Bookazine, Transworld to add manga to stores; yet more on barcodes

A couple of stories from Publishers Weekly:

I don’t know whether any comic book publishers were among those affected by the sudden closing of small press distributor BookWorld, but I find such news worth pointing out as Q.E.D. to those who unconditionally champion the book market as being superior to the direct market for small publishers, or believe that many of the difficulties and bad behavior indy comic publishers face are unique to the industry, rather than a function of their size.  Small press is small press everywhere, and it’s tough to survive in any market.

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Wholesaler Bookazine will be developing manga-oriented sections for Transworld’s 900 stores, which include the brands Sam Goody and Suncoast, whose previous financial troubles had a hugely negative impact on the anime industry.  The upside is that this shows there’s still room for growth in the retail sector for manga.  The potential downside is, well, the aforementioned performance history of Suncoast with related material.

Of course, I’d have much nicer things to say if they were interested in carrying some pr0n manga… eh heh heh.

Seriously, yo.  E-mail me.  Please.

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Steve Grant still believes that the new barcode requirements will kill self-publishers.  ICv2 thinks POS is a market necessity for the industry in a time where major bookstores are increasingly competing with the direct market for the same dollars.  Who’s right and who’s wrong?  Well, they’re probably both right.  Sadly, the two aren’t mutually exclusive, principles aside.  Of course, I’d still like to believe that self-pubs and indys are important for the industry, both morally and commercially… but one would be hard pressed to find much proof of that within the past few years.

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Now for your daily dose of creepy…

Police in Brussles found a note with the phrase “Watashi wa Kira desu” next to some severed human body parts.  Fans should immediately recognize that line as from the manga Death Note.  A quote from the article:

The newspaper reported that local police have launched a murder investigation and that they consider it unlikely that the notes were left there coincidentally.

Gee, ya think!?

(The carnage courtesy of Comipress–> Vertical)

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Comicsnob has a review of Manga: The Complete Guide, plus a nice links list to other previews of the book.  The author also has details on a launch party to be held at the Comic Relief store in Berkeley, California.  For civilians like myself, the book ships on October 9th.