Recently over at Anime News Network, artist Bettina Kurkoski was featured in their The Gallery column. I read this, as I like Bettina’s work. I really enjoyed her OEL manga, My Cat Loki, buying the volumes after reading the first volume on line. Yes, I like it that much. In the article was of course links to Bettina’s home page and Deviant Art page. Of course I had to check those out. In the updates of the Deviant Art page at the time, Bettina was asking about KA-BLAM, a printer that specializes in comic books. She is doing this so her fans can finally get the rest of My Cat Loki. I think this is so awesome, that Bettina is looking for ways to finish My Cat Loki for the fans. Even though Tokyopop is giving some fans a chance to read the end of their favorite titles with their Wednesday online comics, it’s even cooler when the creator does this. She’s already put out some MCL works with sketchbooks for sale at cons (that I can’t go to), but seeing this title complete would be the best. It’s such a wonderful and touching story that it really deserves a…
If you’ve been following Tokyopop’s Boys of Summer online releases, you’ll notice there hasn’t been an update for a couple of weeks. No, I don’t know why. All Tokyopop has said is that it “won’t be back up for several weeks.” What I want to bring attention to though is the title they’ve moved up to fill in. Earthlight. This wasn’t supposed to be going up until January 2010, but now it’s been pushed up to this Wednesday, October 21. So, if you’re one of those rare sci-fi manga fans, and had given up on this series (like a friend of mine), take heart! You’ll finally get the finish of your series!
I have three more eBay auctions up, for some older manga. Those Who Hunt Elves v 1-7 Lupin III v 1-7 Lupin III v 8-14 Please take a look, and happy bidding! I also still have Inuyasha v6-10 and 11-15, and Buso Renkin v5-8 available for sale or trade. Contact me if interested.
This year, 2009, has been proclaimed the International Year of Astronomy. Four hundred years ago, Galileo Galilei first put a telescope to the sky and made many discoveries, including four of the moons of Jupiter; Io Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Stars and the planets have held people’s fascination for eons, as they appear in songs, art and books. Even manga has taken notice of the heavenly bodies. Whether it’s the stars and the constellations, the planets, or just observing them, manga covers them all in fun and imaginative ways.
September 19 was International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Did you remember to say “Arrrr” a lot and read some pirate manga? Manga in the Classroom Patrick Macias, Japanese pop culture aficionado, has posted the audio for a lecture he gave at the California State University at Monterey Bay last week. Called Theoretical Perspectives on Manga, Anime & Otaku, it includes some older material from a speech earlier this year at the Temple University Japan Campus as well as some new material about American fandom. I love it when this kind of material is shared, especially the academic talks. I’ve always been fascinated by the cultural aspects of fandom and I’ll take any opportunity to feed my hunger.
Arrrrr. It be the news. Shelf Porn! Found via Twitter. @MagicalEmi shared a picture of her manga collection. Now just think this whole thing is squeezed into a two room apartment. Not two bedroom, two room. All these bookshelves also explains how she can keep up her website Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page. I hope she’s got those bookshelves secured to the wall, or isn’t home when the Big One hits. Thanks for sharing! I need to take a pic of the shiny new bookcases my husband built for our books and manga.
Kodansha Letting Licenses with Tokyopop Lapse Brigid Alverson of the Manga Blog reported on Monday something that’s been suspected for a while in the mangasphere, and has finally been confirmed by Tokyopop. Kodansha, one of the big Japanese publishing houses, is not renewing its licenses with Tokyopop. David Welsh provides a quick, convenient, if possibly incomplete list of the titles affected at his own blog Precocious Curmudgeon. This news dominated much of Monday and Tuesday. Check the Manga Blog for a full roundup of commentary. This wasn’t an unexpected move, as Tokyopop’s relationship with Kodansha has been rocky at best. Two years ago, Kodansha made a deal with Random House and Del Rey Manga has been reaping the benefits. While this doesn’t come as a big surprise, it is kind of painful for those of us that were reading unfinished titles that are now left in limbo. I’ve been beating the drum loudly for Dragon Voice‘s last volume and lamented the incompleteness of Kindaichi Case Files. All we can do now is wait and see what Kodansha’s next move will be. Considering how long this took, it may be a very long wait for the next one.
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.
I sold most of my manga from the first batch I put up on eBay. Thanks so much if you bid! But I’ve still got more I have to move out. The next batch has gone up. Please look and bid if you’re interested: Inuyasha Volumes 6-10 Inuyasha Volumes 11-15 Hunter x Hunter Volumes 1-5 Hunter x Hunter Volumes 6-10 Hunter x Hunter Volumes 11-14 Tsukoyomi Moon Phase Volumes 1-5 Tsukoyomi Moon Phase Volumes 6-9 Starting bids are the price of one manga, so you’re essentially getting 5 (sometimes 4) for the price of one. I will combine shipping for multiple wins. Thanks for looking!
New People Grand Opening Saturday marked the grand opening New People in San Francisco, CA. Located in Japantown, it’s a three story shopping center that features Japanese cinema, retail and art all in one place. Several SF peeps/tweets when there. You can find most of the coverage under the topic #newpeople on Twitter. Deb Aoki of About.com: Manga has a photo gallery of the event. AX Flashback AX Backstage has posted the Keynote from Anime Expo 2009, including the “Can Manga From the US Be Commercially Successful?” panel (aka the OEL panel). The actual video of the panel begins on Day 2, Part 2 at about 6:00 in. (link via @debaoki)
A few days ago on Twitter, @debaoki mentioned she liked Animal Academy, an all ages title from Tokyopop, and thought that kids would like it. She mentioned she thought the books based on properties, like Disney were boring, but ended by saying, she didn’t know, since she wasn’t the target audience. Well, I have a daughter that’s in the target audience range, and both Animal Academy and Disney’s Kilala Princess. So, I gave both books to my youngest daughter Krissy and asked her to read them. When she finished, I asked her questions about the books.
It’s another slow week for news in general, though there were some cool announcements and interesting discussions. There’s still some SDCC fallout too. That should start petering out though as NYAF starts to loom ahead. Video Recap of Ikki Panel at SDCC Over at the Ikki Blog, Viz has put together a nearly 4 minute recap of the Ikki panel at SDCC. It’s no the same as being there, but it’ll give you an idea of what went on. A full recording of the panel would have been much cooler though.