SHINTARO KAGO DAILY COMICS UPDATE

An update to the Daily Manga section of Shintago Kago's website came faster than I expected. Here is the new batch of seven, with my quick English translations (and a Umezu allusion)! This week's revolve around the Kannon (sometimes called Kwannon), the popular Japanese incarnation of the thousand-armed bodhisattva of mercy.

SUNDAY - Kannon of Gwashi


MONDAY - Kannon of Wanking


TUESDAY - The foetal movements of Kannon


WEDNESDAY - Kannon's deformed child


THURSDAY - Kannon forced to work at a soapland


FRIDAY - Kannon Voodoo Doll


SATURDAY - Kannon paying off her yazuka debt

NEW OROCHI TSHIRT FROM UMEZU x OTOOTO22

Short post today to mention that a new Orochi t-shirt was released today via Beams T. It's not my favorite of their Kazuo Umezu line, but I wouldn't argue if someone put it in my hand!

SHINTARO KAGO IN 2009

Just a few days into 2009, and there's a huge mass of Shintaro Kago news to report. These details regarding new goods, books, and appearances are gleaned from his site, the Taco Che blog, and from friends in Japan.

+ New years 2009 greetings from his site!
Here is Kago's first post of 2009, with a sketch celebrating the year of the Ox:


+ Manga release and signing event at Taco Che!
To celebrate the release of his newest manga collection, Shintaro Kago will be appearing at Taco Che and signing copies. The event will take place on February 1, 2009 from 3:00 - 4:00pm, and Kago will also be selling copies of his DVDs, prints and toys.


Kago's first new book in 10 months is called, おばあちゃんが死体くさいよ (Grandma's Stinking Corpse) and goes on sale 1/20/09 for 1260 yen. According to his site, the book includes 26 full-color pages... awesome! I am hoping that either Nate or Schultz will be on hand to document the event and send some pics.


Full event details (and directions to Taco Che) are online here. If you're a SH reader and go to the event, it'd be cool to mention this site and his large (and growing) squad of English-speaking fans!

+ New and disgusting Kago toys! In his latest post, Kago shows off three additional toys that he's created. Too bad these weren't available in time to be stocking stuffers?




For pics of other Kago toys, see Nate's earlier gallery show report or this section of Kago's site.

+ Kago once again posting daily drawings! For a while last year (or was it 2007?) Kago was posting daily sketches and gag comics on his site. Just last month, he has started up again. I might try to do a weekly recap, but here is the current batch. On this page, Kago basically updates the seven links on a rolling basis, so it's good to bookmark the link. You can find his previous sketches by trolling backwards through the numeric links. Here are the current 7 drawings:
SUNDAY - Robotic Artificial Leg


MONDAY - Anus Buffet


TUESDAY - Doraemon's Suicide ("To Hell!")


WEDNESDAY - Ishizuka Hidehiko's Suicide (Overweight comedian & variety show regular)


THURSDAY - Life Note ("When a name is written, their corpse is resurrected !")


FRIDAY - Pimple Comb-over


SATURDAY - The Tatchi Method of Killing


AN OLDER ONE:


+ Cover to Shintaro Kago DVD compilation
Finally, here is the cover to Shintaro Kago's DVD collection of experimental short films. I received this image from my new friend Bharath, of NUMBER21PIX fame.

(Click above to download a huge, 3.5MB scan from megaupload)

HAPPY NEW YEARS FROM KAZUO UMEZU

In his latest video clip, Umezz wishes his fans a Happy New Year 2009. He also mentions that his appearance on the end of year special from comedy/variety mainstay DOWNTOWN no Gaki no Tsukai ya arahende!! was delayed, and showing on January 11 in Japan. I'll post clips of that if/when they get put online.



Check out the UMEZZCOM YouTube channel for more interviews, appearances and clips:

ELECTRIC ANT REVIEW IN NEW ISSUE OF GIANT ROBOT

I got an exciting piece of news this week when I cracked open my copy of Giant Robot #57 and saw a capsule review of Electric Ant #1...



Thanks to Eric Nakamura for writing us up! As mentioned before, he was nice enough to contribute a list of ten tidbits of zine wisdom (which grace the inside back cover).

Then a few pages later in the issue, I saw that Tokyo Zombie was mentioned in the holiday gift guide from Giant Robot store staff!


I've already talked about the zine enough on Same Hat, but the Giant Robot nod means more to me than anything else. I started reading GR as a high school sophomore, and it was my first real encounter with zines of any kind. Eric & Martin's self-published love letter to all things cool is what encouraged me to try my hand at it. I've been reading the magazine on and off for over 10 years now, and the most recent issues are once again in rare and awesome form.

14-year old Ryan would have never guessed I'd get something of mine mentioned in Giant Robot... fuck yeah!

PS: This pic snapped by Evan on his road trip... Electric Ant #1 on the shelves at Quimby's in Chicago!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!

Hope everyone's year is off to a good start! I've been away for a while- first visiting family at Christmas, then spending the past week enjoying San Francisco with my GF back in town from grad school. New Year's Eve was great, a night out with friends, a bottle of Green Label, and Womanizer by Britney Spears; New Year's Day was low key, spent in pajamas watching the best mall brawl ever:



I'm working on my best of 2008 posts (manga, comics, blogs) and a most anticipated books of 2009 list. The blogging vacation is over and it's time for me to get back to work!

ZINE SECRET: THE COVER WAS A CONTEST!

So, some explaining is in order. It's not a big deal to anyone, but it's time to reveal a minor secret. The cover to the first issue of Electric Ant had a little more to it than initially meets the eye. As noted in the Table of Contents:

QR is a 2D barcode format that's common in Japan but still hasn't caught on yet in backwardsville, America. They're used commonly to encode text, URLs and other secret messages.

If you have a snazzy Japanese or European cell phone, you've probably got a barcode reader built in to the applications. QR is also supported on the iPhone and gPhone. I decided early on to use QR to link to the websites of contributors, and also put a little secret embedded in the cover.



SO! The rub with the contest was that you had to decode the secret URL and then be i) one of the first people to respond, and ii) willing to dish about your first kiss. Here are the results and prizes!


1ST PRIZE: JAMES!
2ND PRIZE: ILYA!
3RD PRIZE: VIC!
4TH PRIZE: ERIC!

For those that haven't read the zine, the questions from the survey spread are:
1. Name
2. How old were you?
3. Who was it with?
4. Where did it happen?
5. Describe it in 3 words.
6. If you could kiss any historical figure, who would it be?


(THE PRIZE: 3 original hand-painted YOUR FIRST KISS scrolls used in the center spread!)
1. James
2. 12, I think
3. A girl called Octavia from my class
4. Her bedroom
5. Weird but nice
6. Melanie Safka (in her prime)


(THE PRIZE: Three free copies of Electric Ant #1 to hand out to friends!)
1. Ilya Atkin
2. 15
3. My first serious girlfriend
4. A park bench
5. She had braces.
6. Cleopatra


(THE PRIZE: A Suehiro Maruo postcard and pin, from Tacoche in Nakano Broadway Mall.)
1. Vic Wong
2. 19
3. A girl in my dorms, 2nd night there
4. On the 4th floor of Griffiths Hall in my room
5. College is amazing
6. Lorraine McFly circa 1955


(A packet of Same Hat goodies, including the 2007 booklet, a copy of my Your Seat Is My Behind zine, and an advance copy of the 2009 SAME HAT SAMPLER - featuring non-web content like new Hanakuma and Kikuni comics, outtakes from Electric Ant #1 and other surprises.)
1) Eric Nakamura
2) 15 (depends, first one with tongue?)
3) Some chick I don't talk to, never want to remember her again, disgusting
4) In a car, her piece of shit car
5) Smelled like smoke
6) Queen Lillioukulani

I'm mailing out prizes tomorrow! Thanks to the folks that responded, and for everyone that's bought a copy and supported the project. You can start playing with QR using the free, open-source Kaywa Reader. Copies are still very available via the site, and work on issue 2 preparations are underway!

DANCE! KREMLIN PALACE! by SHINTARO KAGO (CHAPTER 7)

Good news for you Soviet-loving manga freaks - my friend Rizzah (with illustrious cohort, Anonymous K!) has delivered another chapter from Dance! Kremlin Palace! by Shintaro Kago over at Wanted: Cheap Manga.



I enjoyed this latest chapter quite a bit. As the Soviet regime launches a 5-year plan to vitalize the nation, Kago ponders how Siberia's tundra is the source of this boom. Of course once they depend on an export, Stalin's scientists have to resort to extreme methods to keep up production of this rare but renewable resource. Killer stuff!

As Rizzah describes Chapter Seven,

This chapter is all about the freezing exports of Siberia. Freezing fish, freezing produce, freezing fear… you know, freezing. Obviously, it takes the usual Kago descent path into madness.

Click to download Chapter 7 from Wanted: Cheap Manga!


ENJOY!