Drama Queen staff (l. to r.) Ailen Lujo, Laila El Ouali, Tran Nguyen (front) and Calynda Pellikka.

Otakon catered to fans with seven conference rooms screening episodes of anime series like Genshiken, Nana, Sugar Sugar Rune and Gantz. And manga publishers Drama Queen, Digital Manga Publishing, ALC Publishing and Tokyopop were present to meet their fans, while the yaoi (boys’ love) category continues to surge. DMP had the strongest publisher presence, with three separate panels and a signing with boys’ love manga-ka (author/illustrator) Makoto Tateno.

Tokyopop featured original global manga artists like Bettina Kurkoski (My Cat Loki) at its booth and announced online exclusives on some forthcoming titles. These books will have limited print runs and will be available only through the Tokyopop Web site. Tokyopop also added Shizumi Seino's Heaven to its list for February 2007. Meanwhile, Drama Queen held a boys’ love panel after hours, for the 18-plus crowd, and drew fan approval with its publishing philosophy: "Faster, harder, cheaper."

Huizenga has created some of the most remarkable comics of recent years, and this volume collects stories published in anthologies and random comic books. Huizenga’s work, drawn in a deceptively simple and quietly expressive cartoon line, is marked by a focus on philosophical quandaries. Nearly all of his stories take place in an anonymous suburbia, and his everyman protagonist, Glenn Ganges, is a likable character possessed of a Charlie Brown–like calm. The strongest story in this book, “28th Street,” is a fanciful meditation on fertility in which Ganges turns to supernatural solutions for his all too corporeal problems. Another excellent story, “Jeepers Jacobs,” explores the nature of heaven and hell through the fictionalized work of a theologian protagonist. Another story, “Green Tea,” is an adaptation of a 19th-century thriller. It’s quite a range, and Ganges’s thoughtful wonderment at all of his experiences opens up the world to the reader. Huizenga is an inclusive, empathic artist who communicates without lectures—rather, he simply shows the world as it might be and allows us, through Ganges, to experience it with him. His excellent ear for dialogue and measured prose style accomplish this without flash. These are wonderfully considered, profound comics. (Oct.)

Jae-Hwan Kim is the artist behind one of Tokyopop’s most successful licensed original manga properties, WarCraft: The Sunwell Trilogy. Based on the enormously popular role-playing game, volume one of the WarCraft manga has gone back to print four times. Volume two, Shadows of Ice, was released this spring. Kim is also the artist for another Tokyopop licensed series, King of Hell, written by Ra In-soo. Kim is based in Korea and is a popular artist there. He was a featured manhwa-ga (Korean artist and writer) at the recent San Diego Comic-con, where PWCW got a chance to talk with him through an interpreter.

• Black Belt Club Vol 2: Night On The Mountain Of Fear (Blue Sky Press)
• Bluesman Vol 3 (NBM)
• Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Vol 4 (D&Q)
• Freak Vol 1 (Ice Kunion)
• Green Arrow: Heading Into The Light (DC)
• Kickback (Dark Horse)
• Marvel Zombies (Marvel)
• Omukae Desu Vol 1 (DC/CMX)
• Penny Arcade: Epic Legends Of The Magic Sword Kings (Dark Horse)
• Spider-Girl Presents: Avengers Next - Second Coming (Marvel)
• X-Statix Presents Dead Girl (Marvel)
• The Authority/Lobo: Holiday Hell (DC/Wildstorm)

• Excelsior! Stan Lee Honored at 2007 NYCC
  
• Blair Butler's weekly comics reviews on G4TV