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Diamond Manga Previews: January 2012

Diamond Manga Previews: January 2012

Diamond Comics is North America’s largest comic book distributor. If you have a local comic store in your area, it’s very likely they get their books from them. Every month Diamond releases a giant magazine, Previews, containing all the products they have – from comics, manga, DVDs and merchandise – that will be released starting in about two months’ time, giving retailers and buyers the chance to put their orders in before shipping dates.

Previews - January 2012

I’ve been picking up the Previews magazines for years, oogling all the different books coming out from publishers and wondering how long until the stacks of Preview magazines I’ve yet to get rid of will crush me in my sleep. Starting now I’ll be writing about the different manga content published in Previews each month here on Kuriousity. This includes all the manga titles listed, the top Manga sellers as tracked by Diamond and mention of other things of interest I spot. With the small two month window, Diamond Previews has rarely been the source of new licenses but it’s a great reminder and showcase of all the books coming our way soon, plus the perfect time to get your orders in, whether through Diamond or at your online retailer of choice.

I’ll also be including with these monthly Preview posts a downloadable PDF that you can print off and check off the manga  you’d like to order. Then it’s as easy as bringing it into your local comic or book store – wherever in your area that orders in through Diamond Comics! Currently the list is just the names and does not include the Diamond order codes. I’ve never come across a store that requires them for ordering but if yours does, let me know and I’ll include them on subsequent files:

January 2012 Manga Previews Checklist (PDF)

You may continue reading at your own discretion for my thoughts, elaborations, random pictures and the Top 10 Selling Manga of November 2011!

Read more…


Bandai Entertainment Ceases New Production of Manga & Anime

Bandai Entertainment Ceases Publication

The anime and manga industry is starting out on rocky footing this year with news early this week that Bandai Entertainment is immediately ceasing operations as a publisher of new titles. This includes the cancellation of their upcoming releases. Hopefully we’re just getting the negative industry stuff out of the way early to pave the way for a stronger 2012 – fingers crossed, right?

The press release Bandai Entertainment sent out included the full list of manga titles now cancelled:

Code Geass: Renya
Gurren Lagann
Kannagi
Lucky Star Boo Boo Kagaboo
Mobile Suit Gundam 00I
Tales of the Abyss: Jade’s Secret Memories

Some of these series were already mid-way through their run while others, like Tales of the Abyss: Jade’s Secret Memories, hadn’t started yet. Bandai noted their existing catalog – meaning those already released – will remain in print and available until the company’s licenses expire. That said, however, if there are any titles you want, I say it’s still best to pick them up now just in case (though you could say the same for any titles from any company – you never know!).

Personally I hadn’t read any of Bandai Entertainment’s manga titles but that’s because they tailored to fans of the company’s anime franchises for which I wasn’t really interested. Regardless, it’s a big shame that we’re seeing another manga publisher forced to close its doors. The most consistent experience I had with Bandai was that the company was never the most communicative about it’s manga publishing. Hope for a change in this was short-lived after their new manga-focused website quickly dried out in regards to updates. Learning just recently they only had five full-time employees – most of whom have now unfortunately been laid off – really shed a light on how tight the division was run though.

Credit goes to AnimeNewsNetwork for the news. They followed up with an interview with Bandai’s executive producer, Ken Iyadomi. It sheds more light on the reason behind the closure which came down from the higher ups in Japan this past October.


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – January 4, 2012

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - January 4, 2012

It’s the first manga shipment of 2012! Fantagraphics, Kodansha Comics, Seven Seas and Viz Media all have some goodies out this week. You can read all the titles over at my On The Shelf article at Otaku USA.

My top pick of the week is the long-awaited second volume of Wandering Son. I really enjoyed the first and it’s got great publishing quality too. A big hardcover book isn’t how I’d like all my books but for a special few it works beautifully. You can read Shannon’s thoughts on the first book in her review – Wandering Son (Vol. 01).


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – December 28, 2011

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - December 28, 2011

Get your holiday gift cards ready, it’s back to business for manga releases! It’s a pretty slow week as far as quantity goes but who can blame them when it’s right in the middle of the holidays? Still more than I honestly expected though so huzzah! The list of titles out can be read over at Otaku USA.

My top buys of the week are Air Gear (Vol.21) and Tokyo Mew Mew (Vol.02) – ironically both series I’m not entirely sure I like that much but I apparently like them both enough to buy. Air Gear is just really visually awesome and Tokyo Mew Mew is… well, it’s magical shoujo girls and I always give a series at least two volumes. In this case it’s an omnibus so that’s technically four volumes now I guess? Ah well, it gets bonus patience for having Kish as the villain.


NBM Confirms Publication of Araki’s Rohan at the Louvre

Rohan at the Louvre

NBM Publishing has confirmed on their website that they’ll be releasing a one-shot from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures’ creator, Hirohiko Araki – Rohan at the Louvre. The title originally popped up on Amazon early this past Autumn.

The book will be hardcover and full-colour, clocking in at 128 pages. It’s due for release in April 2012 and will cost $19.99 (both US and CAN). It’s great to see newer titles are coming out with equal pricing across North America!

“Rohan, a young mangaka, meets a beautiful mysterious young woman with a dramatic story. Seeing him draw, she tells him of a cursed 200 year old painting using the blackest ink ever known from a 1000 year old tree the painter had brought down without approval from the Emperor who had him executed for doing so. The painting meanwhile had been saved from destruction by a curator of the Louvre. Rohan forgets this story as he becomes famous but ten years later, visiting Paris, he takes the occasion to try and locate the painting. Little does he know how violently powerful the curse of it is until he has the museum unearth it from deep within its archival bowels…”

Rohan at the Louvre is also available to purchase online at Amazon.ca. It was listed in this month’s Diamond Previews for ordering into your local comic store. The title is also available to purchase in French and you can see interior preview pages on the Amazon product webpage.


Digital Manga Gifts With New License – Secretary’s Job

Digital Manga License's Secretary's Job

Digital Manga announced a new title license for their print line earlier this week, just in time to head off for holiday vacation – Miki Araya’s Secretary’s Job. It’s a one-shot title by the creator of Digital Manga’s previously released I’ll Be Your Slave. There are no further details on the imprint or release date, but it’ll likely be under the June line based on Miki Araya’s previous title.

Secretary’s Job is about a “legendary secretary” who is assigned to the son of a company’s president. An office romance springs from a sudden kiss. Also included in the book is another short story titled ‘Fried Rice’. The book was originally published in Japan this past September.


SuBLimeManga.com Launches Website and Adds a New Title

SuBLime Website Launches

Just as promised when news of their existence was announced, SuBLime has launched their website this week. No titles are yet available to purchase but they have release dates listed for their first four titles due out January 31, 2011.

I really like the website’s design – simple, fast-loading and quite visually cute while simultaneously rather classy. There’s a newsletter  you can sign up for, as well as registration for the site itself which will allow you to comment and purchase and download the digital editions when they’re available. The forum is currently marked as ‘Coming Soon’.

Tonight SuBLime also announced a new title – Iwamoto Kaoru and Fuwa Shinri’s Yebisu Celebrities. The first volume was originally released by BeBeautiful back in 2007. SuBLime will be releasing this five volume series digital-only, starting in March 2012. The story takes places at a design firm, one where only the talented and attractive are allowed, as the new part-timer catches his boss’s eye. As part of the new license, SuBLime will be doing some related giveaways in January when the staff returns from holiday vacation.


Otaku USA: On The Shelf – December 21, 2011

Otaku USA: On The Shelf - December 21, 2011

It’s the last comic shipping day before Christmas! The next couple of weeks are typically a little wonky in regards to shipping. While the manga load is light this week it sports some especially ‘NEED NOW!’ titles to make the trip to your local comic or book store just as worthwhile. You can see the list over at my On The Shelf article at OtakuUSA.

Fullmetal Alchemist (Vol. 27) is the big one – the final volume of the series! I’ve had the book for about a month now thanks to Viz Media’s FMA boxset released in November. I’m so eager for manga fans to get a hold of this book and to hear their thoughts of the end. It’s one of my favourite manga titles and I think it ended near-perfectly. Faith Erin Hicksawesome artist, friend and the woman responsible for introducing me to the glories of Fullmetal Alchemist – wrote a great post about the importance of stories ending after she read volume twenty-seven.

I’m also really eager to buy the newest volume of XXXHolic – still one of my favourite CLAMP titles. The last couple of volumes in particular have been chockful of so much extra eye-candy that it’ll be hard to not just stand there at Strange Adventures and oogle every page.


Fallen Words Picked Up By Drawn & Quarterly

Fallen Words

AnimeNewsNetwork has confirmed with Drawn & Quarterly that the company will be releasing a new Yoshihiro Tatsumi collection of short stories titled Fallen Words. A listing for the book originally popped up on Amazon.ca, followed shortly there-after by Amazon.com.

“In Fallen Words, Yoshihiro Tatsumi takes up the oral tradition of rakugo and breathes new life into it by shifting the format from spoken word to manga. Each of the eight stories in the collection is lifted from the Edo-era Japanese storytelling form. As Tatsumi notes in the afterword, the world of rakugo, filled with mystery, emotion, revenge, hope, and, of course, love, overlaps perfectly with the world of Gekiga that he has spent the better part of his life developing.”

News of a fresh Yoshihiro Tatsumi license comes with perfect timing for me – I just finished his one-shot Black Blizzard and revisited his sprawling and wonderful, A Drifting Life. Both are different kinds of stories but each left me wanting more of the creator’s work. You can expect I’ll be picking up this new book when it’s released this Spring.


Digital Manga Imprint Shifts with Starry☆Sky to DMP

Digital Manga's Starry Sky

Following up on recent news of Digital Manga licensing Starry☆Sky, the company’s website has now been updated to show the series is being released under their Digital Manga Publishing line. Originally the site’s listing had the title being published in their boys’ love imprint, June.

Starry☆Sky now joins Digital Manga’s other series such as Itazura na Kiss and The Beautiful Skies of Houou High, which seem much more suiting company to this series about a girl pined after by a group of attractive young men in private school. The book’s cover image has also been replaced with a new look sporting the recent DMPBooks cover design instead of the ‘Yaoi Manga’ sidebar it was posted with previously.

Fans of the series were confused over what seemed like Digital Manga’s original decision to release the title as a boys’ love series. Whether a mistake or a change of heart, this switch-up looks like a much better fit and should appease Starry☆Sky‘s fans and those who like having faith they’ll get boys’ love in their BL.


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