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At Kinokuniya last week, I picked up the first volume of Cromartie High School creator Eiji Nonaka's newest series, Mirai Chounaikai (未来町内会) - best translated as Future Neighborhood Association.
As I'd said before, I think Cromartie High School was probably the best comic to be published in English in 2005, and ADV is already more than halfway through releasing the series (I think it's 17 volumes in total). Quick pat on the back to them, ADV is using the original Japanese covers and each volume looks really kick ass.
While Cromartie is still totally rad, it's cool to know that Nonaka has already moved on to a new comedy series, and it's being serialized in マガメガ. For more info, you can check out their Mirai Chounaikai page for a preview of the first few pages of the manga.
The series revolves around a neighborhood association in the year 2076. No really, I'm serious. At first, it's literally PAGES and PAGES of neighbors sitting around tables having zoning discussions and stuff. But in a way, the initial setup and scope of this comic already makes it pretty damn experimental and weird, for a comedy manga.
It looks like as the story goes on, Nonaka introduces weirder and weirder neighbors and committee issues, like these intense mutant warriors that look like something out of Mai, The Psychic Girl or Dragonball. The basic format, with repeating scenarios, running parodies and a growing cast of odd characters, should feel pretty familiar to Cromartie fans. Here are a few shots from the comic:
He's basically saying: "Well, this means that offically, as of today... Papa has been named Committee Chair of the Mirai-cho Neighborhood Association!"
Lots and lots and lots of this.
A ROBOT! ...but is it the same one?
I'll need to take some time to get through the comic, but it seems even more absurd than Cromartie in its banality and plot conceits. I wonder if ADV is gonna license and release this one too?
PS: Later today we have some Alternative Press Expo news to post... Evan and I have been working all week on a new booklet for this weekend!
The scheduled release date according to Viz site is tomorrow, 4/17/07. But it looks like the Kinokuniya in SF got their shipment early! I picked up and read the fifth volume Saturday afternoon (like a real nerd proper: over hot dogs, fries and Dr. Pepper).
This isn't the first time Kinokuniya has hooked me up ahead of schedule with Viz titles; They've regularly had new volumes of Phoenix, Death Note and Nana available 1-2 before their official release dates. Maybe they get the special hookup because Viz's headquarters is only like 2 miles from them?
PS: As you might have noticed, the scanlations are still down. We're working with out host to get things back up and running ASAP!
Yep, the scanlations are currently down. SHIT!
There is good and bad news here... and then some more good news.
Good News #1 is that we've had a huge spike in daily traffic, which means more of you weirdos are reading our scanlations and content (yay).
Bad News #1 is that the site hosting all our original stuff already smashed the normal monthly quota within the first ten days of April and we need to pay to upgrade bandwidth (boo).
Good News #2 is that we're going to do this over the weekend, and the scanlations should be back online by Monday! (yay x2)
thanks for your patience, and check back again soon!
Short post tonight, but let me just say that I'm extremely geeked about New Comics Day tomorrow. Like most of you (I'm guessing), I hit up a local comics shop during my lunch break, each and every Wednesday. Well, the moons of Jupiter and the winds of good fortune have aligned, and give us new volumes of two of the best series being published... on the SAME DAY. Oh, shit-- ENJOY:
DRAGON HEAD 6
DEATH NOTE 11
...and on the non-manga scene, check out this one:
The Complete Universe of Dupuy & Berberian, 300 pages of new comics in English by the creators of Get a Life and Maybe Later.
Can't wait to dig into all three of these books. Alright, it's time for a cup of decaf and some work emails for me. Here is one last omake to beef up the post, DRAGON HEAD Kubrick set:
Based on the movie adaptation, but pretty sweet nonetheless.
This one came in via our email address (samehatATgmail.com), from a reader named Winslow. Dude is a New York City resident, and his tattoo features the radical art used for the cover of Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freakshow. Little did Suehiro Maruo know that this particular comic would end up as the source of so much ink!
His tattoo artist Stina features this one on her site, and Winslow is planning to eventually go for an entire Maruo-themed sleeve design. He's open to any great ideas, so if you have a Maruo image in mind that you think would make a good addition to the Ero-Guro shrine he's assembling on his arm, definietly post it in the comments!
Thanks again to Winslow for sending this along! Are there any more Maruo/horror manga tattoos out there? Might as well send them to us and help grow the collection! Same Hat's new charter: manga news, scanlations and manga tattoos!!
THE SETTING: The Manga Pavilion in the German Publisher hall at Frankfurt Book Fair, the biggest book and publishing fair in the entire world.
THE CAST: Me talking to a white German teenage girl, dressed in an H&M-meets-Harjuku-cosplay outfit with dyed streaks in her hair.
THE SCENE: The German teenager is part of a queue of about 250 other girls, in a line waiting to get their comics signed by SOMEONE that looks like a Japanese or Asian American hip hop girl.
ME: So, who are you guys waiting in line to meet?
German teenybopper: It's Judith Park!
ME: Oh, is she an American comic artist?
German teenybopper: You don't know Judith Park? She is the most famous manga-ka in Germany!!
ME: [Stunned silence]
For those new to the blog, this post is the penultimate dispatch in a series of posts based on things I saw and people I met while in Ireland and Germany last Fall.
And making this clear from the start-- I don't have any stunning insight on what exactly this means. I also am probably going to use all the wrong terminology here. But figuring that manga-influenced comics made in English by non-Japanese creators are referred to as Original English-language manga (OEL manga), I am gonna try calling these comics Original German-langauge manga (OGL manga). The main impetus for this post was that the scene at Frankfurt got the weird little motor in my brain spinning. And it made me also realize a few other things:
1) The European reading population and comic buying scene (Esp. in Germany/France/Spain) might have figured out manga in a major, commerically-viable way before us (where, us = Americans). I make this declaration based solely on the breadth of manga available in translation there, the # of Japan-related magazines and publications, and the level of maturity of the OGL/OFL/OSL manga scenes in each country.
2) Teenage girls and cosplayers in Germany appear to be just as fascinated and empowered to participate in comics BECAUSE OF manga as their American counterparts. If the concept of manga sparking larger female participation in comics (financially, creatively, etc) makes you raise an eyebrow then you must have missed the memo in the early '00s.
3) The OGL manga scene has its own young stars, and it looks like they're coming to our shores soon.
I'm really hoping this is one of those posts where people who know way more about this scene (and the implications and embedded arguements therein) jump in via comments and get a proper discussion going-- If I've said anything idiotic or misinformed, then let me know.
But back to my task for today: Who, exactly, is Judith Park (other than the biggest manga-ka in germany, DUH)?
I've done the basics of web research (Lambiek, Wikipedia (DE), and her homepage) , so let me lay it on you. She was born in 1984 in Duisberg (near Dusseldorf), and according to her english profile, she's into Frank Miller, Michael Bay blockbusters, Rocco's Modern Life and Miyazaki films. It's not clear where she is based right now, but I did learn while I was in Germany that Frankfurt is home to the biggest Korean expatriate population in Europe.
Her most famous comics pictured above, Y Square and Distopia. It also sounds like she's now working on a new yet-unnamed book.
Judith is scheduled to appear at number of appearances at German book and comic fairs, and her site contains lots of pics from recent events she's attended. I read the Google Translate version of this profile of Judith from November 2005, where she says that she draws for about 9 hours a day, and got her start by winning a manga competition held by the publisher Carlsen, which is one of the three big German comic book publishers. You can also see more of Judith's art at her deviantART page. (She also has a YouTube channel documenting her "gay chinchillas"-- her words).
More recent pics of Judith from her site:
Now, this is not to say that the German OGL manga scene (as far as I could feebly decipher) is just about Judith Park. I also had the dumb luck to see another rising German comics star, Anike Hage, signing at the pavillion. Anike Hage is even younger (only 21!) and has a number of OGL titles out with Tokyopop DE. I just read here that Anike Hage's Gothic Sports has been licensed to be released by Tokyopop US, as part of their ambitious international comics push. The release date on Amazon for this book is May 8, 2007.
A few last tidbits, I found a German con report that has some pics of Judith signing and of German cosplayers (the theme of the last post in this series). In his archives, I also found that Jeff Smith posted details on the German manga scene, and pics from hanging out with Anike on his blog around the time of Frankfurt Book Fair. Finally, here is a translated article about Judith Park's sales figures and continuing popularity in Germany.
Fone Bone & Anike Hage's protagonist together
Jeff Smith and Anike Hage, exhausted after signing comics all day
Okay, my brain has run out of steam, but I want to hear more from you guys about manga in Europe (Germany specifically), any thoughts on Judith & Anike, or generally about Original-English/German/etc language manga in all of its international incarnations!
EDIT: I should have directly mentioned Elae's awesome site Deutsche Mangaka, which is specifically about the OGL manga scene. From her site, I just learned that Judith Park's Y Square was licensed in English, but no official release date yet. Very interesting cross-pollination news :)
Short post today, but this one aims to put a huge grin on the face of every Umezu fan out there.
In a recent post on his website, Kazuo Umezu put up a link to his online photo gallery, hosted by Google's Picasa Web Albums! Who woulda guessed that Umezz was hip to social photo-sharing sites?
His photo albums hold about 180 pictures , including candid shots from talks and signings, and even some images of Umezu as a young boy!
On top of that, an entire album (36 pics) is full of one similar headshot pose, but each with a different, wacky face. Oh, and if you didn't already know it, this set should quickly make it clear to you what Umezu's 'signature outfit' consists of...
How can you not love Umezz?? I'd kill for the chance to get to meet him someday... but in the meantime I'll continue to dream that he is my effeminate, ridiculous great-uncle!!
