News and reviews for the discerning manga fan
Are you an adult reader new to manga? Or a librarian who’s looking to add more graphic novels to your adult collection? Then this list is for you! The VIZ Signature imprint is one of the best resources for adults who read — or are curious about — manga. All of the Signature titles originally [...]
I’m not a big fan of squirm-inducing comedies like The Office; it’s hard to root for a loser who makes everyone uncomfortable with his general lack of self-awareness and humility. Yet The Office was undeniably compelling, even if it was sometimes hard to watch. The genius was in Ricky Gervais’ performance: he embodied a type [...]
If TOKYOPOP was the company that first embraced the teen market, licensing Sailor Moon and bringing manga to big chain stores, then VIZ was the company that first wooed adult readers, using distinctive packaging and punchy trade names to help older manga fans distinguish stories about boy ninjas from stories about disillusioned samurai. VIZ wasn’t [...]
Every month, the manga blogging community holds an event that writer Matt Blind dubbed the “Manga Movable Feast.” It’s a week-long virtual book club in which we discuss a favorite artist, series, or genre in-depth. A new blogger “hosts” each month, determining the “menu” and ensuring that every participant’s contribution is properly noted. This month’s [...]
Today we continue our discussion of sex, sexuality, and gender in Osamu Tezuka’s manga. Joining me are Derik Badman, host of madinkbeard.com; Alexander Hoffman, host of Manga Widget and a contributor to Manga Village; Omar Khan, YA Librarian for the Upper Saddle River Public Library in Saddle River, NJ; Matthew Plummer, avid reader and Tezuka [...]
As part of this month’s Manga Movable Feast, I invited other bloggers to discuss Osamu Tezuka’s depiction of female characters. Six people answered my call: Derik Badman, host of madinkbeard.com; Alexander Hoffman, host of Manga Widget and a contributor to Manga Village; Omar Khan, YA Librarian for the Upper Saddle River Public Library in Saddle [...]
Reading Osamu Tezuka’s Lost World (1948) reminded me a formative graduate school experience. I was researching George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (1935), when I stumbled across a blistering review of a composition I’d never heard: Blue Monday (1922), a one-act “jazz opera” that Gershwin composed for Paul Whiteman’s Scandals of 1922. After attending its premiere, [...]
February 9, 2012 marked the twenty-third anniversary of Osamu Tezuka’s death. His career in the manga industry spanned five decades, from the early days of the akahon market to the industry’s zenith, when comics accounted for nearly 40% of all books sold in Japan. Over the course of his life, Tezuka produced more than 150,000 [...]
From the early 1920s through the late 1950s, before television became a fixture in Japanese homes, audiences flocked to kamishibai performances on street corners and parks around the country. A kamishibaiya (storyteller) would pedal from village to village with a butai (small wooden stage) perched on the back of his bicycle. When he arrived in [...]
Looking for a spooky manga to get you in the right frame of mind for Halloween? Below is a partial list of all the horror titles that I’ve reviewed here at The Manga Critic. Keep in mind that my definition of horror is similar to MMF host Lori Henderson’s: I view horror as any type [...]
I’m not a big fan of squirm-inducing comedies like The Office; it’s hard to root for a loser who … [Read More...]
Are you an adult reader new to manga? Or a librarian who's looking to add more graphic novels to … [Read More...]
Back in the 1990s, Matt Thorn labored hard to make Keiko Nishi a household name among American manga … [Read More...]
Between the Manga Movable Feast and end-of-the-semester duties, I've fallen hopelessly behind in my … [Read More...]
Below is a list of helpful English-language web resources about manga and manhwa. I update this page on a regular basis, so … [Read More...]
Since joining the Good Comics for Kids team in 2008, I've reviewed a variety of comics, graphic novels, and manga for younger … [Read More...]
Though Vertical has published two series by Keiko Takemiya, the Magnificent 49ers' work remains largely unavailable in … [Read More...]
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