It’s Wednesday! And the fifth Wednesday in the month too, that’s an extra week of new comics. You can see the list of new manga out over at my On The Shelf article for Otaku USA.
The big titles out today are the long-awaited new volume of MPD Psycho from Dark Horse, and the seventeenth and final volume of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack from Vertical Inc. I may very well cry when I finish that one – it’s never easy when one of your favourites comes to an end!
The end of 2011 is creeping up and companies are continuing to give us lots of manga-loving reasons to look forward to 2012. Seven Seas has listed print information for three new manhwa titles up on their website this week, all you can expect to be released this coming year. Two were announced back in August but fell under the radar as footnotes in a post about their online comics initiative.
Alongside their recent news about acquiring Young Miss Holmes, the company is starting a trend of mystery-solving, Victorian-era titles. Very neat! I really look forward to reading them and it’s fantastic seeing another publisher is still actively looking into the vast Korean market of comics.
Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries - Jeon Hye-Jin
First Volume (Omnibus, 1-2): August 2012
“Lizzie Newton, a young upper crust lady with a budding career as a mystery writer, is expected to know her place in Victorian society. …While the headstrong Lizzie tolerates earnest Edwin, she is not yet ready to accept him as her fiance. Besides, Lizzie is distracted by something far more important: an apparent suicide has occurred in the manor, and Lizzie is ready to solve her first real life murder case!” – Seven Seas
Witch Hunter – Cho Jung-Man
First Volume (Omnibus, 1-2): June 2012 | Second Volume (Omnibus, 3-4): October 2012
“Tasha Godspell, also known as the “Magic Marksman,” is one of the best Witch Hunters there is. Along with his sword-wielding Jack-o’-Lantern partner known as Halloween, Tasha puts his magical training and weaponry to good use, in his constant battles against witches. And yet, he cannot bring himself to fully hate the very witches he is tasked to destroy.” – Seven Seas
Jack the Ripper: Hell Blade – Jetae Yoo
First Volume: July 2012 | Second Volume: October 2012 | Third Volume: January 2013
“Jack the Ripper is not what he seems –but the truth may be more terrible than anyone imagined. A young police detective from Scotland Yard struggles to unravel the mystery behind the brutal slayings that grip 19th Century London. What he learns will turn his world upside down, and pit him face to face against the Ripper himself. But is Jack his savior or destroyer?” – Seven Seas
Witch Hunter and Lizzie Newton were originally announced as part of Seven Seas web-comic collection, Zoom Comics. The website is currently offering free online editions to read several of Seven Seas’ original properties, including the recently published Dracula Everlasting and Vampire Cheerleaders. It will be running the first volume of Witch Hunter starting in January.
With more titles on the horizon that’ll excite quite a few fans, Seven Seas is making an impressive come back into the licensed comic publishing market. With a bunch of new titles, strong digital initiatives and comics from sources few publishers are looking to these days, they’re a company you’ll want to keep an eye on.
ANNCast is always a must-listen for me over at AnimeNewsNetwork but they’re most recent two shows have been especially interesting for manga readers. I highly recommend listening to both:
ANNCast – Tarboxed and Feathered
“Justin and Zac shoot the breeze about some ANN business, and then it’s all awful blurays and the winter 2011 movie season. Then our guest shows up – longtime industry veteran Jonathan “Jake” Tarbox tells the story of his career up to this point, including his stint at Raijin Comics and DC Comics’ short-lived manga imprint CMX, and then takes your questions via Twitter. You can’t go wrong! “
“Former Senior Vice President of Tokyopop Mike Kiley is our special guest this week, and he runs us through his long and storied career at the shuttered publisher. We cover it all – the heady early days, the not so heady later days and the company’s untimely downfall. You’ve been waiting for this one!”
The manner in which DC handled choosing licenses for CMX was both fascinating and terrifying. It says a lot about the problems they faced over their years as a manga publisher and makes me more thankful than ever for the great titles we did get from them, some I know we’d never have gotten from anyone else (Key to the Kingdom – I love it, but really?). Knowing it was mostly done via a method akin to a dartboard shows how lucky we were for some. You could really tell things were tightening up over at CMX in its final year for selection and marketing though. It’s so unfortunate it was the beginning of the end.
This week’s ANNCast has Zac and Justin sit down to talk to Mike Kiley, Senior Vice President of the now no-longer-publishing-manga-until-I-see-otherwise, Tokyopop. He shares a lot about his experience with the company from the day it began up until his final days in their office. He’s a terrific guest and speaks very well with a lot of interesting info to offer. I was especially interested in hearing which series sold well and reasons for others not continuing, such as Kino no Tabi. I regret no one, myself included, thought to ask about Tokyopop’s boys’ love imprint, BLU, but it’s a minor quip in an otherwise great look at TP’s life start to finish.
Back from New York with a suitcase full of swag and I was still excited to get home and see what new goodies are out this week! If you’re curious about what new manga titles are out, you can pop over to Otaku USA to read my On The Shelf article for the week.
A big chunk of my excitement for this week’s releases is because the first volume of Gate 7 is finally out. CLAMP are some of my favourite creators and to have a new title from them to read for the first time is really exciting. How many years has it been since that happened? Plus the book looks gorgeous! Dark Horse has a preview of the manga’s first chapter over on their website that you can read to get an early glimpse.
New York Comic Con/New York Anime Fest is in full swing this weekend and the majority of their manga-related panels were on Friday. Publishers haven’t disappointed with a bunch of new licenses for the last big con of the year. Yen Press’s panel was up first with some new adaptations and new manga licenses, along with some really exciting news for fans of digital manga to top it all off and a good Q&A sesssion.
It was a lengthy panel with lots to share so you can see the complete post under the cut (or below depending on how you’re reading this).
Another week gone by and another stack of lovely new books to read! Lately I’ve been reading a lot of older titles since my haul at Animaritime but this week’s new titles definitely put up a huge fight for my attention (and who am I kidding, they won!).
First up was the new volume of Black Butler (Vol. 06) from Yen Press. Knowing that the whole curry fiasco is behind us and another mystery is afoot had me extra eager for this book. I was not disappointed! This series is worth buying for the art alone – such gorgeous Victorian outfits ranging from the wonderful to just plain weird. Throw in some detective work and sexual tension between pretty people and it’s an easy sell.
Much less in-your-face about its charms is the fourth volume of Cross Game. I’ve completely fallen in love with this series – I love the baseball games, the characters, the romance – it’s all good! It’s so relaxing, the kind of book you just want to curl up in bed with and not put down until you’re done. Plus I think I join the many in-story characters who have a crush on Aoba.
Adding two more volume sixes to go with Black Butler, I also bought Rin-Ne (Vol. 06) and Time & Again (Vol. 06). Both are series I have hesitations buying because the volumes have been hit or miss since the beginning. All the same, this is the final volume of Time & Again so I had to pick it up to see how things fare between the leads. Rin-Ne I buy consistently because when it’s good I really enjoy it, the kind of entertainment only Rumiko Takahashi can offer.
Speaking of hit or miss, two books came in the mail this week from DramaQueen - Missing Road and JUNK!. With three books now under their belt since their ‘comeback’ began, I’m ready to give them another chance and take a look at the new offerings. First impressions say the quality of the publishing itself is great but will the content itself hold up?
The big purchase this week was undoubtedly Wandering Son (Vol. 01), however. I’ve been waiting, waiting and waiting (patiently you see) for this book since it was announced. With this description, how could I not?
“The fifth grade. The threshold to puberty, and the beginning of the end of childhood innocence. Shuichi Nitori and his new friend Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families, and are well-liked by their classmates, but they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward for anyone: Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy.”
The book has since been showered with praise and rightfully so for what it is. I absolutely loved reading it and will hopefully have a review done soon to highlight why. As a first impressions note, it’s another hardcover release from Fantagraphics so on publication quality alone you really get your money’s worth.
What was in your swag bag this week?
Welcome to what is definitely the longest Swag Bag to date! Mostly because I completely failed to compile my Swag Bag from last year’s Anime North… None the less! – my recent trip to Toronto was chock full of fun finds, and painful but no doubt hilarious attempts at cramming it all into my suitcases. This post here consists of the manga I bought while traversing the packed streets of Toronto while my TCAF purchases will come in a later post once I’ve finished oogling them enough to write something coherent.
The books listed here were all purchased from either my local Strange Adventures (pre-con buying is important, like eating before going to the grocery store – it helps… I think). The rest with exception of I think 1 or 2 came from what I’m dubbing the manga treasure trove of Toronto – The Beguiling. My thanks to their very accomodating staff! If curious about my other comic shop adventures in Toronto, you can check out the Ontario section of Kuriousity’s Canadian Comic Shop listings.
Now onto the swag!
RightStuf’s company-specific sale this week is for books from Canadian company UDON Entertainment. Though probably best known to most for their vast assortment of Street Fighter comics, the company has lots of hidden surprises well worth every penny spent on them. RightStuf’s sale offers minimum savings of 30% on the books.
UDON has a few different manga series for kids under their belts but admittedly I’ve yet to check them out. I have read their manhwa though and enjoyed each one for its own particular quirks. My favourite beyond a doubt is Chronicles of the Grim Peddler. So far they’ve only got one volume released but it’s a really atmospheric book about a man titled the Grim Peddler who anchors several alternate tellings of fairy tales.
Getting only one volume seems to be the manhwa curse from UDON though with the same being said for their horror series, Reading Club. While I’m still boggled by some super-tiny, near unreadable lettering the story itself still did a pretty good job setting up some book-related suspense. And how can a horror fan resist that cover?
Speaking of hard to resist visuals, UDON also picked up the publishing rights to Range Murata’s multi-artist compilation series Robot. Unfortunately they were only able to put out volumes four and five but they’re still no less worth owning. The same can be said for Apple, a similar full-colour comic anthology collection from Korea that sports breathtaking artwork. They’re released four volumes so far but you’ll be hooked after one!
Anyone who’s ever picked up or purchased an UDON book simply to stare at the super shiny artwork shouldn’t hesitate a moment to pick up the first volume of their Vent anthology. It’s another large trim cut, full colour and high gloss artbook chock full of artwork and tutorials from their talented team of regular contributors. The book is in celebration of the company’s 10th anniversary. Lastly (and speaking of tributes), if you’re even marginally a fan of Darkstalkers and Street Fighter, ensure your bookshelves are that much snazzier with their fan tribute books upon them.
You can see RightStuf’s full list of UDON books on sale over on their site.
Seven Seas announced a new license late March (yes, I’m quite late on this among many other neat bits of news!) as the company continues to deliver to the vampire-fandom out there with My Boyfriend Is A Vampire. It’s also their first license of a manhwa title (Korean comic).
“Being beautiful is never easy, especially if you’re an eighteen year old boy like Ryu who is constantly mistaken for a girl because of his delicate good looks. When Ryu stumbles upon strange happenings in the forest, he gets sucked into a world of vampire intrigue and sinister romance that he never knew existed. And he learns that there are worse things than being turned into a vampire: being turned into a girl?!”
The books are being released in 2-in-1 formats which works well considering the series is 14 volumes long according to AnimeNewsNetwork. The first volume is due out this coming October.
So a gender-bender vampire manhwa – it’s got my attention! Out of curiousity it’s on my list of must-reads for Halloween this year.
Manhwa-ga: JinJun Park
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2010
Synopsis: “Irel and Lamia are back on the hunt for the chrism bottles – that is, until Lamia decides that it’s time to part ways. Memories of a solitary past have given her cause to keep her distance from humans, but is she really prepared to go it alone? Meanwhile, Detective Chris’s conspiracy theories lead him to the heart of a secret society called “Crossline.” Can their leader, Ian, truly be who he claims?”
Rolling in with another volume of insane, fast-paced action, mildly incoherent conspiracy theories and zombies created by the blood of religious icons, JinJun Park’s Raiders offers more of the same thrills. Slightly held back by poor reproduction choices, it never the less offers a decent mix of art, though might not be suitable to mass market tastes.
It’s Thursday! And that means new comics were out on comic store shelves yesterdat. There weren’t a whole lot of books I wanted out this week but I still left with a few gems I look forward to jumping into tonight. For consistency’s sake, I’m also going to aim to have these Swag Bag editions up consistently on Thursdays, the day after I buy the bulk of my books. Any I buy other days I’ll save up for the next week’s edition. Can I handle this simple schedule? We shall see!
Two of my current Viz Media favourites came out today – Toriko (Vol. 03) and Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 10) – stories of monsters of very different kinds. I really enjoyed the second volume of Toriko, though I do lament the art on the covers that leaves much to be desired. It’s hard to hold it up to people as say ‘Hey, you should read this!’ and get anything but a funny look in return. This new volume of Pokemon Adventures also marks the start of the new artist. I really loved Mato’s stuff though Satoshi Yamamoto’s look pretty nice upon quick flip through – very similar inking style and layout work, just a notably different lead artist. My real concern though is whose this new girl? Where’s Red and Yellow?! Things got some epic in volume nine! Ah well, we shall see how this pans out.
To round off my small but much-loved purchases, I also picked up the new collected edition of Thor: The Mighty Avenger – an incredibly charming mix of wit and hilarious expressions about the most lovable version of this character Marvel’s ever managed to portray (in my opinion of course). I also bought Dragon Sword and Wind Child, a young adult novel that was one of my absolute favourites when I was a kid so I was excited to get the chance to buy a new edition by Viz Media’s Haikasoru novel imprint.
Also with me today was my roommate who purchased a few extra snazzy books I look forward to borrowing. She bought the last two volumes of Shaman Warrior, a really well illustrated manhwa with epic fight scenes – I can’t wait to see how it ends! I’d forgotten about it for such a long while, I’ll likely go back and reread the earlier volumes first. My roommate also bought a new UDON release, the Darkstalkers manga Red Earth which is done by Mami Otou, the artist for the disappointingly-cut-short manga, Pilgrim Jager. Her art style really suits the characters so I expect this will be a fun read!
How about you? Pick up anything shiny today?
Author: Dall-Young Lim
Manhwa-ga: Sung-Woo Park
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2010
Synopsis: “Mikami may have slipped through the Kaionji Group’s fingers once, but they aren’t to let her escape again! Before she can make her getaway, Saishu of the Shishigami Clan takes out Mikami’s beloved Ferrari, forcing her to face him in a battle. Enraged, Miami readily leaps into the fight, but without a contractee even the fierce Mototsumitama is no match for Saishu’s skillful attacks. Excel watches in tears as her only precious friend is bloodied and beaten… which rouses memories of another person she once held very dear.”
This eleventh volume of Black God pens up with suspense as Mikami is driven to confrontation (they destroyed her Ferrari!) with the sinister duo on her doorstep. At the same time has to look out for Excel who is still suffering from memory loss and now stays on the sidelines as a fearful young child. And as marks the bulk of this volume – violence ensues. And lots of it.
Author: Woo SooJung
Manhwa-go: Kara
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2010
Synopsis: “Painfully aware of the fate that lies ahead of Eun-Gyo should either the Shaman or the Bulkirin succeed in their respective goals involving the Seven-Blade-Sword, No-Ah asks Eun-Gyo to run away with him to a place where they can never be found. But Eun-Gyo refuses to allow the world to be destroyed because of her cowardice.”
This final volume of Legend unfortunately compounded all the elements I’ve had issue with for the past few volumes. While in this book many of the recently introduced characters are already gone, or swiftly dealt with, there’s still the leftover resonance of too many characters and most poignantly, too many bad guys. Note: Review contains spoilers for the series
Manhwa-ga: JiUn Yun
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2010
Synopsis: “On occasion, life offers an unexpected blessing: a natural talent, a promising opportunity, or even a spot of good luck. But human nature will not be satisifed by simply enjoying the fruits of fate. When greed takes over and man exploits the gifts he has been given, seeking more power, more wealth, more than his share, it can only end in tragedy… a truth Ho-Yeon knows all too well.”
Time and Again is a series I would classify as having one of my favourite story formulas – supernaturally-inclined individuals interacting with episodic characters in varying stories that test human morale and and judgement. This manhwa tends to favour its lead characters more and the secondary short-term characters less, but it’s still offered up its share of just-deserts and suspenseful problem solving when spirits are involved. This fourth volume starts off with another tale of Baek-On and Ho-Yeon doing their work as exorcists to save a dying man but the lessons relearned at the expected expense of their clients carries the remainder of the book into the origins of Ho-Yeon.
BookCloseOuts is a site that’s long been a source of getting Tokyopop books for super cheap (of which there are still lots to choose from). Thanks to librarian and fellow manga blogger, Tagnognat, we’ve learned that BookCloseOuts has now added a couple pages of Yen Press titles to their offerings as well.
There’s a fairly good range of titles there, from the Korean-shonen Croquis Pop to the cute 4-koma, Hidamari Sketch. I’d also personally recommend the title History of the West Wing – a one-shot book with gorgeous full colour artwork. The books are listed at 65% off which puts their prices down to a very attractive $3.99.
Ouran High School Host Club (Vol. 17)
" It feels like all the stops were pulled out for this amazing climax."
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