Manga For Sale, Volumes and Sets

Due to job circumstances, I may be moving over the summer. Even if I don't, I've decided I have too many possessions in my life. So I'm drastically pruning the manga collection. End result for you: good deals on like-new books!

Single volumes are $5 each. Buy 5 or more, shipping is free. (I'm sorry, but I can only ship to US or Canada.) Shipping is free on sets. I may be ambitious in trying to sell the larger groups as a bunch, but I'm hoping maybe a library would be interested?

Act now! After a week, I'm going to start getting rid of these in other ways. If you're interested in any of the below, please email me.

Sets

Hikaru no Go 1-23 (Viz) ' $198 cover price, asking $100
Karakuri Odette 1-5 (Tokyopop) ' $57 cover, asking $30
Musashi #9 1-13 (CMX) ' $130 cover, asking $55
Otomen 1-12 (Viz) ' $117 cover, asking $60
Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei 1-8 (Del Rey)
The Story of Saiunkoku 1-7 (Viz)

Afterschool Charisma 2-5 (Viz Signature) ' $52 cover, asking $30
Bunny Drop 1-5 (Yen Press)
Kingyo Used Books 1-4 (Viz Signature)
Princess Knight 1-2 (Vertical) ' $28 cover, asking $15
Saturn Apartments 1-4 (Viz Signature)

The Dreaming Collection (Tokyopop, contains 3 volumes) ' $20 cover, asking $10

Single Volumes

Arata: The Legend 9 (Viz)
*Black Butler 9 (Yen Press)
Dawn of the Arcana 3 (Viz)
The Earl and The Fairy 1 (Viz)
Hana-Kimi (3-in-1 Edition) 1 (Viz)
Itsuwaribito 4 (Viz)
Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You 13 (Viz)
*The Lizard Prince 1 (CMX)
Maoh: Juvenile Remix 7 (Viz)
Mikansei No. 1 V1 (Tokyopop)
Nightschool The Weirn Books 1 (Yen Press)
Oresama Teacher 5, 8 (Viz)
Sakura Hime 7 (Viz)
Skyblue Shore 1 (Tokyopop)
Slam Dunk 21 (Viz)
*Tesoro (Viz)
Venus Capriccio 1 (CMX)

*Ignore these, it's a private marking system so I know where to find the books.

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Can You Make a Living in Manga If You're Not Japanese?

Deb Aoki has been posting a five-part series exploring the question of whether young comic creators inspired by manga will be able to make a living with their art. So far, three parts have gone up:

• Part 1 ' why the art-related economy is broken
• Part 2 ' problems with using the label 'manga' for non-Japanese works
• Part 3 ' what art school lacks in training young artists

The pieces are based on Twitter conversations, and they explore a number of economic factors, including the lack of support of original comic content of any kind, the superhero-heavy focus of the US comic industry, and the general unwillingness of manga fans to support non-Japanese work. Businesses in North America, when they do hire young creators, want them to work as hired hands on properties owned or licensed by them.

I found the most telling quote of the whole piece this one, by Erica Friedman:

I recently spoke to a high school class who asked me how they could break in to the industry. I asked them how many manga they bought by American artists and they told me 'none.' But they didn't see the connection.

Your purchases fuel the kind of industry you want. Traditionally, that meant people telling you not to buy things you're not enjoying. In this case, it's the more positive flip side: buy what you wish was a viable market.

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New Year's Eve

It was kind of weird watching a movie with such a specific timeframe on a spring Sunday afternoon, given how much it fetishizes the magic of the titular holiday. The earlier Valentine's Day had more universal appeal, since that holiday is more anticipated by more people. Everyone wants to be in love then, while most sane people I know don't want to be anywhere near Times Square for New Year's.

There are lots of likable actors involved, but I would have enjoyed this more if I was more of a Jon Bon Jovi fan, since he plays a rock star everyone's crazy about, except for his ex (Katherine Heigl ' and she really is the brand marker for this kind of movie, isn't she?).

The plots are sitcom-ish: An overprotective single mother (Sarah Jessica Parker) can't cope with her daughter (Abigail Breslin) growing up. A pair of opposites (Ashton Kutcher, as a comic book artist, and Lea Michele, as a singer) get trapped in an elevator. The woman running the ball drop (Hilary Swank) is afraid of heights. An expectant couple (Seth Meyers, Jessica Biel) wants to be the first to have the New Year's baby. A woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) who just quit her job is trying to complete her bucket list with the help of a courier (Zac Efron). They all play out as you'd expect, with few surprises.

Now, a few days after seeing it, I don't remember much of it at all ' yet I know a couple of people who want to borrow my DVD, just to check it out. It's comfort viewing, where we all know exactly what we're going to get.

The special features include a commentary with director Garry Marshall, which I didn't listen to, and a gag reel, half of which has already been included in the bloopers shown during the credits. The Blu-ray edition has all the extras, with three short promotional featurettes with cast and crew plus deleted and extended scenes with Marshall's commentary. I bought the DVD because I didn't really want more of this film.

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Comic Creator Lessons From Bakuman

The Shonen Jump Alpha website has posted a list of 10 Things We've Learned From Bakuman, the manga about making manga. The list items are short, illustrated with panels from the manga series, but it's hard to argue with the wisdom of lessons like 'It's a Tough Field to Make It', 'Being a Mangaka's Really Tough on Your Social Life (Except with Other Mangaka)', and 'If You Don't Try, You'll Never Succeed.' Even though the series is about manga, much of this applies to comic-making as well.

Where Bakuman differs from the usual stories we hear about aspiring comic creators is in its use of a team ' a writer and artist who are separate people ' and its emphasis on the virtue of editors. The insight into how the Japanese manga industry works is the book's strongest virtue, in my opinion. It's a key reminder that there's no one right way to make comics.

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Courtney Crumrin #2

• Posted by Johanna on May 14, 2012 at 5:18 pm
• Category: Indy Comic Reviews
• CREDITS: by Ted Naifeh
• PUBLISHER: Oni Press; $3.99 US

I really liked the first issue of this new color series, and I was curious to see where Ted Naifeh would go in Courtney Crumrin #2. He took us in a direction I didn't expect, by flashing back to many of the same events of issue #1, but this time showing them from the perspective of Holly, the new girl. (Note, even, that the covers are something of a reversal to each other in positions and facings.)

You might fear this would seem repetitive, but it's not. Instead, it deepens both the new personality and the world she and Courtney inhabit. Instead of simply being a new antagonist for the title character, Holly now has her own motivations and desires. Some of her actions, cast as villainy in the first issue, are more understandable and even relatable.

It also supports what I've seen as the theme of this series, the idea that perception matters. What seems wrong or bad might not be when you understand more about the choices behind the decisions or when you take the perspective of someone unlike you. It's an argument for tolerance, basically. Even monsters can be understandable, and people on opposite 'sides' may have a lot in common.

Specifically, we see just how much Holly is like Courtney ' only a younger Courtney. Holly needs to learn some of the same lessons, and Courtney simply saying, 'Don't do that' isn't enough teaching. We also get to meet more of the kids Courtney took revenge on in the past. We may have been rooting for what she did, especially if we read previous stories, but we weren't previously encouraged to think about what their lives would be like now and whether the punishment was commensurate. It's a fascinating new take on a long-running setup that provides food for thought for new and old readers alike.

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Congratulations to Josh Neufeld, Comic Journalist Fellow

• Posted by Johanna on May 14, 2012 at 3:27 pm
• Category: Comic News

Josh Neufeld, who's been creating non-fiction comics for forever ' I reviewed his travel collection A Few Perfect Hours back in 2006 ' has been deservedly recognized with a journalism fellowship. He's the first recipient of this award and only the second comics journalist to receive an American journalism fellowship of any kind.

Neufeld has been offered a 2012'2013 Knight-Wallace Fellowship in journalism at the University of Michigan, a program that, as he describes it, 'gives mid-career journalists a chance to pursue customized sabbatical studies for a full academic year. The program includes twice-weekly seminars, as well as training in narrative writing, multi-platform journalism, and entrepreneurial enterprise. Fellows also make two extended international tours to Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Istanbul.'

Neufeld will be researching Bahrain's Pearl Revolution, a subject he's already written about briefly, with the aim of creating a long-form graphic novel. Neufeld most recently created A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge and has illustrated The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media and Titans of Finance: True Tales of Money & Business.

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Erstwhile Kickstarter Brings Fairy Tale Comics to Print

• Posted by Johanna on May 14, 2012 at 4:24 pm
• Category: LinkBlogging

Gina Biggs, whom I've talked to in the past about her series Red String, has launched a Kickstarter project to publish her fairy tale comic Erstwhile.

The project has well exceeded the original goal with, at the time of writing, 23 days left to go. The main release will be a 136-page color hardcover collecting five lesser-known fairy tales. (One of which, 'The Farmer's Clever Daughter', I previously reviewed when it was a stand-alone comic.) Another $2,000 in pledges, and two more short stories will be added to the book.

The stories are illustrated by Biggs, Louisa Roy, and Elle Skinner, and they're told in the grimmer, more original versions. A $20 pledge will get you your own print copy in September. Higher amounts offer original art or extra comics. Or you can just read the webcomics.

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