Hope everyone had a lovely holiday. Over here I celebrated with my (small) family the good ol’ fashioned way… tucked in a tiny corner of a Cantonese dim sum restaurant where the surly waiters can neither see us nor cart food to us.
We should have some tiny licensing news in a few weeks… being that Christmas, New Year’s, AND Comiket are all happening in the span of a week, every artist and editor in Japan has either gone into hiding or become momentarily insane.
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Comic AG issue 48 is shipping this week, but given the holiday schedule, it might not make it to your store this Wednesday. And with this, we’re only… one month behind on our comics! Whee!
(No, seriously, we are ashamed and apologetic.)
Another huge issue, btw… with Yumisuke Kotoyoshi, the conclusion to Anzu by Kirikaze, Kazu Shimao, and the debut of Swing Out Sisters by Taro Shinonome. Finally… we’ve been sitting on this one for a whole year. If you missed it the first time, you can see the rest of the preview pages here. And remember to look for the special Winter Teaser issue, featuring a full comic from Taro… it’s only available from comic book stores right now!
Oh yes, it’s also time to start placing your advance orders for Blue Eyes 3. And you still have a small window for Taboo District as well. Collect them all.
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Here’s my public service announcement for scanlators… Comicraft will be holding a one-day font sale on January 1st. That would be the time to actually pay for that wild words font you’ve been using. Be a man. Do the right thing.
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Comipress has several interesting articles this week. (Man, you guys don’t take a break, do you?)
First is a translated article on the state of manga magazines in China. I’m still having some difficulty parsing through the article, whether it is Japanese or Chinese comics magazines in trouble (or both), or where the real blame resides. (And I’m sure this must have been a chore to translate too… since the word “manga” is actually kanji/hanzi, which means it’s a borrowed word from Chinese.) I’m also cautious about the conclusions reached by the article, since it’s tinged with an ever-so-slight amount of protectionism. Is the translated Japanese manga market in China crashing, or is the Japanese manga choking out domestic Chinese productions? Perhaps the real issue is that Japanese companies are now exploring the market “officialy”? (Yes, for a long time many manga publication in China were not officially licensed, which means they’re basically scanlators… except they print them and make a profit. Pirates, in other words.)
The other translation is from a former female manga editor’s blog on why she quit. Unfortunately, she’s not quite as sensationalist as the Broken Vagina Monologues… no sexism in the workplace, no rape comics, no ex-boyfriends (although being a multi-part article, we may still get something like that.) Rather, the editor simply found out that she couldn’t handle the responsibilities of being a manga editor in Japan, which requires a certain level of, shall we say, “ruthlessness.”
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There’s a conversation thread that began with a post at the blog Girl Read Comics and They’re Pissed on the difference between misogyny and sexism via a comparison between the art of Rob Liefield and Greg Land, which then Journalista refutes and takes in a more interesting art critique direction as an issue of mannerist work versus the non-creative task of duplication. The Visual Linguist applies it to his views on imitation… using manga as an example as imitation done right.
There’s really nothing wrong with imitation… the apprentice-master relationship can be found in the atliers of the Renaissance, to modern day manga and comics. Just as knowledge is cumulative, why shouldn’t style be refinements of what’s come before, reflecting and adapting to the evolutionary taste of the people? But while artists who merely copy can only reproduce what they have seen, those who wield style with studied knowledge can create with far greater freedom. The laymen, the mass audience, may not grasp such finer points or be able to communicate it, but it’s not necessary because they understand the need for both elements inately. It doesn’t matter to the casual viewer if the shortfall of a work is in style, or lack of technical knowledge… either failures result in a determination of ”ass.” Where the Japanese succeeed, then, is making sure manga is proficient in both areas. So while I understand and agree with the position that some congruity is useful especially in a field which combines visual art and written communication, I do prefer Dirk Deppey’s use of the word “standard”, rather than “consistent style” as espoused by Neil Cohn… the style is merely catering to an overwhelming populist preference.
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Sure, everyone’s talking about Bandai licensing The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, but what I want to know is… who’s getting the manga?
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