Manga Xanadu

Netcomics has a strong showing this week, with five volumes, two of which are debuts. It think it’s great to see manhwa (Korean comics) being brought back to the US. Yen Press was the last publisher to make any kind of push when they took over Ice Kunion, but haven’t done anything new since. I’m less likely to check out the new volumes Behind Story and Core Scramble as they are BL, but Chiro, which is a rescue from Udon, and Give To The Heart are both titles I would definitely try out. One volume I will have to get is My Neighbor Seki Vol 3. I adore this series so much, that every volume is a must have. Bravo to Vertical Comics for licensing such a fun manga. Viz Media releases their Shonen Sunday titles this week. I still love Case Closed and get sucked in everything time I pick up a volume no matter how many I’ve missed in between. I do kind of hate seeing a volume where the first chapter ends a case, but  no matter how ludicrous the setups or solutions may seem to others, I still adore them!  Tiger and Bunny is a series…

There a good selection of titles from publishers this week. One publisher that sort of faded away is back; Netcomics. The manhwa heavy publisher was among the first to offer titles digitally, and rented chapters as well as selling volumes. Their first title back was Give to the Heart, which has volume 3  coming out this week. Joining it is Sweet Blood, a gender-bender/BL vampire title, and a license rescue, Chiro Volume 1 Star Project. This title was originally published by Udon Entertainment under their short-lived manga line. Hopefully it will do better this second time around. Vertical Comics has a hefty title this week with Dream Fossil The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon. The collection of short stories by the manga creator and anime director has been highly anticipated by fans. Vertical has proven time and again they know how to not only pick great content but present it in a way that makes it worth the price. It’s a Yen Press heavy week, with the publisher releasing the majority of its titles. This week debuts the manga versions of two popular light novels, A Certain Magical Index and Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in…

With September having five Tuesdays, most of the big releases will hit next week. That leaves this week open for some of the smaller titles to get the attention. Kodansha’s My Little Monster is a series I’m continuing to enjoy. The unusual relationship between Shizuku and Haru is a lot of fun to watch, and the uncertainty of where it will be at the end of each volume makes it stand out from many of the other shojo titles out there. Volume 4 comes out this week. Vertical’s Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin has proven there is not only a market for Gundam manga, but that premium hardcovers will be coveted too. The series passes the half way point with Volume 7‘s release. This week welcomes back an old publisher to print. Netcomics has been missing from the print releases for a while. They were one of the first publishers to rent chapters online and to put other publisher’s titles online digitally. Finally they release a new print volume of a new series, Give to the Heart. The premise has a bit of a Bride of the Water God feel, with a Water God trying to win a human woman’s…

Anime Boston/Wondercon Roundups Two comics/manga related cons occurred this last weekend.  On the West Coast was Wondercon, the smaller, younger brother of SDCC, located in San Francisco.  While more comics based, it seems Hollywood is taking every opportunity to jump on the popculture bandwagon.  Manga related, Viz Media had a booth, as did CMX, Last Gasp, and EigoManga.  Deb Aoki of Manga.About.com has an overview of the con as well as links to other coverage.  Over on the East Coast, Anime Boston took place.  While mostly an anime con, many manga bloggers attended and even held panels.  Vertical, Inc. had a panel, and Ed Chavez, marketing director for Vertical as well as creator of Mangacast hosted a panel of manga bloggers.  The big news from the Vertical panel was the license of a title from a mangaka once published by Viz Media.  Calling it “Manga Series R” the clue is that the “R” refers to either the mangaka’s name or manga’s title.  I voting (hoping) its Leiji/Reiji Matsumoto.  Brigid Alverson has a full rundown of the Vertical panel at Robot 6, and you can hear the audio from the Manga Mania panel by scrolling down to the Ninja Consultant’s like…

Hollywood, Here Comes Netcomics! Netcomics, the Korean publisher that puts all their titles online for a per-chapter fee, is producing a film of their manhwa X Diary.  There’s not much news out yet, other than Variety’s report which includes the names of the writer of the script, one cast member and the producer from Netcomics.  But the news itself isn’t too surprising.  Ever since Hollywood started coming to SDCC, and they’ve found that there’s an audience for comics based books, practically every comic company has been looking to get a title into production.  Though, the premise of X Diary does make it a good candidate.  It’s about a cartoonist and musician who break up as a couple, but try to make it as friends.  It’s a topic that surpasses culture and could very well appeal to non-comic/manhwa readers.  We’ll have to wait and see how production goes.  Lots of titles get started only to stall not far into the process.

Kumoricon Kumoricon, Portland, Oregon’s anime/manga/all thins J-popish was this last weekend.  John Thomas, a local and reviewer for Comics Village, was there for two of the three days and gave reports on the announcements, mostly from Dark Horse, as they are also local to the area.  The big announcement from Kumoricon though came from Jason Thompson.  His magnum opus, Manga: The Complete Guide will continue online.  Starting September 15, a new review of a series will go up once a day for 365 days (that’s one year) at Suduvu.com.  Jason will also be giving away 5 manga a day to some lucky commentor a day.  Go here for all the detials.