Friday, October 03, 2003
News and other things...
- It seems like manga continues to influence the American industry. Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir of New Mutants have a new story in the works called Once in a Blue Moon, with more information in this article.
It involves a 16-year-old girl that gets sucked into the fantasy world inside of a book. They mention that there will be a lot of western influences in terms of mythology and such and mention Dragonheart and Narnia as well (I'd add that it also sounds a little like the Neverending Story), but when I saw the cover image, the first thing that came to my mind was Fushigi Yugi, and they mention that by name as well as Inuyasha as recent influences.
It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out. The story sounds like it has promise, the artwork looks very much in a Japanese type style without looking like bad fanfiction, and Oni Press will likely get it into bookstores fairly quickly. - It seems like there is yet another movie coming out that'll be based on a comic book. This one sounds like it has some promise, though. Non-superheros and the Nolan bothers adapting and directing. I hope it actually gets some exposure for the comic, though. I didn't even realize Men in Black was based on a comic until like a week ago. Sometimes companies seem so scared to scare off viewers by saying a movie is based on a comic that they barely take advantage of the opportunities at cross-marketing...
- I just stumbled onto the fact that Miyazaki's popular animated movie Kiki's Delivery Service is not only based on a children's story, but that the story has been translated into English! The homepage of the book is here, and information about the how it relates to the movie here.
I'll also take this opportunity to state that Miyazaki's own manga series Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind is one of my favorite comics of all time from any country. If you don't believe me, check out the 108 5-star reviews on Amazon. - My heart goes out to Colleen Doran who just had to go through a pretty frightening Hurricane experience.
- According to a Brita TV commercial I just saw, their technology can filter all sorts of things out of tap water, including Mermaids!
- Samurai action tonight on IFC. First is Yojimbo at 8pm (EST), the movie that inspired A Fistfull of Dollars, next an the making of Kill Bill at 10pm, and finally Seven Samurai 10:15pm, which inspired The Magnificent Seven. Samurai Rebellion is also on 1:45pm tomorrow.
- A new Pulse article is up with some interesting responses. A poster mentions that she'll have trouble explaining the new Catwoman bondage movie outfit is a different character from the stories her daughter has been reading. A mention of DC's look for a manga editor prompts replies of how DC should focus on getting some of its own titles out in a cheap format, at least titles that might be accessable.
- A great interview is up with the Eric Shanowar about his series Age of Bronze is up at Comicon. I haven't read any of it yet, but it is one of those titles at the top of my list of things to try out. This title really needs to be out in bookstores where it can get some more exposure...
- I'm really happy that the new Sandman book is doing so well, but I have to agree with some of the responses that point out how DC seems to be squandering an opportunity.
- Lasty, a couple of things I forgot to mention about my trip to Media Play yesterday. First, something I couldn't help but notice is that while manga was sorted in alphabetical order of series, no matter what company it came from, it seemed like the American stuff was almost always bunched up. I suppose it is a combination of traditional thinking, similar book size, and a lot of stuff starting with the word Ultimate, but it kind of stuck out in my mind.
The other thing which I found really interesting was the Tokyopop Sneaks - Fall 2003 volume. There were at least 30 of these stacked up on the counter near to the manga section and are aparantly totally free. The back specifically says "complimenrtary / not for resale / $7.99 value". It is 128 pages long, with previews for 10 series. Each preview has a page with a synopsis, name of author, genre/s, recommended age rating, and the release dates of coming volumes. Then it has a selection of 8-12 (usually 10) pages of the comic, giving a section of a chapter that they think will give you a good feel for things. It also has a big two-page listing of what manga is coming up sorted by release date, from July to December, and a couple of one-page ads for some of their other manga titles.
These companies really seem to know what they are doing when it comes to marketing their titles. They also seem to be getting enough income in that they can start to do loss-leaders like this. I'll be on the lookout for the Winter version which I'm guessing will be out at the end of the year... For now, head out to Media Play/Suncoast/Sam Goody if you want some previews of titles out there, including X-Day, Brigadoon, Zodiac P.I., Wild Act and others...
