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May Contain Spoilers

Review:

I checked out The Secret Princess on a lark.  I was pressed for time with review books, but I saw the cover while browsing the virtual shelves at the library and was hooked.  It’s very cute, and I like the art style.  So I clicked the Borrow button and sat down to read it right away.  The story is cute too, so I’m glad I had a case of ADD.

Lotty has always behaved as her grandmother wished, and never rebelled against her.  The princess of Montluce, she has a reputation and public image to uphold.  When a series of threats against the throne make her grandmother nervous about the succession, she arranges for Lotty to marry her cousin.  Even though Phillippe is her best friend, she just can’t see herself married to him.  Besides, he’s in love with her friend, Caro, and she doesn’t want to come between them.  Taking Phillippe’s advice, she runs away from home, determined to use this opportunity to kick up her heels and experience the freedom she’s been denied for so long.

She goes to Scotland because her mother loved the country.  Unfortunately, her wallet is stolen soon after she arrives.  Penniless, she’s desperate to get a job, and asks Corran McKenna to hire her, despite the locals warnings to stay far away from him.  The grumpy guy is quick to point out that she isn’t strong enough to help him work his land, and he has no use for a woman employee.  Undeterred and persistent, she pesters him to point that he offers her a position.  If she can get a cottage in desperate need of TLC cleaned up and painted by the end of the weekend, he’ll hire her.  Not one to turn down a challenge, Lotty proves that Corran has underestimated her, and he reluctantly offers her a job.

Once she starts working alongside Corran, Lotty feels guilty for lying to him about her true identity.  Corran knows that there’s something off about her, but he just thinks that she’s a spoiled rich kid who has run away from home over some petty argument with her family.  As the two get to know each other, Lotty learns that the villagers think Corran stole the land from his younger brother.  He doesn’t hesitate to tell her that there is no love lost between his step-mother and his half-brother, and that his father turned his back on him after leaving his mother.  Corran ended up with the land because his father knew that the upkeep would be a financial burden, and he didn’t want to pin that on his youngest son. Instead, in spite, he left the land to Corran, who loved it and wants to make improvements, but can’t because he can’t get a loan. 

I enjoyed The Secret Princess because of the pretty art, seamless translation, and engaging story.  Lotty really is a kind person, and she’s determined to make the villagers see that they are wrong where Corran is concerned.  Before she leaves, she wants to repay his kindness by setting the record straight with the people who have basically shunned Corran.  Despite their rocky start, Lotty has come to care for her gruff employer.  She also loves the land, and wants to see Corran’s dreams come true.  She knows that they have no future together, so she’s decided to live for the moment, for the first time in her life.

The pacing is spot on, and the HEA, though highly unbelievable in this age of heightened security, is satisfying.  I was completely sold on their joyous future together.

Grade:  B

Review copy borrowed from my local library

From Amazon:

Princess of Montluce, Lotty, is very introverted and has never been able to express herself. Her grandmother wants to arrange an engagement for her, and she ends up running away. She wants to see what she can do on her own, and possibly fall in love for the first time… However, she loses her wallet in some town since she’s not used to having one, and ends up working for a man named Corran as a maid. At first, she is angered by his rudeness, but she ends up smitten by the kindness behind his crude demeanor.

Magical girls have been a part of shoujo since nearly the beginning; stories of idols and other performers are almost just as old. Magical girls haven’t changed much over the years, but today’s idol shows like Love Live! are rather different when compared to works like Creamy Mami. Mitsuki of Full Moon o Sagashite (Searching for ... Read more

As I'm probably too fond of saying, each year's San Diego Comic-Con represents the end of comics' fiscal year, and we're now in a new cycle of sales, renewal and looking forward to the next thing. Although the con was not that memorable on its own, it did mark a new plateau in the direct sales era for comics penetration into the mass media, and for having a variety of voices and genres that the medium has probably has never been seen before. This situation, while far from ideal, still represents a dream come true for a lot of us who have been toiling in the comics industry for a while. I remember as if it were yesterday sitting in various comics industry think tanks in the 90s wondering WHAT could be done to expand the audience for comics, how to bring in genres that weren't superheroes, and how to overcome the tyranny of the "32 page pamphlet" as it was dubbed by either Kurt Busiek or Marv Wolfman, depending on who you ask. These tasks seemed daunting at the time, and it actually took 25 years to get to a place where it could be argued that its true, and everyone at those meetings is a certified old timer now.

With the incredibly popular manga and anime Naruto coming to an end, (true) fans are being treated to a brand new one-shot featuring Boruto, the son of the titular character in the last series in manga form. With Naruto fulfilling his dreams and becoming the seventh Hokage (the strongest ninja in the Hidden Leaf village,) the […]

by Zachary Clemente

Photo taken by Manga Classics representative.

Mid-afternoon on the Friday of San Diego Comic-Con 2015, veterans of the manga publishing world got together to discuss what excites them and to lay down some truth on the myths surround publishing manga in North America. From left to right: Deb Aoki (Publisher’s Weekly), Leyla Aker (VIZ Media), Kurt Hassler (Yen Press), Ben Applegate (Random House/Kondansha Comics), and Erik Ko (Udon Entertainment).

The panel consisted of a lot of back and forth discussion on the nature of trying to publish various kinds of manga in North America and the main talking points came through during Aoki’s round of true or false manga publishing myth questions:

Sports manga doesn’t sell in North America – False. According to Aker, Hassler, and Applegate, this is patently false. While there an important hand of curation that needs to go into what sports manga will succeed in the US, the excitement around properties such as Yowamushi Pedal settles the argument.

Josei (women’s comics) doesn’t sell well in North America – Inaccurate. Though Hassler and Aker disagreed at first on the fundamental wording of this question, everyone agreed on the inherent challenge in bringing Josei to North America. Considering that the most successful Josei titles in their lines (such as works by Kaoru Mori) often have a historical or fantasy setting, the panel suggested that the slice-of-life stories that Josei manga offers in Japan is a niche already very well filled in prose publication in North America.

Older manga series are hard to sell in North America – True. Every publisher agreed that this is incredibly hard. From collecting publishing rights (often scattered between numerous entities) to restoring original pages (much of older manga was printed off of film which could have significant wear and tear), older manga is a much steeper investment that has a lower chance of finding a market big enough to justify the expense.

Long series of 10+ volumes are no-go – False. A vast majority of series brought over by VIZ, Kondansha, and Yen are easily more than 10 volumes long in Japan. This often leads to the production of larger collections (or in the case of Kondansha, their Colossal Attack on Titan books) for North America release.

Anime series drives manga sales – True. Literally no one had anything but yes to say to this.

Scanlations hurt manga sales – True. This was a consistent conversation throughout the panel about the hugely negative affect that scanlation has on the manga industry in totality – not just in the US. In fact, according to Aker, it’s common for scanlations of chapters from the popular Shonen Jump to be online before VIZ received them from Japan – meaning that they are actually either uploaded directly from Japan or stolen. No matter how fast publishers attempt to keep up with the pace of manga translation, the simple fact of the matter is that to conduct this business legally – it’s just slower. Aker noted that VIZ has a 5-day window to turn around hundreds of manga pages from receiving them on Monday to having them ready for digital release on Friday for the subscribers of VIZ’s digital Shonen Jump and if even one person is sick or out that week without notice, genuine problems can occur.

Publishers make decisions based on scanlations – False. Everyone was in agreement that the idea that publishers track what is popular on scanlation websites as a gauge for what should be licensed and published next is completely erroneous.

The best summation stated during the panel was in response to Aoki’s humorous question of “Japan, why you so slow?” Aker, if I remember correctly, responded quickly to the affect that it’s not why is Japan so slow, but why is the US so big?

Thanks for checking in on our ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con. Join us for ongoing coverage through the weekend!

May Contain Spoilers

Review:

I was more than annoyed when I learned that Scribd was drastically cutting back on their romance catalog.  I signed up for an annual subscription shortly after they acquired 15,000 backlist Harlequins.  Harlequins are my crack, so I’ve been dismayed that my favorite authors will no longer be available there, after they took my money and still haven’t emailed their customer base about their actions.  So, I decided to spend most of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday reading manga on the website.  I haven’t been a power user until this weekend.  I was more than content to know that that huge library of Harlequins was there, waiting for me when I had time for them.  Now, I am going to be a power reading, and get my money’s worth from the subscription.  I figure I have about 4 months of minimal reading to make up for. 

I had no real reason for picking Personal Relations to read.  The cover is kind of cute, and it was one of the first titles on the recommendation page, so what the heck.  I went for it.  This is a cute read!

When Brooke’s sister and Chase’s step-brother announce their engagement, the high school students don’t get the happy reaction they expected. Both Brooke and Chase are upset and want their wards to have a better future than getting married as teens. As they try to convince Courtney and Jeff that they have plenty of time to get married, and that college is more important, Brooke and Chase can’t fight their growing attraction.

This is a cute read, with very fast pacing. Both Brooke and Chase are desperate for their siblings to change their minds and wait, so that they don’t turn out to be unhappy like their parents. Chase’s parents weren’t compatible, and they both moved on after their divorce, leaving the brothers to fend for themselves. An unwise decision by Brooke costs Brooke’s parents their savings, and driven by her sense of guilt, she takes guardianship of Courtney when they leave for a job overseas. Hoping to be the voice of reason, the two adult implore the teens to stop and think before making the biggest mistake of their lives.

After a rough introduction, which starts with Chase trying to buy off her sister and ends with Brooke soundly slapping Chase on the cheek, the two adults agree to put aside their animosity for the sake of Courtney and Jeff.  They think that if they join forces, the kids won’t stand a chance against them.  They quickly realize that they underestimated how stubborn the teens can be, and are soon pulling out their hair in frustration.  Every argument and attempt to make them see the folly of their behavior is ignored or thrown back at them.

While the romance was just a little too much of a whirlwind, the story was humorous and fun. Brooke and Chase are sent on a merry chase after the teenagers, which leads to an unexpected visit to Vegas, as well as a surprise declaration from Chase. The art was clean and the style fit the story well.

Grade:  B

Review copy read at Scribd

Brook is shocked when one day her younger sister, Courtney, announces that she will be getting married to her boyfriend, Jeff. However, the two of them are still in high school. “As her older sister, I must put a stop to this reckless marriage!” When Brook consults with Jeff’s cool and handsome older stepbrother, Chase, he throws her a $10,000 check, saying bluntly that “I’d like to pretend none of this ever happened”! Shaking with anger that he has insulted her sister by saying she’s only after money, she ends up slapping him in a burst of outrage!

As I noted a few weeks back, Tokyopop, the company that came in changed comics and then crashed and burned, suspending publication for the most part back in 2011, is coming back as announced on a panel at Anime Expo with plans to begin publishing again in 2016″ announced by founder Stu Levy.

The company is seeking to license “hidden gems that are not yet noticed” from small or independent publishers.

In addition, Tokyopop plans to publish art books and collectors editions, and will consider light novels.

This move was met with a mix of curiosity and hostility online which you can see developing in this ANN comment thread. While some former fans hoped for Tokyopop to finish series that were left hanging in 2011, others recalled the past sins of the company and vowed never to give Levy another penny.

If you’re wondering about the sins—which I covered in detail over the years—a tweet from Darryl Ayo sums it up:

TokyoPop can do comics three favors: 1) GIVE back the IP to the creators. 2) pay those creators backwages. 3) Fade Away And Never Come Back.

— darrylayo (@darrylayo) July 2, 2015

One of the more interesting things about Tokyopop’s new plans is that when users upload their own comics to the “Pop Comics” app “Users keep the copyright and 100% creative control of their uploaded works.” according to ANN. This was not always the case with Tokyopop, and much of the animus towards the company stems from their publishing history of signing up a lot of original creations by very young creators and refusing to give them the rights back, despite being long OOP (although the rights CAN be purchased back.) Among those creators: Brandon Graham, Becky Cloonan, Felipe Smith, Amy Reeder, Svetlana Chmakova, Rivkah la Fille….yeah kinda a pretty good lineup of people. Most of them don’t even like talking about their Tokyopop experiences any more but a few do:

Interesting to see both Tokyopop & Image trending.The company I had the most hassle with & the company who I've had the best experience with

— Brandon Graham (@royalboiler) July 3, 2015

The rough thing is if Image hadn't helped make King city a success TP would probably have given me back the rights long ago.

— Brandon Graham (@royalboiler) July 3, 2015

But working with TP on King city did allow me to get to the place I'm at now with Image, so I can't be too sour.

— Brandon Graham (@royalboiler) July 3, 2015

That said, the unwillingness to not work with me until I'd cut an Image deal that was giving them free money was maddening.

— Brandon Graham (@royalboiler) July 3, 2015

@royalboiler @emmahouxbois I *think* some bought their rights back. I know the Off*Beats kickstarter mentioned having to do that.

— Ken (@LostPhrack) July 3, 2015

I'm not prepared to forgive or support Tokyopop going forward as they don't seem to recognize that they ever did anything wrong.

— Christopher Butcher (@Comics212) July 2, 2015

And yes, there were good people who tried hard that worked at Tokyopop, some of them I count as friends. That doesn't excuse the company.

— Christopher Butcher (@Comics212) July 2, 2015

You can read our past coverage of the company as it happened here. And Brigid Alverson has her own summation post right here. But I’d like to list a few contemporaneous accounts for those who want to revisit history via blog posts.

Tokyopop: Hey, dude, totally bad contract!
Tokyopop: the other side
Yet more on Tokyopop
Tokyopop letter to creators
Yet MORE Tokyopop stuff
Platinum and Tokyopop drama continues
Mystery solved: why would anyone sign that Tokyopop Manga Pilot Program contract?
Pavia updates Tokyopop
More on KING CITY’s move
Tokyopop follow-up: Is Stuart Levy the Charlie Sheen of comics?
Tokyopop updates: Who owns what
Must read: Chuck Austen’s advice to Tokyopop creators: ‘Move on’
Can creators really get their books back from Tokyopop?
Plus, Becky Cloonan on never being able to finish her East Coast Rising book.
The first blog post of 2011, or How Cannonball Joe Quelled the Suffocating Death

There’s lot more if you Google around (god people were so loose lipped back in the day! In this day of FB and Twitter no one says anything!). This is not to say that Tokyopop might not come back with a new resolve and a business plan that’s 2015-ready. But at the very least some acknowledgement of past mistakes and a pledge to do things differently would be a great way to get a fresh start.

Cardcaptor Sakura is hardly an unknown series, yet despite being currently licensed in the US (both in anime and manga form) it seems to fade into the background when people talk about magical girl shows or when newcomers talk about discovering shows for the first time. It’s old enough to have influenced many stories after ... Read more

Library Wars: Love & War Kiiro Yumi, original concept Hiro Arikawa, translated from the Japanese by John Werry

This is a mega-review of vol. 1-13 (aka, the ones that are currently available in English)


The Library Freedom Act

Libraries have the freedom to acquire their collections.

Libraries have the freedom to circulate materials in their collections.

Libraries guarantee the privacy of their patrons.

Libraries oppose any type of censorship.

When libraries are imperiled, librarians will join together to secure their freedom.

In the not-to-distant future, Japan passes the "Media Betterment Act" which censors objectionable material. Librarians are against censorship and will fight to keep their collections free and available. Literally fight. Like, they made an army. To fight against the federal censors(and their army).

AND YOU WONDER WHY I LOVE THIS?!

I devoured this series. Like, read all of them in a week, often staying up way past bedtime because I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. I love the overall concept. Plus, not only is about people fighting to protect access to materials (with their literal lives!), but it's a shoju manga, so SO MUCH SEXUAL TENSION.

Our main character, Iku Kasahara wants to join the Library Defense Force to be like her "prince"-- a member who saved a book she wanted to buy from censorship. She has passion, but not a lot of skill and is driven hard by her Sargent Dojo (who, um, OBVIOUSLY is her "prince.") She eventually becomes the first woman on a super elite squad that has to both be an army fighter, but also an actual librarian. But, over the run of the series, this is far from the only relationship we see (I won't say my favorite, because it develops pretty late and is a bit of a spoiler.)

I love the politics and maneuvering the library forces do. I like the plotline where Kasahara's parents don't know what she does because she knows they won't approve. I love love love Kasahara's roommate, Asako Shibazaki. She's very beautiful and a bit aloof and a lot of people read her as shallow, but she has a lot going on beneath the surface. She's a librarian with some serious hidden talents. I love the way her character develops. (In fact, she might be my favorite character.)

I like that there are cultural end notes to explain things, and several bonus mangas at the end of most volumes to fill in some quiet moments.

The over-the-top melodrama of some of the relationship stuff gets old, but I'm starting to recognize that it's standard for a lot of shoju manga.

Overall though, I LOVE THIS SERIES and am trying to force all my coworkers to read it. (LIBRARIES BUILT AN ARMY TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF ACCESS FROM GOVERNMENT CENSORS. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE.)

If I understand Wikipedia correctly, there are 15 total volumes in this series. 13 are out in English now, and the 14th comes out in October. Based on past publication schedules, I'm guessing the 15th will be out next April. My one regret? This is based on a novel series and the source material doesn't seem to be available in English.

Books Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

I received this email from John Shableski, the recently hired Vice President of Sales at UDON Entertainment.  In a bit of brilliance, instead of shipping their display titles back to Toronto, or dealing with the ravenous hordes hoping for free books, they’ll be GIVING AWAY every title at their booth to one lucky library!

Hey!  If you’re heading to the ALA show in San Francisco you really should swing by booth #219 to throw your card in for the Udon GN Library prize!  Sure we have cool and nifty promotional stuff and we will be having author and artist signings.  Stacy King will be signing the Manga Classics books on Friday evening.  Long Vo of Street Fighter fame will be doing two signing sessions on Saturday.  We have posters, book marks and FREE KITTENS!

But even better than all of that is the BIG FREE BOOK PACKAGE that we will ship directly to your library!   

Here’s the scoop:

Win The One Thousand Dollar Udon GN Library!

#ALAwinsatUDON

How does it work?  Come to the Udon booth (#219) in the Graphic Novel Pavilion. Simply throw your business card into the bowl and we will draw the winning entry on Monday.  We will ship the books directly from the show to the winning library! Please make sure your cell phone number is on the card.

What do I win?  The prize includes a copy of every Udon book on display in our booth! 

The total retail value is $1,053.45!

How do I know I’ve won? For some people you may actually feel a tingling sensation…kinda like Spider-Man or Obi Wan Kenobi.  For others the news will come to you via text. On Monday at Noon we will draw the winning card and shoot a text to the winner. Once the winner is confirmed, we will then ship the books right from the exhibit hall to your library.  

·        All business cards must include a valid cell phone number.

·        Only one entry allowed per attendee.

·        Entries must represent a library.

Good Luck and may the odds be ever in your favor!

May Contain Spoilers

Review:

This is another .99 Harlequin manga that I nabbed from Amazon.  An Uncommon Abigail would have received a higher grade if it had been the complete story, but there are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up.  I am assuming those will be tied up in The Prodigal Bride.  When I purchased this, I did not realize that it is not complete in one volume, and there is no mention of that fact in the manga itself. I had to use Google-fu and Amazon to track down the next volume.  (The Fortune Hunter is the first volume – it took me even longer to figure that out!  I only managed that because I finally located the original book the manga is adapted from.)

Amy, fearful that her younger brother has been kidnapped, disguises herself as a lady’s maid with the help of her friend Sara.  Together, they attend a house party, searching for clues as to Ned’s disappearance.  While snooping through Major Anthony’s rooms, Amy discovers a naked man!  Little does she know that she’s uncovered another mystery, but this one may cost her her reputation.

This is a cute, fast read with pretty art. The lavish details given to clothing and backgrounds made for a visually interesting read, and emotions are deftly revealed through facial expressions.  Amy is determined to save Marcus after he protects her from an unruly house guest, putting himself in danger of discovery.  Wanted for the merciless beating of a gentleman, Marcus is hiding until he can clear his name.  Now that Amy is on the case, he’s worried that she’ll be ruined or injured by his foe.  I was entertained right up until the point that it dawned on me that – NOPE! – I wasn’t going to find out what had happened to Anthony’s wife, (he’s been accused of murdering her), or to see William’s comeuppance. That was disappointing because I wasn’t expecting it, as the Harlequin manga are typically complete in one volume.

Grade:  B- / C+

Review purchased from Amazon

Amy, despite being of noble birth, is attending a grand party at the famous Lyndhurst Chase estate, not as a lady but as a maid. Her younger brother Ned was last spotted at Lyndhurst before his mysterious disappearance. And there are rumours that Major Anthony, the owner of the Lyndhurst estate, is responsible for the disappearance of his own wife not long ago. What kind of trouble has her brother gotten into? Under the disguise of a lady’s maid, she sets off to look for clues of Ned’s whereabouts. But during her search, she comes across a mysterious man in hiding. Who is he and could he have something to do with Ned’s disappearance? But the more Amy learns about this handsome stranger, the more perilous her world becomes. Especially after she falls in love with him.…

May Contain Spoilers

Review:

Once a week or so, I search through the Harlequin manga for the .99 titles.  I purchased A Game of Chance because it was written by Linda Howard and it is part of the Mackenzie Family series. I was very disappointed with it; the adaptation from novel to comic did not work for me.  I felt that the story was way too complicated for the allotted pages, and I never got a sense of who the characters were. 

Chance Mackenzie is trying to track down evil terrorist Crispin Hauer, and after hacking into a government database, he located the birth certificate and adoption records for Hauer’s daughter, Sunny Miller.  He cooks up an elaborate plan to get her on his private plane and crash into a remote, inaccessible mountain range in an effort to get to know her and get her to give up the goods on her father.  He can’t fight the undeniable attraction he feels for her, and soon they are caught up in a steamy affair.  It soon becomes clear to Chance that Sunny doesn’t know anything about her birth father, and she’s spent her enter life running from him and his men.  Not one to fail at a mission, Chance decides to use Sunny as bait to bring down his target and put an end to Hauer’s terrorism.

That’s an awful lot of story to fit into 192 pages of a comic book.  The story didn’t flow well for me, and the romance was far too rushed and unconvincing.  Both protagonists’ casual disregard for using protection also grated on my last little nerve, especially after Chance boasted about the number of condoms he had.

Chance is the most unprofessional undercover agent ever, and getting the daughter of the international terrorist you are trying to catch pregnant isn’t really good form.  I had a problem with  his background story, too.  If he was a feral kid living on the streets until he was 14, he must have had one heck of an awesome tutor to get him all caught on the schooling he missed out on so he could join the Navy, become a SEAL, and learn his super-duper computer hacking skills.  I guess anyone can learn how to fly a plane, especially a SEAL, but crashing it into a mountain and not getting a dent on it, despite all of the rocks it scraped up during the crash landing – I just didn’t buy that. I wish I had his spy budget and could crash a plane in a remote area for a little downtime (I of course would make sure all of my Kindles were charged prior to takeoff.) And how convenient that Sunny carries an emergency kit complete with first aid kit, rations, water, blankets, and a….tent?  NOPE.  That just seems like an awful lot of stuff to drag around every day, even if your father is an evil terrorist trying to catch you, and was a wee bit too convenient.

I didn’t care for the art, either.  Character proportions are awkward and the artistic style is more minimalistic than I care for.  It’s functional, and that’s about it.  Glad I only paid .99 for this.

Grade:  D-

Review copy purchase from Amazon

Intelligence operative Chance Mackenzie has been looking for an elusive international terrorist, and finally comes across some information about the terrorist’s beloved daughter. Her name is Sunny. She is clearly in league with the terrorists. Chance fakes a “chance encounter,” gets Sunny on a private plane and crashes it in a canyon. It was all part of his plan to get her alone and trick her into revealing her father’s location. But her bright, sparkling eyes and golden hair are so pure and angelic… Chance is confused by these new, intense feelings brought about by a passionate kiss.

In my post on making money making comics, Tyler James had an interesting comment about how merchandising has to be part of a creator’s business plan:

Any book that can raise $90K in profits on floppy comic sales alone should be able to ALSO raise at least half that much in related merchandise designed around that property.

I see so few “mainstream” creator-owned creators taking advantage of the significant investment they’re making in building properties by providing their superfans additional opportunities to throw money at them on higher margin items (prints, t-shirts, artist editions, posters, plushies, etc.)

(There are, of course, some exceptions to this… Case in point, the CHEW guys teaming up with our friends at Skelton Crew — https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/49910827/tony-chu-mini-bust?ref=nav_search )

Successful webcomic creators never had that problem, and realized years ago that the comic itself is only one piece of the puzzle for building a successful career. Multiple streams of income and revenue sources are a must for most creators in 2015… gotta think beyond the page rate and the $3.50 floppy.

All of which is a prelude to saying, I WANT THESE YOTSUBA&! FIGURES!!! These are tiny 5cm high figures made by Kotobukiya. In case you never read it Yotsuba&! (pronounced, as I believe, Yot-su-ba-sa) is a manga by Kiyohiko Azuma, currently published by Yen Press, about a little alien girl who changes a bachelors life with her sunny attitude. It sounds hackneyed in the manner of any number of sitcoms (Small Wonder, anything starring John Stamos) and manga (Dr. Slump) but it’s actually warm, winsome, charming and sweet natured as all get out. It’s almost always on any top 10 Manga for Beginners list with good reason. BUY IT!

That’s part of the reason these figures are so sweet and endearing. I have nothing against Darth Vader, Superman and Iron Man, but they are everywhere and a lot of the merch is tacky. There are a lot of beautifully designed comics characters out there that would look great on a mug or a minifig or a tea towel, and as Adventure Time shows, people will buy cute things. It’s okay to take the Bill Watterson zero tolerance line on this, but I do agree with Tyler James: a well thought out, appropriate merchandising line is a powerful accompaniment to any business plan for creators and small publishers.

Founded in 1997, TokyoPop was one of the most influential publishers of the Aughts, driving the manga boom in the US as the first publisher to print manga in its original right-to-left format, a move that helped cement its authenticity among young readers. Later on their “original English language manga” line developed an entire generation of young creators working in a manga style, including Becky Cloonan and Amy Reeder Hadley. But it all came to an end in 2011 when the company shut down except for the German office. Owner and founder Stuart Levy went on to make a documentary about the Tohoku earthquake, even amidst continuing controversy about the reversion of rights to creators However there have been flickers of life since then, with some new digital publishing, licensing OEL books like King City to Image, and a TokyoPop-branded newsletter that was part of Nerdist’s adventures in that area.

Since TokyoPop never went bankrupt, it’s entirely possible that Levy can bring it back, as promised on the company’s about page:

Although the road has been rocky for TOKYOPOP of late, you can’t keep a good Robofish down. The company is in the process of reincarnation, with a focus on digital media and Asian pop culture.  Stay tuned – the future awaits!

Going to AX or SDCC? Come check out our panels for cool announcements and giveaways!

Anime Expo:
Thursday, 7/2/15, 12:45PM
LACC Room 409AB

SDCC:
Saturday, 7/11/15, 6:00PM
Room 28DE

All attendees will receive a FREE ‘Knockouts’ comic!

Knockouts, above, is a comic based on a film of the same name, to be directed by Leo Kei Angelos, and from what we can glean produced by TokyoPop. The film is still in the concept stages, so obviously this is all part of getting some capital back drop by drop.

On his blog, Levy expanded on whats going on:

However, I’ve been thinking a lot about TOKYOPOP lately so I might as well let you into my mind (a scary place to be!). In a nutshell, I’m really excited about rebuilding TOKYOPOP.

But “rebuilding” isn’t the right word. It’s a convenient word to describe the process we’re going through now, but it’s not entirely accurate. My goal is not to return to the
TOKYOPOP of previous times; after all, what would be the point? The world has moved on, and our contributions at that time were for that world.

No, if TOKYOPOP is to mean anything in today’s world, we have to contribute something relevant now. And I truly believe we can.

Sure, the odds are typically against comebacks. Bands that have passed their peaks; athletes who can’t play like they could when they were younger; actors who can’t open films anymore; brands and businesses that are no longer relevant — all of these patterns are commonplace. But every now and then a true comeback occurs, whether it be John Travolta in Pulp Fiction; Tina Turner in the early 80’s; Apple from almost bankruptcy to mega-brand; or even Marvel from actual bankruptcy to world domination.

I think we can do it.

Hey, even manga evolves, right?

And the key aspect of our strategy is to EVOLVE.

Picture it. 2008. I was a bored twenty-something who hadn’t touched a console game in years. Through random internet searching, as these bored young adults are prone to do, I found out about Persona 4. Which sounded like the kind of weird mix of slice of life with demon fighting that I’ve always wanted.

I went out of my way to buy a used PS2, and went on to have the best gaming experience I’d had since the days of Final Fantasy VII and VIII.

I haven’t thought about Persona 4 much, it’s somewhat been lost to me since the advancing gaming generations, though it did get re-released a few years back. But now, thanks to UDON Studios, I can relive my misguided youth through the release of the Persona 4 manga, which is seeing English translation for the first time this Fall.

For those unfamiliar with this incredible journey, here’s a quick summary:

When the small rural town of Inaba suddenly becomes the scene of a series of grisly murders, an eclectic group of high school students forms an investigation team to uncover the truth behind them and prevent more deaths. But when they discover that the murders might be connected to an urban legend about a paranormal television phenomenon called the “Midnight Channel,” a simple investigation turns into a dangerous, action-packed journey of self-discovery across two different worlds. Along the way, dark truths will shake our heroes to their very core – and help them discover an inner strength they never knew they had!

Ash Paulsen, UDON’s Senior Editor, echoes the excitement of a lot of fans:

I’ve played the Persona 4 games and I’ve seen the anime from beginning to end, and yet the manga has still offered me a fresh, new perspective on this fantastic story. It’s an experience that the games and anime can’t quite replicate, thanks to manga’s uniqueness as a storytelling medium.

I can’t wait to tune-in to the Midnight Channel again. Volume 1 of this long awaited release (certainly by me) will hit stores in September of this year:

Persona 4 Volume 1
ISBN: 978-1-927925-57-7
DETAILS: 160pgs, 5.75×8.25″, B&W, Softcover
MSRP:  $13.99
RELEASE DATE:  September 2015

The Japan News announced this morning that the long running manga series One Piece is the Guinness World Record winner for having “the most copies published for the same comic book series by one author.” Yoshihisa Heishi, Editor-in-Chief of Shonen Jump (the monthly magazine where new chapters of the popular Manga series are first published) accepted the award on One Piece author/illustrator Eiichiro Oda’s behalf. Oda drew the above illustration to celebrate the announcement.

CBR brought the story to our attention and ran the following series of quotes from Oda himself via the Anime News Network: “Thank you for this certification for the Guinness World Record. Manga is an amusing way to pass time, but when I receive reports that say ‘through One Piece I made friends,’ or ‘through One Piece I found my sweetheart,’ I am really happy.”

Shonen Jump announced that a future issue of the magazine will have a “super news flash” regarding the future of One Piece. Will the series be announced to conclude? One Piece’s debut installment was first published in July, 1997 — meaning that the 20th anniversary of the title will soon be here.

Title: Duklyon: Clamp School Defenders (Gakuen Tokkei Dyukarion) Genre: Comedy, Parody Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten (JP), Viz (US) Artist: CLAMP Serialized in: Comic Genki Digital Release Date: January 20, 2015 Free Preview: Chapter 1 Summary: In a crisis, a team of justice appears from nowhere. People call them Duklyon, the Clamp School Defenders. To defend our ... Read more

May Contain Spoilers

Review:

I checked out The Sheik and the Bought Bride because the original novel was written by Susan Mallery, without realizing that it was illustrated by Takako Hashimoto, the same artist who worked on A Mediterranean Marriage, my review from last Friday.  I love her artwork!  Her illustrations are delicate and airy, and the exotic village in El Deharia was brought vividly to life, both through background details and Victoria’s wardrobe.  Her clothing was beautifully rendered and I loved seeing all of her costume changes.

The plot is a bit ridiculous, but because the art was so pleasing, I just “bought” into it.  Victoria’s father is an unrepentant gambler, and after losing to Prince Kateb, he offers up his daughter Victoria to cover his debt.  In addition to getting caught cheating, he earns Kateb’s distain by purchasing his freedom with his daughter.  Victoria, enraged by both her father’s gambling addiction and Kateb’s implication that she’s part of a scheme to make a play for his money, agrees to accept her father’s debt as her own, but only if she never has to see her father again.

Kateb promptly relocates to a village in the middle of the desert.  His younger brother is next in line for the throne, because their father believes his temperament and business skills are better suited for leading their small kingdom.  Kateb also tells Victoria that he was forced to kill a man when he was a boy, and the ugly scar that mars his handsome visage is both a reminder of his actions and the rebellion against his father that instigated the incident.  The tribesmen don’t need to constantly see his face, because they will only be reminded of the time some of them rose up against the king.

This is fun read.  Victoria is anything but demure, and her boldness both infuriate and intrigue Kateb.  He’s dead set against falling for her, but there is something about her vivacious personality that he just can’t ignore.  When she asks him to help an abandoned young boy, and helps the local craftspeople organize and sell their wares on the internet, she becomes popular with the villagers.  Even his old caregiver champions Victoria and appreciates the new life she’s instilled in the previously staid palace.

Besides the lovely art, there is action, a swordfight, and the romance to kept the reader engaged.   And, wow, I would love to own some of Victoria’s purses and shoes!

Grade:  B / B+

Review copy borrowed from my local library

From Amazon:

Victoria was handpicked to be an assistant by the crown prince of the desert kingdom of El Deharia. So then why would the Imperial Guard suddenly break into her room and drag her away wearing nothing but a negligee? Her good-for-nothing father has been in trouble for gambling before, but to think he would have tried to cheat at cards against Prince Kateb… The prince’s personality is as fierce as his scarred face. He earned the scars amid a failed kidnapping, during which they say he killed a man. Rejecting palace life, he has been known to disappear to a desert village for months at a time. Victoria despises her father, but can’t abandon the promise she made to her dying mother. She pleads with the prince to set him free, and the prince agreed…on one condition. She would become his lover, and join his desert harem!

May Contain Spoilers

Review:

Harlequin manga is my crack!  I purchased A Mediterranean Marriage when it was on sale for .99, and I decided to read it last night because, after a stressful week, I had the attention span of a small bug.  This was perfect for  my mood.  It’s fast paced, the art is lovely, and the exotic locale was painstakingly rendered for my reading enjoyment.  The biggest disappointment for me was Rauf, the incredibly jerky hero, who has a grudge against Lilly and treats her terribly, all because she turned him down three years ago and his delicate ego still hasn’t recovered.

Lilly’s family owns a travel agency that Rauf has invested in.  Three years after being rejected by Lilly, he’s still smarting from the perceived slight.  When her company fails to pay contractual dividends for two years, he thinks he’ll finally get his revenge.  Lilly comes to his office in Istanbul to explain, as well as to sell some property in Turkey,  and Rauf is prepared to make his displeasure with her family and their lack of payments well known.  Lilly, however, has documents and bank statements showing that the dividends were, indeed paid, but the money wasn’t going into Rauf’s coffers.  Instead, it was going to a company impersonating his, and Lilly’s family has been scammed for the last two years.

Rauf agrees to give Lilly’s family more time to come up with the money they owe him if she’ll accompany him in Turkey for a week.  During that time, she’s to help go over all of the documentation she’s brought so Rauf’s legal team can go after the scam company.  Because Lilly’s company is almost bankrupt, she has no other options, so she reluctantly agrees to go along with his request.  All the while she has to hide the fact that she’s in love with Rauf.

Rauf, having been burned by beautiful women in the past, instantly suspects Lilly of lying to him.  He doesn’t believe anything she’s told him, and he believes that she’s trying to cheat him out of the money her company owes him.  What’s really sticking in his craw, though, is the constant memory of her rejection.  How dare she?!  How could she possibly be indifferent to his charms?  I thought he was a complete butthead, and if that’s how he treated women, no wonder they only hooked up with him for his money.  He remains unrepentantly petulant until the last two pages.  If the pacing and the illustrations hadn’t been so skillful, I wouldn’t have enjoyed A Mediterranean Marriage as much, because it was so hard to like Rauf.  Lilly is a star, though, forgiving and honest, and Rauf, darn the man, was lucky she forgave him.

Grade:  B / B-

Review copy purchased from Amazon

From Amazon:

Lilly flies to Istanbul to appeal to Rauf Kasabian in person, an investor in her family’s travel company. He is suing the company for allegedly failing to pay its dividends, but she is unaware of any fraud. Rauf, who has gorgeous hazel eyes, coldly abandons her right after taking her virginity because he sees her as a wicked, calculating woman. Unbeknownst to Lilly, he plans to manipulate her for his own desires, thinking she is a fraud and a crook…!

Title: Oresama Teacher Genre: Comedy, High School Publisher: Hakusensha (JP), Viz Media (US) Story/Artist: Izumi Tsubaki Serialized in: Hana to Yume Review copy provided by the publisher Last summer I, along with many other people, fell in love with the Monthly Girl’s Nozaki-kun/Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun anime and the bits of the manga I read were equally adorable and fun. ... Read more

May Contain Spoilers

Review:

I saw this at the library and had to check it out.  Why? Because they don’t have many Harlequin Comics and they are like my crack.  They’ve also greatly improved from the first ones I read, where the words didn’t even stay inside the word balloons.  Why even have word balloons, if the text is going to drift lazily beyond their borders?  It used to drive me crazy, so I’m happy to report that that particular issue is now a non-issue.

Chloe is a housekeeper for the wealthy Carstairs family, and one day, while doing her thing, she’s startled by a handsome man swimming in the pool.  His face and leg are marred by terrible scars, and Chloe learns that he’s Declan, the eldest Carstairs son, and that he survived a horrible mountain climbing accident that took the life of his brother. 

Chloe also discovers that he’s blind, and that he’s irritated with people mollycoddling him.  He’s frustrated that he needs assistance, so Chloe does her best to help him without robbing him of his pride.  She’s confused when Declan demands to know who was visiting with his brother, Adrian, before he died.  Adrian, she insisted, kept to himself.  She doesn’t share that he also stalked her and intimidated her, making her feel threatened whenever he stayed at the mansion.

Declan is still reeling from Adrian’s death.  The last thing he said before he fell off the mountain was that he couldn’t go on with his broken heart.  He then showed Declan a photo on his cell phone, the photo of a beautiful woman who took advantage of his little brother and then spurned him.  Declan vows that he will find her and extract his revenge upon her.

Declan and Chloe begin to grow close, and after a night of unbridled passion, Declan regains his sight.  But wait!  Now that he can see Chloe, he recognizes her as the woman on Adrian’s phone.  Shocked, he flees from the mansion without a word to Chloe.  Chloe is understandably hurt when she doesn’t hear from him in months, and then is suddenly called to work at a party he is hosting.  Once there, he springs his attack, accusing her of using and abusing his brother, and blaming her for Adrian’s death.  These two have quite an obstacle to overcome!

First off, the art is lovely.  The characters are long and lean, and everyone has hair that seems to take on a life of its own.  Facial expressions are easy to decipher, and the action flows seamlessly from panel to panel. 

The story, however, felt too abbreviated.  The introduction is well done, with Chloe helping the stubborn Declan with the things he can no longer do without his sight, but the conclusion was rushed and unconvincing.  Since these Harlequin Comics are only about 150 pages, there is a lot of story to fit into a short amount of space.  Declan treated Chloe horribly and completely misjudged her, and I didn’t think he groveled enough for her forgiveness. 

This is a common complaint I have with the manga based on Harlequin novels, but that being said, I still managed to purchase a bunch of them on Amazon over the weekend because they were priced at .99.  Who could possibly resist that?  If you’re curious about these comics, there are several titles available on Scribd, and you can check your local library too.

From Amazon:

One day, Chloe, the housekeeper of the wealthy Carstairs family’s villa, meets a mysterious man by the mansion’s pool. He has a strong, sun-kissed body with a long scar running down his thigh and a deep scar carved into his cheek. Learning that Declan is the owner of the house, Chloe tries to hide that she was gawking at her boss by greeting him. It is then that she realizes that he is practically blind. It is the beginning of their dangerous relationship, and Declan is on a mission to find the woman who jilted his deceased little brother.

Last week Titan Comics announced it had hired Lizzie Kaye,  formerly of SelfMadeHero, to the position of editor for their European graphic novel line. We talked with Kaye within a week of her jumping on-board the Titan Comics team about her new gig and Titan’s expansion into the bande dessinée market.

Edie Nugent: Congrats on your new position as editor for Titan’s European graphic novel line. How does it feel to step into those shoes after many years with indie publisher SelfMadeHero?

Lizzie Kaye: Thanks, it’s wonderful to have joined Titan, it’s a company that’s doing really interesting things and moving in a great direction. Obviously, it’s a bit of a change from SelfMadeHero, in terms of the kinds of books each company puts out, but I’m excited by so many of the titles we have coming up and can’t wait to see other people getting excited by them too!

Nugent: You have a background in literature. How you feel you’ll be able to draw on that knowledge in bringing bande dessinée to Titan readers?

Kaye: I think it’s most useful in that studying literature results in you being well-read, which leads to a good understanding of pacing, character, and plot.

This is something that the European market deals with differently than the US/UK market, as the standard length of an album is normally 48 pages. When they have the luxury of that page count, creators can take their time building characters and revealing the plot at a slightly slower pace.  A lot of, though by no means all, BD series are designed from the outset to be at least three volumes, so you could almost consider them as neat, three-act plays.

It also helps in that the European market operates within a slightly different outlook, and BD are often filled with literary references, even if the subject matter itself may not explicitly be so. For example, the series The Chronicles of Legion, the first three volumes of which are out now, with the fourth coming soon, is ostensibly a vampire story. But it’s also more than that. It draws heavily on the origins of gothic literature (before vampires could sparkle!) as well as using devices traditionally found in that literature, such as a story within a story and a layering of narratives. Form my perspective, a literary background helps in that I can see the references, and therefore am able to judge the tone and direction of the story, and consider how that may translate to a market less familiar with seeing those devices used in a sequential art format.

Nugent: Three-act play, it sounds almost like a more Manga way of telling a story. Do you think the BD market exists in that place between monthly single-issue sequential storytelling and the more fast-paced, multi-volume format of Manga?

Kaye: That is one way of looking at it. BD readers can sometimes have to wait a long time for the next volume of a series they are following. It’s important from the outset that the narrative is tightly constructed, and that the characters are memorable, in order to retain the reader. I don’t necessarily think it exists in a place between monthly single-issue releases and manga, more that it uses the medium of sequential art for a different kind of story-telling that is less episodic in nature.

Having said all that, there are of course a number of series that go into much longer runs, Samurai, the first four volumes of which will be released by Titan as an omnibus later in the year, being one of them.

Nugent: Titan has released BD’s of Snowpiercer, which was a French graphic novel-turned-movie starring Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton, Elric, which is based on Michael Moorcock stories, and now Void. How does Titan decide which BD’s to put on the publishing slate? 

Kaye: A lot of factors come into play when we’re choosing which titles to put out. There are certain books that we’d love to see in the English speaking market that we specifically seek out based on our own love of the stories or creators, such as the upcoming Lone Sloane series by Philippe Druillet, and my own personal favourite, The Nikopol Trilogy by Enki Bilal.

For others with creators that might not have had as much exposure in the English speaking market, we take a lot of time to consider the artwork, the story, the length of the series, and how we feel readers might react to it. There are a lot of incredible BD series out there, luckily, so we have a rich seam to mine, and we want readers to really love what we offer them.

Nugent: What series would you recommend to readers just starting to explore what BD’s have to offer?

Kaye: That’s a tough one, as there are so many great stories out there! It depends on each reader’s specific interests, and that’s the beauty of the BD market, it caters for all readers.

I think Elric is a great starting point, because it is so incredibly beautiful, each page is a joy to look at. It’s a good introduction to the more European artwork style, which tends to be a little looser and fluid with a more painterly aesthetic. Titan also has a wonderful new series coming out now called Masked, which is a European take on the Superhero genre, and would be a great entry point, too, and the artwork in that would probably be a little more familiar.

Title: Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches Genre: Comedy, High School Publisher: Kodansha (JP), Crunchyroll Manga (US) Kodansha USA (US) Story/Artist: Miki Yoshikawa Serialized in: Weekly Shonen Magazine Translation: David Rhie Ryu Yamada is a delinquent at Suzuka High School and wholly unpopular so while he’s heard about honor student Urara Shirashi he’s never talked to ... Read more

A seaside town is haunted by a terrible, terrible stench—and soon much more in Junji Ito’s classic horror manga GYO. Originally published in Japan in 2001 (and in English in 2003), Viz is bringing it back in a deluxe 400-page edition in April, with a new cover design and full-color endpapers.

Ito is one of the masters of unsettling horror in comics—see UZUMAKI or TOMIE— and in GYO the bad smell is just the beginning of an invasion of legged sea creatures and unimaginable horrors.

“GYO is a truly unsettling work of horror, and this new Deluxe Edition presents the definitive version of the story in a handsome format,” says Masumi Washington, Senior Editorial Director in a statement. “Ito’s art will transform your mind, and like the sea life and human characters in GYO, you will never be the same again.”

GYO was also adapted into animated film (see a spoiler segment below) and Viz is bringing out his Ito’s new collection FRAGMENTS OF HORROR this summer.

Manga pioneer Yoshihiro Tatsumi has passed away at age 79, according to a letter received by Paul Gravett. Tatsumi had been battling cancer for several years.

Tatsumi is best known as the pioneer of the “gekiga” style of manga (a term be invented), true to life stories of ordinary people. He own work featured haunting adult themes of alienation, dread and obsession. His autobiography A Drifting Life, depicting his struggles as an artist, won the Eisner award for Best Reality Based Work in 2010. He also won the World Outlook Award at Angoulême and the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize.

While Tatsumi’s work was influential in Japan he was mostly unknown in the US until Adrian Tomine pushed to get his work published in English, Drawn & Quarterly took up the call and put out several collections of his short stories and A Drifting Life. His other works include Midnight Fishermen, Fallen Words, Black Blizzard, Good-Bye, The Push Man and Other Stories and Abandon the Old in Tokyo. The attention from the US led to more recognition in his homeland and worldwide, attention that was much deserved.

Tatsumi and his wife came to the US and Canada in 2009 for several events including TCAF. I was fortunate enough to see him on a panel at the PEN America Literary festival, and was invited to a dinner with him and his wife later on, a privilege I ‘ll always be grateful for. It was very clear that the pair were enjoying this new found attention and respect with a joy was that was incredibly gratifying to behold. D&Q’s Peggy Burns recalls her own experiences with him in a touching FB post:

I found a few pictures from the PEN event and signing. Wish I’d taken more.

A movie based on his work came out in 2011, and he was said to be working on a second part of his autobiography up until his death, which would end with the premiere of the Tatsumi film at the Cannes Film Festival.

Tatsumi’s work is universal in its message and artistry. If you’re not familiar with his work, I urge you to seek out some of his work. It’s powerful, unique and a lasting legacy of a man who lived his life with dignity and kindness.