of the comics industry. The good news: the manga market has rebounded from the late 2000s, when a glut of product and the collapse of Borders forced several publishers to shut down.

Over at Comic Book Resources, Brigid Alverson interviews Tokyopop founder Stu Levy about the company’s new business plan, which consists of three key components: “licensed Japanese manga, graphic novels based on brands, and new products based on Tokyopop’s existing global manga properties.”

Going to Otakon? Ed Chavez hinted that Vertical Comics may have three or four licensing announcements. In other Vertical news, all seventeen volumes of Black Jack are now available in ebook form.

Crunchyroll just launched five new manga series, including Scum’s Wish, The Morose Mononokean, and Princess Jellyfish.

DMP’s latest Kickstarter campaign successfully funded print editions of Osamu Tezuka’s Storm Fairy, Crime and Punishment, and Unico.

Tokyo Ghoul tops this week’s New York Times Manga Best Sellers, while Attack on Titan tops ICv2’s list of the Top 10 Manga Franchises of Spring 2015. Also making the ICv2 cut are long-time favorites Death Note and Naruto and relative newcomer Sword Art Online.

Are you a Dorohedoro fan? If so, keep your eyes peeled for the first issue of Marvel’s Ant-Man: The Last Days; Q Hayashida provided the cover art. (Issue ships on 8/15.)

Justin Stroman talks to several Digital Manga Guild localizers about their experiences–good and bad–working for DMP.

The folks at ALC Publishing have translated Rica Takashima’s article “Japan: Fertile Ground for the Cultivation of Yuri,” which originally appeared in the December 14th issue of Eureka.

News from Japan: Creator Masaya Hokazono (Inugami) just launched Osoroshi Ya (Dreadful Shop), a new website for manga horror enthusiasts. Natsuki Takaya is hard at work on a sequel to Fruits Basket. Beginning September 4th, a new chapter will be posted every week at the HanaLaLa website. The end is near–for Orange, Cross H, and Grendizer Giga, that is.

Reviews: At Kaleo, Henry Ma reviews the latest chapters of Bleach, and offers predictions for the next installment. Ash Brown posts short reviews of After I Win, Alice in the Country of Hearts: My Fanatic Rabbit, and Aquarion Evol.

Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Akuma no Riddle (Okazu)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 1 of The Complete Chi’s Sweet Home (The Fandom Post)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 1-3 of Demon From Afar (ANN)
Anna N. on vol. 2 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part One: Phantom Blood (The Manga Report)
Helen on Kitchen Princess (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Megan R. on Kujibiki Unbalance (The Manga Test Drive)
Matthew Warner on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (The Fandom Post)
Kristin on vol. 1 of Maid-Sama (Comic Attack)
Jon Parrish and Luke Thompson-Moritz on vol. 3 of Peepo Choo (Comic DNA)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 17-18 of Ranma 1/2 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Matthew Warner on vol. 11 of Sankarea: Undying Love (The Fandom Post)
Jeff Alford on Trash Market (Run Spot Run)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Twin Star Exorcists (ANN)
Jocelyn Allen on Wagamama Chie-chan (Brain vs. Book)

Filed Under: MANGABLOG Tagged With: attack on titan, crunchyroll, dmg, DMP, fruits basket, Marvel, Osamu Tezuka, Stu Levy, Tokyopop, Vertical Comics

Tatsumi on Film; Anno on Instagram

November 14, 2014 by Katherine Dacey

tatsumiGekiga pioneer Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s work is now accessible to viewers on the big screen, thanks to Singaporean director Eric Khoo. Khoo adapted such classic stories as “Hell,” “Goodbye,” and “Beloved Monkey,” interleaving them with vignettes from Tatsumi’s autobiography A Drifting Life. 

This just in: Moyocco Anno‘s new Instagram account is pretty awesome.

Marvel’s C.B. Cebulski shares a few more details about the Avengers/Attack on Titan crossover series. Over at TCJ, Joe McCulloch looks at an earlier Marvel/manga crossover, Kazuo Koike’s Wolverine one-shot.

Lori Henderson dishes the dirt on two new licenses: Aquarion-Evol and Flowers for Chronous, both of which will be published by One Peace Books.

The Manga Bookshelf gang share their picks for this week’s best new arrivals.

What kind of manga appeals to 9-to-12 year old readers? MJ weighs the pros and cons of three series that are frequently recommended for tweens.

News from Japan: The forthcoming Doraemon movie–Doraemon: Nobita no Space Heroes–will be adapted for the pages of Coro Coro; look for the first chapter in January 2015. Also arriving in theaters next year will be a big-screen treatment of Io Sakisaka’s Strobe Edge.

Reviews: Over at Anime News Network, Jason Thompson completes his 56-hour Naruto review marathon, tackling volumes 28-72. Closer to home, MJ sings the praises of an oldie but goodie: Setona Mizushiro’s Afterschool Nightmare.

Matthew Warner on vol. 13 of 07-Ghost (The Fandom Post)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Ajin: Demi-Human (Experiments in Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 14 of Attack on Titan (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna Call on vol. 1 of Deadman Wonderland (No Flying No Tights)
Ken H. on vols. 2-3 of Kimagure Orange Road (Sequential Ink)
Megan R. on Le Chevalier D’Eon (Manga Test Drive)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 1-2 of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer (Anime News Network)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 5 of No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular (ICv2)
Richie Graham on vol. 1 of Ranma 1/2: 2-in-1 Edition (No Flying No Tights)
Sakura Eries on vol. 9 of Spice and Wolf (The Fandom Post)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 22 of Soul Eater (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Ultimo (Comic Book Bin)
Jenny Ertel on vols. 1-3 of What Did You Eat Yesterday? (No Flying No Tights)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of World Trigger (The Fandom Post)

Filed Under: MANGABLOG Tagged With: attack on titan, Marvel, Moyocco Anno, One Peace Books, Yoshihiro Tatsumi

Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, and Richard Isanove: B

April 5, 2010 by Michelle Smith

From the front flap:
The year is 1602, and strange things are stirring in England. In the service of Queen Elizabeth, court magician Dr. Stephen Strange senses that the bizarre weather plaguing the skies above is not of natural origin. Her majesty’s premier spy, Sir Nicholas Fury, fends off an assassination attempt on the Queen by winged warriors rumored to be in service to a mad despot named Doom. News is spreading of “witchbreed” sightings—young men bearing fantastic superhuman powers and abilities. And in the center of the rising chaos is Virginia Dare, a young girl newly arrived from the New World, guarded by a towering Indian warrior. Can Fury and his allies find a connection to these unusual happenings before the whole world ends?

Review:
The basic premise of Marvel 1602 is an interesting one: characters from Marvel’s roster of heroes are born 400 years too early, and here we see them as they would appear in the final days of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Nick Fury is Elizabeth’s intelligence chief, Dr. Strange is her physician, and various other familiar characters appear as either “witchbreed” (the X-Men), inquistors (Magneto), freelance agents of the crown (Daredevil), or antagonists (Doctor Doom).

This would seem like a recipe for much coolness, but unfortunately the plot is a rather convoluted. There are no less than four subplots going on at once, and though they do converge at the end, early chapters are rather disjointed and later ones feel rushed. Even though I was never really invested in the story, it’s still fairly decent overall, with some elements that are more appealing than others. One thing that I thought was kind of lame was having characters make prescient comments, like when Professor Xavier remarks, “Sometimes I dream of building a room in which danger would come from nowhere.” Okay, even I get that and know how cheesy it is.

Possibly I would’ve liked this more had I more readily recognized the characters that were being portrayed. Certain ones are easy—I can recognize most of the standard good guys in Marvel’s stable of stars, it seems—but I completely failed to grasp clues as to the Grand Inquisitor’s identity (two major ones being the identities of his two helpers) until his ability to manipulate metal made me go, “Ohhhh.” I’m sure that real Marvel fans had figured it out way before then. I’ve also never before encountered the character of Black Widow so I didn’t recognize her. Kudos to Gaiman for employing her in a role—a freelance agent helping Nick Fury and Daredevil—that seems to be perfectly in keeping with the character’s established history.

In the end, Marvel 1602 is a pretty fun read. It didn’t rock my world or anything, but it did familiarize me a little more with some elements of the Marvel universe, even while presenting them in an alternate time line. I can’t complain about that!

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: Marvel, neil gaiman

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