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CLAMP Fan Appreciation Book Deadlines Posted

CLAMP Fan Appreciation

Deadlines for submissions to appear in the upcoming CLAMP Fan Appreciation Book have been posted over at the clamp_now LiveJournal community. Submissions are due between July 11 to July 25th of this year and must be sent to the person in-charge of overseeing contributers in your specific country/area.

You can check out the full post to read the details including submission guidelines and contact information.

Looks like I’ll have more than SDCC to prepare for that month! Here is me telling myself I will try to get some shiny artwork done for it. Fingers crossed! I’ve no doubts it’s going to be a lovely book when it’s done, full of much love and appreciation for CLAMP and the lovely work they’ve shared with us over the years.


Back to the Internet, Shiny New Blog Layouts

As some of you may have noticed, updates have been less than their usual level of consistency here on Kuriousity the last week. A frantic moving day (is there any other kind?) mixed with some issues getting internet set up in my new place had left me offline for the last while.

But, internet has graced my computer yet again, so without further ado, let’s get those updates flowing again, shall we?

First to start off my upcoming updates, I want to thank people for their response to Kuriousity’s new layout. I’m glad people find it loads smoother and has easier navigation. Of course it still stands that any issues, comments or suggestions you have are more than welcome!

And on that note, it seems I wasn’t the only one looking to do some springtime clean up and site tinkering in recent weeks.

Check out the spiffy new looks some of my favourite sites are now sporting (and new blog on the block, Manga Critic, which is well worth a visit):

 Manga Maniac Cafethere it is, plain as daylight Manga Xanadu

Manga CriticTiamat's Reviews


Free Comic Book Day 2009!

Free Comic Book Day

Regretful that I’m so last minute reminding folks about the glory that is Free Comic Book Day! On the first Saturday of May, comic book stores around the world offer just what the name would suggest: free comics!

Tomorrow being the 2009 date (May 2nd), definitely make time to check out your local comic book stores and pick up some goodies, meet some people and have fun with the deals, atmosphere and good times that can only be achieved with free swag enjoyed by many!

If comics aren’t your thing, there’s something for manga fans as well (though admittedly not as much as has been made available in the past by publishers). This year Viz will be offering a 32-page Shonen Jump edition that includes a chapter of Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei’s collaboration piece: Ultimo. You can see a preview of the free booklet here.

As a volunteer, I’ll be lending a hand to the amazing folks of Halifax’s Strange Adventures in handing out over 20,000 free comics! If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by. Along with free swag there’ll be some surprise appearances, artists on-site to draw some goodies for the young ones (including Faith Erin Hicks, creator of Zombies Calling, and MTCopyright, artist of Whore of Turfan) and a bunch of great in-store deals!

Expect an overview and photos of the day here in Halifax soon after. All the best to everyone out there; enjoy your free comics!


Publishers Take to Twitter!


CMX
DelRey
Digital Manga
Funimation Funimation
GoComi
Tokyopop
UDON
Viz Media
Yaoi Press Yaoi Press
Yen Press

As of today, Digital Manga has joined the numerous other manga/manhwa publishers on Twitter and in light of this, I felt like it was about time to share the pleasantly growing list.

For those new to the service, Twitter is “a real-time short messaging service” where users post their thoughts, news and general going-ons for their watchers to see in entries no longer than 140 characters. Its proven to be an excellant source of quick info and publishers have taken good note of this fact, offering mini press releases, hints, links and in-studio glimpses through their use of Twitter accounts. Oh and it’s also highly addicitive :) I’m also on Twitter along with lots of other funtoread bloggers. Take a look around and see who others are following: you’re bound to find lots of interesting accounts to check out including company employees, conventions and lots of people with similiar interests.

You can check out the manga and anime companies on Twitter at the links above. If there’s a relevant company on the list that I’ve missed, please don’t hesitate to let me know so I can add them (and watch ’em!).


AmazonFail, Amazon.com Discriminates Against GLBT Content

AmazonFail

Image from Bill Thompson (via GGYMeta)

For those of you who missed this fast-spread news over Easter Weekend, Amazon.com is being targeted for discrimination. Adult content, with particular emphasis on homosexual titles, began disappearing from Amazon’s search results and individual listings have had their Sales Rank (how well they’re selling comparatively on the site) removed.

My exploration of the issue and more information, including what you can do about it, can be read under the cut:

Read more…


Doki Doki Website Goes Live, Books Arrive with Promo

Doki Doki

A press release from Digital Manga today marks the opening of their new website for the upcoming imprint, Doki Doki. The Doki Doki line-up is described as their ” “Gateway from Shojo to Yaoi,” with stories varying between shojo and shonen-ai to yaoi, and will be for ages anywhere from 13+ to 18+. “

I don’t find this new website as sleek as their Digital Manga corporate site but certainly a much cuter and organized step-up from older imprint sites. Shame some of the randomized title graphics are pixelated though (the graphic artist in me can’t help but be nagged!).

Admittedly while I do see the appeal of multiple websites for multiple imprints, I do find the multiple forums a bit of a shame. Personally I’d like to see one Digital Manga forum with sections for their individual imprints, bringing together their communities as a whole instead of leaving fans of them all hopping forum to forum.

This new website as also gets me thinking about the look that the Doki Doki books themselves will have. As some may recall, Digital Manga recently revealed the cover designs that their future releases under the original DMP imprint will be having. Both the June and 801Media imprints’ have their own consistant visual designs and differing cut sizes. I can’t recall if this was previously established for Doki Doki books already. The larger cut size of June or the smaller size of 801Media? Dust jackets or no dust jackets? Though with recent removal of said dust-jackets from their June and 801Media books, I’m inclined to believe Doki Doki won’t be starting out with them (no complaints from me though!).

Edit: Information on DokiDoki’s website tells us that the books will be the same size as their June and DMP line-ups (5.875″ x 8.25″) and will have no dust jackets. They will also carry the same price tag of $12.95/US.

But wait, there’s more! Going back to the original press release that brought about this post, Digital Manga staffers would also like to share news of their promotion for Doki Doki’s launch. When purchasing the books through their website, Akadot Retail, and (as I understand it) registering for their Doki Doki newsletter, you’ll recieve a special a print of the original artist’s page from the particular book you’ve purchased (first come, first serve). The two books launching the imprint are Eiki Eiki’s Train Train And Mikiyo Tsuda’s Princess Princess Plus (both of which being my biggest excitement-factors regarding this new imprint!).

While the promos are a neat add-on, it’s the books themselves that I can’t wait to get my hands on. More Mikiyo Tsuda and Eiki Eiki books are good any day, any time! Looking forward to it, Doki Doki :)

For your viewing convenience, you can read the full press release here.


DMP Reveals New Look For Future Releases

DMP's New LookOver at their fairly new blog, Digital Manga has revealed the cover for their upcoming manga release of Utahime, along with a new cover design that will replace their current look on future books released under the Digital Manga Publishing name (with the exception of series already running).

What do people think? Digital Manga staff are asking for opinions. As for my thoughts, while the colour gradient and DMP logo layout looks nice, I’m really not liking the look of the wrap-around rectangular border. It condenses the artwork and looks really… cheap somehow? Very cut and paste, certainly unbalanced I think. But, I’ll wait and see how it looks in print before making any final judgements.


White Always Right?

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Originally written sometime last week, this post suffers from forgot-about-it-itis:

It’s no exageration that I’m a huge fan of Nickelodeon’s recently finished animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. As one of the most original and well-animated shows to play on television in my memory, I’ll forever be impressed and amazed by the creative team behind it and their visual and story-telling prowess that brought the unique series to life. You can see some screenshots of the multiple characters and gorgeous background paintings thanks to a “visual essay” of the series here.

That said, casting news of its upcoming live-action movie has created more than a little stir, a ripple of disbelief, that reaches far beyond its loyal fanbase.  This of course comes from the fact that the entire cast of this live-action movie are caucasian. As a series starring pre-dominantly Asian characters in beautifully rendered Asian locales, this doesn’t only seem completely inaccurate but also unneccessary. Is it to say there aren’t any talented ethnic actors and actresses out there? Because goodness knows that isn’t true.

Read more…


Where For Art Thou, Legal Drug?

Lawful Drug

ChibiYuuto has had a recent posting of the current status of CLAMP’s on-hiatus series, X/1999 and Gohou Drug. While the news of their hiatuses hasn’t changed, a letter recieved from the Kadokawa company does work as assurance that they are remaining in talks with CLAMP about the projects. Included in the post is a detailed timeline following the two series’ since new chapters stopped coming out.

Gohou Drug was stopped at 3 volumes with its last chapter published in July 2003 and Tokyopop has released the three existing volumes under the name, Legal Drug. X/1999 has been on hiatus since March 2003 and currently has 18 complete volumes, all published in English by Viz.


Fans Try To Revive Off*Beat

100 Letters For Off*Beat

After posting about CLAMP_Now’s Appreciation Fanbook, I came across a little fan-run project with the hope of getting 100 letters sent to Tokyopop in order to convince them to publish volume three of the likely-permentantly-postponded OEL manga, Off*Beat by Jen Lee Quick.

While they don’t have much now, I still think it’s a nice fan-effort to let Tokyopop know there’s lots of interest for the third and final volume. Plus, taking a more effort-requiring tactic over the usual online petitions is a nice touch. I really loved the charming mystery story Jen Lee wove, so anything that could cause Tokyopop to reconsider it’s ‘indefinate hiatus’ is worth me noting :)


Take me back to the top!