KOMIKUSU, AN INDIE MANGA ROUNDTABLE ON TCJ

Just wanted to share that I recently was invited to take part in a roundtable series of essays on The Comics Journal's column, The Hooded Utilitarian, which is an outpost for comics critic Noah Berlatsky (and a slew of guest contributors) to talk seriously about comics.

The roundtable was called "Komikusu: Selling Awesome Manga" and was focused around "indie manga"-- what it is, the challenges of finding a readership, and how to get more people turned onto the quirkier and underground titles out there.

Other folks included were:

• Kate Dacey of The Manga Critic.
• Brigid Alverson of lots of places, inlcuding Mangablog.
• Erica Friedman of Okazu.
• Shaenon Garrity who writes at tcj.com.
• Deb Aoki of About.com.
• Ed Chavez of Vertical.

My small contribution, "Indie is as indie does" meanders a lot and doesn't quite make its points very clearly, but I tried to tackle the history of manga released in the states and how it has been positioned via genre/publisher. And also the idea that a title being referred to as "indie" in the States often has little to do with how it was originally published/received in Japan. Or something? Give it a read and tell me what you think!

I encourage you guys to check out the entire roundtable when you have some free time!

TAKING TACO CHE... BY STRATEGY!

In the comments of the 4th anniversary post, jimpac asked for a post sharing pics and details about TACO che. I've had dozens of photos saved up and now that I've been kicked in the pants (and found a happy solution for hosting lots of pictures with PictoBrowser), it's time to post everything!

Folks reading on RSS: PictoBrowser doesn't play nice with you, so please click through and come see the 100+ photos! Mouse over 'Notes' to read the photo captions.

If you've been reading Same Hat for a while, you've probably heard me talk about the Nakano Broadway Mall. It's located just west of Shinjuku, and home to a sprawling complex of strange, otaku stores-- including the massive 15+ Mandarake shops. It's like a more underground and less commercialized version of Akiba, minus the foreign tourists with cameras and with more of the stuff we all like. How to get to Nakano Broadway and maps/pics from the Mandarake shops can be found here.



Last Spring, my GF and I went to Japan for two weeks, and I managed to fit two trips to the greatest shop in Nakano Broadway (and quite possibly, my favorite shop of any kind in the world), TACO che!! I was originally told about the shop by my German buddy Ben (who gavee me the Shintaro Kago Bullying kit from there back in 2007). TACO che is pretty much THE underground manga shop of your dreams. They don't have a specific tie to any one publisher, but I heard that the owner is close with the folks that fun Seirinkogeisha. The shop carries fan zines, dojinshi, along with nearly every title by Seirinkogeisha, EnterBrain/Beam and all the other indies we love.



The shop is located on the 3rd floor, in the general vicinity of the northwest end of the Nakano Broadway mall. Here are some shots from inside the store. The place is tiny, but every square foot is something cool and tempting:



These photos are all from March 2008, and reflect the books and goods that were hot at the time. Kazuo Umezu's 50th Anniversary (of his career in manga) celebration was in full force, and the store was crammed full of incredible Umezz goods:



In my two trips to the shop, I spent (eeek) over 300 bucks and filled a suitcase with books. I didn't really have 300 bucks to spend on comics, but I. JUST. COULDN'T. HELP. MYSELF. In addition to the bigger pubs and indie zines I mentioned above, TACO che also publishes their own occasional zines and pamphlets (which are insanely excellent, like this). Here is just a small smattering of the manga gems I am talking about:



Not content to be simply the BOOK store of our dreams, TACO che also carries limited edition shirts, toys and DVDs, including Suehiro Maruo posters made just for TACO che (sorry, I can't find that pic at the moment, will take one of the miniposter on my wall). Here are some of the shirts:



And here are some of the goodies:



They also carry lapel pins by all our favorites:



I tried to include good captions for all those pics, but if you have any questions (or corrections!) leave a comment here! You can see the photos directly at the non-flashy Same Hat flickr, which I'm using just to store pics for PictoBrowser to pull from.

TACO che continues to be the epicenter for all the manga and art we all love so much, so I'll keep my eyes ope on their blog and post interesting news. In the coming month or so, TACO che will be hosting signing events with Takashi Nemoto and Jun Hayami- hopefully Nate or Schultz can check those out for us!!

BEST X OF EVERYTHING 2009: Upcoming Books!

Holy shit, it's officially the second month of 2009. It is time to finish off these damn YEAR-IN-REVIEW 2008 posts in the next day or so. Already up on this here blog: BEST MANGA! and BEST COMICS! lists. Now finally, the MOST ANTICIPATED of 2009 list.

Click here for the BEST MANGA! 2008 list.
Click here for the BEST COMICS! 2008 list.

I'm gonna keep the commentary shorter, because for most of the books on this list, the precise details of what we've got coming is unclear. All you need to know is that these are the creme de la creme of upcoming and announced books... so far! Basically, if you start saving money and buy only these 12 books, you will have a good year. WARNING: Intense (but justifiable?) hyperbole ahead... Let's get this started!

(As always, I look forward to hearing recommendations and what you guys are looking forward to in manga/comics in 2009 in the comments!)

13. Unlovable, Volume 1 by Esther Pearl Watson

For years, zine master (and the artist whose style I most want to ape) Esther Pearl Watson has been releasing minis collecting her Unlovable comics, detailing the horrible and wonderful life of teenage Tammy! Unlovable has also been syndicated regularly in BUST Magazine; this 400+ page book from Fantagraphics includes piles and piles of those strips and tons of new materials. A gem of angst and subtle humor (and I hear there is second volume scheduled for later!)

12. Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei by Kōji Kumeta

This is a manga I don't know much about (and haven't seen the anime of) but which cool folks have said good things about. Coming this year from Del Rey, the series features a nihilistic and sharp-tongued teacher who fails at his suicide attempt in the opening pages of issue 1, and serves as our foil through which Japanese daily life and society get skewered and dissected. Also, funny schoolgirls and early Showa visual stylings. Could be interesting...

11. Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture 1 by Masayuki Ishikawa

An absurd premise and lots of giant germs make up this little series, which is currently ongoing in Japan. Moyashimon follows an agricultural college freshman to whom germs and organisms appear large and can communicate with him. Creating a manga with lots of cute GERMS and BACTERIUM is a good idea from a marketing perspective (Yes, I've seen Moyashimon plushies at Kinokuniya!). This book has won a bunch of best debut/best new series awards in Japan already, and it's always nice to read a popular series in English while it's still hot in Japan.

10. Tales Designed to Thrizzle, Volume 1 / Tales Designed to Thrizzle #5 by Michael Kupperman

I feel like I've talked about Kupperman at length on here, but anyone that digs the gag stuff we've done and talk about on Same Hat should read Tales Designed to Thrizzle. The newest issue (#5) is coming out in April and is "The Old People’s Issue," while the first collection of issues 1-4 is coming out in July as a softcover collection. It features some goodies and a forward by comedy monster Robert Smigel. Oh also, Michael Kupperman just launched a new blog!

9. Swallowing the Earth by Osamu Tezuka

An interesting and notable licensing story, this volume is the first Osamu Tezuka release from DMP (Digitial Manga Publishing) and the first sign that anyone other than Vertical can get their hands on a Tezuka license these days. I'm curious to see how they do the production when having to compete with Vertical... The story is not one of Tezuka's most famous, but a tale about Zefilth (a woman who snares and taunts mens. SEXUALLY); It is notable as one of his first darker series in reaction to the emerging popularity of gekiga. Like all Tezuka, this is a must read.

8. Jin & Jam #2 by Hellen Jo

Details and specifics are mostly still up in the air, but I hope that we'll see the next issue of our buddy Hellen's extremely exciting debut series Jin & Jam from Sparkplug in 2009. I hear that by issue 3 we're gonna see some horror influences and this shit is gonna get BUCK WILD (is that a fair summary, Hellen?). I can't wait for this and other comics coming out by Ms. Jo this year. Catch her and she blows up, ya'll!

7. 20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa

A series that needs no introduction on this blog, 20th Century Boys #1 will be coming out very soon from Viz. After the completion of his fabulous Monster series, Urasawa is allowing English adaptions of his two next-most famous series to begin release in full force! The first of a film trilogy is coming out in Japan this year as well. Congrats to my buddy Kit at Viz, who is editing this giant genre tour de awesome.

6. Scott Pilgrim 5 by Bryan Lee O'Malley

THIS SHIT COMES OUT TOMORROW!! And with Edgar Wright (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, DUH) currently in Toronto working on pre-production for the film adaptation (and spot-on casting underway as well), it is a great time to be a Pilgrim fan. I have to admit to not finally getting into this series until last year (for a bunch of dumb, dubious reasons) but I will be at my local shop the minute they open tomorrow to get my copy of the penultimate installment.

5. Dungeon, Zenith Volume 3 by Sfar/Trondheim/Boulet

Dude, after getting a taste of the end of the Dungeon timeline (with the poignant and wild Twilight books) and wild sidestories (in the recent Monstres books), Sfar & Trondheim are taking us back to the core tales of the Dungeon continuity. Back before Herbert was taken by the dark one, and Marvin was still a grumpy brute and not our anti-hero, Volume 3 ("Back In Style") follows up on Duck Heart and The Barbarian Princess. Keep 'em coming, NBM!

4. Pluto by Naoki Urasawa

Dude, it's the motherfucking "WATCHMEN of Manga"... or maybe it's even better than that. An Astro Boy side story, put through the magical thought grinder and suspense noir machine that is Naoki Urasawa a la Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Oh, and the translation is by our favorite manga experts, Frederik Schodt and Jared Cook. What more could you ask for?

3. Black Jack #3-8 by Osamu Tezuka

Maybe it's something I'm taking for granted, but I had to remind myself when making this list (and with alll the great classic manga coming down the pike)... the Vertical mana-fest continues with 4-5 additional books of classic Black Jack coming out way... Unlike the first 2 books, the rest of the series is almost entirely never-before-seen stuff that wasn't in the original Viz attempt at publishing. This is like 1000 pages of Black Jack stories in 2009. CAN YOU DIG IT????

2. Ax Anthology, Volume 1

For more information see here. The first in what I hope will be an extended series of contemporary underground manga, this collection IS THE BOOK FOR YOU, SAME HAT READERS! We will hopefully continue to have the inside line with editor Sean Michael Wilson, and much more news in the coming months. After a long dry spell, our own "Secret Comics Japan" or "Comics Underground Japan" book is finally coming!

1. A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi

Dudes. The absolute most interesting, absorbing and unique book (not just manga or graphic novel or whatever) of 2009, hands down. I have read the first 100 pages in English (some panels soon, if I can get permission) and it's an absolute feast of manga history and delight. I just heard that editor/letterer Adrian Tomine and the man himself, Yoshihiro Tatsumi will be attending the Toronto Comic Art Festival in May for the debut of the book (and will be giving a presentation about the work). I think I will have to be there for that.


OTHER NOTABLES
Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga

"Ooku" refers to the section of the Edo Castle where the shogun's wives, concubines and female family were relegated. This series is by the creator of the wonderful series Antique Bakery, and follows a historical Japan where 75% of all the men are wiped out by a small pox plague thingy. Feminist ordeals and nuanced gender wrangling will follow. I am deeply curious about the first books of this planned 10-volume series.

Cold Heat anthology by Frank Santoro/Ben Jones

I've read bits and pieces of the Cold Heat books, but never given this series it's fair shake. Thanks to a collected first volume of all the floppies to date, I'll have the chance to digest it properly. Very nice.

ORANG 8

I posted a bit about ORANG on the EAZB, but the latest volume of the nearly-annual comics anthology is coming out later this year. In addition to the usual lot of cool international cartoonists, I hear it might have some stuff of specific interest to Same Hat readers. The book and details are still being finalized by editor and rad cartoonist Sascha Hommer... Now to get some euros so I can order when the time comes!!

Electric Ant #2 and the underground manga book we're working on...

I won't use this as an excuse to spend a bunch of time teasing books that I can't say much about yet... But Evan and I are working slowly (and soon ramping up production!) for a late 2009 (?) release that I hope will delight Same Hat fans. Alongside that, I'm working to line up new contributors and finalize the table of contents for the second issue; Electric Ant #2 - Exquisite Corpses (the bodies and collaboration issue). News about the book will come out here, and about the zine over on the EAZB.

TWO RAD IGNATZ AWARD WINNERS

Old news by a few weeks, but I wanted to post a quick congrats to two awesome artists that won Ignatz awards at the Small Press Expo (SPX). The Ignatz Awards are "intended to recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. "

Two minis on my favorite comics of 2007 list were awarded... Congrats guys!!

Outstanding Mini-Comic
Bluefuzz by Jesse Reklaw

"Like the mentally challenged but nobler little brother of Dungeon, Bluefuzz sets the bar scarily high for what kind of story a minicomic can pull off. The interspersed color paintings of Bluefuzz's "great deeds" are icing on the cake."

Jesse is on tour right now promoting his book of Slow Wave dream comics, "The Night of Your Life" and will be attending a release party with Hellen Jo the first night of APE.

Outstanding Artist
Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream by Laura Park

"Her minicomic collection is part sketches and part strips that hint at longer form storytelling. Aside from have a sweet (but not saccharine) sense of humor, DNDMKD shows off Laura's warm and incredibly rich draftsman0like style. She is a real talent to watch, and it'd be a major gaff for the indie scene if someone doesn't sign her to do a book in 2008."

A sketchbook page by Laura was included in the Ivan Brunetti-edited "An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories: Volume 2", and her contributor bio mentions that she's working on finishing a collection!

Click to check out the full list of winners.

ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO TYPE IN 5 MINUTES

Trying to stick to a more frequent posting schedule, so here's three separate tidbits from the past week.

+ NEW COMIC BY SUEHIRO MARUO!

Via the TACO CHE blog, I learned that BEAM COMIX released a new Suehiro Maruo book on 2/25/2008! The new manga is an adaptation on the of Edogawa Rampo's infamous classic, パノラマ島奇談 (The Strange Tale of Panorama Island - panorama-tou kidan).

Rampo wrote The Strange Tale of Panorama Island back in 1926, during the height of the erotic-grotesque nonsense literary stew of the Taisho era. From what I gathered on Maruo's site, it's partially a faithful adaptation of Rampo's story, and partially a visual reinterpretation-- perhaps akin to his take on The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, or Philip K Dick's stories?

Maruo seems indebted to Edogawa Rampo's themes and style more than almost any other figure, so this seems like an perfect match. I'm DEFINITELY gonna pick this up during my trip, and will post some images when I get back. Has anyone checked it out yet?

+ RED-COLORED ELEGY AND THIRD TATSUMI COLLECTION DELAYED

Heard this week from Drawn & Quarterly that their two big announced (so far) manga titles for 2008 have been delayed. Instead of April releases, Seiichi Hayashi's Red Colored Elegy and Goodbye, the third in their series of Yoshihiro Tatsumi collections, have been delayed until July.

This change is already reflected on Amazon, which shows both titles coming out on July 8. I'm bummed that we have to wait two more months for these books, but if it's to finalize the production and get everything ironed out just right for the release, then it'll definitely be worth the wait.

+ TOMINE'S NEXT COMIC WILL BE... IN COLOR?
According to a friend who was at a recent signing and talk by Adrian Tomine, his next comics project will be a story for the next volume of Kramer's Ergot, and it will be a color comic. It sounds like Tomine is consciously trying to break from his previous materials, habits and subject matter, and told attendees of the talk that he won't be using his usual materials on this story either.

Tomine all loosey goosey and in color? I'm actually pretty interested to see how that'd turn out. He's already shown he can do funny and spontaneous (in his Scenes from an Impending Marriage mini comic that was given out to wedding guests), but can he do... experimental stuff? We'll see...