UPCOMING TITLES ANNOUNCED AT SDCC

I missed (skipped?) Comic-Con this year, but followed the details vicariously through friends' tweets. I was actually relieved to not have to deal with the mash of BO and lines, the dehydration and sterile air, and cramping 5 people into one hotel room.

That said, I am bummed to have missed a chance to kick it with a lot of the Electric Ant Zine crew, and high-five Moto Hagio-- who was brought as a special guest by Fantagraphics to celebrate/promote the release of A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. I also would've loved to congratulate in person MBQ and Peepo Choo artist Felipe Smith for his much-deserved success.

[As a side note, I highly recommend folks read my friend Deb Aoki's interview with Felipe Smith at About.com. He drops lots of REAL TALK about what it takes to make it as a professional creative, and in the Japanese manga industry specifically. It made me like a guy I was already a huge fan of even more than before. Oh yeah, and pick up a copy of Peepo Choo v.1 from Vertical, fucking duh!]

During the week of madness, a few exciting licenses were announced by our buddies at Vertical and Drawn & Quarterly. These are old news by now, but I thought I'd do a quick round-up and link dump for anyone that missed them:

1) DRAWN & QUARTERLY RELEASING SHIGERU MIZUKI!

Original announcement on the D+Q blog.

Drawn & Quarterly has acquired North American English rights to two graphic novel memoirs, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths and

NonNonBā, by one of Japan's most acclaimed and legendary manga-kas, Shigeru Mizuki

In addition to the licensing of these works filling a glaring and long-present gap in the English manga scene, Shigeru Mizuki himself is an amazing dude. How can you not love this guy?!

2) VERTICAL TO RELEASE FURUYA'S LYCHEE LIGHT CLUB IN 2011

Were you feeling sad because CMX crashed and burned and it become painfully obvious that the first new Usamaru Furuya manga in English wasn't ever coming out? (Me too). Well, despite his post-apocalyptic survival shonen (seinen?) seres 51 Ways to Save Her getting killed in the CMX meltdown, we have a lot of stuff to look forward to...

Haters gonna hate (on Viz's forthcoming Genkaku Picasso), but my buddy and editor wunderkind Ed Chavez announced that he and Vertical have picked up the license for Furuya's Taisho madness tale, Lychee Light Club. The hilarious thing about this to me is that I actually first got a copy of this manga (in Japanese) from Ed himself about two years ago!

The book is a whopping 320 pager, and the English edition (softcover) is coming out next April, 2011. As described deftly by ANN (because I'm too lazy to summarize things properly, sorry!), the story is about:

nine students at an all-boys school who create a god-like Lychee machine — that runs on lychee fruits — to seek out the beautiful women of the world. However, the machine eventually becomes self-aware "and is soon equally capable of measuring beauty and executing justice."

The look of Furuya's lines and inks in this book will (happily) remind many Same Hat readers of a mix of Suehiro Maruo, and also a grimier version of the Showa aesthetic in Koji Kumeta's Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Furuya's manga is quite goofy(?) at times, but seriously grim and gory too. It's a mixed bag of good elements, and I think Same Hat folks will really love it.



3) PRISON PIT #2 HAS ARRIVED

Johnny Ryan, a friend of Same Hat and all-around great dude, released the second volume of his battle epic Prison Pit at Comic-Con. It is amazing, nasty, and Lovecraftian. It also features a direct allusion to a scene from Tetsuo Hara's CYBER BLUE!!! Did anyone spot it?

Johnny Ryan & Calvin Wong, power-twins unite!

If you're not already on board with this series (What's wrong with you?) check out the cover to #3.

PRISON FOR BITCHES

Hope everyone is enjoying the full-on appearance of Summer (in the Norther Hemisphere, at least). I just got back from a work trip to New York, followed by a short but rad weekend of hanging out. The theme of this trip ended up being "The Internet... COMES ALIVE!" as I got to meet and convert 4 different online friends into IRL friends; It's always a weird experience at first, but a total pleasure when it goes smoothly... Thanks to newly-IRL folks Moni, y16o, Matt, and gea* for the great times hanging out!

So, what else have I been up to lately? Aside from slacking on Same Hat posts, and working on some promo materials for Last Gasp's Comic-Con booth, you may have heard that I put out a new zine with a (ahem) particular focus. That's right, cartoonist Michael DeForge and I collaborated on a 64 page Lady Gaga fanzine called PRISON FOR BITCHES!





The idea for the zine came about the day after the video for Telephone debuted, and the entire book went from drunken (Was I drunk? I must have been drunk.) email thread with Michael to printed book in under 7 weeks. The zine went on sale at Toronto Comics Art Festival last month, and is AVAILABLE NOW via our site: http://prisonforbitches.com. Kudos go to contributor Tony T for having the foresight to buy that domain (and http://letsmakeasandwich.com) while we were watching Telephone that night, haha.

You may be scratching your head, and if so that's fine and understandable. The new zine is a one-time deal, a proper fanzine in the style of fanzines I used to read in the 90s. The whole thing is the size of a 7" record, and was xeroxed and hand-stapled. It features over 35 contributors(!!) and 64 pages (including a 12pg color insert) of fan art, a Hegellian deconstruction of Gaga;s lyrics, comic strips, a live report, photos of Gaga cosplay in Kobe, and other nonsense.



The artists included are an amazing batch of most all of our current favorite working cartoonists and printmakers, including Johnny Ryan, Michael Kupperman, Hellen Jo, Lisa Hanawalt, the Wowee Zonk crew, Saicoink, Makkinoso, Nick Gazin, Elio, Derek Yu, Angie Wang, HARVEYJAMES, Lala Albert, and tons more!

If you wanna see more, check out this 25 page free preview on Google Books.

And if you really wanna see our zine in its proper form, you can buy it using Paypal/Checkout through the site. It was recently written up on Robot6 and the SF Weekly, which were big surprises and quite flattering for me & Michael.



Anyway, that same weekend in Toronto, I was on a TCAF panel titled, "Indie Comics Japan: Manga Outside of the Mainstream". The other panel members included About.com's manga maven Deb Aoki, PictureBox's head honcho Dan Nadel, D&Q translator for Tatsumi Jocelyne Allen, and Udon's Erik Ko-- and was moderated by The Beguiling/Comic212.net's Chris Butcher.

I don't remember feeling like I said anything super-insightful that day, but if you want to read a great recap of the conversation please see Deb's great report on About.com.

Another "Early Manga Days" essay (and pics from Tokyo) coming in the next day or two!

JOHNNY RYAN X KAZUO UMEZU

A gross and rad group art show is on display right now in San Francisco; The Boys are Back in Town, featuring the art of Matt Furie, La Merde, and Johnny Ryan is at Giant Robot SF until May 12, 2010. The show is made up of 150 small pieces and paintings, many of which are takes on popular culture, characters from other comics, and riffs on each other's books.

I checked out the opening, and really loved the stuff that Johnny Ryan created (Matt's stuff was awesome as usual too. I'm not a hufe fan of La Merde's simple style but the entire show is worthwhile). Johnny's a friend of Same Hat and a fan of weirdo manga, so I was geeked (and not too surprised) to see that he had done a Kazuo Umezu tribute piece as part of the show!



All of Johnny's pieces from the show are selling out fast, but the Cat-Eyed Blecky one is still available for sale via the GRSF website!

For more Johnny Ryan action, check out his website. Volume 2 of his battle manga serial gross-out fest Prison Pit is coming out later this year.

BEST X OF EVERYTHING 2008: Comics!

We're stretching even further into 2008, so here is the second in my series of YEAR-IN-REVIEW 2008 posts. I'm splitting things (perhaps unduly, so sue me) to the following categories: BEST MANGA! BEST COMICS! BEST BLOGS! and MOST ANTICIPATED IN 09! This is similar to what I did last year, except I smooshed all my best of 2007 lists into one post.

Click here for the BEST MANGA! 2008 list.

Compared to the manga list, for folks keeping score, my best of comics list is not quite as widely spread in terms of genres; It also probably contains a greater share of self-published minis than most of other lists too. That said, I tried to read broadly, but was most taken by personal and experimental works (along with a few mainstream gems). I look forward to hearing recommendations and outrage in the comments!

12. SnooPee by Ken Kagami

I picked this comic up from the PictureBox booth at MoCCA in New York. PictureBox and a few other cartoonist groups have published a number of comics on newsprint, which makes them easy to carry and cheap to buy. Ken Kagami is best known (by me) for doing the packaging design for Bay Area band Deefhoof, but in this series of sultry vignettes we get all types of Snoopy-on-Charlie Brown action. Hilarious and repulsive, I need to snag a bunch of copies as Valentine's Day presents. [link]

11. BodyWorld by Dash Shaw

I think I'm in the minority here, but I thought Dash's ambitious and huge debut graphic novel, Bottomless Belly Button, was a good book but not a great one. I admire the care and effort in the book, but it didn't quite click with me when I finally sat down to digest it. Not content to simply make a huge debut with Fantagraphics, Dash moved quickly to begin another ambitious project: BodyWorld, a space and drugs and teenage comedy IN THE FUTURE, which he serializes on his site. The use of color, messing with visualizing web space and lusty spectacles in BodyWorld make it a super-compelling and satisfying read. I hear it will be getting a print publication (from Pantheon?) next year as well. Badass. [link]

10. Stay Away From Other People by Lisa Hanawalt

This mini from cartoonist and artist Lisa Hanwalt was strongly recommended to me by Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong, and I always make a point to follow those two's suggestions. Lisa's book doesn't carry any strict narrative panels/comics, but is more like a minizine. It features hilarious lists that struck close to home (like, "12 Things to Do When You Are Stuck in Traffic" and "Ideal Wedding Plans") along with her intricate, creepy and beautiful drawings of a cornucopia of animal-headed dudes and gals in various hip attire and/or legwarmers and farming gear. I absolutely love Lisa's line work, and this mini made me LOL more than a few times. [link]

9. Ramble On! / Millie & Hattie by Calvin Wong

I've said it before, but I think Calvin Wong is a bit of a hidden gems within the indie comics scene. Full disclosure, Calvin is good buddy of mine, but I have been a fan of his comics since before I met him. 2008 saw him release two fantastic minis; Millie & Hattie is a newly-printed collection of his flapper detective strips, following the eponymous duo's sharp tongued defeat of opera vampires and other villains. Ramble On! is an entirely new book featuring a woodland creature guitar battle and the humdrum life a warlock fate-wrangler. In another word, fantastic shit! Calvin's comics (in addition to his organic and detailed linework) feature comedic timing nearing perfection... like the first volumes of Jeff Smith's Bone or Dungeon's funniest moments. He is a dude to watch, and his books need to be sought out and read!! [link]

8. Omega the Unknown #10 by Jonathan Lethem/Farel Darlympe

Before getting into the book itself, I would say this was one of my favorite covers of any comic this year. It's creepy and melty and deeply weird, but also secretly uplifting. Just how I dig it. The book itself is the final installment of a strange and sprawling "superhero" tale by SF-turned-"indie mainstream" novelist Jonathan Lethem. Strictly speaking, this series is Lethem's reboot of the 70s Steve Gerber superhero, but it does a lot more heavy lifting behind the scenes. The story stands up over multiple reads, and worked for me as arch-metaphor for whatever I was feeling... teenage idleness, the comics industry, etc. In addition, Farel Dalrymple's art is lovely and they got Mr. Paul Hornschemeier to do the coloring. Not too shabby. [link]

7. Crickets 2 by Sammy Harkham

Until this last year, I knew and respected Sammy solely as the curator and editor of the Kramers Ergot book series. At MoCCA, I finally picked up the two issues of Sammy's current comic book. Since MoCCA, I've sat and re-read Crickets 1-2 from start to finish 5 or 6 times and keep coming back. The second issue was funnier and featured more wild strands, while continuing the main Black Death story from the first installment. To me, Crickets 2 is a lover of cartooning showing he walks the walk like he talks the talk (whatever that means). A refreshingly excellent floppy. [link]

6. Acme Novelty Library #19 by Chris Ware

I don't have too much to say about this book, except it's basically impossible to fight the artistry of this thing. I am not a fan of Ware, and have only read enough of his work to know it's deeply talented but very unfamiliar to the things I want to get out of narratives and art and story. He just never like... speaks to me? But I read this latest edition to see what the fuss was about, and found a book chock full of smartly-woven threads that hit just the right combo of interests, pathos, speculation and focus. Other people that have been following the dude for longer have better reviews, but I was really drawn into this one. [link]

5. Tales Designed To Thrizzle #4 by Michael Kupperman

Another fantastic piece of work from America's funniest cartoonist. If you're a Same Hat reader (and get down with Yoshida Sensha, Johnny Ryan, Enomoto, Koji Aihara and the other kings of gag manga), then I'm sure you're already on top of Kupperman's work. The latest book of his biannual(?) series hit all the right notes, and delivered on a slightly different conceit this time (24 hours of cartooning fun for the whole family!). The first 4 issues will be collected by Fantagraphics in 2009, I hear. [link]

4. All-Star Superman #10 by Grant Morrison/Frank Quietly

I was so fucking dubious about this series, and it ended up really getting to me. And I think Superman is aB-O-R-I-N-G character. So how the hell did Morrison and Quietly pull this shit off? One of the best single issues of the best mainstream miniseries in many, many years. [link]

3. Jin & Jam #1 by Hellen Jo

We've made it to the top three, and like the manga list these represent the cream of the fucking crop, right here. Another full disclosure, Hellen is one of my best buds and some of her original art hangs in my apartment. After her excellent one-shot Paralysis and aborted (but badass) series Blister, Jin & Jam #1 marks Hellen's first "officially published book." In it, Hellen has perfected and distilled her elegant but wet & wild uber-detailed style into a cohesive (but still surreal) form that just flat out WORKS in serial form. Aside from being beautiful, the book harkens back to a raw emotion of adolescence and summons up all the evil obstacles you used to fight off on Sunday afternoons: church, lamewads, the cops, siamese twins, and the future. Fuggin' awesome sheeeit. BUY IT! [link]

2. Dungeon Monstres vol.2: The Dark Lord by Sfar/Trondheim/Blanquet/Andreas

Despite a crumbling world economy, war, and environmental degredation, 2008 was an alright year. That's a logical truism for any year where we get more of Dungeon in English (HEY-O). As stated, all Dungeon is good Dungeon, but the newest installment of Monsters was the most exciting installment since we first peaked into the end of days in Twilight Volume 1. I loved how both stories played off each other (Rashomon-stylies), but the real gem is Stéphane Blanquet's stunning and surreal colors in the second half of this book. I say it in every year's BEST OF list, but Dungeon is probably my all-time favorite series, ever. Start it soon (with Zenith 1: Duckheart) so you can work your way back to this excellent book! [link]

1. What It Is by Lynda Barry

Dude, what isn't it? I can imagine folks not really needing this entire book, which mixes autobiographical and Raw Power narrative strips with Barry's own insights and open questions in dozens of free-form and lovely ink & collage pages. Like with her novel Cruddy, I was feeling this book in a sentimental and unshielded way that is usually pretty rare for me with comics. For whatever kind of "comic" this thing is, it was definitely the single biggest achievement (in my eyes) in comicdom during 2008. I also had the distinct pleasure to meet her twice at events in 2008 and dudes, she's a wonderful creature. [link]


OTHER NOTABLES
New Character Parade by Johhny Ryan

NCP was another fantastic collection of the weekly strips Johnny has been putting up on his site. Featuring a hand-screened cover and unhinged mania, I placed this book on the top of the hallowed coffee table of "cool shit you just gotta see!" in my apartment. More about Johnny in the most anticipated in 2009 list tomorrow! [link]

The Would-Be Bridegrooms by Shawn Cheng

I wasn't very familiar with Shawn's stuff, but had the chance to meet him and get this mini at APE a few months ago. Featuring a Sword in the Stone-esque magical transmogoration battle between two suitors, this short comic had me laughing my ass off. On top of that, Shawn has an arresting visual style- check out the daily(?) sketches posts of his work on the art group site, PARTYKA: [link]

Bullshit Frank & Gorilla Joe by Mickey Zacchilli

Previously-mentioned here for her Kazuo Umezu and Go Nagai fan art, Mickey went berserk this year with her raw and borderline experimental art brut series BF & GJ. I just got the third issue a few weeks ago, and her existential meets batshit gag strips continue to deliver. Each issue also features hand-screened covers (inside & out) and other goodies. Mickey is a comics-creating dynamo... check it out! [link]

Empire Park by Jason Shiga

After Knock Knock's massive and multi-hubbed sprawl, and Bookhunter's noirish ode to dusty pages, Shiga's latest self-published comic is a longish narrative about love and devotion. True life Sleepless in Seattle shit with some real talk honesty that struck a great note. I think it's still a bit hard to find, but you should buy it from the man at cons this year and marvel at his genre-jumping mastery. [link]

RASL by Jeff Smith

The first three books of RASL don't add up to much actually happening, but I am hooked on this book. Following up after BONE is a hell of a task that Jeff Smith has made for himself, so I was excited to see the science fictional, boobs and blood and weirdo noir direction he is taking. Now if more shit happened and the books came out faster! [link]

COMING SHORTLY: Best Blogs! and Most Anticipated Books 2009!

MANGA IN VICELAND

If you haven't seen it already, the most recent issue of Vice is chock-full of comics and manga. For the "No Pictures" issue, Vice went all out and has featured a number of interview features with artists & designers, including friends of Same Hat like illustrator Matt Lock (featured in Electric Ant #1) and painter Mimi Leung.



Under the tutelage of Editor-in-Chief Jesse Pearson (who provided us with free copies of the Shintaro Kago interview) issue, along with help from Johnny Ryan and Vice Japan editor Tomo, Vice has also expanded the Vice Manga section to include three chill artists.

IMIRI SAKABASHIRA





These are not so much manga, but large illustrations by the hilarious and strange painter/photographer. Click here for the articles on Vice, or check out an excellent biography and gallery of Imiri Sakabashira's art on Bill Randall's site.

SHINTARO KAGO

NO.1 TRAIN NOW DEPARTING SHINJUKU STATION


SUMO WRESTLERS ARRIVING BACK FROM AN INTERNATIONAL TOUR


BLIND DATING FOR SHY PEOPLE


9You know him, you love him. It sounds like Kagomaniacs will be a regular page in Vice going forward... very cool!

RADIO WADA


Click here for the Radio Wada section of Vice. His website is also a great place to head for more of his work.

As a last note, Viceland is also using Kago art as one of its rotating site banners:

THIS MONTH'S VICE TO FEATURE KAGO, WADA

Hot news fresh off the desk of Same Hat's American stepfather, Johnny Ryan:


This month = Vice Comics & Illustration issue

He describes it thusly,

It's got comics in it from the following people: Matt Furie, Benjamin Marra, Matthew Thurber, Radio Wada, Paco Alcazar, Frederic Fleury, Shintaro Kago, Rowan Tedge, Simon Gardenfors and me and maybe some other names I'm forgetting.

Very cool news for manga nerds - we always love more Shintaro Kago, but the very first(?) publication of Radio Wada in English a US publication is especially unique and rad. My friend Robert (gifted artist and indie manga fanboy to the extreme) gave me a copy of Radio Wada's collection of gag strips, Labrador Radio Wada, earlier this year.



I don't know as much as I should about Radio Wada, but I really, really enjoyed his rugged and brut lines and subversive strips. He also does some really wild coloring and effects in some of his strips. You can also check here for a complete listing (in Japanese) of his books, most of which are published by EnterBrain and Shueisha.

Look for the new Vice hitting stands some time later this month...

DISNEYLAND AUTOGRAPH BOOK (SDCC)

On the trip to San Diego Comic Con, I managed to take only a mere 15 pictures the entire time. Ridiculous, I know. This always seems to happen when Evan and I travel, as he's the one with the 12x zoom handheld and the massive SLR. I rely (happily) on homeboy to capture everything. On account of that, I don't yet have my San Diego post ready, but will work on it tonight. In brief, it was: Exhausting! Great to see a bunch of our buddies and so many kings and queens of indie comicsdom! Extremely satisfying to see folks buying copies of Tokyo Zombie! Also, did I mention exhausting?!

A better summary post (with pics of folks we meet, a comic debut by friends, and new goodies from the con and Book Off) soon. In the meantime, I'm happy to report that the "Official" Disneyland Autograph Book was in full force at SDCC. Here are the newest additions to the batch from MoCCA earlier this year:


Gary Baseman. He signed at the Last Gasp book to promote his newest book.


Adrian Tomine. I've met him a few times through friends-of-friends, and finally got him to put down a sketch for me!


Edgar Wright! Director of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and one of the greatest TV shows of all time (HOLY CRAP). I sadly missed the Spaced panel (more on that in the trip report post) but ran into him on the floor. I tried to give him a copy of Tokyo Zombie but he claimed to already have it (I think he meant the original Japanese edition!?) and was familiar with Hanakuma's comics :)


Jim Woodring. I was retardo dumbstruck to have him sign my book. Seriously. (Also, Pupshaw looks adorable, no?)


Dame Darcy. The Dame signed at Fantagraphics, and was promoting her upcoming post-apocalyptic graphic novel, Gasoline.


Dash Shaw. Indie cartooning prince and author of the impressive Bottomless Belly Button. Dash shocked me by revealing he reads Same Hat and is heavily into manga. He sketched a scene of Tatsumigaoka (where he spent a year abroad in high school) and a Hanakuma homage.


Johnny Ryan. Our American patron saint, Johnny signed at both Fantagraphics and Buenaventura, and debuted Loady and Sinus figurines at the con. He's also working on editing the upcoming Comics issue of Vice, which may include some international materials right up Same Hat's alley.


Esther Pearl Watson. Like Gary Panter and Tom Neely, she stuck with the Disneyland theme. I try to buy any and everything she and partner Mark Todd put out, and managed to grab 4 issues of HERO LAND and her new Romeo & Juliet comic.

THE DISNEYLAND AUTOGRAPH BOOKS MAY BE COMING TO A CON NEAR YOU: SPX in October, APE in November!

TOKYO ZOMBIE PROOFS & DUMMY COPY!

With this post, I wanted to take a minute to share the latest details on Tokyo Zombie. I'm happy to report that all the proofing and edits are completely finalized, and the book is at the printers as we speak. YES! Since all of the production is now complete, I wanted to give a few behind-the-scenes details on the final steps before a bunch of files and images become a real book.

I've talked with the publisher, and they're cool with me sharing some photos with all ya'll. As the last step of proofing, we received a dummy copy of the book and digital proofs. A dummy copy means it's a full facsimile of what the book will look like- the actual cover stock, laminate, page count, size and weight. The only catch is that the inside pages are... ENTIRELY BLANK! The digital proofs are just what you'd guess- digital printouts of exactly what the inside pages will look like, for final copy edits and formatting issues.



I've been treating these proofs pretty reverently, and it's a real trip to see the work we did adapting Yusaku Hanakuma's radical manga now in physical form. This is also why I got red-faced and started swearing at my GF when she SAT ON THE DIGITAL PROOFS. TWICE. (I know you were coming over to the couch to sit and read What It Is, honey, but that's no excuse!). Even after all the rounds of edits and proofing before this stage, we still had a few spacing tweaks, moved a sound effect away from the edge of the page, and a couple other minor edits; As an editor/translator (and for Evan, in charge of production) it was really hard to finally commit to everything and say, That it's, it's FINISHED!


Evan's full book jacket design with author details on the back flap. The two blurbs on the back cover are from Johnny Ryan and Eric Nakamura :)


The book spine! That's 164 manga pages of zombie hilarity!


Yusaku Hanakuma designed and sent along a brand-new Last Gasp logo specifically for his inaugural English release! The first person to get this as a tattoo wins my lifetime admiration.


The stack of digital proofs, which are lower resolution than the final book pages but get the job done for catching typos.


You saw it first, the Tokyo Zombie table of contents! (OOOH)


You saw it first, a bald dude smacking a zombie's head off! (AHHH)

Let me know what you think so far! I'll post details tomorrow morning about Tokyo Zombie in this month's issue of Previews(!) and how to order a copy for yourself. You are ordering a copy, right? :B