Will Sailormoon Save Manga?

According to the Nielson BookScan chart that ranks top-selling graphic novels, Kodansha's Sailormoon series has topped the charts for the third month in a row. The full list of top graphic novels for November can be found at IcV2.com where you will see that other SM properties are also in the top ranks, except for volume 1 which IcV2 guesses "may indicate supply problems."

What accounts for the rise in the release of a manga that is nearly 20 years old? Is it nostalgia for the "good old days" of manga? Or are the other current comic books just not appealing enough to a female readership? We'll see if these numbers continue to stay on top.

Also, now that I have returned to my blog, one of the first things I did was to clean up the manga publishers' bar to the left. It was a very sad task. I deleted six links. Since I started this blog, the following publishers have gone to the wayside: ADV, CMX, CPM Press, Go! Comi!, Mediablasters, and Tokyopop. At the very least, Tokyopop's catalog (which was one of the largest in the industry) is still being published by Kodansha Comics (distributed by the American Publisher, Random House).

What is the future of manga publishing in the States?
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CFP: Mechademia, Volume 8

Dear all:

I hope to make this a more active blog. In the meantime, please read and pass on this "Call for Papers." I know we will receive a lot of interesting essays!

For more information about Mechademia, visit the site or drop me a question. I'll be happy to hear from you.

CFP: Mechademia 8. Tezuka Osamu: Manga Life

We seek submissions for the eighth volume of Mechademia, an annual forum for critical work on Japanese manga, anime, and related arts. The theme of volume 8 is “Manga Life: Tezuka…”

Tezuka Osamu is one of Japan’s most renowned anime and manga creators, often regarded as an origin figure in Japanese popular culture. Published in conjunction with a major exhibit of Tezuka’s Work to be held at the Weisman Museum in Minneapolis Minnesota in 2013, Mechademia 8 will attempt to provide some new perspectives on Tezuka—including his context and his legacy–through the broad rubric of “Manga Life.”We imagine this theme to encompass:

—Tezuka’s profound interest in the relationship between human and non-human life forms

—drawn or animated characters as quasi-autonomous life forms at the center of multimedia franchises or media mixes, a development Tezuka’s work (across manga and anime, for example) helped foster.

—the emergence of professional manga creators; the ability of artists and writers to live a “manga life” as manga production emerges as a viable livelihood.

— links between popular culture and daily life, with attention to the transformations in everyday life in Japan during the span of the Shôwa period (1926-1989), which corresponds almost perfectly with Tezuka’s life (1928-1989).

We invite submissions that deepen or complicate our understanding of these areas, centered on any aspect of Tezuka’s work and life, as well as on related artists and work. We particularly welcome essays exploring historical and political implications of Tezuka’s “manga life.”

The deadline for submissions is January 9, 2012 to submissions(at)Mechademia.org Essays may be up to 5,000 words in length, with shorter pieces also welcome, and we will consider submissions in creative, non-traditional formats as well.

STYLE GUIDE

Download the Mechademia Style Guide (vers. 4.0, July 2011) – pdf format

FOR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SUBMISSIONS PROCESS

Please contact Wendy Goldberg, Submissions Editor
submissions AT mechademia.org

FOR OTHER INQUIRIES

Frenchy Lunning, Editor-in-Chief, Mechademia
frenchy AT mechademia.org

TokyoPop Closing!

Perhaps the only thing that would get me blogging again for nearly two years is the fact that Tokyopop has just announced that they are closing. Tokypop transformed the way people read manga and could be seen as mostly responsible for the reading boom that occurred a few years ago. The fact that they are going under may seem to signify the manga bubble has truly popped. Where will manga in the U.S. go from here?

Now that I have started to blog again, perhaps I will dedicate some thoughts to that question in the days to come.