It’s a good week for Death Note fans, or those wanting to know what all the fuss is about: First, Viz Pictures announced it has secured the theatrical and DVD distribution rights to the live-action movies. Now, Anime News Network reports, Adult Swim has confirmed it will debut the anime series at midnight Oct. 20.

After a month-long climb, the first three volumes of Viz Media’s “Naruto Nation” campaign have lost momentum, dropping down USA Today’s Top 150 Books list: Vol. 18 down 13 spots to No. 50, Vol. 17 down seven spots to No. 72, and Vol. 16 down 12 spots to No. 86.

The next three installments of Masashi Kishimoto’s hit manga series should hit bookstores within the next two weeks, which means we could see as many as five or six volumes of Naruto on the book chart at the same time. I said, could.

Viz Media’s “Naruto Nation” campaign continues through the end of the year, with three volumes released each month to catch up with the Japanese series in time for the start of a major new story arc with Vol. 28.

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

Viz Pictures, an affiliate of Viz Media, has acquired the U.S. theatrical and DVD distribution rights to the live-action Death Note and its sequel, Death Note: The Last Name. Both movies are based on Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s hit manga series.

Viz will open the films at Austin’s Fantastic Fest 2007 later this month, and at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival in November. Screenings will continue throughout 2008, with the DVD release set for summer.

The press release can be found after the jump.

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This is the 22nd week Chris Mautner and I have written “Can’t Wait for Wednesday.” I feel like there should be a prize or something.

In lieu of cash, we get a handful of notable releases, headed by the much-anticipated debut of The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite #1, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way’s heralded foray into comics.

That’s not all, though. This week also sees the wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary in DC’s Wedding Special, the end of Marvel’s Irredeemable Ant-Man, the penultimate installment of the hit World War Hulk, another expansion of the 30 Days of Night franchise, and the Darwyn Cooke issue of The Comics Journal.

To see what other titles we think our worth mentioning, just keep reading. As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Writing for SFGate, Jeff Yang compares and contrasts Taiyo Matsumoto’s Tekkon Kinkreet with a Disney cruise and the Magic Kingdom. Really:

Together, the yin of Black’s chaotic ruthlessness and the yang of White’s blissful simplicity represent a face of childhood that acknowledges that kids can be cruel and vicious and thoughtless and deliriously destructive, because that’s the way the world is too. The difference is that when kids act like that it’s by instinct and nature, while when adults do it’s in the service of an agenda, a strategy, a business plan.

But Matsumoto places no judgment on the kids or even most of the adults in his tale. They are all soiled, in various ways, all broken, and yet somehow all worthy and capable of redemption. They’re human. They’re real, or as real as crudely drawn two-dimensional figures can get. In fact, Tekkon Kinkreet‘s only true villain is Serpent, who wants to take over Treasure Town by changing its “essential character,” eliminating the refuse and rabble, organizing it and prettifying it and populating it with fanciful animal mascots. “This is my city,” he declares. “We keep the streets clean!”

Uniformity and cleanliness, as well as the purge and reinvention of folk tales into “new classics,” are primary Disney tropes, of course. And honestly, is there a parent in the world who doesn’t find the Disney vision of innocence appealing when Junior is setting fire to the cat or drawing on the TV with permanent marker, or when stories of children missing or abducted or preyed upon by Internet pedophiles come flashing across the airwaves?

Tekkon Kinkreet: Black and White was released this week by Viz Media.

“Naruto Nation” continues to sweep the, um, nation as the latest three volumes of Masashi Kishimoto’s hit manga climb even higher on USA Today’s Top 150 Books list. Vol. 18 rose 25 spots to No. 37, and Vols. 17 and 16 each moved 28 spots to No. 65 and No. 74, respectively.

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

The three volumes of Naruto were released three weeks ago as part of Viz Media’s “Naruto Nation” campaign. The initiative continues through the end of the year, with three volumes released each month to catch up with the Japanese series in time for the start of a major new story arc with Vol. 28.

Naruto, Vol. 11, climbed as high as No. 21 in August 2006.

Related: Chris Maunter looks at “Naruto Nation”

After a lag of a few weeks, “Naruto Nation” finally hits comic shops as Viz releases three volumes of the smash-hit series.

Don’t get too comfortable, though, because the same thing will happen next month. And the month after that. And the month after that.

But Naruto isn’t the only big release. This week also sees the much-heralded Tekkon Kinkreet omnibus edition, the return of John Ostrander to Suicide Squad, and the 100th issue of Daredevil.

For a rundown of the other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth special mention, just keep reading.

As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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The three latest volumes of Masashi Kishimoto’s manga continue their march up USA Today’s Top 150 Books list, with Vol. 18 rocketing 54 spots to No. 62. The 17th volume jumped 30 spots to No. 93, followed by the 16th volume, up 29 spots, at No. 102.

Further down the list, the 15th volume of Ken Akamatsu’s Negima! debuted at No. 132.

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

The three volumes of Naruto were released two weeks ago as part of Viz Media’s “Naruto Nation” campaign. The initiative continues through the end of the year, with three volumes released each month to catch up with the Japanese series in time for the start of a major new story arc with Vol. 28.

With the American holiday on Monday, all of comicsdom is thrown off-kilter: Geeks are staring forlornly in the windows of their local shops. Cats and dogs are living together.

Hey, maybe that explains why “Naruto Nation” hasn’t invaded the direct market yet.

Still, there’s plenty of good stuff to be found tomorrow (or Friday): Brian K. Vaughan begins his arc on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The sure-to-be-controversial “One More Day” storyline kicks off in Amazing Spider-Man. Ben Templesmith returns to 30 Days of Night. And DC ends The Outsiders, if only temporary, while restarting Infinity Inc.

For a rundown of the other titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth special mention, just keep reading.

As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Here’s the other big Internet dust-up of last weekend. It all started when Dirk Deppy linked to a Guardian article lamenting the lack of manga for newbies who aren’t below the age of 18 and offered the following bit of snark:

Let’s grant that manga offerings in the U.K. are even more limited than here in the States; still, may I recommend that Beauman take a look at the works available from the collaboration between British publisher Fanfare and Spain’s Ponent Mon? Likewise, readers interested in seeing what the Anglo translation houses haven’t touch yet might want to have a look at this guide to scanlations. There’a actually quite a lot out there beyond the usual books for teenagers.

This got Chris Butcher really upset:

When did we as passionate, intelligent consumers decide to simply take what was given to us? Don’t get me wrong, I like the books by Fanfare/Ponent-Mon a great deal, I think I own better than 3/4 of them. But they aren’t the end-all and be all of manga for grown-ups (particularly not while their print-runs stay small and their bookstore distribution remains… the way it is). I don’t think that it’s a failing on the Guardian blogger’s part for him to go see what manga is all about and then lament that the books that he could find on store shelves is not for him… because they aren’t. There’s no denying that Naruto or Hot Gimmick are not exceptionally drawn, well-told stories in their respective genres… but their respective genres are TEEN FICTION.

[snip]

Why is “Oh, there’s not enough manga for adults, better go to the internet” a legitimate sentiment anyway? Why isn’t any energy being invested in asking/demanding more manga for adults, or better still, showing some support for the material that’s already out there? Why does Shannon Gaerity have to hold the torch alone so much of the time? How much of the time do you spend reading books aimed at your age group, versus reading the ones for children and teenagers?

He also plays up Viz’s new Tekkon Kinkreet collection, which leads Dirk responded:

Having a Beguiling employee berating me for spotlighting “low-print run books with poor bookstore distro” over comics like Tekkon Kinkreet is the single most perplexing and dispiriting way to start a week that I can imagine at the moment. By this logic, Thunderbolts is a better introduction to the possibilities offered by Western comics than It’s a Good Life if You Don’t Weaken, the latter of which cannot be found at either of the two chain bookstores closest to me — and you now know what that means.

Japan’s Asahi Shimbun traces the history of publisher Viz Media, giving much of the credit for manga’s popularity in the United States to company co-founder and chairman Seiji Horibuchi.

It’s fairly dry as profiles go, but it’s interesting to read about Viz’s early difficulties in penetrating the American market — namely, comics specialty shops — and its move into bookstores.

Somewhere in the back of my mind — probably where I file away announcements of movies that’ll likely never happen — I recall reading about plans for a live-action adaptation of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Z.

Well, apparently that one is happening. The Montreal Gazette reported over the weekend that DBZ is one of three big-budget movies set to be shot in the city over the next year. According to the article, the 20th Century Fox project has a budget of more than $100 million. Production is expected to wrap up by July 2008.

Giapet, whose memory is better than mine, writes that the studio acquired the rights to the over-the-top fight manga in 2002, but halted production two years later.

Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1984 to 1995, and has been adapted as animated TV series and movies.

Although many scanlators stop working on a manga series once the North American license is announced, John Jakala turns up a whopping 484,000 results in a Google search for “Bleach scanlations.”

Even better, he finds some unintentionally funny legal disclaimers, at least one of which is more than a little contradictory, given that the site is, essentially, dedicated to violating copyright: “… Although we did not create the BLEACH series, we did create this website to be as original as possible. We ask that you respect the originality of our work, and not take anything without expressed written permission by the owners.”

There’s more hilarity at the link.

Viz Media unleashed “Naruto Nation” last week, releasing three volumes of Masashi Kishimoto’s international phenomenon into the book market. So, it should surprise absolutely no one that all three cracked USA Today’s Top 150 Books list: Vol. 18 at No. 116, Vol. 17 at No. 123, and Vol. 16 at 131.

Meanwhile, the 17th volume of Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket fell 42 spots at No. 76.

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

“Naruto Nation” continues through the end of the year, with Viz releasing three new volumes each month to catch up with the Japanese series in time for the start of a major new story arc with Vol. 28.

The three new volumes of Naruto are due in comics shops next week.

It may still be August, but the Calvin Reid nevertheless has next year’s New York Comic-Con on the brain, how else to explain his lead PWCW story on organizer Greg Topalians’ plans to reach out to small press publishers and other alternative circles:

In an interview with Topalian, he also noted the absence of indie houses like Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly at this year’s NYCC and said he plans to reach out to small indie comics publishers to offer assistance and to encourage them to exhibit at next year’s show. “If a press wants to come and can’t for money or whatever,” said Topalian, “we want to try and help them get here.” In addition Topalian outlined plans for all-day kids’ programming on Sunday and “comic book”-themed programming areas—“Batman” or “Manga”-themed areas, he said—added to help fans navigate the Javits Center, as well as adding roving helpers to answer questions and hand out maps.

I don’t mean to criticize, but I think the story would be more buzzworthy if Topalian could actually have bragged that one of those “indie houses” was actually scheduled to appear at the con. You can reach out all you like, but that in and of itself doesn’t necessarily merit a feature article. (Though I am glad to hear they’ll be expanding their space at the Javits.)

Also in this week’s edition: an interview with Kyle Baker about his new Special Forces series; an article on the new, ongoing Halo comic; and a look at Viz’s plans to publish Taiyo Matsumoto’s Tekkon Kinkreet. Man, I want that book bad.

Although Naruto Nation is unleashed on the bookstores this week, the direct market is spared the wrath of the spikey-haired ninja until next Wednesday. (I think.)

So, what’s that leave for comic shops? How about a big 50th-issue blowout for DC’s Teen Titans, a giant-robots parody from Jeffrey Brown, and the long-anticipated Mice Templar from Michael Avon Oeming?

All right, it’s a little quiet this week. Consider it the calm before the nine-tailed demon fox storm. Or something.

For a rundown of the titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth special mention, just keep reading.

As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Paul Gravett posted his introductory speech for a recent screening of “Naruto: Ninja Clash in the Land of the Snow.” I’m linking to it here because I think it provides a good crash course in the character and phenomenon. Just in case you were curious:

Naruto, or Naruto Uzumaki is a small boy who discovers a terrible secret about himself. When he was born, twelve years ago, a giant nine-tailed fox demon attacked his village, where the world’s stealthiest ninjas are trained. After the fox demon is defeated by the Hokage, the village champion, its soul is sealed inside the body of a newly born human baby: Naruto. This boy grows up to be mistrusted and feared because of the evil spirit locked inside him and he becomes a troublemaker, a bit of an outsider, but burning with one ambition: to become the next Hokage and the greatest ninja his village has ever known

Although things are fairly quiet on the single-issue front, it’s a strong week for collections, as we see everything from another volume in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer omnibus series and Mike Wieringo and Todd DeZago’s Tellos Colossal to an Amazing Fantasy omnibus and the Complete Peanuts 1963-1966 boxed set.

But that’s not to say there aren’t any monthly comics worth mentioning. There certainly are: The popular Sinestro Corps War continues in Green Lantern Corps #15. Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev kick off Halo: Uprising. And the second Mouse Guard miniseries debuts.

For a rundown of more titles Chris Mautner and I think are worth special mention, just keep reading.

As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket, Vol. 17, and Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 14, debut this week on USA Today’s Top 150 Books list, at No. 99 and No. 148, respectively.

Tite Kubo’s Bleach, Vol. 20, falls 55 spots to No. 140, while, after six weeks, the 15th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto drops off the chart.

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

Welcome to a special late edition of “Can’t Wait for Wednesday”! Stupid real life always gettin’ in the way …

It’s Tokyopop’s week, as the publisher unleashes a whopping 25 titles, including nine new series. Compare that with DC’s 31 titles (only six of them are trade paperbacks/collections), and Marvel’s 21 (five trade paperbacks/collections). That’s a lot of manga.

For a rundown of the titles — and not only Tokyopop’s — that Chris Mautner and I think are worth special mention, just click “more.”

And, as always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

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