A few links caught my eye this morning, so I’ll share them along with a couple of my own. First of all, I have a short review of the final two volumes of the melodramatic Korean romance 100% Perfect Girl in today’s Manga Minis column at PopCultureShock. Thinking about this manhwa, I first considered saying something along the lines of, “Recommended for fans of Hot Gimmick and Black Bird,” but the truth is, 100% Perfect Girl is a little bit different.

By “different” I truly don’t mean “better,” so don’t get me wrong there. I possibly mean “more interesting” though, for the simple reason that, unlike either of the manga series I mentioned, the author of 100% Perfect Girl spends a whoooole lot of time psychoanalyzing her lead characters and doing a pretty good job of it too. While she still makes the mistake of romanticizing their seriously destructive relationship (and to some extent the male lead’s abusive nature) she also picks it apart at every opportunity.
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This is just barely link-blogging, since I believe I have only two links. Still, it saves me from being disagreeable all over the internet, something I try to avoid.

First, EW has an exclusive look at the cover for Yen Press’ upcoming Twilight graphic novel, as well as a single sample page. The word floating around Twitter was “hideous” but I admit I think it’s kind of pretty. Not the cover so much (lifeless but inoffensive) as the interior artwork. I haven’t been looking forward to reading Twilight, despite my highly positive take on its announcement, but I gotta admit my inner teen is a tiny bit smitten with that sparkling vampire’s sensitive eyes. Oh, inner teen, must you humiliate me in this way? Must you??

Meanwhile, The Hooded Utilitarian continues their xxxHolic Roundtable with most participants not finding much besides the artwork to enjoy.
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Time for a little link-blogging!

First of all, it’s probably obvious that I enjoyed the Girls and fandom roundtable with the Good Comics for Kids folks over at the Robot 6 blog, considering that I’ve been commenting up a storm. I wanted to be sure to pass on the link, though, because it’s important and exciting discussion. Sparked by the recent spate of fanboy hostility towards teen girl fans of Twilight, the discussion continues and expands in comments to adult perception of the novels and more. Many thanks to everyone at Good Comics for Kids for speaking out on behalf of young female fans.

Speaking of girls and women in comics fandom, thanks to Deb Aoki’s efforts, the Women Make Comics t-shirt is available now (in many shapes and sizes!) at Cafe Press. Profits go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the Cartoon Art Museum, and Friends of Lulu. Buy them for all your friends!

Deb has also posted her 20 Manga Must-Sees / Must-Do’s at San Diego Comic-Con 2009 at about.com, which I am linking to mainly out of envy. What a great lineup of events! Special mention must be made of item #3, the Women in Manga panel with JuYoun Lee (Yen Press), Lillian Diaz-Pryzbyl (TokyoPop), Leyla Acker (VIZ), Becky Cloonan, Robin Brenner, and Deb herself. Oh how I wish I could attend!

While I’m making impossible wishes, I’ll also add (in the category of Jobs I Wish I Was Qualified For) Viz Media’s advertisement for a Brand Manager. Check it out for yourselves, especially if you live in the San Francisco area.

As a little post-script here, I’d just like to mention how much I enjoy and appreciate the manga blogosphere as a whole. The bloggers are seriously fantastic and discussion is almost uniformly thoughtful and invigorating. I’m constantly impressed by this community and immensely grateful to be a part of it. I think I’ve expressed things along these lines before, but it bears repeating. Thanks, manga bloggers!

The big news in the manga blogosphere today is EW’s announcement about the upcoming Twilight graphic novel from Yen Press. Adapted by Korean artist Young Kim with Stephanie Meyer “reviewing every panel,” the character designs so far resemble manhwa versions of the film actors without the over-the-top movie-star perfection. Though comments on the EW article online are mixed, this announcement is undoubtedly a cause for many fans of the book to rejoice over yet another means by which to experience the source material.

For manga/manhwa fans… maybe not so much.
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