NEW PEOPLE: JUNKO MIZUNO SIGNING

Follow up news to my Friday post about the Junko Mizuno signing at NEW PEOPLE in San Francisco. I headed over yesterday to make a second visit to the shop, meet Junko and get my Disneyland autograph book signed.

Junko was signing in support of her new manga from Last Gasp, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU, Volume 1. Lots of local manga folks were in attendance, including Colin from Last Gasp, Otaku USA editor-in-chief Patrick Macias (whose jaPRESS did the English adaptation of PELU), About.com's Deb Aoki, and some editorial Viz friends.


Junko Mizuno recently moved to San Francisco earlier this year. She mentioned hating the summer weather in Tokyo and that SF was a way more comfortable place to work on art and comics.


A number of people lined up, bringing comics, toys and even a Junko Mizuno-designed skateboard deck for her to sign.


Deb Aoki brought Junko a bunch of presents :)

I mentioned this a little in my previous posts about NEW PEOPLE, but the shop is not the Viz/Shogakukan-centric store I expected. While they sell some Viz books (most notably, Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys and Pluto), they carry lots of other publisher's book-- both English and Japanese editions.



The shop is pretty snazzy and all, but the main thing I like is having NEW PEOPLE as a place to host events, readings, and signings like this. Previously, I guess the Cartoon Art Museum would suffice, but it's great having a manga-centric gallery and store for when creators come into town.


NEW PEOPLE features two Junko-designed t-shirts, in addition to a new Yokoyama shirts and other designs.


And finally, the latest addition to the autograph book :)

UPDATE: About.com's Deb Aoki has now published her own signing scene report, along with an interview with Junko.

JUNKO MIZUNO SIGNING TOMORROW AT NEW PEOPLE

For Bay Area folks, quick announcement that Junko Mizuno will be signing copies of her new manga, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU Vol. 1 , at the NEW PEOPLE Store in San Francisco. The signing was put together by publisher Last Gasp and will take place tomorrow (8/22/09) at 2pm.


[You can check out a preview and buy it on the Last Gasp site.]

HERE ARE THE DETAILS FROM LAST GASP:

Junko Mizuno will be signing her new book, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU Vol. 1, on Saturday, August 22 at 2pm at NEW PEOPLE The Store in San Francisco’s Japan Town.

PELU is a cute extraterrestrial critter who travels to Earth to find happiness in the form of a bride. Prepare to be astounded as the search for fulfillment takes him from the surface of his fantastic alien planet to an off-kilter modern Japan inhabited by aspiring enka singers, sassy girls, paint-sniffing bad boys, sushi chefs with unspeakable secrets and the body-switching students of a mysterious high school.

NEW PEOPLE
1746 Post St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
Saturday, August 22, 2pm

Praise for Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU:
…Fluffy Gigolo Pelu suggests that her work is only veering into more vividly mischievous territory. It offers a look at an exercise that is comparable to taking the broken crumbs from the bottom of a bag of candy and trying to melt them into a lollipop – bright and supposedly sweet, but deformed and foul smelling where it’s burned. Pelu’s stories of alienation, unconventional pregnancy and huffing are overtly cracked, but the view that it presents of less incendiary subjects like office work dreariness and career dissatisfaction similarly fit into its scheme of candy colored unhappiness.

…noting the diversity of Earth’s population, Pelu leaps into a magic mirror hoping to find someone like himself. His mad anti-trip-to-Oz whirlwind is captured in a montage of dreary meetings, lottery wins, and over eating – framed by a psychedelic expectoration of bubbles.
Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu features enough dire absurdity that it’ll force you to laugh.
– Scott Green, Ain’t It Cool News

Whether her stories titillate you or not, it’s hard to deny their unique place in the world of manga. Sans narrative, they’re vintage candy wrappers that you hold on to because you know you’re going to want to just look at them again sometime down the road. In that respect, maybe Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu is the lovelorn-tragedy-laced Laffy Taffy of the bunch.
…is there enough love on our cruel planet to include a vomit-green, bow-tie-wearing cotton ball like Pelu? Maybe the answer lies in volume two, but I’m digging the journey so far.
– Joseph Luster, Otaku USA

The book is filled with bizarre, disturbing, but utterly engaging adventures, like the chapter where Pelu’s friend the Space Hippo arrives on Earth, eats too many unfamiliar foods, and ends up vomiting an acid-like substance all over the town’s local poodle ranch.
– John Jakala, Robot 6

Here are some photos from a Junko Mizuno singing in Barcelona:

JUNKO MIZUNO EVENTS, PAST & PRESENT

[RSS readers, this post features galleries using PictoBrowser; Please click through to the blog to view them!]

This has been reported around the internets, but manga artist Junko Mizuno will be appearing in Toronto today for the opening reception of a solo art show. Details via Comics212.net:

RED TRESSES AND FRECKLES: Junko Mizuno Solo Exhibition
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 18 from 7-10pm

Narwhal Art Projects (Near Magic Pony Gallery)
680 Queen St. West, Toronto, ON, Canada
647.346.5317
Exhibition Dates: June 18 - July 26, 2009

If anyone attends, definitely send some pictures my way and I'll be happy to post them here!

It seems Junko Mizuno has been busy, recently attending FICÓMIC (Salón Internacional del Cómic de Barcelona), which is a major and awesome manga/comics convention in Barcelona, Spain. She also visited the Mondo Bizarro gallery in Rome where she'll be presenting new paintings as well.

Here are some nice photos of Junko signing and meeting fans at the Editions IMHO booth at FICCON. These photos all come via the IMHO Blog, fantastic French publishers of works by Suehiro Maruo, Tori Miki, Atsushi Kaneko, and many others we love. (Worth noting, Editions IMHO is opening a shop in Paris, and carry copies of Electric Ant #1!!).

Enjoy the photos:


Since we're talking Junko Mizuno, it's worth noting again that her new manga, Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU Vol. 1, will be published by Last Gasp this fall. More details in this post.

NEW JUNKO MIZUNO BOOK FROM LAST GASP

Exciting news for indie manga nerds... Last Gasp will be releasing a new book by Junko Mizuno this Fall!


Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU Vol. 1 by Junko Mizuno

Not too many details on Amazon, but it looks like the book is 172 pages and scheduled for September 2009. This book is the first volume in a short series, and will add to the list Mizuno titles in English, PURE TRANCE, HANSEL & GRETEL, CINDERELLA, PRINCESS MERMAID, and HELL BABIES.

I don't know the exact details, but I believe Patrick Macias & Izumi Evers' jaPress did the translation/editing for this book. More details and images from the book as I hear about them!

[To note: Evan & I did not work on this book in any capacity.]

NEW UMEZU TOYS FROM ART STORM

Art Storm, the premier weirdo toy maker that was behind previous Junko Mizuno and Suehiro Maruo toys, has recently released a number of Kazuo Umezu toys on their site. In this post I've tried to collect all the details for the vinyl freaks out there!

First up, MAKOTO MUSHI soft vinyl figures:





Next up, Makoto-chan Series manga figures:


It appears to be a four figure set, including:
+ Makoto-chan


+ Pyonko-chan


+ Monta


+ Nei-chan


Perhaps, the strangest "figurine" of the bunch, a Makoto-chan tape measure and stapler!




Another from the Kazuo Umezu character series, The Goddess of Romance figurines designed by the Umezz:


In a different vein, they will be releasing in October a new Orochi figurine (in time for the movie's roadshow on September 20, 2008):




Finally, the biggest and wildest collection of Umezu-designed toys is a massive collection of Ultraman figures. After a cursory read, it's not clear how this project originated, but it's up to a few dozen different figures. The canon of monsterly baddies in the Ultraman universe lends itself to Umezu's talents, to say the least. Some of my favorites here, with more at the link above:
Ultraman!


Barutan


Akiko


Dada

JUNJI ITO interview clip from BBC3's Japanorama

This clip features a short interview with Junji Ito, conducted by British japanophile Christopher Jonathan Ross. I've heard of his show Japanorama previously when he interviewed Junko Mizuno, but I've never seen it. Despite being sort of lamely "ISN'T JAPAN STRANGE AND UNUSUAL!?" in tone, the show (over its three series to date) covers pretty interesting stuff, usually before it's become played out in western media.

This interview comes from the Kaidan episode (which also features an interview with Takashi Shimizu)and was posted on YouTube earlier this year. Ito's pretty taciturn but it's still a rare chance to see a video of one of my absolute favorites online. Check it out!



And since we're on the subject, here is a picture from a year or two ago of Junji Ito's wedding! I can't remember her name, but his wife (right) is a manga artist too, I hear.


[via Daul]

UPDATE! Here is the Junko Mizuno interview, from an earlier episode of Japanorama: