Next Tokyopop Webinar Announced
Tokyopop has announced it’s next webinar, and this time far enough ahead of time for people to plan for it! It’s in the evening this time, 7PM PST/10PM EST, on Tuesday, September 1 5PM PST/8PM EST on Wednesday September 2. It’s a better time though I’m going to miss the beginning. 5:15 is the best I can do getting home. East Coasters will have a better time of it. There’s nothing on worth watching at 8PM on Wed is there? Tivo it if you must! Otherwise, there will hopefully be some more good recaps around the mangasphere.
Manga Hobbies
Cross Stitch
I wrote about this back in April, but it’s worth bring up again. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review just discovered though. The reporter interviews Helen McCarthy about combining the seemingly incompatible interests of Manga and Cross Stitch. As a cross stitcher myself, I think this book is awesome. My collection of patterns covers all my interests, from cats, dragons, unicorns, the zodiac and other fantasy, big cats and other wild animals. Manga and anime hasn’t had much representation…until now! Having a katakana & hiragana alphabet is cool too.
Stamp Collecting
Stamp collecting has been a hobby for geeks and nerds, so it’s nice to see it updated for the 21st century. While here in the US we have Marvel and DC characters appearing on stamps, Japan has Shonen Sunday and Magazine, and now Naruto! Stamp collecting is another hobby I enjoy, and a very diverse hobby at that. Not only can you collect stamps from the US, Japan, or any other country, but you can pick a specific category called Topicals (such as cats, movies stars, etc). I’ve collected Japanese stamps for several years and really enjoy them. They have some really beautiful stamps that aren’t that hard to get. Stamp collecting can also help you better understand the culture. But, if you just want the manga and anime, go topical.
What’s Circulating?
Robin Brenner (@nfntrobin), librarian extraordinaire, posted the most circulated titles in her library this year so far on Twitter:
For Adults
- 1. Monster
- 2. Lady Snowblood
- 3. Red River
- 4. Blood+
- 5. Dororo
- 6. MW
- 7. Vagabond
- 8. Eden: It’s an Endless World
- 9. Alcohol, Shirt & Kiss
- 10. Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
All Time
- 1. Nana
- 2. Desire
- 3. Buddha
- 4. XS Hybrid (this intrigues me) (Robin’s words)
- 5. Monster
- 6. Akira
- 7. Ghost in the Shell
- 8. Phoenix
- 9. Ode to Kirihito
- 10. Alcohol, Shirt & Kiss
It’s an interesting list for sure, with several Tezuka titles appearing on both. Dark Horse has some good representation among the adults. And I’m personally happy to see Red River popular among adults too. It’s also interesting that most of the titles we see are titles that have a broader appeal and wouldn’t necessary appear on the NYT Best Seller list. So the readers for more mature material is out there, just not in legions.
Let’s Talk X-Men: Misfits!
Deb Aoki of manga.about.com reports on the live chat held Monday. She pulls out several choice questions from the hour long chat session, along with sketches and character designs from the book. There is also a widget from suduvu.com that lets you see the full transcript. X-Men: Misfits seems to be getting a better reception than Wolverine did. But could that be that there isn’t as much saturation of Kitty Pryde, Iceman and Pyro as there is of Wolverine? Or maybe the material just works better as manga? Go check out the chat to find out!
Japanese Publishers vs Scanalations
Japanese publishers seem to have finally taken notice of the scanalation scene most the US, but really that is happening all over the world. Combatting it the RIAA/MPAA way just isn’t going to work for these publishers, with the the internations boundaries and laws they are up against. It’s good to see them taking a more realistic approach. The article mentions Shogakukan and Shueisha getting manga online for free on their own as well as working through Viz Media. Shueisha is also selling a subscription for cellphone manga in France. While some of the articles claims of bad scans and shotty translations hit right on the head, what they really can’t deny are the groups out there that showed their love of the material with good scans and translations that we are also enjoying in English today. I still think scanalations are a two-edged sword that publishers and licensees should use very carefully.
NYT Best Selling Manga List
More minor switching and no new debuts to this week’s list. Spots #1 & #2 remain unchanged. Fruits Basket vol 23 muscles it’s way back to #3 and Black Bird vol 1 presses up to #5. Dogs: Bullets & Carnage vol 1 leaps to #8 pushing Fullmetal Alchemist vol 19 and Otomen vol 3 back one each. Over in the Paperback Graphic Novels, X-Men: Misfits moves up one to #5. While manga get more cred with comic readers if it makes it to #1? Or just more scorn?
Manga For Your Ears
Sci-Guys Manga Minute (lasts way longer than a minute)
Mangacast
This Week at Manga Village @ Comics Village
What I’m Reading
- Divine Melody Volume 3
- Nephylym Volume 1
One Comment
I’m really happy to see some classic manga titles in high circulation, especially titles from Osamu Tezuka, Katsuhiro Otomo, and Naoki Urasawa. They’re great introductions to the medium.