13 Comments | Posted: July 14th, 2009 | Filed under: Thinking About Comics | Tags: addicted to curry, manga
…when I got my hands on a manga titled Addicted To Curry that’s about a curry shop struggling to get back on its feet after the mysterious disappearance of its chef/owner, I thought I’d be reading a more personal take on stuff like Oishinbo. I was looking forward to enjoying a comic about food and family and how they’re intertwined.
This is what I got before the table of contents on the first volume:
That’s Yui, the book’s 14-year-old co-lead.
Just once, I’d like for this sort of thing to not fucking happen. Could you work on that, please?
5 Comments | Posted: October 1st, 2008 | Filed under: Music, Thinking About Comics, Thinking About Movies | Tags: cat-eyed boy, manga, musashi miyamoto, rihanna, the c.w., toshiro mifune, vagabond
1.
And for that, I’m sorry. No new edition of The Rack today; Birdie’s assured me we’ll have one tonight, but if you want to wait until tomorrow, we’d both be OK with that. We’ve been remarkably on time, so I’m sure you understand. Even Tiger Woods takes a mulligan on occasion.
Yes, I just compared two comic nerds writing and drawing a sitcom about a comic shop to History’s Greatest Golfer. Any complaints?
2.
I’ve spent the past three nights rewatching Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai trilogy. If your only exposure to Mifune’s samurai performances are through the (admittedly universally excellent) Kurosawa films, I highly recommend watching the series for nothing more than watching a how excellently the man shows the lead character’s maturation from callow youth to master swordsman. The films may be the tiniest bit mawkish and convoluted, but the stories are rock-solid and the climactic battle between Miyamoto and the rival he never wanted is one of the great screen fights, all tension and release.
3.
Picked up Kazuo Umezu’s Cat Eyed Boy on a whim a few weeks ago and read the first volume in a day and then opting for a more leisurely route with the second. It’s definitely the sort of thing that’s more rewarding when read as it was originally distributed: in drips and drabs over a stretch of time. The gleeful insanity and “what the fuck” approach to storytelling (How many powers does the lead develop out of the blue?) is less annoying, even if you do lose the visceral thrill of wallowing in the junkier end of manga horror. My favorite part may well be the fantastic design and packaging from Viz.
4.
Speaking of Viz and Musashi Miyamoto, I just received the first of the new oversized three-in-one editions for Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond, a series I’ve been interested in but didn’t feel like reading in 20-something separate volumes at $10 a pop. Inoue’s art has always caught my eye and saving 30% while getting a bigger book in return is right up my alley. I assume someone’s upset over this, of course. Only negatives at first glance: the “bonus sketchbook” section ballyhooed in the flap copy is a paltry two pages, and there’s no way to determine how deep your commitment to Vagabond might be, just that this is the first chunk.
5.
The C.W. is apparently making a show I’m not going to watch about a character I only barely care about, but since it’s comics-related, it’s a thing? Newsarama’s responses are, of course, just as measured as always. My favorite? “This show infuriates me and it hasn’t even been made yet.” I guess that’s the opposite of the Whedonites who are begging Fox to not cancel Dollhouse before it even debuts?
6.
Seriously, did T.I. and his producers use the Numa Numa song on that track with Rihanna? Yes, they did.
No Comments | Posted: August 14th, 2008 | Filed under: Outbound Linkage, Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: dmp, emanga, manga, yaoi
Brigid at Mangablog talks about the new “emanga” service from DMP, where readers can “rent” access to a currently-limited library of various yaoi and “how to draw” titles and brings up the monetization factor. DMP is charging around $4 for 72 hours access to their files through a proprietary Flash-based reader (like Zuda,) which is certainly long enough to read the latest installation of Super Sad Willowy Dudes, but seems a bit steep, as it’s between 20-40% of the retail price of a paperback volume. As Brigid points out, it’s almost like they’re aiming at young people who can’t bring the comics into their home for whatever reason, but what teenager has access to the debit or credit card that allows them to buy points at the site? It may be greater than I suspect.
A strange, bold move. I’m curious to see if they’ll be able to monetize their niche market. I don’t want to predict failure yet, as a subculture as devoted as those who read and enjoy yaoi may be willing to pay a higher premium on getting their fix.
1 Comment | Posted: August 13th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: manga, tokyopop
Retailer Chris Butcher’s discussion of Tokyopop’s current “not canceled, really” list is really interesting, as is Brigid Alverson’s original article, which discusses some new series that have sprung up since the company’s recent triage. Tokyopop states that they have had to go back to the original license holders to renegotiate new release dates on the resuscitated books. It’s easy to see how saying books were canceled may have been a stopgap measure – it may have been the neatest, most expeditious way to take care of the situation during a turbulent period, but man, you don’t mess with manga fans. They’re like caged dogs, people!
