Well, I finally did it. I have listed some of my complete series up on eBay. I only put up a few that I’m selling, as eBay kept upping the fees with the more I listed. It was starting to suck, so I stopped at 5. I’ll be adding more as I see how these do. You can find them here: Read or Die Read or Dream Train Man: Densha Otoko (Viz Edition) Densha Otoko (CMX Edition) Treasure Hunter (CPM)
Being a wanna-be tech hound, I watch the tech news for interesting posts about the tech subjects I like. I found one over at Channel Web that I’d thought I’d share with all my readers who are interested in E-books. They have a slide show showing all the current and future/possible E-book Readers, with specs. Check it out. At the end they mention a few software programs as well. But there is one that I think anyone considering purchasing an E-book Reader should look at. I found out about it when I was exploring the MobileRead website and forums. It’s an open source free program called Calibre. Calibre is an ebook management program that works on all the major platforms (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X). It works as a library, a format converter, and, best of all, convert news feeds to ebook format! With this program, which hands all the major formats, including Kindle and Sony, it doesn’t matter which reader you get. You can read any ebook on your reader. What I like best about it, is that it can take RSS feeds and make them available to read on the e-reader. The Kindle charges you for the…
Today, Amazon.com had a big press event to unveil the newest generation of its e-book reader, the Kindle. Speculation has been running about for while now that Amazon would release a new reader with leaked photos, increased orders of screens, and a long reorder wait at the Kindle store. So, what’s new about it? Well, not much. There were some cosmetic changes, which many people called for when it first came out in late 2007. It’s lighter and thinner, has an estimated 25% increase in battery power, and more memory that will allow it to hold nearly 6 times more books. What’s in it for manga readers? Again, not much. It does boast a new screen that is capable of showing 16 shades of gray, as opposed to the first generation that could only show 4. This would definitely improve the quality of black and white pictures, which makes up most manga releases. What hasn’t changed? The two most important things that would make the Kindle relevant to manga readers; price and content. The price hasn’t changed, so it’s still $359. But in this economy, that prices the reader out of LOT of people’s range. Prices under $200 seems to…
Even though most of the big Cons are in the summer, Con Season gets its official start now in February with the New York Comic Con, and I’m really getting to hate it. Why? Because of all the license announcements! I am really, REALLY trying hard to cut down on the amount of manga I get. I’ve done a brisk bit of trading at Mangatude (which I still highly endorse), and have caught up on several series, and I’ve got more complete series ready to go up on eBay. I go through Previews, and am happy when I see titles completing. Another couple of titles I don’t have to buy. But then, con season rolls around, and the list of titles I have to get suddenly goes up again!
I don’t hang out at Tokyopop.com anymore, but I still get all their newsletters, just to keep abreast with what’s going on. In the newest newsletter, there is a poll about e-books. Which would you prefer? Apple iphone, Sony e-Reader, Amazon Kindle, or none, reading paper books. Accompanying this in the newsletter is a video of a comparison review of the e-Reader and the Kindle. Viewing the video shows Tokyopop’s bias for the e-Reader (as that is where they have OEL manga available). The influence of this video seems to be reflected in poll, as the e-Reader has the second most votes, and most for a digital device. I have to hand it to Tokyopop for continuing to show some support for ebooks and the e-Reader. With it’s recent problems, publishing books electronically can be a good call to keep the fanbase happy while Tokyopop struggles through these tough times. It could also help to grow ebooks, in the same way that they did with OEL. If they would keep their books updated and make them easy to get, they might just make ebooks successful.
A week or so ago, I wrote about trading manga and the website Mangatude. While, as some have mentioned, this doesn’t actually reduce the number of manga you have. It just switched them. But, if they were books you wanted and would have spent money on, well, it’s a good deal. But only if both players are playing by the same rules. For trading to work, there has to be some trust. When a deal is struck, you have to trust that the other person will send the book, just as they trust that you will do the same. Of course, when you make that trade, you don’t know if the person will or not. Mangatude has a rating system, so before you accept a trade, you can see what experience others have had, and this can help measure whether you’re will to make the deal. But, there is a way to beat this system, though it takes time. It’s appeared on eBay, and now it seems on Mangatude.
Hunter x Hunter Volume 16, 17, 18 By Yoshihiro Togashi Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Older Teen (16+) Genre: Action Price: $7.99 Rating: These three volumes finish up the Greed Island arc (thankfully), though in retrospect it wasn’t as bad as it could be. Volume 16 continues “The Bomber” arc within Greed Island that was started in Volume 15. Genthru and his team has 96 and only need 4 more to win the game. Several teams of hunters, including Gon’s gather to come up with a way to stop Genthru. They decide to get a card no one else has and keep it from them. By creating a team of 15 they can activate the quest. After gathering the requisite number (including Hisoka), they reach the challenge of a killer dodgeball game. Volume 17 finishes the game, and starts the war between Genthru’s team and the winners of Plot of the Beach card. There’s more training for Gon and Killua while Tsezguerra’s team buys them time to come up with a strategy to beat Genthru. Volume 18 is the final three-on-three battle between Genthru’s team and Gon’s, and the end of the Green Island arc.
Found via AiCN. Gia of Anime Vice has put together a collection of fanart pictures of the Doctor, manga style. Most of the pictures are cute, and I really like the strip art on the far right with the companions. Very funny. The art features the current 10th Doctor played by David Tennant. He’s young, cute and very action oriented. He’d be the perfect subject for a manga adaptation. Especially as a bishonen, as this rendering shows (credit needed). Now would be the perfect time for the BBC to captialize on this and allow an OEL manga of the Doctor to be made. The announcement of the eleventh doctor, Matt Smith, has led to a lot of speculation, with the one that makes the most sense to me is that he will be going goth. Yes, we’ve had Victorian with the 1st and 8th Doctors, but speculation I’ve heard and seeing what he’s done in the past makes him perfect for the goth style. And it’s what’s popular with the teenage girls, a demographic Doctor Who hasn’t quite captured yet. Russell T. Davies has already given the Doctor lots of angst in his 4 year run. This just seems to…
Just a few comments about this month’s Previews catalog: Marvel/Del Rey collaboration: I have two words for the Wolverine manga; Emo Logan. Does the world REALLY NEED more emo Logan? I mean, honestly… The art looks great, I’m not gonna knock that. The Marvel catalog had some pictures of pages, and they did look nice. But this isn’t going to win anyone over from one side of the manga vs. comics camp, and really hope it was never meant to. If anything, this will probably fan the flames, but that seems to be the way Marvel likes it. Not that they want to come up with anything original…
A Samurai during Japan’s Warring States period (1467-1573), Daigo Kagemitsu wants complete control over Japan. He promises his unborn son’s 48 body parts to demons in exchange for that control. When the baby is born deformed, Daigo throws the newborn into the river to die, but it is miraculously found by a doctor, Jukai, who makes prosthetics for the child and adopts him as his own. When the boy Hyakkimaru is grown, he leaves home and begins a journey to recover his body parts. Along the way he runs into a brash young thief, Dororo, whom he teams up with; together they battle demon and monster on their adventure to reclaim Hyakkimaru’s wholeness. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Inc. Age Rating: Teen Genre: Action/Adventure Price: $13.95 Rating: Dororo, first serialized in 1967, can be seen as a proto-shonen story. It has many of the elements we now see in shonen titles today, though these were new at the time. Tezuka spins a memorable supernatural action/adventure tale and characters that really draw you in, and only disappoints at the very end, though not in story, but lack of it. The first volume of this title is the introduction. Tezuka jumps from…
Well, it’s January in California, and to all you people in the Midwest and East Coast, that usually means lots of cursing or dreaming of our weather. For the Rose Parade it is usually clear but cold, and that can last throughout the month. But not always, like this week. We went from high 50’s the last two weeks during the day to high 70’s to mid 80’s all this week. Since we only have two seasons (fire and rain), spring cleaning can happen at any time of the year. Over the holidays, I finally did some clearing. I’ve gone through my manga collection and have started to pull out titles I want to get rid of. As much as I love the idea of having just one room of wall to wall manga, that just isn’t going to happen right now. So, I’ve had to do a lot of soul-searching, and decide what titles I want keep and what titles need to go. I couldn’t let sentimentality get in the way, (though in some cases I think I have). But I thought things over very carefully, and based on re-readability, I have pulled 43 titles from my shelves. It’s…
Some of you out there may be wondering about my lack of posts lately. Most of you probably haven’t, but anyway… With the holidays and work, I’ve been really bogged down and quite frankly stressed, which tends to kill my creative juices. Distractions by things other than manga can also do it.