Great Scott! (2)

In which Peiratikos totally hearts my little doodle for the Scott Pilgrim contest (I wasn't eligible, but what the hey).

And CWR goes over to the manwha side with reviews for Full House Vol. 2 and Couple Vol. 2.

Fullmetal Comickist?

Johanna @ CWR puts her seal of approval on Imadoki!, and James @ Reading Along finds a couple of gems in Othello Vol. 1 and Boys Be Vol. 1.

Missed this one from a couple of days ago: CPM has licensed the yaoi title Haru wo Daiteita (Embracing Love). (Source: ANN)

AnimeWaves has another chapter up of the cheer-tastic 3.3.7. Byooshi.

And I suppose, since everyone in the U.S. thinks this is SOOO important, Fullmetal Alchemist starts running on Cartoon Network tonight at midnight E/P, so brush up by reading the FMA manga. (Miraculously, it still hasn't been licensed.) There are other versions out there that have more chapters done, but this is by far the most accomplished of all the scanlations.

Please to remember the Fifth of November

Plenty of new reviews at AoD as they go through Samurai Executioner Vol. 1, which fans of Lone Wolf and Cub will surely pounce upon; flowery shounen romance Ai Yori Aoshi Vol. 4 and Vol. 5; and the ever-popular nuns-with-guns Chrono Crusade Vol. 2.

Now, I'm off to play Katamari Damacy and waste even more of my life.

A Captor of Cards

ANN has just picked up a list of new ComicsOne release dates. Watch out for Iron Wok Jan Vol. 11 on January 15, 2005.

AoD reviews Louie the Rune Soldier Vol. 3 and finds it to be pretty decent.

Digital Manga Publishing (DMP) dominated at Yaoicon 2004 during Halloween weekend, announcing not only new titles (see Elves and Boobs) but also an appropriately named website, http://www.yaoi-manga.com/.

The Pseudome forums get interesting as they ask, What are magical girls made of? "Funny outfits? Transformation sequences? Evil baddies with questionable sexual preferences? Talking cat side kicks? Non-connecting line art? What?"
(Hint: It's a whole lot more than skintight sailor uniforms or Clow cards.)

Around the sphere

Yet Another Comics Blog has some quick words for Demon Diary and I.N.V.U..

Completely Futile looks at the weirdness that is Milk Closet, which if you don't have Japanese reading skills and access to a Japanese bookstore, can be downloaded from here.

Elves and boobs

Tokyopop is releasing another homegrown title, Sokora Refugees, which promises to be "so much more than just panty shots and shower scenes" (I should hope so) and "will surely appeal to fans of both American Pie and Lord of the Rings."

For people who love to read screenshots, Viz is releasing a My Neighbor Totoro ani-manga.

Broccoli Books will be releasing a Juvenile Orion Limited Edition Vol. 5 + box, which will house all five volumes of the manga and alos comes with two keychains. (Meanwhile, AoD has reviewed Vol. 4 of this title.)

Also on ANN, but without a link: Digital Manga Publishing (DMP) has acquired the yaoi title Yellow and the how-to book Let's Draw Manga: Yaoi. (Oh, how the fangirls will jump at this one ... )

James @ Reading Along feels that Remote Vol. 3 has crossed the line, but Hikaru No Go Vol. 2 is damn good. And don't be surprised if you find yourself itching to buy a Go set.

Dorian @ PoMoBa, meanwhile, has nice words for both XXXHolic Vol. 3 and From Eroica With Love Vol. 1.

Know your CLAMP

Sequential Tart has that rarest of rarities in manga journalism: a level-headed, well-informed feature on CLAMP.

Boy wizards are still all the rage

Kevin has the dish on Bookscan graphic novel sales for last week, and not surprisingly, fanservice sells as Negima Vol. 3 trounces both the girls (Fruits Basket Vol. 5, now #2) and boys (Rurouni Kenshin Vol. 7 at #3). In the Shadow of No Towers is clinging at #5 and 1602 edges its way up to #10, bolstered by Gaimanophilia no doubt.

Open Shutters

Rikki Simons, co-author of Tokyopop's homegrown title ShutterBox, has an interesting personal commentary on how they're selling the book in bookstores vs. the direct market.

One of the most aggravating things I used to hear in the direct market was a retailer telling a customer that our comic was sold out. This meant that either 1. the retailer was lying and didn’t order any at all, or 2. the retailer ordered one copy and didn’t plan on ordering any more. This sort of thing continues to this day as evident by the fact that ShutterBox only sold about a thousand or so copies at direct market comic shops. The rest of ShutterBox’s sales were all through the regular book market (book stores, Amazon, Suncoast Video, etc.). This difference between the direct market and the regular book market is also reflected in our signings. We don’t usually do signings at comic book shops because no one shows up for us, but we will do them at regular book stores because at places like Waldenbooks we draw a long line of fans.

The times, they are a-changin'.

Manga Worth Reading

Johanna at CWR now has a Manga Starting Guide to go with the reviews. Newly updated, too, is the Maison Ikkoku guide with Vol. 7. There's also a quick look at the structurally playful Teen Titans Go! #12.