I’ve put back up some manga that didn’t sell the first time. Next time I’ll have new titles to go up. But if you missed them the first time and were interested, here they are again.
Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President v1-5
Please check them out and happy bidding!
Most of the time, when comparing a manga to an anime, the anime takes liberties that can make it less like its source, and often not as good. 07-Ghost is one of those rare exceptions. The manga started in Japan in 2005 in the magazine Monthly Comic Zero Sum, the same magazine that publishes Saiyuki. Eight volumes are available The manga was licensed by Go Comi! here in the states, and there are 4 volumes published. The anime ran from April to Septermber 2009, and went for 25 episodes.
One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall
Last Friday night, news started coming in over twitter that Amazon had pulled the buy buttons from all of publisher MacMillian’s books from their website. The books could only be purchased there from 3rd party sellers, and this was for both print and digital books. This included all of their imprints such as First Second books, Tor, and Seven Seas Entertainment. The New York Times then broke the story that Amazon and MacMillian were arguing over Amazon’s $9.99 pricing for e-books. MacMillian, one of the 5 publishers who had signed on to Apple’s iBooks store with the tiered pricing plan, now wanted Amazon to do the same. Amazon’s reaction was to pull MacMillian’s books. You can get a lot of links to reactions here. By Sunday, Amazon had posted to their blog that they would have to give in to MacMillian’s demands, and as of this writing, the publisher’s books were being made available again. This has been brewing for quite some time, and it seems only with the advent of the Apple iPad and iBooks store that publishers seem to be embolden enough to push for the tiered pricing. While the iPad/iBooks is an alternative, I don’t think it’s going to be as definitive as they believe. But the fact that Amazon has admitted it will cave shows they knew this was inevitable, and held the line as long as they could. Whether readers will go along is another matter all together.
Here in the US, we’re all excited about getting more devices to carry around to read books on. In Japan, they’re taking existing devices that people are already carrying and adapting them to not just read books but to also enhance that reading experience. They are letting the content take advantage of the platform instead of making devices to conform to the content.
The Lizard Prince Volume 1
By Asuka Izumi
Publisher: CMX
Age Rating: Everyone
Genre: Romance/Fantasy/Comedy
Price: $9.99
Rating: 
Canary is the princess of the kingdom of Linaria. Her father, the king has promised her hand in marriage to Heath, the handsome prince of the kingdom of Gazania. Canary isn’t crazy about this, because Heath has a bad reputation. The Prince has his own reservations, and gets his brother Sienna to pose as him on their first date, convinced he’ll drive her away. But the plan backfires when chemistry ignites between the two. The only problem is, Sienna’s been under a spell, which turned him into a lizard. And once he’s done posing as his brother, he reverts back to that form! Will love really conquer all in this mixed up triangle?
The Lizard Prince is a fairy tale turned quirky romance. It starts out much like the Frog Prince, but is able to transform itself into a funny and charming romance with wide spread appeal.
20th Century Boys Volume 7
By Naoki Urasawa
Publisher: Viz Media
Age Rating: Teen Plus
Genre: Drama/Mystery
Price: $12.99
Rating:
Out in the middle of Tokyo Bay, a man called Shogun is trying to break out of Umihotaru Prison, a maximum-security island fortress, so he can save the world. Accompanied by a frightened young manga artist, these two men are prepared to risk everything as their daring escape plan grows deadlier by the minute. However, the prison authorities will do whatever it takes to return Shogun and his reluctant companion to custody.
Shogun’s ultimate goal: Tokyo, where a girl he calls the “final hope” lives, but a murder in Kabuki-cho has triggered a chain reaction of terror. Can Shogun reveal the truth about the false peace created by the Friends? And what are the facts behind the disaster that took place in the final moments of the 20th century?!
What happened December 31, 1999? The events of that night start to unfold as both Shogun and Kami tell the tale to two young people who want to know the truth. But will learning these facts bring us any closer to the truth? Once again, Urasawa poses more questions than he answers in this volume. Why are the Friends rebuilding the 1970 Exhibition? What exactly happened on December 31, 1999? Even as we delve further into those events, answers are not forthcoming.
But Is It Contagious?
Love to love it, or love to hate it, the release of the Twilight manga is eminent. Manga fans have been expressing (mostly) their disdain for the series and a NIBY attitude about it. Shaenon Garrity, a respected writer about manga points out that the themes in Twilight are nothing new. In fact, the themes in Twilight are not only prevalent in shojo, a lot of it has been done before! So quit whining about it. In the end, it’ll do more good than harm. Someone needs to be able to challenge Viz, and right now, it seems like Yen Press’ adaptations are the only ones with the steam power. See the NYT Bestseller List below.
Late Friday night, reports started coming in about a dispute between Amazon and publisher MacMillian. According to the New York Times, Amazon has “temporarily” pulled all books by MacMillian, including all imprints such as First Second, Seven Seas Entertainment, and Tor, because MacMillian is pushing for a raise in price of their e-book on the Kindle to $15. The grousing between Amazon and publishers has been going on for a while now, so that this has finally happened is no surprise. Nor is it a surprise that it happens right after Apple announced it’s iPad, which MacMillian is one of the publishers that signed on to provide books for.
To get a full range of the story, he’s some links to check out.
Johanna Draper Carlson posts about it at Comics Worth Reading. Check out the comments for interesting information on the breakdown of who gets what in the publishing pie.
Business Insider has a look at the dispute from the Apple side of the equation.
Cory Doctorow, a big proponent of e-books, has his own take at BoingBoing. Definitely check out his post for how the whole battle affects consumers. He’s got some really interesting insights.
The Los Angeles Times has some quotes from publishers about Amazon’s pricing, basically defending MacMillian.
Back at the New York Times, their technology blog Bits has more details on the dispute between Amazon and MacMillian, getting the heart of the problem.
Edit: As the weekend has gone on, more people have been speaking out about this, including authors. Here are two takes on the supply chain issue that really put the whole pricing of e-books into perspective. If you really want to understand this issue, read Charlie Stross‘ and Tobias Buckell’s posts for detailed insights.
Well, it finally happened. After all the hype over the last few months, Apple finally announced the device that has been touted as a game changer; the savior of print; the e-reader to end all e-readers; the iPad. Yeah.
Jack Frost Volume 1
By JinHo Ko
Publisher: Yen Press
Age Rating: Older Teen
Genre: Horror
Price: $10.99
Rating: 
Any high schooler on a nerve-wracking first day at a new school is apt to lose his or her head a little. But in Noh-A’s case, she literally does! When she wakes up in one piece with a little help from a mysterious doctor, Noh-A quickly realizes that nothing is as it seems at Amityville High, where paranormal creatures battle for supremacy. Caught in the crossfire, Noh-A may have to rely on the unlikely (and possibly unreliable) aid of the most sinister student at Amityville…the deadly Jack Frost!
By all outward appearances, this title looks to be a pale shadow of the horror manga Hellsing. Cracking open the book doesn’t do much to alter that appearance. There is lots of action and decapitation, but not much in actual plot.
