After a slow start on Friday, the exhibition floor and adjacent space for panels turned into a giant Otaku party. Naruto cosplayers bumped shoulders with waves of girls in super frilly dresses—“gothic lolitas”—and all manner of anime fans, in costume and out. The Anime Network’s maid café, where “waitresses” dressed up in maid outfits—actually adorably energetic teens, delighted to pose and dance for the cameras—greeted customers with a bow and attracted hordes of equally adorable dancing and enthusiastic teenage cosplayers. On the exhibition floor vendors sold everything from discounted manga and anime titles to samurai swords, plush toys, t-shirts and fuzzy pig slippers. At the back of the exhibition hall a giant stage sponsored by Tokyopop was used for cosplayers, a concert by the J-pop band Unicorn Table and special artist and publisher presentations. And while some publishers were absent—CMX and Viz did not exhibit, but distributed their sneak peek volumes—many others such as ADV Manga, Dark Horse, NetComics, Del Rey, and Yen Press were on hand.  

The brows are furrowed and teeth mightily clenched in Pleece’s noirish artwork for Johnson’s pulpy tale of a black journalist who goes undercover in the 1930s South to investigate a possible trumped-up murder charge against his brother—a charge that could lead to a lynching. Zane Pinchback, who is so light-skinned he can pass for white with a little cosmetic help, writes the “Incognegro” column for a Harlem newspaper, and his beat (like that of many a brave black journalist at the time) is the bloody circus of lynchings still claiming lives in horrendous numbers. Johnson’s tale is a smart and fast-paced one, particularly when dealing with Pinchback’s reluctance to return to Mississippi (wisely preferring his comparatively sheltered Harlem life). Once he’s back down South, the twists and turns of the story come fast and thick, goosed by the not particularly trustworthy explanations being given by Zane’s moonshine-distilling brother, and the attention-drawing antics of Zane’s playboy friend Carl, who invited himself along on a lark. Johnson and Pleece have done a mostly commendable job, though the plot gets too knotted for its own good long before the conclusion, but they give a cracking Chester Himes kick to what could have been a sub–Walter Mosley imitation. (Feb.)

Editor Katsushi Ota is the visionary behind the literary anthology magazine, Faust, a four year old publication in Japan with a circulation of 65,000 that has been licensed and published in Taiwan and Korea. In August, 2008, Del Rey Manga will publish it in the U.S with exclusive interviews and stories selected for American readers. It will also feature illustrations by some of the most popular mangaka in the U.S., including such creators as Takeshi Obata (Death Note, Hikaru no Go), CLAMP (xxxholic, Tsubasa), and Ueda Hajime (FLCL).

• Welcome to Tranquility Vol. 1 (DC/ Wildstorm)
• NYC Mech Vol. 2: Beta Love (Image)
• New X-Men Childhoods Ends Vol. 5 (Marvel)
• Criminal Vol. 2: Lawless (Marvel/ Icon)
• Andromeda Stories Vol. 2 (Vertical)
• Guin Saga Manga Vol. 1: Seven Magi (Vertical)
• Wild Ones Vol. 1 (Viz Media)
• Japan Ai: A Tall Girls Adventures in Japan (Go! Comics)
• Robot Vol. 4 (Udon Entertainment)
• Acme Novelty Datebook Vol. 2 (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol. 5 (Dark Horse)

• Marjane Satrapi Signing
  
• Dramacon and Zombies Calling at The Beguiling
  
• NYAF on PW The Beat
  
• American Elf Archive Now Free
  
• BOOM Studios Holiday Party
  
• CBLDF Holiday Parties