FCBD Traveling Caravan

Saturday was Free Comic Book Day. Rather than hitting the usual haunts here, I was invited to join some Twitter friends for a "comics caravan". So I took the Amtrak train at any ungodly hour down to Richmond, Virginia. The caravan was actually a nine-person van. This worked out well, since we didn't have to worry about following other cars or odd directions. The caravan was a near even split with three women, three men and one small boy. He was quite well behaved and seemed to enjoy himself.

The fun for me was seeing someone else's comic shops and how they're organized (or not). The comics caravan went to four in total, all with different approaches to the day.

The first one was a small badly organized maze with one person handling everything. All the "gold" level book covers were on the counter and you pointed to whichever ones you wanted. Everything else (including ones from previous years) was below the counter and you had to know about them to ask, which defeated the spirit of discovering something new and different. That store had the most bizarre selection of toys and statues. They also had stormtroopers helping with the line. I had a bad Disney moment when I saw a stormtrooper without his helmet; it was like seeing Mickey Mouse wandering around without its head!

The second store was larger and quieter. They had a nice selection of the pulp reprints, both Tollin's Shadow/Doc Savage/Avenger/Whisperer reprints and the Adventure House reprints. The comics geek in me is still amused by the Whisperer being Police Commissioner James "Wildcat" Gordon. Does Ted Grant know this? And what does Batman think of Gordon horning in on his act?

The third store was Velocity Comics in downtown Richmond. That store was the artiest of the four stores with heavy selection of independents and lesser known comics. Also the only one of the four with a decent manga shelf, but there's always the regular bookstores/Amazon. They also had a nice sale/discount which encouraged extra shopping.

The fourth store Richmond Comix had Tiny Titans' Franco and Jamie Cosley at the store. They were both doing sketches for the kids. Cosley did an adorable Aquaman complete with sea creatures. Franco sketched an Ace the Bat Hound and Flash while I watched.

What I liked about the last two stores was the large all ages/kids sections. Some stores tuck them away on some spinner rack somewhere. These were large sections with lots of back issues to wade through and find treasure. They felt very welcoming to my inner nine year old.

All but the second store seemed to be doing a booming business on the day. People seemed to be buying other stuff, along with snagging their freebies. I was heartened by the number of kids I saw. I do wish there had been some "girly" book to point to, though.

I enjoyed myself mightily. It was good to put names with faces with my twitter friends and also chat about comics in person, rather than limited to a lj/twitter post. I do wish there had been some more time for discussions. Hopefully there will be other opportunities in the future.

The FCBD books I acquired: Iron Man/Thor, Owly, IDW's Library of American Comics, Sixth Gun, Oni Press Free for All, DC Kids Mega Sampler (signed by Tiny Titans' Franco) and War of Supermen. I also snagged an old Justice League of America #0, which I loved for the Trinity moments. I definitely pushed myself outside the box on this Free Comic Book Day, rather than sticking with the tried and true.

I also wound up with Heroclix War Machine. At the last stop I actually saw the Heroclix game being played, so now I understand it in theory.

My regular online service, DCBS, allows us to preorder up to five of the books, so eventually I'll have Stuff of Legend, Love and Capes and the Green Hornet issues to add to my pile.

I bought a batch of other things: the Aquaman & Etrigan issue of Brave & the Bold, Black Widow & the Marvel Girls, Night Owls, and Pluto volume 8. The last one I was grateful for, because I hadn't been able to find it in any of my local stores. (So much for living in a major metropolitan area...) My friend Caroline also loaned me the first volume of Ooku and gave me the first issue of Hickman's SHIELD.

All in all, a long but fun day with lots of future reading material.

Read More......

Kimi ni Todoke v1-3

Relatability is a double-edged sword. Comics have to dance a very. On the one hand, publishers want to keep their characters young and fresh for new readers. On the other hand, they don't want to antagonize their current audience. It's a tricky business. What one person finds endearing, another might find overbearing and idiotic.

I nearly gave up on the manga "Kimi ni Todoke" after the first volume. Not because Sadako wasn't relatable as a character, but she was almost too relatable.

I first encountered "Kimi ni Todoke" in a Shojo Beat magazine preview. SB used that charming image from the second volume as its cover, highlighting the friendship amongst the girls. I was intrigued. But the first chapter focused instead on the stereotypical shojo romance between the socially awkward Sawako "Sadako" Kuronuma and the popular guy Shota Kazehaya. The first impression left me disappointed, especially seeing how her classmates treated Sadako. The romance didn't wow me all that much either, so I was discouraged from picking up the full volume. Other manga friends have encouraged me to keep trying. So when I came across the first three volumes at my local library, I decided to dive back in.

Being the outsider on the periphery of the popular crowd at school is a painfully familiar experience. In high school, I was the quiet girl in school. I didn't always make friends easily. But the ones I had were in the theater and music crowd – all more outgoing and talented. And yes I had my own Kazehaya -- that easy going guy everyone knew and had a crush on in school – one little smile or "hello" was all I needed to feel good about my day. I was also the subject to my share of teasing, too, so seeing Sawako treated as that weird girl for no apparent reason bothered me.

The portrayal of Sawako as the "weird girl" unfortunately hinges on POV and Shiina's artwork. We see her as her classmates see her initially with the long hairstyle in her face or soaking wet after a rainstorm. The results feel like a cheap parlor trick. By choosing to emphasize her resemblance to "The Ring" character, I'm almost expecting a different story.

The second volume is all about gossip and rumors and how they get out of control. It's also all about the meaning of friendship. To Karuho Shiina's credit, she does twist the clichés a bit. Yoshida and Yano could simply accept everything at face value, including Sawako's involvement. But they're both plagued by doubts. My favorite moments in the series so far are the smaller ones, like seeing Yoshida and Yano discussing Sawako together. I loved seeing these girls trying to include Sawako in things. They honestly wanted her to be included, rather than it's just for class or something. Even the simple scene of them hanging out together in the third volume was nice, because you saw the friendships away from school.

I did find the writing a bit sloppy though. The entire second volume hinges on people not talking to each other. The rumors continue to build and swirl but no one does anything about it.

Tone is an important component of "Kimi of Todoke". The series feels light and fluffy and cheerful, but that confrontation in the girls' bathroom left me very uncomfortable, especially with all the recent attention given to bullying. In any other series, that scene with Sawako backed into a corner, could have been quite chilling.

I'm still not terribly interested in the Kazehaya and Sawako relationship. He's been set up as this impossibly super-special guy and I'm just not getting what the fuss is all about. The introduction of Kurumi adds the usual complication in the mix and yet it's a very off kilter sort of rivalry. I worry how trusting Sawako is. Sawako wouldn't see the danger until it was already on her.

This whole experience brought to mind a different discussion on twitter – on how necessary it was to review multiple volumes of a series. For a series to be successful, they should hit the ground running with the first volume. If anything the tendency I've noticed is to lead off with a strong first volume and then peter out as the series progresses. So "Kimi ni Todoke" was a new experience for me. I've never had a series change so radically with the second and third volumes. I still have some major reservations about the series, especially Sawako & Kazehaya, but the friendships and interactions fascinate me. I've swung back to intrigued.

Kimi ni Todoke, volumes 1, 2, and 3 with story and art by Karuho Shiina, published by Viz Comics, rated Teen.

Read More......

Fire Investigator Nanase vol. 1 & 2

With the coming of the New Year, it's time to spread your wings and try new things. At least that's the theory. I'm trying to catch up reading with my piles of existing graphic novels and manga. I've wanted to get my reactions and thoughts down on paper. My reading choices will be all over the place.

I hope you'll enjoy these reviews and please leave feedback, so I have some idea how I'm doing, good or bad.

Fire Investigator Nanase

As a firefighter academy student, Nanase Takamine saved a notorious serial arsonist. Three years later, Nanase is a precocious rookie fire investigator determined to solve the crime, even if it means butting heads with her supervisor Fire Chief Tachibana. No one believes her when she goes off on her wild theories. That brings her back into contact with that arsonist -- "Firebug".

Katherine Dacey likened this series to being "like Silence of the Lambs, CSI, and Firefighter Daigo rolled into one!" And she's not wrong by much; maybe add in a little "Backdraft" and "Towering Inferno" for good measure.

Fire Investigator Nanase is part procedural and part psychological mystery. The episodic parts of the manga focus on the particular arson cases. The cases allow Nanase to showcase her knowledge, but also get her into trouble. Her "girl detective" act is clearly not wanted. Fire Chief Tachibana and his team like nice and simple answers. The only person who encourages her to question what she sees is the last person you'd expect and yet the person who knows fire better than anyone – the infamous "Firebug".

While the one-sided relationship has a feel of "Silence of the Lambs", the scene in chapter 5 with the candelabra and his flowing shirt and scarred face brought to mind "Phantom of the Opera". So "Firebug" is part rival and antagonist, but he's also mentor and artist. Fire to him is some sort of twisted art form and he hates seeing it misused. In Nanase, he's found someone that appreciates fire's innate power and fury.

Nanase is what they'd call a spunky heroine. She's not afraid to dive right into tough situations, even when it's dangerous or particularly when she's not wanted. But she's never shown as too cocky. She has very personal reasons for wanting to be a firefighter and a fire investigator, ones that add poignance to her story. She doesn't have to be shown how dangerous fire is – she's lived through it, so she knows.

The biggest question after those first volumes is what "Firebug" wants of Nanase. Nanase saved his life, so clearly "Firebug" feels grateful for her help, but to what end? "Firebug" clearly needs her alive for something. He saves her from other predators on occasion, but he's not afraid to let her fend for herself. He also wants to test her knowledge of fires and how they work. So he's preparing her for something. From a story perspective, waiting to see what "Firebug" has in store for Nanase is both suspenseful and terrifying.

Unfortutnately while the story is fascinating, the artwork sometimes detracts more than it helps. On the plus side, Tomoshige Ichikawa draws Nanase as young and tough. She's no pushover. And even when we're treated to the otherwise distracting fanservice, Nanase can and does get herself out of the situation pretty well. The fires themselves are shown with a certain rough beauty, especially the "Flashover" sequence in volume one. But all the faces except Nanase look downright evil with scary eyes and faces, so it's hard to know who to like or trust. (Considering "Firebug" appears to be a master of disguise, maybe that's not a bad thing.) Maybe the rough quality is part of the shounen style, but it's still off-putting.

Bottom line: The story is interesting enough to consider reading further volumes. Nanase is a likeable and determined heroine and "Firebug" is a scary and twisted antagonist. "Fire Investigator Nanase" could be a cool series to appeal to the fans of procedural crime dramas. Unfortunately the artwork isn't doing the manga any favors.

Fire Investigator Nanase, volume 1 & 2, story by Izo Hashimoto, art by Tomoshige Ichikawa, published by CMX Manga, rated Teen Plus, includes violence, language, brief nudity and suggestive situations.

Read More......

2009 Manga Gift Giving Guide - Seinen edition

This year marked the start of the New York Times' Graphic Books bestseller lists, including best selling trade paperbacks, hardcovers and manga. Now the blogging community rolled its collective eyes a little at the term "Graphic Books" – why not use graphic novels or sequential art if you have to get all literary? The weekly updates include some surprise titles and some not-so surprising ones. Every week the manga readers wait to see if "Naruto" or "Vampire Knight" have dropped off the top spot. But for all its play, manga is rarely even referenced in the introductions. And now manga isn't even included in the gift giving guide. With all the notable books coming out this year from "A Drifting Life" to "Disappearance Diary", they couldn't find something arty to suggest?

So rather than grumble about the unfairness of it all, the manga bloggers came up with a solution – our own manga gift giving guides. I grabbed most of my favorites off my shelves, some recent and some older, keeping in mind that some series are longer than others.

Unlike the other bloggers, I hadn't really intended to make this a list from a particular category. I read what I'm interested in, not necessarily who it was marketed or intended for. So imagine my surprise when I compiled my list and realized all nine manga series I'd picked were all seinen books.

Ed Chavez of Vertical Books pointed out something in a recent interview on Comics Reporter: "The word seinen itself means adult and does not make reference to gender." Hence it's really not a surprise that there's crossover with other genres, especially the female oriented ones. "Emma"'s official subtitle is "A Victorian Romance" and yet it's published in a seinen magazine. "Voices of a Distant Star" is a science fiction series featuring a plucky young female character and has some romantic elements. But again it's seinen.

The real joy I've found with manga is the wide variety covered by the medium. Literally, you can find any story you want in manga. Are you in the mood for a samurai story? Got that. Mecha powered space aliens? Absolutely. Hapless girl falling in love with the right and wrong guy at the same time? By the bushels. You can also learn to play Go, visit Victorian England or simply take a walk around the block. Manga is not all action and adventure for boys and romance for girls. It's much more diverse than that.

So onward to my choices in no particular order:


1. Pluto – Naoki Urasawa's Pluto is at the top of my list for the sheer fact that it surprised me. People kept recommending it, so I gave it a try, half expecting it to be "not my thing". Instead, the mystery lover in me was fascinated with the investigations, while the science fiction fan was intrigued by a world of robots. But what really surprised me was the emotion, especially for the robot characters. Why are the greatest robots being destroyed? What does it really mean to be human? Bonus gift giving suggestion, package the first volume of Pluto with the third volume of the Astro Boy manga which covers the same "Greatest Robot" arc. Your recipient might enjoy seeing the comparisons and differences between the two titles.

2. Oishinbo – Do you have a foodie on your gift list? Are they always dragging you off for sake and sushi? Are they fascinated by the intricacies of Japanese culture? Oishinbo has something for everyone. The story pits father and son in a battle of wills over their respective menus. It's a classic clash of youth vs experience with surprising results. The detailed artwork shows Japanese delicacies of varying degrees of difficulty. The "a la carte" volumes are broken down into specialties so one will be on vegetables or another on rice. You get a whole volume on wine and spirits, so you'll understand the types of sake or what wines work with what dishes. You'll usually get two recipes included in each volume with color pages and instructions. And did I mention the footnotes?

3. Children of the Sea – Are you fascinated by the mysteries of the sea? Do you love the aquarium? This is part nature story and part magical realism, filled with beautiful artwork of fish and wildlife. When Ruka meets Umi and Sora, two unusual boys raised at sea, she's shown a very different world that lives underneath the water. "Children of the Sea" is a relatively new title from Viz through their online magazine Ikki. The first volume was just released in July and the second one due just before Christmas. Chapters are also still available online on sigikki.com.

4. Emma – Emma is a Victorian romance featuring a maid Emma who falls in love with a wealthy young man William. The odds are completely against them. Emma and William are from different classes and yet they're determined to be together. Kaoru Mori is so meticulous and detailed with her artwork. Victorian England really comes alive. She also writes some of the funniest omake pages I've read, answering questions on why she included certain topics or images. The last three volumes feature side-stories set in the same universe. The fun is going back and seeing where those characters first appeared. The last volume #10 will be out in time for Christmas sadly. Then there will be no more Emma. *mournful sighs* For those Kaoru Mori fans, CMX has also published her Shirley manga, which is a collection of short stories about another young maid.

5. The Walking Man – Jiro Taniguchi is my most recent manga discovery. Ponent Mon publishes utterly gorgeous editions of his works in thick paper. His artwork renders crisp and clear. They're treated as works of art, rather than disposable entertainment. Hence they may be a little pricier than the average manga volume, but so worth it. "Walking Man" is a slice of life story about stopping to appreciate the beauty in life. A man walks around his neighborhood, sometimes accompanied by his dog, and we see his delight in birdwatching or climbing a tree. It's light on plot, but big on atmosphere and mood. Slight male nudity for a swimming/bathing scene, but otherwise nothing too offensive.

6. A Distant Neighborhood – What if you could go back in time and relive your life when you were younger? Would you change things? Should you try to? Ponent Mon published Jiro Taniguchi's two volume "A Distant Neighborhood" with exactly that premise. Hiroshi Nakahara is thrown back to when he is 14 years old with his adult memories intact. He knows what's coming, he knows what happens to his friends, and he knows his father will be abandoning his family soon. What does he do with this knowledge? While "Distant Neighborhood" is nominally science fiction in that it includes time travel, really it's about a quiet story about a man trying to understand his family and their choices.

7. Planetes - Whenever science fiction shows humans going to space, it's always these grand adventures with space ships and aliens, guns blazing. So imagine a hard science fiction series where the main characters are trash collectors. Space debris retrieval and disposal people if we must be specific, but basically they collect the flotsam and jetsam of space travel, the oddments that have been left behind in our rush for the stars. "Planetes" has both a big picture and a smaller one. The big one shows space exploration in all its glory, the good and the bad, the costs and consequences. There are multiple references and homages to earlier periods of space exploration from. The smaller one shows the people who actually live and work in space and what it's like. This is the type of hard science fiction I like – technical but with a heart. Planetes is available five volumes from Tokyopop with the last "phase" split over two parts.

8. Voices of a Distant Star – Makato Shinkai's short anime film "Voices of a Distant Star" is one of my favorites, so I was excited when Kodansha announced it was doing a manga adaptation in Afternoon, illustrated by Mizu Sahara. Tokyopop released the single English volume soon after. "Voices" isn't your stereotypical science fiction story though. Mikako goes off to join the US Space Army as a pilot in a war against an alien race, while her friend Noboru stays behind. They maintain the friendship through a long distance series of emails and text messages across interstellar space. The manga expands on the anime's storyline, even adding additional characters.

9. 2001 Nights – Before "Planetes" captured life in space so spectacularly, there was "2001 Nights" written and drawn by Hoshino Yokinobu. "2001 Nights" is made up of a series of loosely connected short stories, a fusion of "Arabian Nights" and "2001: A Space Odyssey". I loved it for the same reason as "Planetes" afterwards. Whenever we saw space travel, I always saw either grand space operas with aliens from other worlds or we'd already made it to the stars. "Planetes" and "2001 Nights" focused on getting to the stars and how we lived there in a more realistic way. Viz originally published "2001 Nights" in 10 squarebound issues, before collecting them into the three trade paperbacks. Amazon still lists all three volumes in stock, so they're still available.

10. Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics – Okay, this one isn't a seinen book. In fact, it's an older non-fiction book written by Frederick L. Schodt that served as my gateway into the world of manga. It provides a good basic introduction to the history and development of manga. The book is filled with artwork, covers and more of various titles, some familiar and some not. The book also includes translated story samples for four series, including the shojo classic, Rose of Versailles. His Dreamland Japan covers the more recent developments in the genre. If you're interested in more Tezuma & Astro Boy, he's recently written the Astro Boy Essays.

Shopping note: "Voices" and "Planetes" are both officially out of print from Tokyopop, but you might still be able to find copies somewhere, either new or used.

Read More......

Girls Read Comics t-shirt project

One of the niftier aspects of Twitter is the ease you can bat around ideas on there. Someone suggests something and another pipes up with an even better idea or comes up with a way to make it happen. One of those nifty things happened last night.

In the last couple of the weeks, there have been several articles and one contest tied to San Diego Comic Con, all belittling or demeaning female participation at this cons. The LA Times would have you think women only go to Comic Con to look at the hot male celebrities. The District 9 contest at first didn't even include women until a lot of people, including Johanna Draper Carlson pointed it out. They've since changed their rules. And that paragon of dating advice Penthouse magazine(NSFW link) is implying that comic cons are all about sex and hookups. So women are just there for the guys, no matter how you look at it.

No one mentions the numbers of women who read, write, draw, edit and critique comics every day. No one mentions all the talented women who love comics for comics. These women could argue you under the table with issue numbers on their favorite characters and why they're misunderstood and unloved and appreciated. They love superheroes, they devour manga and they'll discover the quirky indie books you always wanted to try. And y'know, it gets really frustrating and tiring being told that's just the way things are and maybe you just smile and you'll just enjoy yourself more. And they wonder why people perceive the comics industry the way they do.

In that ugly maelstrom, Deb Aoki of manga.about.com, suggested on twitter that we needed some sort of protest t-shirt, some visible way of showing the industry that we exist and we're not going away anytime soon. That sparked a great round of suggestions for slogan ideas. Some are pithier than others. One nifty idea was a three-panel using "Girls Read Comics"/"Girls Buy Comics"/"Girls Write Comics"/"Girls Draw Comics" as the word balloons.

So how can you help? Deb is looking for female artists to contribute artwork -- one panel of art depicting a female character in American superhero, Indie or Manga style, with an empty word balloon. The word balloons would include the "Girls Read Comics" style slogans, with variants with "women" as an alternative. T-shirts would be sold online at Zazzle with the proceeds going towards your choice of comics-oriented charity, including MOCCA, Heroes Initiative and Friends of Lulu. Also potentially buttons, bumper stickers, and banners for bloggers.

Submissions: Women artists please contact Deb at debaoki at hotmail dot.com. Published artists are especially welcome. Please sign your work. Artwork needs to be in before June 29th since Comic-Con is fast fast approaching.

If you can't draw, then do what I'm doing. Blog about this idea, forward it around, especially if you know female artists who might be interested in helping. The more people get behind this idea the better.

For more information, Erica Friedman of Okazu, has also posted about the project on her blog.

Read More......

Goodbye Shojo Beat, Hello Ikki

The demise of Viz’s Shojo Beat magazine fills me with great sadness. I’ve been a loyal Shojo Beat reader since the very start. I have every issue, including the initial preview issue. I never subscribed, though, not because I couldn’t afford it, but because I heard so many horror stories from SB subscribers having problems with their subscriptions. For me, it was just easier to pick up the new issue at the newsstand.

Even from the start, the magazine surprised me. I expected to fall for Nana with its rock n roll aesthetic. After all it was intended for “older” girls. But instead I fell hard for Crimson Hero and its scrappy heroine Nobara. I loved reading about the volleyball tournaments and watching the matches unfold. There was something refreshing about how Mitsuba Takanashi showed raw female athleticism. Ironically the romantic subplot bored me to tears.

Then the changes started coming. Series were rotated in and out with alarming alacrity. Shojo Beat became more of a preview ground for upcoming trade releases than continuing serials, so it was hard to get too attached to a series you liked. The theory was you’d buy the trades, which was good for sales of the trade line, but not so helpful for a magazine struggling to find and keep an audience. I always wondered what would happen if Viz decided to take Crimson Hero out of the lineup. I never had to make that decision. Crimson Hero was the only one of the initial series to stay in the magazine throughout SB’s run.

There were external changes too. The magazine switched to colored pages similar to ones seen in the Japanese manga phonebooks. With densely inked artwork, that sometimes provided a challenge to reading the magazine, but maybe that was older eyes. The content became more and more girl-friendly, focusing heavier on fashion and makeup and crafts. They even acquired a cover model, affectionately known as the Beat Girl, drawn by different artists.

Not all fans were too happy with these changes. From my small sampling of the lj community for the magazine, some fans disliked the shift away from what mattered – the manga. That was why they read the magazine. Part of me wonders if Viz, in trying to find new ways to appeal to this new readership, got a little lost along the way.

Not that Viz wasted any time mourning Shojo Beat. They’ve already opened their newest venture online: Ikki magazine online. In Japan, Ikki is a seinen magazine, geared towards young men aged in late teens to college and beyond. The American version will feature similar content as its Japanese counterpart, if cherry-picked by the Viz editors to find the best series for American audiences.

I’m of two minds about the whole thing. For some reason, I do read quite a lot of seinen. David Welsh summed up some of my theories of why in his plea to Kodansha in his “Unflipped” column. The seinen I’ve read seems to cut across the gender/age barriers and focus on providing an interesting and sometimes provocative story. Even my favorite Victorian romance “Emma” is actually seinen. So was the adaptation of “Voices of a Distant Star”.

That said it still leaves shojo fans feeling extremely left out of the fun. The Shojo Beat line will continue to appear as trades only. Why not shift some of the shojo content online if Viz is so willing to dip into that pond? Shojo Beat was already an established brand and they had the website already set up. If nothing else, they could have made their website more community-oriented to draw in those young girls already chatting online.

Shojo isn’t as marketable as Shonen. That’s what they keep telling us. Shonen has all the big guns -- the anime, the video games, the trading cards, the action figures, etc. Let’s face it, little boys love their toys. Circulation figures certainly back some of that. Shonen Jump has a circulation of 200,000 and Shojo Beat around 38,000. From a financial perspective, it’s unfortunately easy to see why SB had to go.

But I’ve got to play devil’s advocate and wonder how hard they tried. Shojo spawns its fare of anime series and soundtracks and drama cds. It also has its share of miscellaneous merchandise – the pencil boards and keychains and cellphone charms. The closest Viz has to shojo juggernaut is the after-mentioned Nana, but it is all and all, a rock and roll romance. Tokyopop has Fruits Basket which is getting a couple of fun Macy’s events. Which begs an interesting question: is shojo merchandising limited because it’s intended for girls or because of the stories themselves?

I know I'm not a typical fan. Sometimes I felt like an old lady reading over the cool kids' shoulders, just to see what all the fuss is about. Sometimes I felt like a younger me reading YM/Sassy looking at the fashion and makeup ideas. And sometimes I enjoyed having some mindless entertainment I could read every month.

I just feel for those teen girls who did follow the magazine and wish I didn’t feel like Viz had given up on them.

Prove me wrong, Viz.

Read More......

Free Comic Book Day

For sports fans, the first weekend in May usually means the Kentucky Derby.

Ask a comics fan and it’s Free Comic Book Day. This event was set up as a way to lure potential new customers or entice old ones back into the comic shops. Comic book publishers create special editions or samplers of their books for the participating stores to carry that day. The Gold level sponsors are usually the heavy hitters, while the Silver level includes the lesser known stuff.

The books are all intended to be "family-friendly". There's usually a good lineup of kids title that appeal to all ages. Two years ago I saw the cutest thing at my local comic store. A little girl came in with her parents to ask for a free comic book. No one said "Oh, you're a girl, you shouldn't be reading those." They just pointed to the all ages selection and let her look. They pored over the table for something she'd like, along with one for someone else, possibly a brother or sister. At one point, she picked a black and white title and her father commented how there weren't any colors in that one. She said matter of factly she could always color it herself. Although the comics collectors might wince at that prospect, I smiled at a budding colorist in the works... we can always dream, right?

FCBD provides a great opportunity for those independent publishers to be exposed to new people that might not find their series otherwise. I’ll use two big examples: Owly and Love and Capes. Owly is an adorable kids comics about an owl and his friends. Love and Capes is a superhero romantic comedy. I would never have heard of either of these books without Free Comic Book Day.

As a comics fan, I’ll admit it – it’s really easy to get complacent. We all have our favorite characters. We all like to stick to what we know, rather than try out new things. So it’s kinda fun to have a chance to stray from the beaten path. Instead of picking up that usual title, you can try something else. If you don’t like it, there’s no harm. If you love it, hopefully there’s more to find.

So how did I spend my first weekend in May?

Well, I went over to the Big Planet in Vienna for my FCBD festivities. They had most of the better known titles available. In retrospect, I should have practiced what I preached and tried something new. But I stayed with the tried and true by getting the Blackest Night #0 and the DC Kids Mega Sampler. I also downloaded three of TwoMorrows Publishing magazines (Alter Ego, Rough Stuff and Write Now) in pdf format. (A friend scored me a copy of the Love and Capes FCBD issue, which absolutely made my day.)

I also bought a few other things. My haul included: Agents of Atlas #2, Mysterius the Unfathomable #3 & 4, Queen & Country definitive edition v4, an Appleseed trade and two volumes of the Pluto manga. This was more than I expected to buy truthfully, but I’m very happy with my purchases all the same.

Later I saw the X-men Origins: Wolverine with a couple of friends. So it was definitely a day to celebrate comic books.

And not a mint julep in sight.

Read More......

Why I Twitter

A couple of manga bloggers have recently posted on why they Twitter. I didn't join Twitter to set the comics world ablaze. In fact, I joined for the goofiest of fangirl reasons.

I joined Twitter because of a house.

Her name is SARAH, the Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat, if you must. She was posting fun and sometimes cryptic little updates about upcoming episodes of Eureka. She’d reply to your questions. She was even interviewed on Twitter.

I had heard about Twitter before that of course. You couldn’t be in Stargate: Atlantis fandom without hearing about David Hewlett’s posts.

I resisted the urge to join immediately. Twitter sounded like a lark, more geared for people who sent text messages to each other than someone used to Livejournal and blogging. Who can communicate in 140 characters or less? Who would enjoy having real conversations that way?

But I was obsessed with Eureka and SARAH was so friendly and welcoming.

So what David Hewlett couldn’t do, a smart house accomplished. There’s some irony working there.

--

I admit it – I didn’t expect to like using Twitter.

Initially I was content to just read along. I didn’t feel comfortable replying to people out of the blue yet. I posted occasionally, but nothing earth-shattering. I think my first Twitter was some random comment on gymnastics leotards in the summer Olympics.

Gradually I added friends from other places. And I started to talk. And talk.

I Twittered the November election returns curled up with my laptop.
That was when I saw the value of Twitter. It’s been described as the world’s largest rolling cocktail party. You can literally add your pithy two cents into any conversation. You can argue with some fan halfway across the world and get a reaffirming “Me too” from someone else. You can get a response from a favorite celebrity. Replies and retweets are still odd. I’m always blown away that people want to hear what I have to say, much less forward it to someone else.

When I started having the same sort of rolling discussions about comics and manga, I finally got it. Whether chattering about comic book news or important elections, the conversations and interactions are the real heart and joy of Twitter. I enjoy interacting with other comics fans and hearing what they’re reading and enjoying. I sit back and take in all the manga discussion. I’m still more of a reader than a critic, but I envy the bloggers and reviewers.

To a degree, my experiences on Twitter made me realize I did have something to say as a blogger. Up until then I thought I couldn’t add anything new. I’m not so sure about that now.

Nearly five thousand updates later, I think I’ve figured out this Twitter thing. You wouldn’t think it would take that long to figure out how to talk, would you?

Read More......

Psychic Girls and Superdimensional Fortresses

Up until now my blog posts have focused on American comic books and animation, but there was something else I discovered back then – Japanese manga and anime.

Like others, I rushed home to watch the continuing story of the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. I even collected all the Comico issues of the Macross Saga and the novels and the art book and even the original LP soundtrack. (I wasn’t nearly as fond of the other parts of the Robotech series.)

I was dimly aware that there was an original Japanese version, but I was too young to know about anime clubs or fansubs. The closest I came to the anime clubs was the George Mason Anime Festival. For the whole day, they would take over a big room at the university and play anime all day. I saw all kinds of odd programs at those festivals, like Black Magic M-66, Dirty Pair and Bubblegum Crisis.

A little after my initial interest in Robotech, manga came into my life by way of Eclipse Comics. As a test of the market, they released three manga series -- Area 88, Legend of Kamui and my favorite Mai the Psychic Girl. I can hear the purists groaning and sighing already, because these were not the standard little squarebound paperbacks we’re used to seeing today. These three titles were released bi-weekly in standard comic book format, their contents “flipped”, so American readers didn’t have to learn a whole new way to read. These days most stuff is unflipped in Japanese format so you get those cute “You’re reading the wrong way” pages stuck at the front/back of every manga.

I do think it’s a little ironic that the first manga I picked was basically a girl superhero title. (I also note with amusement that Mercedes Lackey’s “Arrows of the Queen” was released a scant few months earlier, so maybe it’s not so surprising I picked up Mai.)

Mai was a very reluctant heroine though. Gifted with telekinetic abilities, she was drawn into a great conspiracy when she comes to the attention of the Wisdom Alliance. They want to control the world, using other gifted children. Mai spends a good chunk of the series fighting off other psychic attackers, including a very prepossessed German girl named Turm Garten. She was lovely and blonde and Western and utterly evil, reminding me a little of Heroes’ Elle. She had none of Mai’s compunctions about using her talents. I recall hating her when I was younger, but she was a fascinating character. I do wonder if I’d think differently of her now.


The series was anything but sanitized. There was plenty of violence and destruction. But perhaps because it was in black and white, or maybe I was too young to really get it, it didn’t bother me so much. I do have an easier time with comic book violence, compared to the movie equivalent, too. While they didn’t tame down the violence, they did take out a shower scene in the first or second issue of the series, mostly innocent in of itself, but the heroine was a teenage girl, so I suspect there was some concern. I also remember they had a hard time creating standard comic book covers. Only a certain number of color Mai art pieces existed for them to use, so they wound up refitting some of the artwork from the series. It made the covers very stylish and easy to spot in the stores.

Aside from Robotech, Mai the Psychic Girl was one of the earliest complete stories I remember reading. I was used to the American model with the endless adventures of superhero characters. The idea that a comic book could have a set conclusion and there was no more was rather novel.

Other manga series soon followed, including Nausicaa and Appleseed. I even wrote a high school English paper on Japanese manga & anime using Frederick Schodt’s “Manga! Manga!” as source material. I missed the whole “magical girl” phenomenon with Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura that came a little later. And nothing really prepared me for the explosion of manga and anime choices that came later. Before I’d have to scrounge around in odd places to find anything anime/manga oriented. Now I could walk into the average book/music/dvd store and find a dizzying array to choose from.

But nothing quite captured the magic of those original months back when a teenage girl could dream of having special powers.

Read More......