Actual ero news for a change!
Via Anime News Service, via IT Media, comes wind of a building controversy surrounding the ero-game based on the 18th century Chinese novel 紅樓夢 (Hong Lou Mong), known in English as “Dreams of the Red Chamber.” According to ANS, some Chinese net critics have called for an apology from the makers of the game for “blaspheming” the original book.
Chamber is a classic of Chinese literature, and if I remember correctly, also considered the first modern Chinese novel. The story centers around the romance between Jia Bao Yu and his cousin Lin Dai Yu through the downfall of their aristocratic family.
Pictures of the game, titled “Piano,” points clearly to a “reimagining” of the book (for one thing, it doesn’t take place in old China.) There’s literally a cast of hundreds in the original novel, largely women, and sexual tension does come into play, so I can see how it may become fodder for eroge-mification. (One can even argue that Lin Dai Yu was THE original sickly little sister character. Moe!) The reach of the book extends far into pop culture… its influence can be seen in just about any Chinese television soap opera.
On the other hand, the game clearly uses the novel’s name in its subtitle, and the book has a near sacred status in the world of Chinese literature (actually, it’s famous in the entire Asian Eastern world.) Given the touchy nature of the relationship between the two countries where even the tiniest slight can become an international incident, this has the potential to spiral into something bigger.
Akiba Blog (see, I brought it up for a reason!) has extensive coverage of the game and potential controversy, which is really helpful… for those of you who are fluent in Japanese.
Edit: This is why Wikipedia is great. For more context, read their page on Chamber, which happens to have a link to an abridged illustrated version. Keen.
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The Comics Reporter picks up on the success of Warren Ellis’ Fell, the first 4 issues of which have all sold past the 29,000 mark, in the face of dire predictions of doom for the pamphlet periodical format popular among forum pundits (even ones on the Engine, which I always felt was kind of like going into a man’s house and scraping one’s muddy boots on the persian rug.)
I myself see the format-hate issue pretty simply… truely compelling works sell, even if it comes on 24 pages of staple-stitched newsprint, and crap will not, even if it’s 200 pages of perfectly bound #85 white stock. And comic publishers just have to make do with what they can (and for most of the small outfits out there, trades are out of the question.) There.
One of the blogs I make a point to read every morning is 
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