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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

NYCC

The Manga Lover’s Guide to NYCC 2014

October 8, 2014 by Katherine Dacey

Whether you’re planning to attend New York Comic-Con or just want to stay abreast of licensing news, we’ve got you covered! We’ve compiled a master list of panels and exhibitors for those of you who are NYC-bound. Not headed to the Big Apple? We’ll be filing periodic updates throughout the show to let you know what new titles, products, and initiatives your favorite publishers have announced.

Here’s a quick look at the publisher’s panels:

  • Thursday @ 3:00 PM: Viz Media (1A14)
  • Thursday @ 6:00 PM: The Future of Shonen Jump (1A10)
  • Friday @ 11:00 AM: Crunchyroll Industry Panel (1A21)
  • Friday @ 1:15 PM. Yen Press (1A14)
  • Friday @ 5:00 PM: Takeshi Obata (1A10)
  • Saturday @ 5:15 PM: Vertical, Inc. (1A14)
  • Sunday @ 2:00 PM: Kodansha Comics (1A18)
  • Sunday @ 3:00 PM: Crunchyroll Manga (1A18)

Here’s a list of the major manga publishers who will be exhibiting at the show:

  • Dark Horse Comics (1636)
  • GEN Manga Entertainment (2058)
  • Hachette Book Group USA (2218)
  • Kodansha US Publishing (2109)
  • One Peace Books (1060)
  • Vertical, Inc. (2020)
  • VIZ Media (1944)

And here are some helpful links to help you plan your visit:

Sean Gaffney shares his top picks for most interesting panels.

Heidi MacDonald posts a complete list of all the panels at this year’s show. Click here for Thursday’s panels; click here for Friday’s; click here for Saturday’s; click here for Sunday’s.

VIZ Media has posted a complete schedule of events on its website. Highlights include a Sailor Moon anime panel and a special appearance by Death Note artist Takeshi Obata. Bring your dog-eared copy of Hikaru no Go: Obata will be at the VIZ booth on Thursday, October 9th from 7:30 to 8:30 pm for a manga signing.

Wondering what kind of goodies you’ll find at publishers’ booths? Many are offering sneak peeks on social media. Vertical, Inc., for example, will have advance copies of new series Witch Craft Works, while Kodansha will have the much-anticipated volume 14 of Attack on Titan.

Filed Under: MANGABLOG Tagged With: NYCC

Yen Press NYCC 2013

October 13, 2013 by Melinda Beasi 1 Comment

hasslerIn typical Yen Press fashion, Publishing Director Kurt Hassler & Co. skipped straight to the good stuff in yesterday’s panel, with a string of license announcements, peppered with pleasantly snarky humor.

First off in new licenses, to Manga Bookshelf’s delight, is Void’s Enigmatic Mansion, a new manhwa series with artwork by HeeEun Kim and story by JiEun Ha. This series will be serialized digitally, chapter-to-chapter on a simultaneous schedule with Korea, with eventual print releases as well.

Next, Yen will be offering Ani-Imo by Haruko Kurumatani, which promises body-swapping and inappropriate sibling affection, so be sure to check it out if that’s your thing. And if that’s not quite my thing, paranormal shoujo romance absolutely is, which brings us to He’s My Only Vampire by Aya Shouoto. I’ll admit I’m somewhat iffy on vampires these days, but I suspect I’ll risk it.

In the interest of saving the best for last, I’ll skip now to Alice in the Country of Diamonds ~ Wonderful Wonder World ~ Official Visual Fan Book, created by QuinRose, which is sure to please fans of the Alice series. And moving then to High School DxD (story by Ichiei Ishibumi, art by Hiroji Mishima), which Hassler introduced by asking “Who likes boobs?” (I sadly heard “Who likes booze?,” so I couldn’t help but be a disappointed by the result.)

yuki2Did I mention I was saving the best for last? How about Kaori Yuki’s Demon from a Foreign Land? This, unsurprisingly, looks to be a dark supernatural romance, enhanced by Yuki’s always-delicious artwork. Yen is “super-excited about this one!” and they’re proving that by giving the series hardcover treatment. I’m feeling pretty excited as well.

After speeding through their license announcements, the Yen crew answered questions from the crowd.

When asked about the importance of digital releases, Hassler responded, “Digital is doing fine—digital is growing,” but qualified that by adding that, “it is still a very small part of our business, as it is with everyone … the reality is for pretty much every publisher here, print is still 90% of our business.” He punctuated this point by claiming that the Yen staff spends time burying their faces in new print books and getting “high on glue.”

giveawayFans of digital have good news on the horizon, however, as Hassler confirmed that they “absolutely” are going to be acquiring digital rights for their Square Enix titles, now that the Japanese publisher’s online reader is finally being pulled down. “We’re just finalizing the details,” he said.”Keep your ears open, we’ll have announcements for you soon.” Even better, these titles will be available worldwide.

Hassler also reinforced the company’s dedication to their light novel releases, dismissing industry claims that light novels “don’t work” in North America. “I am hugely enthusiastic about the light novel business, they have been very successful for us.”

Yen’s panel closed with a book giveaway for all the attendees, passing on the panelists’ jovial mood to the entire room.

We’ll be covering New York Comic Con all weekend, so stay tuned!

Filed Under: UNSHELVED Tagged With: NYCC, NYCC 2013, yen press

Kodansha Comics NYCC 2013

October 12, 2013 by Melinda Beasi Leave a Comment

kodansha-panel2Unsurprisingly, today’s panel was very much about Kodansha Comics’ huge hit, Attack on Titan, though that’s far from all. Editor Ben Applegate reported that they have over 500,000 copies in print to date. They are releasing a companion Guidebook: Inside & Outside, as well as a comedy spinoff, Titan Junior High. … that’s right, Titan Junior High.

Other new Titan-related announcements today include the license for two spin-off manga, the shoujo series Attack on Titan: No Regrets and Attack on Titan: Before the Fall—the manga version of the light novel series announced this morning by Vertical.

All the Titan talk led to some interesting conversation towards the end of the panel’s Q&A section, too, as Director of Publishing Services Dallas Middaugh told stories about the series’ initial slow sales, including some flak he took over printing 45,000 copies of the first volume, which he was told he’d be “sitting on for two years.” It obviously gave him great pleasure to report that they’ll be out in a couple of weeks.

sinsBut though Attack on Titan was clearly the main theme of this year’s panel, its various spinoffs were not the only announcements by far.

Kodansha also announced two new licenses for 2014—first, Nakaba Suzuki’s Seven Deadly Sins, an ongoing series from the pages of Weekly Shōnen Magazine (Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and Fairy Tail, among others), set in the middle ages, and described by Middaugh as “very much in the vein of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.”

Then, also from Weekly Shōnen Magazine, we’ll see Ken Akamatsu’s UQ Holder!, set in the world of Negima!

Digital news was a major topic for today’s panel as well, with a large number of titles ready to join Kodansha Comics’ new wealth of manga on the Kindle, Nook, and iBook stores. New digital titles include Shugo Chara!, Shugo Chara!-chan, Tokyo Mew Mew, Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode, Sherlock Bones, Negima!, and upcoming titles My Little Monster, and Say I Love You. The company’s digital releases have moved entirely to the ebook model and away from their app, which is no longer being updated. Though print manga is clearly still a huge priority for Kodansha, editor David Yoo revealed his personal preferences by, at one point, stating that “Digital is always better!” Those of us with small apartments can’t help but agree.

We’ll be covering New York Comic Con all weekend, so stay tuned!

Filed Under: UNSHELVED Tagged With: Kodansha Comics, NYCC, NYCC 2013

Vertical Manga NYCC 2013

October 11, 2013 by Melinda Beasi Leave a Comment

imageOne of our favorite manga publishers, Vertical, Inc., had some announcements to make at New York Comic Con today, but Marketing Director Ed Chavez began by going through a number of their recent titles and talking about the company in general.

Quite a number of publishers have fallen over the past few years, and though some may have been skeptical about Vertical’s long-term prospects, Chavez pointed out that this is Vertical’s 10th year in publication, and that, far from struggling, they are “stronger, I think, than ever.” And this strength is certainly apparent when looking over their list of current releases.

A few highlights include Satoshi Kon’s Tropic of the Sea, which is doing very well for the company, Chavez reported, and they are “definitely looking into some more Kon.” He mentioned that Kon’s comic backlist is limited, and that they’d specifically be looking to “focus on just Kon being Kon,” rather than his collaborative work with other creators.

The hardcover Gundam: The Origin has also been a best-seller for the company. “We kind of wanted to build the ultimate manga machine, and thankfully, it’s been selling like hotcakes.” They’ll be publishing the series in its entirety, and they’re “definitely thinking about doing some more with Gundam,” said Chavez, though he had no announcements to make on that front at this time.

Shuzo Ashimi’s Flowers of Evil has been “a surprise hit for Vertical,” according to Chavez. “I keep on saying it’s a rom-com,” he said of the notoriously dark series, which elicited some laughs from the crowd. “A lot of their situations make me laugh.”

Humor aside, Chavez spoke admiringly of the series’ artistic progression. “It seriously gets better with age,” he said. “You will be shocked by this work, and it will be so satisfying.” Vertical has early copies of volume seven here at the convention, and is passing out postcards featuring the cover in their booth.

Another surprise success for the company has been Takahiro Seguchi’s Sickness Unto Death, which they partly licensed as a complement to Flowers of Evil. Early copies of volume two are moving quickly here at NYCC, and Chavez estimated that they might not have enough to last the weekend.

Some upcoming Vertical titles that we’re particularly excited about came up in today’s panel, including classic josei manga Pink from creator Kyoko Okazaki, Moyoco and Hideaki Anno’s autobiographical comedy Insufficient Direction, and Fumi Yoshinaga’s foodie drama What Did You Eat Yesterday?, which Chavez said he’s “stoked” about. We are, of course, “stoked” x 100 here at Manga Bookshelf.

imageNow on to the license announcements! Vertical saved these for the end of their panel, and they were well worth waiting for.

First, again from Moyoco Anno, the award-winning In Clothes Named Fat, a josei one-shot originally published by Shodensha, is due out here in summer, 2014. “The characters in this tale are gross,” said Chavez, “they are horrible people.” But I suspect that, once we’ve started, we’ll be unable to put this book down.

And on the light novel front, summer will also bring Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, which details the events leading up to the hugely popular manga series. This is an extremely fresh acquisition, and Chavez was not even sure of the author when questioned at the panel. Chavez mentioned that the company has been consciously licensing more manga with other media tie-ins (see last year’s 5 Centimeters Per Second and the recent Summer Wars). Given the enormous popularity of this franchise, it certainly seems like smart strategy. More details will be soon to come.

We’ll be covering New York Comic Con all weekend, so stay tuned!

Filed Under: UNSHELVED Tagged With: NYCC, NYCC 2103, vertical

NYCC 2013 Thursday Photo Gallery

October 10, 2013 by Melinda Beasi Leave a Comment

Here are a few shots of the crowds on the exhibit floor today. Thursday’s starting to get pretty popular…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Filed Under: UNSHELVED Tagged With: NYCC, NYCC 2013

Moyoco Anno interview at The Beat!

January 24, 2013 by Melinda Beasi Leave a Comment

As you know, back in October I attended New York Comic Con. On the second day of the convention, the inimitable Heidi MacDonald was called away for a family emergency, and asked me to fill in for her on a couple of manga-related interviews. The first of these was with Moyoco Anno, author of Flowers and Bees, Happy Mania, Sugar, Sugar Rune, and Sakuran. It was an incredible opportunity for me, especially as my first-ever live interview. And though I am regretful that Heidi was not able to conduct it herself—she’d expressed just the day before how much she was looking forward to it—I’m grateful to have had the chance to speak with Anno-sensei about her extraordinary work. I only wish we could have talked longer.

Though NYCC is long past, Heidi’s post is fortuitously timed to coincide with this month’s Manga Moveable Feast! I’ll be talking more about Moyoco Anno in this week’s installment of My Week in Manga. In the meantime, read the interview here!

Filed Under: UNSHELVED Tagged With: Moyoco Anno, NYCC, NYCC 2012, the beat

Manga at New York Comic Con 2012!

October 15, 2012 by Melinda Beasi 5 Comments

For those of you who were unable to attend New York Comic Con this year, here is a quick taste of the con’s manga-related offerings, especially featuring JManga, GEN Manga, and Vertical, Inc!

For a full rundown of this year’s new license announcements and other news, don’t miss Sean’s daily roundups from New York!

Filed Under: UNSHELVED Tagged With: NYCC, NYCC 2012

Manhwa Monday: Post-Con Blues

October 11, 2010 by Melinda Beasi 7 Comments

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday!

The past week was all about New York Comic Con for us here at Manhwa Bookshelf, and manhwa certainly made itself known at this year’s con.

Booth 2265 was the place to be for manhwa fans, where the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) set up shop, promoting manhwa in big, blue letters and offering up comics in both Korean and English for sale at 4-for-3 prices.

As I predicted last week, KOCCA’s English-translated manhwa was provided via NETCOMICS, whose Vice President, Soyoung Jung, was onsite throughout the con. Though I was only able to chat with her briefly, the state of the booth’s inventory by Sunday afternoon spoke for itself, indicating that first volumes (at least) of most series were snatched up early on.

My personal manhwa score included a few middle volumes of BL favorite Totally Captivated to round out my collection, and volume two of historical fantasy Kingdom of the Winds.

KOCCA’s booth was both recognizable and easily visible at a distance, making it one of the most effective of its kind at the con.

Though none of the convention’s attending publishers had new manhwa licenses to announce, the most promising news came from Yen Press, whose newly announced iPad app (launching at the end of this month) will include some of its Korean titles to be downloaded as complete volumes for roughly $8.99 apiece.

In other news, allkipop.com releases photos of actress Moon Geun Young’s transformation into her character, Wi Mae Ri, for the upcoming mini-series Mary Skipped the Curfew, based on a Korean webtoon. Based on what I’ve seen so far, this can be added to my list of “manhwa I wish were available in English.”

And in the manhwa blogosphere, Lori Henderson updates her list of Halloween manga to include two recent manhwa series, girls’ horror manhwa Reading Club from Udon Enterainment and ghost-story manhwa Time and Again from Yen Press.

That’s all for this week!

Is there something I’ve missed? Leave your manhwa-related links in comments!

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf, Manhwa Monday Tagged With: nyaf, NYCC

Manhwa Monday: NYCC Edition

October 4, 2010 by Melinda Beasi 2 Comments

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday!

With the new, joint New York Comic Con/New York Anime Festival swiftly approaching, let’s take a look at this year’s most promising manhwa destinations at the con(s).

First, to the exhibit hall! Manhwa publisher NETCOMICS has implied via Twitter that they will have a presence at the show. Though they have no booth listed with the con (and a request for details has remained unanswered as of this posting), my guess is that we’ll find them in the vicinity of KOCCA, the Korea Creative Content Agency, at booth number 2265 (ETA: this is confirmed!). Similarly, manhwa-friendly Yen Press should be represented at the booth of parent company Hachette Book Group, booth 2315.

Other manhwa publishers in attendance include Dark Horse Comics (booth 2023), NBM (booth 2304), First Second (booth 2314), and Fanfare/Ponent Mon (booth 2426).

Moving on to events, get all the news from Yen Press at their panel on Saturday from 3:45-4:45 in the afternoon, and check in with Dark Horse on Friday evening from 5:45-6:45. Also of interest to manhwa fans, K-drama website DramaFever is hosting a panel on “Asian Entertainment Trends in American Pop Culture” on Friday evening from 8:30-9:30, moderated by DramaFever’s David Hou and featuring such panelists as San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jeff Yang and Dramabeans.com writers Javabeans and GirlFriday. Check out the full list of panelists at DramaFever.com.

I’ll be at the cons all weekend, so please look for me and be sure to say hello!

This week in reviews, Charles Montgomery at 10 Magazine takes a look at three titles, Forest of Gray City (Yen Press), Manhwa 100 (KOCCA), and Let Dai (NETCOMICS). In the latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf I talk about an upcoming volume of 13th Boy (Yen Press). Connie checks out the second volume of Laon (Yen Press) at Slightly Biased Manga. And at Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson reviews volumes 1-3 of Pig Bride (Yen Press).

That’s all for this week!

Is there something I’ve missed? Leave your manhwa-related links in comments!

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf, Manhwa Monday Tagged With: manhwa monday, nyaf, NYCC

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