Manga to save Japanese economy? | Virginia puts channers on notice

Following up on the Eisner Award nominations… Matt Thorn agrees with me.  David Welsh agrees with me.  And I share in their agreement that more people should just agree with me, as that would make the world a far better place… for me.  However, dissident Noah Berlatsky takes a different perspective, framing the issue as one of self-preservation through relevance… basically, that the comics industry needs to embrace manga even more for its own good.  You won’t find me fighting that idea, but “snub” is just too strong a word in this case.  I tend to think of the Eisners as rather progressive, by the mere fact that it has special categories set aside for manga and web comics at all.  (Heck, there is still a not-insignificant contingent of comic forum warriors who say manga is a fad.  So the Eisner folks… they’ve done all right.)

And just from a practical standpoint… this is an award with alt publisher roots; whose main goal is to advance the artistry of comics through a celebration of the various craftsman who make this medium wonderful and exciting.  There would be a serious damper on that celebration if half of the people it chooses to honor weren’t in the country, or frankly, even aware of the show’s existance.

You know, this is coming from a guy who publishes manga, whose manga collection outnumbers comics 20 to 1.  This isn’t an East versus West thing, or a battle over the soul of the future of comics.  So ehh, it’s all cool, man.

Edit: MangaBlog offers up a defense of the judge’s choices.

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Rocket Bomber explains returnability in the book market as a service to publishers, and how the dynamics of that changed with the rise of big box bookstores.

The real problem is with the wholesalers, isn’t it?

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Otaku Prime Minister of Japan, Taro Aso, says manga could rescue the economy, and that perhaps the Japanese government should have an active hand in exporting anime and manga related goods throughout the globe.

Does this mean a stimulus package full of yummy porn manga is headed for Icarus Publishing, courtesy of Japanese tax payers?  Let’s wait and see!

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With a title like The Road to the Future of the Graphic Novel, you know it’s going to be heady stuff… the Beat collects a bunch of recent commentary on the comic medium’s inability, or unwillingness, to evolve its business model.  A lot of people equate that with not having an online publishing strategy. but in a way that’s putting the cart before the horse.  Publishers will go to where the money is.  We don’t sell paper, we sell content.  The greater issue is of how content is being devalued… or perhaps the value of that content was never as great as we all thought.

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Channers are terrorists!

At least, the state of Virginia seems to think so.  Seriously, who are these scary crazy people?  And I’m not talking about Anonymous…