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Talking with Ultimo's Hiroyuki Takei
Last year, Viz Media announced Ultimo, their first ever manga collaboration between an American creator, the legendary Marvel creator Stan Lee, and a Japanese creator, Hiroyuki Takei. Takei is the creator of the shonen manga, Shaman King, a series totaling with 32 volumes and a 64-episode anime adaptation. Takei appeared at this past weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con to promote the American release of Ultimo where PW Comics Week sat down and spoke with him.
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Manga Keeps Growing in a Tough Economy
“If this is the valley,” Scott McCloud said at a discussion during the 40th annual San Diego Comic-Con International this past weekend, “then we’re doing pretty good.” McCloud was referring to the dip in the economy which was not reflected in the business climate of this year’s event. While some the publishers and vendors on the manga-side of the graphic novel business scaled down their booths or did not attend, others put on a strong show.
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Furry Water Flows at Dark Horse
Rising art star Rafael Grampá is bringing two comics to Dark Horse, with a new six-issue mini-series, Furry Water, and a new edition of Mesmo Delivery, his first solo book. Furry Water is written with Daniel Pellizzari, a known SF author in their native Brazil. They describe the series as a saga of adventure and family honor set in a world where most of the population has been killed by “Furry Water,” a deadly rain.
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Photo Mania
The 40th annual San Diego Comic-con International was a bombastic, oversized, pop cultural revival meeting, exhorting the gospel of contemporary comics, movies and TV. PWCW photographers roamed the San Diego Convention Center to bring back pictures of some of the people and events of the show.
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Why Are Two Canadians Out to Kill Shakespeare?
If you're a fan of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Bill Willingham's Fables, there's a good chance you'll be hooked on Kill Shakespeare, a new comics series coming from IDW next year and easily one of more exciting new projects bouncing around this year's Comic-con International.
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Web Exclusive Reviews: 7/27/2009
This week: Ryan Grim on drugs, 21 humor writers and Mike Sacks, Jane Jeong Trenka's search for home, Richard L. Brandt examines the Google boys, and Corinne Maier hates on kids. Plus: Children's books from Ursula Vernon, Anna Hays, Todd H. Doodler, and fiction from Jill Mansell, Brett Battles, C.C. Finlay, and Maxine Paetro backing up James Patterson.
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Fiction Reviews: 7/27/2009
Reviewed this week, new books from Audrey Niffenegger, Kazuo Ishiguro, Clive Cussler, John Twelve Hawks, Austin Clarke and Mary Monroe. Plus, Irene Sabatini debuts with an unconventional love story set in Zimbabwe, more Estonian avant gard fiction from Mati Unt, and Anne Finger imagines alternate lives for some legendary outcasts.
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As 'Kindly Ones' Sinks, 'Every Man Dies Alone' Rises
Jonathan Burnham's acquisition of Jonathan Littell's French bestseller, Les Bienveillantes, after 2006's Frankfurt Book Fair is almost the stuff of publishing legend. Burnham plunked down a rumored $1 million for a book that, despite being the buzzed-about novel of the German show and a European bestseller, seemed an incredibly tough sell in America.
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Children's Book Reviews: 7/27/2009
This week, reviews of new picture books from David Elliott and Timothy Basil Ering, Jerry Pinkney, and Judi and Ron Barrett; novels from Frank Portman, Faye and Aliza Kellerman, and Albert Borris; and a reference round-up.
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Del Rey to Publish Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel
Following on the success of Quirk Book’s bestselling transformation of Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice into a zombie novel, Del Rey Books announced plans to turn Pride and Prejudice and Zombies into a graphic novel.
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Comics, Movies and a New Publishing Deal for Bone at the San Diego Comic-Con
The 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, the sold-out pop culture marathon that will attract about 125,000 fans to the San Diego Conventiion Center over the next 5 days, kicked off this year’s events with Preview night, a 3-hour sneak peak at the jam-packed exhibition floor, a new conference focused on the lucrative crossover between comics and other media and news of lots of publishing deals.
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Q & A with Patricia Reilly Giff
Q: How did you come to set this story in the world of horse racing?
A: So many things inspired this novel. For years, my family and I lived in Elmont on Long Island, the town where Belmont Racetrack is located. I don’t mention the track by name in Wild Girl, because I wanted to leave myself a little wiggle room in terms of the details. When kids read books and find things that aren’t perfectly accurate, they point a finger and let me know! -
Vladimir Tod: Tall, Dark, and Fangsome
As loyal fans (affectionately called Minions) of Heather Brewer’s series The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod (Dutton) well know, school sucks—literally for Vlad. That’s because he’s a vampire (well, technically a half-vampire). What Brewer’s Minions also know is that Vlad’s humorous, every-guy-centric take on blood-sucking legend is something fresh in the currently crowded vampire lit genre. Tenth Grade Bleeds, the third volume in the series, hit stores June 25.
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Religion in Review: You Saw It Here First: Original Religion BookLine Reviews;
and a Sneak Peek at Religion Book ReviewKaren Armstrong’s The Case for God; Scott Cairns’s The End of Suffering: Finding Purpose in Pain; Pamela Eisenbaum’s Paul was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle; Anne Graham Lotz’s The Magnificant Obsession: Embracing the God-Filled Life; Elie Wiesel’s Rashi; Tarif Khalidi’s Images of Muhammad: Narratives of the Prophet in Islam Across the Centuries; and more.
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Amazon, Archaia To Release Kindle Graphic Novel
Although Amazon.com has published prose works exclusively on the Kindle before, in a first the online retailer has teamed with graphic novel publisher Archaia to publish Tumor, an original graphic novel by writer Joshua Fialkov and artist Noel Tuazon, initially in a digital edition formatted specifically for the Kindle; Tumor will be released serially on the Kindle before a hardcover print edition is published.
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Red 5 Hits with iPhone App
With digital downloads of comics for various desktop and handheld devices getting more and more attention, several comics publishers are getting additional sales through iPhone downloads. One of the surprise success stories has been Red 5.
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Brian Fies Looks Back at the Future
There was a time when the future was something to look forward to. That’s the spirit Brian Fies captures in his graphic novel, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? , published this month by Abrams. “It really stems from a joke—‘It’s the 21st century. Where is my flying car and jet pack?’—and looking back and turning over the question in my mind—what did happen to the fun stuff?” Fies said.
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Otakon ‘09: Good Attendance and Sales; Some Complaints
The unofficial registration for this year's Otakon, an annual anime and manga convention held July 17-19 at the Baltimore Convention Center, was 26, 350, up slightly from last years attendance of 26, 262. Although fans showed up in force (and in costume) and vendors generally seemed pleased with sales, there were complaints about the organization of Artists Alley and the programming—including one anime panel that was abruptly halted for inappropriate content.
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Comics Briefly
Yen Press Plans Twilight Manga; Rand’s Anthem to be Graphic Novel; Penguin Grabs Sex Is Fun; Spider-Man party at Hanley's; Mouse Guard RPG Nominated; Stan Lee's Time Jumper Premier; Taymor on Spider-Man Musical; SDCC 09: Papercutz, CBLDF, G4; and This Week @ Good Comics for Kids
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Relationships and Preconceptions: Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku
The Ooku is the area of Edo Castle, the legendary ancient Japanese military capital, where the Shogun’s wife, concubines and female relatives lived during Japan’s Edo period (1603-1868). In Fumi Yoshinaga’s new alternate history manga Ooku: The Inner Chambers, the Ooku is instead the residence of the Shogun’s husband and concubines, for in this Japan, the women rule.
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