This feels like it should be being reported as a much bigger deal, but starting in January 2012, Viz Media will be making digital versions of Weekly Shonen Jump available in English two weeks after the original Japanese versions have been released, with editions being made available on all iOS platforms (the iPad, iPod and iPhone) for a month-long 99 cent rental charge, or annual $25.99 subscription fee.

Firstly: That’s a great price point. Secondly: Digital subscriptions! Considering that it looks like western comic companies aren’t quite ready for Apple Newsstand just yet, this, the Walking Dead deal and the Archie Mighty Crusaders announced earlier this week might be the best we’re going to get on that front anytime soon…

Are we headed into a manga resurgence? Viz’ Alvin Liu believes so, judging from these comments from his ICv2 interview:

I think manga went through a down cycle and in two years we’re actually going to be back in an upcycle. I have a lot of long-term confidence in the medium.  Manga is comics.  I’m not one of those who draws hard lines between manga and comics.  At the same time the way comics have evolved in Japan, there’s a different grammar to the form.  I have a lot of belief in the power of that form that has come from there and actually in very interesting ways is spreading around the world inspiring new creators who are not Japanese.  One of the things that came out of the last big manga wave was the development of non-Japanese creators inspired working within the manga grammar.  That, actually in two years, we’re going to be seeing more of. I do think we’ll be seeing that sort of new generation I was referring to begin to grow again bringing us different kinds of energies and tastes so that we’ll be maybe seeing slightly different kinds of manga.

I’m always fascinated by the line between “manga” and “comics”; Liu says that he’s not drawing hard lines between the two, but goes on to suggest that manga isn’t defined by geographic origin, but, perhaps, sensibility…? I can see that – I still remember the whole weird definition comedy behind “Original English Language Manga, after all – but wonder if that doesn’t just make manga a genre, in that case?

Yotsuba&! v. 8-9
Written & Illustrated by Kiyohiko Azuma
Translated by Amy Forsyth
Lettered by Terri Delgado
Published by Yen Press

When I get a new comic, it gets slotted onto the bottom of my towering to-read pile. The exception to that rule is Usagi Yojimbo, which I always read immediately when a new book emerges. If I were to make two exceptions, Yotsuba&! might be the second such title.

Each chapter is titled “Yotsuba & something“, and that chapter follows our youthful protagonist as she, wide-eyed and full of wonder, explores the world around her. With absolutely hilarious results. In these two books, Yotsuba attends a school festival where her friend and neighbor’s class is distributing cake. She flies in a hot air balloon. Opposites, teddy bears, restaurants, typhoons and schedules also find their way into Yotsbuba’s inquisitive, excitable gaze.

Kiyohiko Azuma is a master at blending slapstick timing with innocent, childish enthusiasm. Yotsuba’s continual amazement and delight make her appear too young for her age, but Azuma’s ability to play the rest of the cast off her reactions only makes every situation that much funnier. With its warmth, affection and gee-whiz humor, Yotsuba&! stands out as something totally unique on comic shelves today. It’s easily one of the best books I’m reading, and well worth checking out.

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Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths
Written & Illustrated by Shigeru Mizuki
Translated by Jocelyne Allen
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

This book is excellent. It is, according to the interview with its author Shigeru Mizuki printed within, the first of his books to be published in English – I can only hope we’re soon flooded by Mizuki translations. I’d like to drown in them.

A veteran of World War II, Mizuki based Onward Towards Our Nobles Deaths on his experiences in the Pacific theatre. Now, there are two types of war stories: tales of noble men (and women) accomplishing amazing things in horrifying circumstances, and sagas showing the ugly futility of it all. I enjoy the former, but my peacenik sensibilities are far more in line with the latter. And Mizuki appeals to my side of the equation very strongly.

With upwards of thirty named characters, Onward doesn’t spend much time getting to know the cast outside of their military roles, but Mizuki spends plenty of time sympathizing with each man within the extreme expectations placed upon them by the military. The ongoing theme of the book deals with the men being ordered into a pointless suicide charge, contrasted against the high-level brass who fret they’ll be made fools when they report the squad killed only to find out that not everyone participated in the charge.

Mizuki threads a little comedy, absurdism, theatrical speeches about the honor of death, through Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, preventing it from becoming a moribund book. It’s still quite dark, and tragic, but mostly, it’s a reminder that for every hero found in war, there are thousands of senseless losses.

DC Comics’ popular line of manga-style superheroine statues have been transformed into Halloween costumes for the masses. Really? Yes, really.

I’m not quite sure what to say about this. I’m mostly just surprised these exist at all. I mean, they’re costumes based solely on action figures with costumes that haven’t appeared in the comics. And the weirder part is, they don’t look half bad if you consider what most store-bought superheroine costumes look like.

I mean, who knows what they’ll actually feel like in person but they seem decent from where I’m looking. It’s important to note, the Ame-Comi designs have been very popular with cosplayers looking for something new and different to challenge their costume-making skills on the convention circuit the last year.

Online store Costume Craze seems to have the exclusive rights to the Ame-Comi costumes right now and so far just have Wonder Woman, Catwoman and Supergirl in production. But you can bet if these do well you can expect to see them everywhere and probably Robin, Poison Ivy or even perhaps *gasp* a Star Sapphire costume to capitalize on the Green Lantern film hitting theaters this summer.

Costume Craze says they’ll be available for pre-order soon and in stock in the summer but no prices have been revealed. Expect them to be somewhere in the $59.99-$79.99 range just like all the other overpriced Halloween costumes out there.

What’s your take on these? Are you as surprised as I am they’ve been created?

(via Topless Robot)

It Came From the NYPL
Cross Game v. 1
Written & Illustrated by Mitsuru Adachi
Translated by Ralph Yamada & Lillian Olsen
Published by Viz

Mitsuru Adachi is, I suspect, one of the two dozen or so best comic book creators in the world. The acclaim I’ve read of his work in Japan is astounding, and the two series I’ve so far encountered in English have only exceeded the hype. Viz previously brought American readers Adachi’s Short Program, a two-volume collection of melancholy and humanistic short stories. Now, Cross Game arrives in the States.

Cross Game tells of Ko Kitamura, his friends on the high school baseball club, and his relationship with the sisters who’ve lived next door to him for his entire life.  While it’s a romantic comedy at heart, Cross Game features notable amount of baseball action and its fair share of early tragedy.  But what really sets it apart is Adachi’s (with assistance from his translators) ability to capture the nuances of his characters, the humor and the pathos, via their witty dialogue and his casual pacing.

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MW
Written & Illustrated by Osamu Tezuka
Translated by Camellia Nieh
Published by Vertical

Osamu Tezuka, the godfather of manga, is one of my favorite comics creators, largely because his work simply can’t be pinned down.  After rising to prominence with the adventurous pop fun of Astro Boy, Tezuka’s work included a lifelong (literally) quest for immortality in Phoenix, medical thrillers such as Black Jack or Ode to Kirohito, fantastical historical fiction like Adolf, and several of the bleakest portraits of man’s cold inhumanity, including Apollo’s Song and MW.

MW tells of a young man, Yuki, who was exposed to minute traces of a chemical weapon – the titular MW – as a young boy.  Doomed to a slow death, Yuki resorts to kidnapping, murder, extortion and worse, perhaps losing all sense of morality from the gas, or perhaps simply filled with hatred over his fate.  Along the way, he is both helped and hindered by a priest named Father Garai.  Garai’s lustful attraction to Yuki prevents him from turning Yuki over to the authorities, though he offers several other rationalizations as to why he shelters a killer.  (A flashback involving Garai and Yuki’s encounter in a cave before exposure to the MW gas offers another possible motive for Yuki’s amorality.)

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After pleading guilty to the charges last year, Christopher Handley has been sentenced to six months in prison for possessing manga drawings of “children being sexually abused,” Anime News Network has reported.

Handley was charged after the U.S. Post Office seized the following books, back in 2006:

Mikansei Seifuku Shōjo (Unfinished School Girl) by Yuki Tamachi (LE Comics)
I [Heart] Doll by Makafusigi (Seraphim Comics)
Kemono for ESSENTIAL 3 (THE ANIMAL SEX ANTHOLOGY Vol.3) by Masato Tsukimori et al (Izumi Comics)
Otonari Kazoku (Neighboring House Family) by Nekogen (MD Comics)
Eromon by Makafusigi (Seraphim Comics)
Kono Man_ ga Sugoi! (This Man_ is Awesome!) by Makafusigi (Seraphim Comics)
Hina Meikyū (Doll Labyrinth) by Makafusigi (Seraphim Comics)

These books all have drawings of minors engaging in sexual activity, including with adults and animals. According to ANN’s thorough coverage of the legal documentation, Handley’s interest in manga eventually “evolved” in the mid-’90s to ”fascination for images of young girls engaged in sexual activity.”

Handley’s trial had the backing for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which did back out following Handley pleading guilty to the charges. Handley said that if he had known these were against the law he would never have ordered them.

That said, the prosecution’s main argument does set my Spider-sense tingling: ”The works at issue do not even have arguable scientific, literary, artistic, or political value, such as Vladimir Nabokov’s famed novel, Lolita, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, or even Alan Moore’s recent, but controversial, graphic novel, Lost Girls. By the defendant’s own statements, the works for which he was convicted of receiving and possessing are clearly obscene.”

At that point, isn’t it all or nothing? Let’s even step aside the obvious argument of whether a drawing of an illegal act is the same as partaking the real thing — at what point do we start labeling the art as “valuable” or not? When do we start discussing motive for consumption? Will viewers have to own up to seeing Transformers 2 because of the sheer art and beauty of an eye-bleeding transformation, or because they simply find Megan Fox to be extremely attractive? Let’s discuss.

Ready for violence, death, and aliens? Well, you’ll have to wait a little bit on that, as the new teaser trailer for Gantz is just that — a tease, instead examining the book’s titular ebony sphere…

The Shinsuke Sato-directed film is due out sometime in 2011 in Japan — no word yet on when it’ll hit the States.

Apparently when you’re searching for Dragon Balls, letting it all hang out can get you into trouble.

Delmarva Now has posted a story about a library in Salisbury which seems to have had a problem with Dragon Ball, Vol. 1, after a fourth grader recently checked the book out of a school library. They passed out photocopies of the T+-rated book, with scenes apparently depicting:

In one, the protagonist, a young boy, pats the covered crotch area of a sleeping teenage girl before removing her panties. The same boy later appears naked in the bathtub and is naked when he performs flying jump kicks.

In another scene, a Peeping Tom watches a naked teenage girl as she takes a shower. Furthermore, the novel shows a teenage girl flashing a bearded man; and another man asking a girl about her bra size.

School Superintendent John Frederickson said that his initial reaction is to “say it’s coming off the shelves as soon as I can get a phone call back to the office.” Could this revive the manga-fueled debate surrounding Christopher Handley? What do you think?

I usually try to review a comic or two here on the weekends, but my review stack has gotten pretty out of control, so I figured instead of shaving a little off the top, I’d try to make a more sizable dent in it. So below you’ll find reviews of five comics and graphic novels from the last few months.

Empowered Vol. 5 (Dark Horse Comics) Adam Warren’s one-man graphic novel series has reached the point where reviewing each new volume seems a little beside the point. You’re either reading or your not, and if you’re not, you should be. Or at least, you should be if you like, love or maybe even loathe superheroes.

Empowered remains not only the funniest superhero comic on the stands, but also the most mature and sophisticated, which itself seems like a joke given the series’ start in superhero parody, shameless cheesecakery and bondage gags that would make William Moulton Marston blush.

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The main conflict at the heart of Kimi Ni Todoke (Viz) has a problem that will be familiar to anyone who’s seen very many American teen movies. Fifteen-year-old Sawako Kuronuma is extremely unpopular at school, and said to look like the scary little girl in Ringu, thus frightening all her classmates.

Yet just as Rachael Leigh Cooke with long hair and glasses is just as beautiful as Rachael Leigh Cooke with short hair and contacts, Sawako’s obviously drawn as a very pretty girl and, in fact, her attractiveness is part of the plot—Kazehaya, the most popular boy in class, is apparently secretly in love with her.

Manga-ka Karuho Shiina, who obviously has a lot more leeway than a Hollywood director, gets around that dilemma by keeping Sawako’s physical features consistent, but often framing her the way the villain or monster in another manga might be framed.

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I think we can all agree that there are few things in this world as cool as comic books, and that one of those things is probably dinosaurs. This explains why comic books about dinosaurs tend to be fairly awesome, and Hitoshi Shioya’s Dinosaur Hour, a recent offering from the Viz Kids line, is no exception.

Yes, it’s a kids book (recommended for kids ages 9-12 on Amazon), and yes, it’s educational, but don’t hold any of that against it. It’s also a pretty funny sketch comedy starring various dinosaurs from various periods of prehistoric history. The comedy is all physical or character driven, to the extent that the dinosaurs are able to develop personalities in their few page appearances, and is otherwise pretty much realistic and naturalistic.

Basically, it’s a slice of life comedy starring a bunch of dinosaurs.

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Probably the coolest thing you’ll see on the web today right here. Sorry to apoil the internet for you the rest of the day, but this is just too cool:

In honor of Gundam’s 30th Anniversary, they’ve built a life size model. Unfortunately, this means a war between Earth and the Space Colonies is bound to happen soon, so any teenagers out there in Tokyo should get ready to stumble upon this behemoth and have some natural intuition on how to use it. Everyone else, just drool at the awesome, and click through the link above for more pictures of this bad boy.

[via Twitter]

The website Topless Robot (*hee hee hee*) along with Dragonball The Movie are both reporting that James Marsters has confirmed that he will begin filming a sequel to Dragonball Evolution as early as late this year.

Wait a second… James Marsters was in the Dragonball movie? James Marsters, the guy whose presence saved the last couple of seasons of Buffy from completely jumping the shark after the Scooby Gang left for college? The same James Marsters that kicked ass as Braniac on Smallville? This James Marsters?

Come on, dude. You’ve built up enough geek credibility between Buffy, Angel, and Torchwood to get roles in better movies than that. How about lobbying for the role of Hawkeye in the upcoming Avengers movie? Or maybe you can get your old pal Joss Whedon to talk Time-Warner into making a Starman movie? You’d be great as Jack Knight.

And another thing: A Dragonball sequel? Sure, why not? Don’t let the fact that Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 13% fresh rating, or the fact that it only made $54.7 million worldwide, despite having a budget of allegedly $100 million, stop you from making what will likely be a horrible film that even the makers of Ishtar will laugh at.

Your ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Peter David has been busy, according to his blog.

Working with Ben 10, David has not only written an episode titled “In Charm’s Way,” but has also a Ben 10: Alien Force manga with Del Ray called “Ben Folds Four.” Which will be Rockin’ the Suburbs, for all you music fans out there…

Meanwhile, some big news is that David has been asked to get snikt-snikt-bub on with some additional issues of Wolverine: First Class. And finally, he teases that another limited series will be announced at NYCC…

The Korean production company SSD has signed an agreement with Fox TV Studios to produce a live-action version of the manga City Hunter, ICv2 has reported.

The adaptation of the Tsukasa Hojo manga, which will star Korean actor Chung Woo-sung, will be filmed in English and distributed worldwide. According to SSD, the 13-episode order will be the first U.S. TV drama to be headlined by an Asian actor.

The series, which follows “sweeper” Ryo Saeba as he cleans up his city from crime, has inspired four animated series, several television specials, as well as a 1993 live-action film starring Jackie Chan. Yet the current backers, Fox TV Studios, are no slouches, either, having produced acclaimed series such as Burn Notice and The Shield.

One day cute high school girl Rui’s father brings home a friend from work, the dreamy young marketing statistician Igarashi. Instantly smitten, Rui soon launches a plan to get close to Igarashi: The next day she asks her father if he can hire a statistics tutor for her, so she can learn more about his job.

“The tutor could be one of your workers,” she helpfully suggests. Tears of pride running down his face, her father skips off to make it so.

On the first day of her lessons, however, she runs down the stairs to meet Mamoru Yamamoto, who lives closer than Igarashi and is also good at teaching. But not only is he not Igarashi, he’s a hopeless geek: His hair is messy, his glasses make his eyes look huge and bug-like, he is more interested in shojo than Rui is, and he even absent-mindedly wears one shoe and one sandal on one occasion.

Oh, the irony! Rui soldiers on though, thinking that if she masters statistics she can impress her true love later, and she is slowly won over by the young teacher’s knowledge of statistics, his growing indifference to her school girl charms (playing hard to get—works every time, guys!) and the fact that he looks pretty hot without his glasses.

It’s hardly the most original or compelling storyline really, but given that it occurs in The Manga Guide To Statistics (No Starch Press), which is, for all intents and purposes a math text book, well, it’s certainly the best romantic dramedy I’ve ever read in a math text book (Although, come to think of it, some of the word problems I encountered in school involving trains speeding in different directions did have a certain air of mystery about them…)
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Hey all!

Do you have one of those annoying friends who likes to e-mail you played-out Chuck Norris jokes?

If so, have them check out this video of Bruce Lee playing ping-pong with nunchucks.

No, it’s not real footage (thank you, CGI technology!), but they don’t need to know that, do they?

Comics readers will find several things to be thankful for this week, including the debut of the new Umbrella Academy miniseries, the end of the “R.I.P” storyline in Batman, and the long-awaited Body Bags one-shot.

(Yes, I know Thursday is Thanksgiving only in the United States, but you can still be thankful for something — like, say, the arrival of Mesmo Delivery in comics shops.)

If you’re looking for more books to keep you entertained between parade viewings, food courses and football games, Wednesday also sees an American Elf collection, another Captain America Premiere Hardcover, Scott Morse’s Tiger Tiger Tiger, and … Tijuana Bibles.

To see what other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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