• Viz Media sends word that Marc Weidenbaum, vice president of original publishing, and Eric Searleman, senior editor, will perform the publisher’s first Comic-Con portfolio reviews from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 27.

• The Venture Bros. creator Jackson Publick reveals that production has begun on the show’s fourth season. [Publick's blog]

• Apple profiles Dark Horse Comics, with a focus on the company’s network of 145 Macs. The feature includes a sidebar that details the production process for an issue of Hellboy – from initial discussions between Mike Mignola and editor Scott Allie to lettering to press — and a publisher timeline. [Apple.com]

• Speaking of Hellboy, Mignola talks about his collaboration with Guillermo del Toro on Hellboy II: The Golden Army: “It’s my job to take del Toro’s idea, which nobody else can make heads or tails of unless he’s drawn it in his sketchbook, and decipher it. Even though I don’t speak Spanish, we speak the language of monsters and we have very similar tastes in artists so I can usually understand what he’s going for.” [Underwire]

• The talented artist Kristian Donaldson updates his blog with news that the second edition of the Supermarket trade paperback from IDW will get a new format — 6″ x 9″ — and a new cover (above). Also, he’ll be reteaming with Supermarket writer Brian Wood for Issues 35 and 36 of DMZ, which sport covers by John Paul Leon. [Donaldson's blog]

• I’m enjoying Kyle Latino’s illustrated summaries of the comics he reads each week. [This Week in Comics, via Super Punch]

Over on his blog, Chris Butcher has posted a 1995 interview with the Blue Spring and TekkonKinkreet author:

TAKITA: Did you pick the setting for TEKKON KINKREET as the near-future because you had action comics in mind for this particular work?

MATSUMOTO: It would have been more effective to see a boy running down a building wall in animation, I couldn’t achieve the effect I had envisioned in a single drawing.

TAKITA: Even though it’s a single drawing, your expression of movement is so rich. You use techniques like abbreviating dialogue and very specific framing and composition in TEKKON KINKREET, did you do that all on instinct?

MATSUMOTO: If I try to write all of the dialogue, the story would be too long. Even when I read other people’s comics, I’m inclined to skip some of lines of dialogue. So I abbreviate it as much as possible in my work.

Butcher also has a valuable and comprehensive bibliography of the artist’s work over at the link.

– The Chicago Tribune’s Red Eye blog is hosting one of those “Which hero is better?” tournaments you’ve probably seen on message boards. Not that there’s anything wrong with pondering if Iron Man is better than Elektra or if Thor can beat Buffy, mind you; I’ve done it many times. But I’m looking forward more to the New York Times’ “Who should be in the JLA?” quiz or the Wall Street Journal’s “Which super heroine is hottest?” poll.

– Can Swamp Thing fill the Martian Manhunter’s shoes in the JLA?

– “Make some comic books like you fucking mean it.”

– Calvin Reid profiles Keith Knight.

– Grant Morrison has updated his Web site.

– Here’s some good news: IDW is going to reprint Bill Messner-Loebs’ Journey.

– Yet another New Yorker caption contest cartoon is being accused of plagiarism.

– Viz has acquired four new manga.

– Mike Sterling collects stories about the fates of the Peanuts characters.

Compiled by JK and Chris

Chris Butcher talks to Viz’s Marc Weidenbaum about the company’s plans to publish original content and reports back on what he’s learned:

Now, you have to understand, all the while I’m having this conversation with Marc… I’m feeling pretty good about all of this actually, but this nagging phrase wouldn’t stop repeating itself in the back of my mind: “THE TOKYOPOP DEAL”. I f****** hate The Tokyopop deal, flat out. It’s awful and abusive of young creators, and while I haven’t gotten up and shouted I TOLD YOU SO at anyone two years later, the number of disenfranchised and angry Tokyopop creators has more-or-less done the work for me. I’m not particularly happy about being right of course; it is, at best, a pyrrhic victory.
“Marc,” I said. “Who owns it?” I was honestly not anticipating the response.

“The creators do. It’s going to be a standard book-industry type contract, although even there we’re doing a bit of tweaking. I believe in that, and we wanted a fair deal.”

Don’t send your work in yet thought folks. They’re not ready to accept submissions.

Saturday at the New York Comic Con brought the people out in droves, and a lot of big panels — Venture Bros., Robot Chicken, Cup O’ Joe, just to name a few — in the late afternoon caused crowd control issues that caused staff to close down the entrance to the panels area. Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers spoke to Sandy Bouchahine, a New York Comic Con staff member, about the overcrowding.

“We’re just letting people in in waves and shifts so we don’t surpass our capacity,” Bouchahine explained, adding that it had nothing to do with one particular panel, but was instead a problem of several very popular panels happening at the same time. “It was just a crowd control issue. There were just a lot of panels that everyone wanted to see. We’re just having loads of crowds that wanted to see things like the Venture Brothers.”

Ah, of course … if I were there, I’d be rushing to the Venture Bros. panel as well, where a teaser video for season three was shown. Someone in the crowd taped it, and you can watch it here until Cartoon Network’s lawyers find out about it.

Other teasers, previews and trailers were shown Saturday afternoon, for films like The Spirit, Incredible Hulk (which also included footage of Robert Downey Jr. guest-starring as Tony Stark) and an early release of the next Dark Knight trailer. Unfortunately that video hasn’t hit the web yet (or I haven’t found it yet, anyway) but I’m sure it will soon.

Besides the Hollywood stuff, two other stories popped up about companies looking for new graphic novels. First, Vertigo is looking to “acquire” some original graphic novels, and has two editors on the hunt. And bloggers Chris Butcher and Brigid Alverson reported Viz was also accepting submissions. Creators, get those pitches ready.

And finally, as the artwork below proves, Joe Quesada wasn’t kidding about Marvel Apes.

More coverage of New York Comic Con:

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Chris Butcher and Brigid Alverson report from New York Comic Con that Viz Media will begin accepting submissions for original graphic novels.

The word comes from Marc Weidenbaum, Viz’s vice president of magazines and editor-in-chief of Shonen Jump.

Brigid writes: “This is actually rather remarkable, since Viz is the American subsidiary of the Japanese publishers Shueisha and Shogakukan, but I guess it shows where the market is going.”

Expect more details later in the weekend.

Who could’ve guessed that retailer Gordon Lee, comics legend Stan Lee, DC’s Wildstorm imprint and Virgin Comics would be the big newsmakers on the first day of New York Comic Con?

The big story, without a doubt, was the announcement Friday evening by Neil Gaiman that charges against Rome, Ga., retailer Gordon Lee have been dropped.

Lee’s legal battle stemmed from a Halloween 2004 giveaway during which one of his employees mistakenly handed a copy of the Alternative Comics #2 Free Comic Book Day sampler to a boy. The issue depicts a naked Pablo Picasso. After several false starts, the case finally went to court in October, only to end in mistrial during the prosecutor’s opening statement.

Gaiman said Friday the case has cost the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which represented Lee, more than $100,000.

But Gordon wasn’t the only Lee in the spotlight: Stan Lee (no relation) kicked off the convention in fine form Thursday night when he was presented with the inaugural New York Comics Legend award. The event, held at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, drew countless creators and media-types, including Comic Foundry‘s Laura Hudson, who had an interesting encounter with the folks from Virgin Comics.

The Stan Lee juggernaut continued on Friday during the invitation-only event for Ultimo, his collaboration with Shaman King creator Hiroyuki Takei for Shueisha’s Jump SQ.II spin-off magazine. As expected, Viz Media’s “exciting news” is that Ultimo will be released in North America shortly.

But wait! The Man isn’t finished: He’ll oversee a line of superhero comics for Virgin Comics, which also announced that writer Grant Morrison and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur are collaborating on an animated series to be delivered via the Internet and mobile phone. The series, titled MBX, is a futuristic retelling of the Mahabharata epic poem.

DC’s Wildstorm imprint, meanwhile, continued efforts to rebrand itself — or, perhaps, simply brand – with the announcement of three license acquisitions: Prototype, Gears of War, and The X-Files. That last property is expected to be officially announced today. However, X-Files creator Chris Carter let the information slip last night.

More coverage of New York Comic Con:

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Viz has a sneek peek at the first volume of Takehiko Inoue’s influential basketball manga. John Jakala offers some commentary:

It was interesting to read this first chapter and compare how Viz’s translation differs from Gutsoon’s. Both translations are perfectly readable, but there were some spots where I preferred Gutsoon’s phrasing over Viz’s. Still, even Gutsoon tweaked its translation between serialization in its weekly anthology and the eventual collection, so for me it just highlights how tricky translating can be.

Chris Butcher takes a look at Viz’s upcoming release of Kazuo Umezu’s Cat-Eyed Boy and uses it as a jumping-off point to talk about cover design and the problems in attempting to market manga like Umezu’s to Western audiences:

Looking at it from a North American publisher’s perspective, there are some problems. Having a naked little boy on a book cover doesn’t fly in North America, for the most part (even if he’s got creepy claw feet). The book also looks a little young… Though its original audience is likely that same “Shonen Sunday” crowd as Drifting Classroom, in North America these are quite clearly going to be intended for an adult audience that is equally as likely to appreciate these works as viscerally enjoy them. (Though I feel it’s important to note that these re-releases were probably intended for an adult audience in Japan, likely the same adults who bought the stories as children originally). I’d love to own these two book covers, and chances are I’ll just pick them up next time I’m in Japan, either that or a nice Umezu art book maybe? But on North American shelves, they’d be pretty unlikely at best.

He also interviews Viz VP Alvin Lu about the release and Lu’s comments are well worth taking the time to read.

If there were concerns that last fall’s “Naruto Nation” blitz might dampen enthusiasm for subsequent volumes, the latest USA Today book list puts those worries to rest.

Vol. 28 of Masashi Kishimoto’s hit manga, which kicks off the “two years later” storyline, soared 56 places in its second week to No. 17, the highest-ever position for the shonen series.

That’s just two spots shy of the highest-ever ranking for manga, held by Fruits Basket, Vol. 16, in April 2007.

Also on this week’s list: The first two volumes of Jeff Kinney’s prose-comics hybrid Diary of a Wimpy Kid hold the seventh and 18th spots, while Ken Akamatsu’s Negima!, Vol. 17, debuts at No. 115.

The USA Today list tracks all genres and types of books sold in some 4,700 brick-and-mortar and online stores.

I really like this column by the Houston Chronicle’s Lisa Gray about her 12-year-old daughter’s crush on Sasuke from Naruto. I also like that the girl’s nickname is Mojo:

When 12-year-old Mojo discusses her condition, it’s with adolescent knowingness: She pronounces herself “ridiculous” to be in love with a cartoon. And still, the obsession consumes her.

With allowance and Christmas money, and through strategic alliances with her little brother, she’s procured the first 15 books in the Naruto series — all that are available on the ever-growing manga aisle at our Borders. Mojo likes to hang out there, paging back-to-front through the novels, sampling the different series: other boy-oriented adventure series like Bleach and One Piece, and even sometimes Fruits Basket, a series aimed at girls.

At school, she hid manga novels inside her science textbook until a teacher busted her for reading them in class. But at home, she’s free to peruse them over and over, like holy texts, and to supplement them with the animated versions on YouTube.

By watching the original cartoons with English subtitles, she’s picked up a little Japanese — erudition that she generously shares with her brother. Last week, with a Sharpie marker, she wrote “Baka” on his forehead.

“It means ‘idiot,’ ” she explained.

Because it was in Japanese, the language of manga, he thought it was cool.

The article dovetails nicely into the nature of fandom, and fan fiction, as Mojo’s affections drift to Sanji and Zolo (Zoro) from One Piece.

Speaking of Death Note, Fangoria has the English-language trailer for the live-action movie, set for North American release sometime this spring. Although the trailer is dubbed in English, the film is in Japanese with English subtitles.

Cartoonist Bryan Lee O’Malley shows off his cover for the March issue of Shojo Beat, which should hit the stands on Feb. 21. It’s “The Art Issue,” but it sounds as if it should be called “The O’Malley Issue”: Along with the cover, there’s a four-panel strip by O’Malley, an interview, and a tutorial piece.

This news makes me extremely happy: Sifting through Amazon.com, Ed Chavez uncovers that Viz Media will release Hiroe Rei’s Black Lagoon beginning sometime this summer. At last!

What’s Black Lagoon, you ask? It’s a violent, action-packed series about a group of mercenaries who smuggle goods aboard the PT boat Black Lagoon. Lots of gunfights, chase scenes, explosions.

The manga has sold more than 3 million copies in Japan, and has been adapted as an anime TV series.

More summer releases from Viz, including Cat Eye Boy and the previously announced Slam Dunk, can be found at the link.

(Via Gia Manry)

Viz Media has laid out plans for the first quarter of 2008, which include the highly anticipated new series by Death Note and Hikaru no Go artist Takeshi Obata, the popular romantic dramedy Honey and Clover, and hardcover Library Editions for six top titles.

I’m most looking forward to Ral Ω Grad (Blue Dragon), the fantasy by Obata and writer Tsuneo Takano about a boy and his giant blue dragon, which debuts on Feb. 5. But I’m also intrigued by Chika Umino’s Honey and Clover, about life and love among a group of college students. The first volume is set for release on March 4.

And then there are the hardcover Library Editions of the first volumes of Bleach, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Inuyasha, Naruto and Ranma 1/2.

Other new series include Hinako Ashihara’s drama Sand Chronicles (out now), Kazune Kawahara‘s romantic comedy High School Debut (out now), Shouko Akira’s romance Monkey High (March 4), and Tomomi Nakamura and Otoo Saki’s crime drama Switch (March 11).

The official press release can be read after the jump:

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As we approach the end of 2007 (just a few more hours, and counting), I asked the Blog@ team to share some of their favorite comics from the previous year. As Kevin says below, it was tough to narrow down the list to just a few stand-outs, but here are our favorites:

Tom Bondurant

I’m sure no one is surprised to see Architecture & Mortality as one of my Best of 2007 picks. I loved the heck out of Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang’s metatextual take down of DC’s periodic character overhauls. Whether it was setting up a groan-worthy pun or a sentimental moment, A&M was designed to make its readers question not only the manner of revamping and reusing obscure DC characters, but the roles of all involved, including the fans. It reminded this reader that every character has its own dignity.

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Two Milford, Mass., middle-school students arrested last week for allegedly creating a “Death Note” listing the names of 33 classmates were released Monday without bail to the custody of their parents.

According to the Milford Daily News, the two will return to court on Jan. 22 for a pretrial conference.

The 12-year-old boy is charged with 23 counts of threatening to commit a crime and one count of disrupting a school assembly. The 13-year-old girl is charged with 10 counts of threatening to commit a crime and one count of disrupting a school assembly. Both are being charged as juveniles.

The students apparently were inspired by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s hit manga series, Death Note, which centers around a high school student who sets out to rid the world of evil using a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it.

Police in Milford, Mass., on Thursday arrested two middle-school students accused of creating a “Death Note” containing the names of 33 classmates.

The 13-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy are charged with threatening to commit murder and disrupting school. They will be arraigned today in Milford Juvenile Court.

The note, apparently inspired by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s manga series, was discovered Wednesday by staff at Stacy Middle School after they were told about it by several students.

The hit manga, which inspired an anime series, live-action films, a video game and a light novel, centers around a high school student who sets out to rid the world of evil using a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it.

Meanwhile, school officials in Lebanon, Tenn., suspended two students who allegedly created a death notebook with 39 names.

Officials at Walter J. Baird Middle School have assured concerned parents that the notebook isn’t a hit list.

The two students will remain suspended until a Jan. 9 disciplinary hearing.

These are the second and third reported Death Note-inspired incidents in the United States. In November a high school student in Richmond, Va., was suspended for allegedly creating a death notebook.

(Via Gia Manry)

Tokypop and DC Comics lead the final nominations for the Young Adult Library Services Association’s annual list of Great Graphic Novels For Teens with 23 nods each.

DC’s nominations include titles from its CMX, Minx and Vertigo imprints.

Tokyopop and DC are followed by Del Rey with 11 nominations, Viz Media with 10, Go! Comi with eight, and First Second and Marvel with seven each.

YALSA is part of the American Library Association.

The full list of nominees can be found here.

(Link via David Welsh)

At the risk of sounding like my parents, I’ll say that time sure passes quickly: The January issue of Viz Media’s Shonen Jump, on stands now, marks the fifth anniversary of the magazine. Five years? Really?

The issue also sees the return of the serialized Naruto, which picks up two years after the disappearance of the manga’s central characters.

Read the press release after the break:

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