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Posts Tagged Global Manga

Seven Seas Goes Back to Wonderland’s Beginnings with Special Release of Alice in Wonderland in Novel

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, March 23, 2014

Seven Seas is bringing together a number of their skills for this newest project, combining their work with novels, original manga-styled artwork and Alice in Wonderland to release their own edition of the original classic:

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll & Kriss Sison

This book will be a release of Lewis Carroll’s original Alice in Wonderland novel, coupled with new adorable artwork by returning Seven Seas’ artist, Kriss Sison. The book will include full-colour illustrations and over a hundred black & white illustrations.

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass is a collection of stories featuring the titular character, Alice, and her misadventures through the curious and fantastical lands of Wonderland. As little Alice goes deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, she meets an assortment of oddball characters, like the eccentric March Hare, the whimsical Mad Hatter, and the enigmatic Cheshire Cat, who will all become familiar faces within this strange world.

If Alice is to navigate the dangerous yet fascinating landscape of Wonderland, she must learn who is friend and who is foe, and use her good breeding and wits to find a way home.”

Alice in Wonderland is scheduled for August 2014 and will cost $16.99/CAN, $14.99/US.

The Alice in the Country of… series that Seven Seas and Yen Press have been releasing shows there’s a hungry audience for the material. While the original won’t have the romance that its numerous based-of works focus around, Kriss Sison’s artwork is gorgeous and will have plenty of eye-catching character designs to draw people’s eye. I’m actually really looking forward to reread the original story but with this pretty artwork colouring my mental imagery as I go.

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Categories: Licensing
Tags: Alice in the Country of..., Global Manga

Sparkler Monthly Launches With New Chapters of Off*Beat, and Multiple Series’ Debuts

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, July 30, 2013

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Back in February I posted an interview with comic creator, Jen Lee Quick – best known for her series, Off*Beat – as part of the launch of Chromatic Press. Yesterday the new publisher launched issue number one of their digital multimedia magazine, Sparkler Monthly.

Issue #001
Issue #000 (Preview)

This first issue – which is free for everyone to read – includes the long-awaited new chapter of Off*Beat (yay!), and the first chapter of Christy Lijewski’s new comic series, Dire Hearts. It also has the newest chapter of their prose story, Tokyo Demons, (which I’ve written about previously) and premieres another prose story, Gauntlet, and a new audio drama, Awake.

As a disclaimer, I am currently working with Chromatic Press and got to help do some work on their Sparkler series. I was completely smitten with the goal of the publisher, and the staff and creators who made it up, so I was quick to offer what help I could at the beginning. I’m thrilled to be a part of it. I hope readers and listeners enjoy all the content already available and stick around as a subscriber for all the continuing goodies.

Information about submitting work for consideration to the magazine can be read on their website, along with subscription information.

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Categories: News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Christy Lijewski, Chromatic Press, Digital, Global Manga, Jen Lee Quick, Magazine, Sparkler Monthly, Tokyo Demons

Review: Beautiful Creatures

By Shannon Fay on Saturday, July 27, 2013

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Author: Kim Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Artist: Cassandra Jean
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: February 2013

Synopsis: “Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever. Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them. In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.”

This was my first exposure to ‘Beautiful Creatures,’ as I haven’t read any of the books or seen the movie. To its credit the comic manages to stand well enough on its own feet: I was never confused about what was going on, but that might be because the plot is so simple and standard.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Global Manga, Yen Press

Review: Punishment

By Victoria K Martin on Monday, June 3, 2013

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Author: Yamila Abraham
Artist: Yifeng Jiang
Publisher: Yaoi Press
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: September 2012

Synopsis: “As the son of a former Prime Minister, Vishva could have any government job he wants. He chooses to work as someone who canes political prisoners. Vishva’s despicable personality makes him the most loathed person in the department. That is, until an ethnic minority is hired. Fang took the wretched job because there are few prospects for him in their country. He”s quickly exposed to prejudice and abuse. Vishva befriends Fang because it infuriates his co-workers. But, the more he studies him, the more fascinated he becomes… ”

I’m not personally a big reader of yaoi manga but I, like most people who have been in anime/manga fandom for a decent amount of time, had an idea of what to expect from such a book: two bishounen in a relationship that most likely would be lacking in the consent department. In this respect, Punishment certainly did not disappoint.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Global Manga, Punishment, Yaoi Press

Sharpen Your Pencils – Shonen Jump Launches Multi-Language Manga Contest

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, May 31, 2013

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Exciting news, comic artists! Shonen Jump has launched a contest awarding winners with not only a nice chunk of change, but also the chance to have their work published in Shonen Jump. Can you imagine seeing your name and work next to mega behemoths like One Piece and Dragonball?!

Artists looking to participate are asked to submit original, one-shot stories that are either 15, 19, 31 or 45 pages in length. The contest is open to submissions in three languages – English, Japanese and Chinese.

I only occasionally dabble in artwork these days, but contests like this really make me want to use the ol’ Wacom for something other than logos and photo restorations. The idea that something I wrote or drew being looked at by the editors of the world’s most popular comics… It makes a person’s heart flutter doesn’t it?

The deadline for the content is October 1st, 2013 and winners will be announced in November, with their works available to read come December. For now you can read all the ins, outs, whos and hows on the contest application page, and don’t forget to spread the word.

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Categories: Contests, News
Tags: Global Manga, Manga, Shonen Jump

Showcase: Tokyo Demons

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, March 18, 2013

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Welcome to the first instalment of a new feature for Kuriousity – Showcase! I’ve been wanting to start something like this for a long time and hopefully it’s the start of many interesting things to come. In these columns, which will have no discernible frequency or scheduling (like everything else here – always a surprise!), I’ll be taking a look at some different independent projects that I think readers here at Kuriousity would enjoy. It might be a comic, it might be a novel, it might be a web comic – who knows! I’m a huge fan of self-published creators and hope to introduce great stories to new fans, promote a creator’s work and have a chance to rave about some favourites.

The first title I’m writing about has not only rekindled the fiction lover in me – who has been buried far too long – but is also well-timed as one of the flagship titles for the newly announced, Chromatic Press – Tokyo Demons.

Back in Off*Beat Business: An Interview With Jen Lee Quick

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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Back in January I was able to share the news that Jen Lee Quick’s Off*beat series would be going back to print, and with the long-awaited third volume finally being released after some long legal struggles. Today I’m pleased to say that not only do we now have more details about these upcoming books but also an interview with the creator herself!

Jen Lee Quick, comic artist and creator off Off*beat, and the staff of the newly announced, Chromatic Press – the publishing company behind the series’ new editions – were kind enough to organize an interview for me so I could ask some questions about the past, present and future of one of my favourite graphic novel series.

You can read the full interview after the cut, as well as see a bonus Off*beat image by Jen drawn just for this interview!

Jen Lee Quick Confirms Reprints of Off*Beat, Upcoming Release of Vol.03

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

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Fans of the comic creator Jen Lee Quick got a pleasant surprise yesterday afternoon! After years of trying to regain the rights to her original series, off*beat, from Tokyopop, she’s now confirmed that another company will be doing reprints of the first two volumes and eventually publishing the never-before-published volume three.

“So this month I will be working on new covers for books 1+2 of Off*beat. They will be reprinted with my new publishing company and match the layout, logo ect of the eventual book 3.”

Jen is also looking to add some bonus content for the reprints and is seeking her readers’ input on what they’d like to see. You can share your comments over on her tumblr post or Deviantart account. Because some loose legal threads are still being tied up, the name of the publisher can’t be shared at this time but I can assure you that news of who it is will be coming soon (sorry readers, it’s a secret for now!).

As someone who really enjoyed the first two volumes of off*beat, this news is exciting enough in itself, but also has the added bonus of showing that at least one creator has been able to regain the rights to their series after Tokyopop‘s publishing shutdown in 2011. With the company’s recent revamp and subsequent ‘relaunch’, I wonder if we’ll see more creators announcing publication plans of their own for their previously Tokyopopped books. Yes, that was intentionally made into a verb.

Other creators whose works remain in Tokyopop lingo include Becky Cloonan, whose series East Coast Rising was cancelled after only one book. Tokyopop is still offering print editions of the book via RightStuf. Though sadly there are still no plans (that we know of) for volume two to see the light of day, Becky Cloonan has posted some pages from it on her website. Christy Lijewski, creator of the three volume series Re:Play, has also expressed her difficulties in trying to get the rights to her books back and recently polled her readers on their interest in Tokyopop’s plans to re-release the books digitally.

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Categories: News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Global Manga, Jen Lee Quick, Off Beat, offbeat, Tokyopop

Victoria’s Favourites: Top 20 Manga (Part 02)

By Victoria K Martin on Thursday, December 13, 2012

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Welcome to the second part of my Top 20 Favourite Manga list! You can read the first part here.

(Just a reminder, this is a ranking based on personal preference, rather than just perceived level of quality; however, with each choice, my ranking of the series over at Anime News Network is noted in parentheses.)

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Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: CLAMP, Del Rey, Global Manga, Manga, Tokyopop, Victoria's Favourites, Viz Media, Yen Press

Review: The Innocent

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, November 26, 2012

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Authors: Avi Arad & Junichi Fujisaku
Manga-ka: YaSung Ko
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2011

Synopsis: “Wrongly executed for crimes he didn’t commit, a former detective is given a second chance at life. To earn that chance, though, the man now known as Ash must use the supernatural abilities with which he has been infused to prevent the deaths of other innocents. But is Ash willing to dedicate himself to helping others, or is his thirst for vengeance against those who destroyed his life and his loved ones too powerful to ignore?”

The Innocent is another of Yen Press’s collaborative pieces, taking the story of author Avi Arad and pairing it with the stylish artwork of Korean artist, Yasung Ko. While the two elements don’t mesh together without obvious seams, the final result ends up working better than many similar projects from the company to date, delivering plenty of action and eye-candy.