Home » Buying Manga

The Shipping News, 1/27/10

25 January 2010 11 Comments

“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice, she was so much surprised by her manga-fied likeness that she quite forgot how to speak good English. Alice in the Country of Hearts (Tokyopop), which arrives in stores on Wednesday, would give Lewis Carroll’s heroine plenty of reasons to ignore the finer points of speech. The plot, for one: though familiar characters and props appear throughout the series, the basic storyline borrows more liberally from a dating simulation game than the source material. The characters, for another: manga-kas QuinRose and Hoshino Soumei have populated their story with bishies galore, most of whom fall head-over-heels for Alice. (Depending on your perspective, this could be a marked improvement on the original text or sacrilege.) Anna, a.k.a. Tangognat, characterizes the artwork as “a cosplayer’s dream” while praising the authors for creating an unusually self-aware heroine:

Alice is aware that the whole adventure is a projection of her unconscious, and she isn’t too happy with the quality of her imagination or her own emotional neediness. Alice meets a man named Nightmare when she goes to sleep in Wonderland and she asks “On what planet would everyone trip over themselves for me? I guess my subconscious is as stupid as this world.” She finds the rules of Wonderland disturbing because she assumes her mind is creating them and nothing makes sense. When Alice thinks about the fairy tale Heart Castle and frilly clothes she’s wearing, she wonders if she secretly craves them, and concludes “this is the most humiliating way to explore my subconscious. I hope I wake up soon.” If this aspect of the story is followed up on in future volumes, it has the potential to be interesting.

Sounds kind of… postmodern. Other options for shojo fanatics include The Portrait of M & N (Tokyopop), a brand new series about a masochist (M) and a narcissist (N); new volumes of Four-Eyed Prince (Del Rey), NG Life (Tokyopop), and Shugo Chara (Del Rey); and the fifth installment of the sumptuously illustrated, hella confusing Bride of the Water God (Dark Horse).

This week’s other noteworthy release: the ninth and tenth volumes of Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen (Last Gasp). Using the visual conventions of shonen manga, Nakazawa offers a fictionalized account of his own childhood experiences as a Hiroshima survivor. Though the early volumes chronicle August 6th and its immediate aftermath, the later ones document Gen’s efforts to rebuild his life and find his calling. Volumes nine and ten bring the saga to a close on a hopeful note, as the now fifteen-year-old Gen pursues his dream of being an artist, falls in love, and contemplates a move to Tokyo. If you haven’t yet read Barefoot Gen, you owe it to yourself as both a manga lover and a citizen of the world to do so, as Nakazawa’s powerful visual storytelling will leave an indelible impression.

NEW SERIES/ONE-SHOTS

  • Alice in the Country of Hearts, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
  • The Box Man (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Deadman Wonderland, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
  • The Portrait of M & N, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
  • Stolen Hearts, Vol. 1 (CMX)

CONTINUING SERIES

  • Animal Academy: Hakobune Hakusho, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
  • Barefoot Gen, Vol. 9: Breaking Down Borders (Last Gasp)
  • Barefoot Gen, Vol. 10: Never Give Up (Last Gasp)
  • Bride of the Water God, Vol. 5 (Dark Horse)
  • Elemental Gelade, Vol. 11 (Tokyopop)
  • Four-Eyed Prince, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
  • Go Go Heaven, Vol. 8 (CMX)
  • Kamichama Karin-Chu, Vol. 8 (Del Rey)
  • Karakuri Odette, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
  • NG Life, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
  • Phantom Dream, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
  • Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking, Vol. 5 (Del Rey)
  • Shugo Chara, Vol. 8 (Del Rey)
  • Togainu no Chi, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
  • Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, Vol. 25 (Del Rey)
  • Zone-00, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)

11 Comments »

  • Anna said:

    Thanks for the link! I guess time will tell if Alice in the Country of Hearts is engagingly post-modern or just a Wonderland bishy parade.

    # 25 January 2010 at 4:27 PM
  • Katherine Dacey (author) said:

    You’re welcome, Anna! You certainly piqued my interest in the title, as I have to admit that Tokyopop’s description didn’t sound like something I was desperate to read. I think I’ll hold off until volume two, however; if you’re still praising it then for its post-modern daring, I’ll definitely give it a try!

    # 25 January 2010 at 4:36 PM
  • Kris said:

    “Hella confusing” is a pretty good way to describe Bride of the Water God. I think the book is gorgeous, and I do like the story and characters…. But the story jumps back and forth all over the place constantly, and it’s hard to keep track of it. Definitely have to read it a couple of times before it starts to make real sense.

    I want to say that Reversible volume 1 from DMP is coming out this week as well. I’ve seen it listed on one solicited list:

    DIGITAL MANGA
    9TH SLEEP GN $12.95
    ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE NOVEL VOL 01 (OF 2) $8.95
    HOW TO CAPTURE A MARTINI GN $12.95
    KABUKI GN VOL 02 (OF 4) RED $12.95
    REVERSIBLE GN VOL 01 $13.95
    YASHAKIDEN DEMON PRINCESS NOVEL VOL 01 (OF 3) $13.95

    I want to say that comes from Diamond, though I’m not 100% certain.

    # 25 January 2010 at 9:52 PM
  • Katherine Dacey (author) said:

    Glad to know it isn’t just me, Kris, because I’ve finished chapters of BofWG and had no idea what had happened. It sure is purty, though!

    FYI: I get my info from the Midtown Comics website, as it reflects what will actually be on its store shelves on any given Wednesday. That often leads to conflicts with Diamond’s list, but at least I know that, at a minimum, the books will be available through Midtown’s website. Those DMP books were originally slated for a December release, but were slightly delayed. (At least, that’s what I remember from reading the DMP Twitter feed.) I know there were a lot of folks wondering about these titles, so thanks for the intel!

    # 25 January 2010 at 10:02 PM
  • Kris said:

    I believe the list I was looking at comes from Comixology:
    http://www.comixology.com/thisweek/

    And I think they get their information from Diamond’s solicitation list.
    If Midtown comics reflects what is going to be on THEIR shelves…then it’s a little less reliable (though if I understand, it’s a pretty big store…still, they won’t order everything). Mycomicshop.com (Lonestar Comics) lists Bride of the Water God and Yashakiden coming out this week, but not Phantom Dream. Likely because they didn’t order it for their stores (in fact, no volumes of the title are listed on their site at all).

    Though I must admit that my comic store didn’t tell me Reversible would be coming out this week, and they get a shipping list every week, and one of them calls me to tell me what I have coming in (because I pre-order everything). So there could be some signals crossed somewhere.

    Anyway…who knows. :)

    # 25 January 2010 at 11:11 PM
  • Katherine Dacey (author) said:

    I used to be a regular at Midtown Comics when I lived in New York City. Midtown actually *does* order just about everything, though the timing doesn’t always coincide with availability at other retail outlets. About 50-75% of their list lines up with what’s on the new arrival shelf at my LCS, which also has an awesome selection of manga. So you’re right, it isn’t the most unimpeachable source of information. On the other hand, I feel better using it as a reference, as I know for sure that someone could obtain a copy of every book on the shipping list. I should probably include some links to help clarify my sources.

    Your comments make me think it would be worthwhile to track the new arrivals lists for 3-4 different retailers to compare the results. I’d be really curious to see how my LCS and Midtown stack up against the publishers’ official release dates as well as Diamond’s shipping list.

    # 25 January 2010 at 11:21 PM
  • Possible Handley deal, manga giveaways, and more « MangaBlog said:

    [...] Dacey checks out this week’s new manga at The Manga [...]

    # 26 January 2010 at 7:39 AM
  • Kris said:

    Actually, I was going to suggest just that! That you cross-reference your list with a couple different retailers. I think that would be a good idea.
    I used to shop at and work for Lonestar Comics (mycomicshop.com), and their manga selection…. They sort of just ordered whatever, or nothing. I don’t think they had a lot of people who knew much about manga. I was certainly the only one in the store I worked in with enough knowledge to influence what was ordered for the shelves. And I still had to pre-order some titles that they wouldn’t bother with. They’re also pretty conservative, so I doubt they’d ever order say, a yaoi title for their shelves. Certainly they absolutely refused to carry or even order Alan Moore’s Lost Girls graphic novel.

    The one I shop at now (the Lonestar branch near me closed, and I didn’t really like them that much anyway, lol) is a mom-and-pop kind of place, and they really don’t order much manga to speak of. It won’t sell well there, so I specifically pre-order every title I want. And I’m basically one of the only customers they have that buys manga (regularly at least) there too, if not THE only person.

    # 26 January 2010 at 11:59 AM
  • Jade said:

    So…how would Portrait of M & N be at all different from all the other shojo titles about the narcissistic prince teaching a doormat the supposed natural submissive tendencies of her gender? It’s laughable that a writer would think this would make for a unique manga theme.

    I’m so sick of seeing that garbage pop up in every shojo book I read, I’m about ready to give up the genre completely. Have you ever thought of doing a not offensively sexist shojo series feature?

    # 26 January 2010 at 6:50 PM
  • Katherine Dacey (author) said:

    That might be a very short post, Jade! Actually, that sounds like an incredible but fun challenge, given how little material from the 1970s is available in translation. I can think of a few titles off the top of my head, so now the trick is to try and develop a longer, more robust list.

    Did you see Shaenon Garrity’s latest column at Journalista, BTW? She’s very much in sympathy with you, pointing out that shojo lost a lot of its girl-power street cred in the 1990s with titles like Hot Gimmick. Here’s the link: http://www.tcj.com/latest-stories/twilight-is-manga. I laughed and cried a little bit reading it because it’s so very true.

    To be honest, I don’t know how M&N would be different than any other shojo manga. Truth in advertising, maybe?

    # 26 January 2010 at 7:06 PM
  • Jade said:

    Thanks for the link! *sway* I picked up the Hot Gimmick omnibus a few weeks ago because so many readers rave about it, but it was horrible.

    Hmm…I like Nana, but lately, Takumi’s getting such a sympathetic spotlight for his misogynistic attitudes specifically; it’s kinda gross and I just want him to step in front of a train…Two Flowers for the Dragon is cute, but it’s hard to say it wouldn’t devolve into Wild Ones if she wasn’t a dragon…Apothecarius Argentum and Dorothea are both pretty good, though Dorothea is *really* dry sometimes…Emma could definitely go on that list!

    # 27 January 2010 at 5:39 AM

Leave your response!

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.

You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

This is a Gravatar-enabled weblog. To get your own globally-recognized-avatar, please register at Gravatar.