Sadly, this is our final update for the Taniguchi Manga Moveable Feast. The weekend yielded a bumper crop of reviews.

Beginning her own mountaineer training, Linda gives us a third review for the MMF. This time it’s The Quest for the Missing Girl. To avoid spoilers, Linda kept this one brief.

Taniguchi is a great storyteller, and I would recommend his works to any adult readers who would want to read a great story. Since The Walking Man, I found this to be one of my favorite books from Jiro Taniguchi.

The Quest for the Missing Girl

Thanks, Linda, for all your effort. Ash better watch himself, or he’s going to find you got to the top of the mountain first.

Lori Henderson also tackles the mystery featuring a mountaineer, unpacking the story’s genre.

The Quest for the Missing Girl isn’t strictly a mystery. It’s a character study wrapped in a mystery. Megumi’s disappearance is just an excuse to get Shiga off his mountain and involved again with her and her mother Yoriko, the widow of his best friend, Tatsuko. Tatsuko died while climbing Mt Daulaghiri, so Shiga feels some survivor’s guilt since he had turned down Tatsuko’s offer to join him on the climb. And that is really what is at the heart of this story. As Shiga searches for Megumi, he is also dealing with memories and feelings that he had pushed aside.

Jason Yadao classes up the joint with his insightful review of The Walking Man.

The reason why this book appears at first glance to be about nothing from a storytelling standpoint is because “nothing” is exactly what Taniguchi wanted us to embrace. The man clearly has an identity and a job that keeps him busy, but that doesn’t matter; we’re always seeing him unplugged from that, walking somewhere, enjoying whatever life happens to present to him on a particular day.

Phillip at Eeeper’s Choice discovered, like the rest of us, one review just isn’t enough when it comes to Taniguchi, offering us a second review, this time of The Ice Wanderer and Other Stories. It’s a wonderful read, so be sure to check it out.

As always, Taniguchi’s lines are precise, delicate and detailed. There is a timelessness that I think generations will be able to appreciate for years to come. Whether it’s mountains, bears, boats, holy men, or whales, all these things are to be found.

Justin of Organization Anti Social Geniuses (Why do I feel like Lex Luther and Dr. Doom are their role models?) gives us this surprisingly civil review of Kodoku no Gourmet.

…Yakinuku shows it’s not just what you eat — it’s where you eat it that also adds to the experience. If anyone watches the Food Network and sees Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and sees the great food being made, you’ll also see the personality (albeit briefly) of the people who go and see how much of a good time they’re having.

In the comments, Justin seems to have convinced someone to try JManga. So that’s your evil plan!

Manga Connection finds common ground with the protagonist of A Zoo in Winter in her review.

Taken a whole, this is a nice coming of age story. I was a bit bored initially, but things picked up during the “Big Brother” arc as I realized just how Hamaguchi was being forced to buck up and finding a driving force within himself.

Johanna got caught in the review fever, too, and wrote her thoughts on The Summit of the Gods Volume 2.

I was engrossed in Habu’s experience — the exaggerated natural conditions, his thoughts while trying to survive, the amazingly detailed portraits of the environment, his aggression against the weather when he’s the interloper, why he’s so competitive with someone he has so much in common with. In the previous book, he was a monster figure, larger than life. Here, we finally get to know him and more about what drives him.

I told you it was a lot. And that’s not all!

Because we here at Taniguchi MMF want to leave the customer satisfied, we interviewed Stephen Robson, co-owner of Fanfare/Ponent Mon.

I was immediately bowled over by the beauty, clarity, and detail of Taniguchi’s art and was soon even more impressed by the depth and wisdom of his writing (albeit I was reading in French). I couldn’t wait to bring his work to the English-speaking public.

Go read the rest and then help Stephen publish more Taniguchi by buying some books.

Finally, a little video dessert to finish off your meal. Julia at Retconned Fangirl pointed out this video of a Taniguchi exhibit that was part of an Italian comics convention. Hey, Otakon, how about bringing that exhibit over here to the US?

Here is a French video interview with Taniguchi. It’s brief, but we get to see his studio and his assistants. That’s a rare treat.

I’ve certainly enjoyed myself as co-host of the Taniguchi MMF, and I hope everyone’s enjoyed the reviews. A very sincere thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the contributors. If you haven’t read any Taniguchi, I hope we’ve inspired you to pick up a title or two. Trust me, you won’t be sorry.

The Manga Moveable Feast will be taking an Easter break in April. But we’ll be back with renewed vigor in May for the Oishinbo and Food Manga MMF to be hosted by Khursten Santos at Otaku Champloo. You don’t want to miss out on this MMF. There are a lot of foodies in the manga community, so this promises to be an exciting MMF.

So I wrote a little piece trying to come up with a definition of manga. Matt Thorn gently tried to tell me I was headed down the path of folly. He, James Schee, and Johanna quickly pointed out that my assertion there are no talking head pages in manga was simply wrong. And via Johanna, here is the proof:

Oishinbo page 75; story by Tetsu Kariya; art by Akira Hanasaki

That’s page 75 of the English edition of Oishinbo Volume 1. This might not be Marvel’s infamous nine panels in a grid, but it’s still lots of dialogue and minimal art.

Johanna further pointed me to Testu Kariya’s essay “What Is Japanese Cuisine?” in volume 1 of Oishinbo (pp 111-114). Kariya is trying to figure out how to define Japanese cuisine. Let me pull a few quotes that will give you the thrust of his argument.

After having traveled all over Japan, I have come to realize that Japan culinary culture is exceedingly rich and diverse. (p113)

They’re all cooked with diverse techniques, and look and taste surprisingly different, but they’re all equally “real Japanese cuisine”. (p113)

Eventually, I realized “What is Japan?”, “What does it mean to be Japanese?”, “What is Japanese cuisine?” are all meaningless questions. It is the spirit of washoku that brings everything together as one harmony. (p114)

…I realized that what we were all eating wasn’t “Japanese food” or “Japanese cuisine”, but washoku: a cuisine that brings people together in harmony and gives them pleasure. (p114)

(An editor’s note points out that the “wa” in washoku can mean either Japan or harmony. The “shoku” means food.)

Make a few simple substitutions, and you get exactly the same point Matt Thorn was making in his comments. Now, I’m not that foolish to disregard the wisdom of both a distinguished translator and a well-established manga creator. So upon the rocks of evidence, my musings have been dashed to pieces and quickly sunk.

I do think there is a ‘spirit’ of manga, an intangible quality that people sense when they are reading it. But attempting to come up with a concrete definition of what that ‘something’ is is doomed to failure. It’s like that infamous philosophical struggle to define the word ‘knowledge’. (You should see the number of books written on that.)

So while my previous attempt failed, I did learn a few things. I don’t mind being wrong as long as I can gain some wisdom from my efforts. Thanks to David, Matt, James, and Johanna for their insight and correction.

Take a quick survey of the spines of Taniguchi books, and one publisher’s name pops up over and over again, Fanfare/Ponent Mon. They have published two-thirds of all Taniguchi books available in English.

Some of Fanfare's many fine publications

The Fanfare half is actually Stephen Robson. Fanfare isn’t part of a larger book publisher. Stephen is owner, publisher, and editor. In essence, he is the company. Stephen’s very selective about the books he publishes because he funds these books from his own pocket, which should tell you how much he loves Taniguchi’s manga.

Stephen graciously took time to answer some questions via email for the Taniguchi MMF.

Stephen, let’s start off with a little bit of background about you and your history as a comics reader.

Firstly, a thank-you to Ed and Johanna here at Comics Worth Reading for their continued support of our work and for hosting this MMF dedicated to Jiro Taniguchi’s work.

As a child growing up in a small northwestern town in 50s England, I had little or no exposure to American comics until the 60s arrived. Then I made friends with a boy in Sunday School who was an avid fan and spent much of his time tracking down and pouring over the few titles that entered the UK back then. His passion never spilled over to me, but I would sit on the sidewalk outside a store and read The Atom while I waited for him to come back out to go play in the park!

In the 70s after college (I was a math major), I travelled for four years, half of which I spent in France. I learned much of my French from their bandes dessinees, beginning with one called Les Aventures d’Alix by Jacques Martin which was read to me by a bilingual (German and French) seven-year-old! Her favourite, it’s a series about a Gallo-Roman soldier, and I learned a lot about Julius Caesar and Vercingetorix!!! But his style of ligne claire kept me wanting more.

How did you first discover Taniguchi and what about his work appealed to you?

Fanfare / Ponent Mon was born in the shade of Frédéric Boilet’s Nouvelle Manga movement, which fused creator-owned Franco/Belgian with similar Japanese comics. One participant of the movement was Jiro Taniguchi. I was immediately bowled over by the beauty, clarity, and detail of Taniguchi’s art and was soon even more impressed by the depth and wisdom of his writing (albeit I was reading in French). I couldn’t wait to bring his work to the English-speaking public. I was fortunate enough to publish him for the first time with The Walking Man in 2004 as the fifth book from the Nouvelle Manga stable.

How did you contact Taniguchi? Was it difficult to get the licenses to publish his books?

We were in a fortunate position, having Frédéric Boilet as our guide at that time, since Taniguchi’s work had been published by various Japanese publishers, and much of it preceded Nouvelle Manga. But Boilet led us through that maze, so we were able to publish more of Taniguchi’s books, both self-penned and in collaboration, until we became sufficiently established. Still, one title eluded us for several years — the rights to A Distant Neighborhood were enmeshed in various other contracts. It took a few Frankfurt Book Fairs to untangle that one, but the result is, I trust you agree, well worth it.

Stephen Robson announcing A Distant Neighborhood at NY Comic Con 2008. Photo by Christopher Butcher.

How has Taniguchi’s work been received by English-speaking readers?

Our books have always been well received critically, and Taniguchi’s work in particular has been at the center of that. A multi-award winning creator elsewhere, in the States, he received five Eisner nominations in four years for his own work and one as part of Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators, our groundbreaking anthology book. I believe that reflects both the strength of Taniguchi’s material and the hard work and devotion of everyone involved at the publishing end.

Can I clear up one fact? We ALWAYS translate directly from the original language into English. Our current translator for Taniguchi, Kumar Sivasubramanian, has developed a wonderful feel for his work. I ALWAYS do the final edit on every book, and as I do not have a word of Japanese, sadly, I lean on the French editions for comparison. This also helps on speech layout, as we tend to use the files from the French, rather than the Japanese, publisher as they will have already adapted the word balloons to an occidental language and, for the bigger sellers, may have had the art professionally ‘flipped’ — a job we could not possibly undertake on our own. In fact, it was Boilet himself who did that for A Distant Neighborhood whilst Taniguchi did the toning on Boilet and Peeter’s Tokyo Is My Garden!

Do all these accolades mean that Taniguchi’s books are selling well?

I am still disappointed with the sales figures in mainstream US, but we are seeing a faster sell-through as we progress. The returns percentage in these outlets is frightening for an Englishman. No wonder UPS et al are so big! Anything your readers can do to spread the word is always appreciated, especially in this difficult climate. A small publisher marches on its backlist, so any recommendations you can pass on to a friend, school or college, bookstore, and indeed, any surviving libraries would help spread the pleasure of encountering Taniguchi’s work to more folk.

What publishing plans do you have the future?

We will be bringing out more from Taniguchi, of course, and have had strong requests to reprint The Walking Man again. All in good time. Best way to keep informed is through this fine website and by subscribing to our modest newsletter through our contact page. Feel free to write me directly from there, also, but not all at once!

Finally, any recommendations for folks who like Taniguchi’s works? What should we read while we’re waiting for the next Taniguchi book?

Recommendations of other artists? Of course, our whole list, but I would be as interested in your readers’ ideas as in my own. I have long been a fan of ‘slice-of-life’ comics and will pick up as much as I dare in that vein. Fortunately, I have a warehouse so can be quite daring! Whilst a large volume of them remain gathering dust, there is enough sunshine in one really good find to keep me going until the next one. All I will say is the current one is Underwire by Jennifer Hayden which fills the crazy gap in my life but is nothing like Taniguchi!

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Ed again. It was a great pleasure talking with Stephen. I want to thank him for taking time to answer our questions. I hope he’s enjoying the Taniguchi MMF and will let Taniguchi know that there are lots of folks in the West that love his work.

I’m doing this without Stephen’s foreknowledge. Of course, we believe in supporting your local bookstores and comic shops first and foremost. However, if you’re having a hard time finding the Taniguchi book you want, you can order directly from Fanfare/Ponent Mon. Simply select the book you’re interested in, and if they have copies, there will be a button to buy the book.

Hang around Twitter or manga discussion forums long enough, and you’ll see the debate about how to ‘properly’ define manga pop up. Usually this happens when a work by a non-Japanese creator (such as Svetlana Chmakova, Felipe Smith, or Adam Arnold) gets labeled as manga. However, Jiro Taniguchi provides us with a challenge to the definition of manga from the Japanese side. Is it still manga when a Japanese artist intentionally seeks to emulate Western comics?

Icaro
by Moebius and Jiro Taniguchi

It’s no secret that Taniguchi modeled his own art style after Jean Giraud, better known in American as Moebius. In fact, one common comment you’ll see in reviews of Taniguchi’s books is how un-manga-like his art is. It’s not just that Taniguchi doesn’t use the stereotypical ‘big eyes, little mouth’ style people associate with manga. He also doesn’t use most of the visual shortcuts we see in manga, like the infamous large sweatdrops, nosebleeds, and snot bubbles. On a deeper level, Taniguchi tends to stay away from elaborate or innovate page constructions. He sticks mostly to a simple grid format commonly used by Western comic creators. So is Taniguchi’s work really manga?

Before we try to answer that question, let’s look at another manga creator with international connections, Kia Asamiya. He’s an accomplished manga artist that did a story called Batman: Child of Dreams. This was a DC-sanctioned comic serialized in Kodansha’s Magazine Z in Japan. DC liked it enough that they translated it and published here in America as a graphic novel. Now is this Batman story manga? DC Comics certainly thinks so. The promotional literature says, “Batman gets the manga treatment!”

Batman: Child of Dreams

But DC isn’t the only American comic company Kia Asamiya has worked for. He has also done work for Marvel. His credits include Thor: Gods on Earth, Killraven Premiere, and Avengers: World Trust. So are these books manga? I suspect both comics and manga fans would say no. Certainly, Marvel isn’t touting them as manga. So why is Asamiya’s Batman book manga and his work for Marvel not?

Let me suggest this definition for manga: comics first published in Japan by a Japanese creator. It seems to solve our Asamiya dilemma and get at the heart of what most manga readers find essential to manga.

Of course, there is the little matter of Peepo Choo. Creator Felipe Smith is an American living in Japan. Peepo Choo was written for and serialized in the manga magazine Morning Two. So it definitely meets half the requirements. Should we consider Felipe Smith a Japanese creator? Not yet.

Let me unpack what I mean by “Japanese creator”. I don’t mean simply someone born in Japan or of Japanese descent. If George Takei (best know as Star Trek’s Sulu) was to begin publishing comics in Japan, I wouldn’t consider them manga either. “Japanese creator” means someone who is part of the manga tradition in Japan. I do mean “tradition” and not style.

The mistake some people make in trying to define manga is thinking that it’s a specific art style. However, you don’t have to look far to see how absurd that idea is. Just look within the pages of the most popular manga magazine, Shonen Jump. Compare the art of Bakuman, Hunter x Hunter, Kochikame, and One Piece. You have art ranging from very detailed and realistic to simple and highly exaggerated. You won’t mistake one series for another. Yet, all these are manga.

Manga is defined more by the way stories are told. Visuals are as important, if not more important, than plot, dialogue, and character. You won’t see any pages of just talking heads rattling off exposition. You won’t see walls of text with just the occasional illustration. Manga wants to create all the visual excitement of a well-crafted movie. This ‘art first’ approach is what I mean by the tradition of manga. Creators spend their lifetimes trying to master it.

This is why Felipe Smith isn’t yet a Japanese creator. He is just beginning his apprenticeship in the manga tradition. Those born and raised in Japan have a big advantage. They are raised in the manga tradition, even if they aren’t manga fans. It’s as native to the country as their language. Without wanting or trying, they learn it. The creators are the ones who take the steps to study it, understand it, and become an active part of it. If Smith stays in Japan long enough, then one day he too will stop being manga-influenced and simply become manga.

So Taniguchi might have borrowed his art style from Jean Giraud and Western comics, however, his storytelling style is very much Japanese. Pick up any of his works, and you will see that he is a graphic storyteller in the truest sense of the term. He uses the art to do most of the storytelling. The narration and exposition serve visuals.

Taniguchi isn’t just a manga creator; he is a master of the tradition. His stories are for the more mature and attentive reader. Characters don’t tell us they’re mad. We see their anger. It’s in their eyes, facial expressions, and body language. Tragic moments are left silent. The lack of words adds weight and solemness to the emotion. You can’t simply skim the dialogue or narration and know what is going on. You have to actually look at the art to understand the story.

It’s creators like Taniguchi that help us see what is really significant about manga. They strip away the surface distractions of ‘big eyes and small mouths’. As the manga that get translated into English become more diverse, the greater our understanding and appreciation of the manga tradition will become, too. Perhaps one day you won’t need to live in Japan to be raised in the manga tradition.

Just because the weekend is coming doesn’t mean people are slacking off from the Taniguchi Manga Moveable Feast. If anything, it seems to have fired up people.

The Mountaineers Award goes to Ash Brown, who read 16 volumes of Taniguchi for this MMF. We’ve already highlighted his review of A Zoo in Winter. He does capsule reviews of the other 15 books here. A couple quick quotes:

I absolutely loved A Distant Neighborhood and plan on buying a copy of both volumes of the series to own.

The pacing in The Quest for the Missing Girl is fairly slow, but the finale more than makes up for that. Parts of the ending are unbelievable, but I don’t really care because, frankly, it’s awesome.

Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators

Ash, you have proven yourself a manly manga man, and we here at Taniguchi MMF Headquarters salute you!

Linda also decided just one review wasn’t enough and did this review of “Summer Sky”, Taniguchi’s contribution to Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators.

There is a questionable open-ended conclusion, but you can say this is a reflection of Taniguchi’s thoughts as to his hometown, a seaside rural area, that is greatly contrasted to the urban sky lights of Tokyo.

Lori Henderson digs deep into the out-of-print stacks for her delightful review of Samurai Legend.

Samurai Legend is a great title filled with action and intrigue. Its strong story and historical elements make it an entertaining read, even with Furuyama adding some of his own personal political views. I have to admit though, I do like this position, even if it may be somewhat romanticized.

I love how closely Angela Eastman identified with the protagonist in A Zoo in Winter. Those are some of the best moments as a reader and reviewer.

A Zoo in Winter is truly a story of beginnings, as we don’t see how this artist eventually turns out (though his bibliography, and this MMF, speak favorably for him). But it shows all the rough points creators find for themselves — ruts, confusion, jealousy, guilt — the important things that every writer or artist goes through prove that this is what they love, this is what they want. I know I’ve felt all these things and more — here’s hoping I can keep carrying through.

Angela, I hope you get to live your dreams as fully as Taniguchi has and is.

We couldn’t sit back and just let everyone else have all the fun. We here at Taniguchi MMF Headquarters offered up our own reviews too.

I expressed my love of Taniguchi’s food manga Kodoku no Gourmet (The Solitary Gourmet).

Johanna gave a wonderful review of Tokyo Is My Garden, pointing out its faults and charms.

Although slight in plot, it’s a very readable book, easy to follow and get lost in. I didn’t much like David, but I got a good understanding of his experience in Tokyo, enough so that I could sympathize with his plight.

There’s still time to get your own review or essay submitted before the Taniguchi MMF closes. So read Taniguchi, think Taniguchi, feel Taniguchi, write Taniguchi, and send me the link.

Goro Inogashira is an importer whose work has him traveling throughout Japan. Food is important to Inogashira, and he enjoys visiting local restaurants during business trips. However, he’s not a food snob. He enjoys bar food as much as a good steak. Kodoku no Gourmet gives us a first-person account of his culinary adventures.

This book could have also been called The Walking Man Eats. Goro spends as much time wandering around various locales trying to find a place to eat as he does eating. Not that I’m complaining. Jiro Taniguchi’s detailed backgrounds allow us to do some sightseeing.

This is an odd sort of foodie manga. You won’t hear Goro wax poetic about how an entree taste, as Fumi Yoshinaga does in Not Love But Delicious Foods… Nor does he offer us a detailed explanation of a particular dish’s ingredients and the way they compliment each other like Tetsu Kariya in Oishinbo. Instead, Goro talks about the overall meal being a satisfying experience and trying to find a balance of flavors when ordering. It’s more relatable to the common person, like myself, despite the title.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is just as important to Goro as the food it serves. He makes observations about the clientele and the furnishing for most of the places he goes. This is a surprisingly effective way to give the reader a sense of place. You feel like you’re sitting right next to Goro. There’s a chapter where Goro chastises an owner for his brutish treatment of his assistant. He tells the owner the place has such a negative atmosphere it made him lose his appetite. And that is no mean feat!

Speaking of appetites, the amount of food Goro can pack away is very impressive. I feel bloated just watching him eat. He comes across as someone who doesn’t eat regular meals and so really chows down when he does sit down to eat. He often complains that he’s eaten too much. However, that doesn’t stop him from sampling everything that appeals to him the next time he eats. Even a trip to the convenience store for a late-night snack becomes a major shopping expedition for him. It’s amazing Goro’s not as big as a house.

Taniguchi’s artwork is gorgeous as always. In volume 3 of Kingyo Used Books, the characters talk about the food being so realistically drawn it makes them hunger for it. I certainly agree. Taniguchi’s art puts you right there at the table with Goro. Taniguchi’s realistic style makes his work very accessible to Western readers.

The problem is getting access to the book. It’s only available through JManga.com. This means having to go through a lot of hoops if you just want to read this single work. It’s really a shame, too. Kodoku no Gourmet is perfect for attracting people who normally don’t read manga. This highlights how JManga’s lack of a simple purchase system like Viz, Dark Horse, or Comixology does only harm. To add insult to injury, JManga claims to offer a preview of the book, but it’s just the cover, title page, and table of contents. It would be nice if you got to actually see some of the pages of the story before buying.

Kodoku no Gourmet is another wonderful slice-of-life book from Taniguchi. Fans of The Walking Man and A Zoo in Winter will find this just as enjoyable. Just like those books, Kodoku no Gourmet is a terrific one-volume character study. I heartily recommend this book to all comic/manga/bande dessinee/etc. readers.

My Taniguchi sense wasn’t wrong. The mighty Manga Moveable Feast marches forth. People are diligently working on pieces and here is the proof.

Craig Fischer has written a must-read piece on the opening story of The Walking Man, “A Blanket of Cherry Blossom”. His essay is meditative and thoughtful with a real idea for details. This is a wonderful way to start your day. He says:

Taniguchi’s art is the antithesis of expressionism: he represents the world with as much objectivity as he can, and the results are both breathtaking (in its cascade of details) and a little abstract, a little detached, not unlike the Walking Man himself. When Taniguchi draws the branches of a cherry tree, it’s a triumph of accretive detail, a network of overlapping forms rather than an emotional celebration of plant life.

If that doesn’t whet your appetite for more, you may need to check your pulse.

A Zoo in Winter

Sean Gaffney wrote a delightful review of Kodoku no Gourmet. Man, I really wish I could write like this.

Taniguchi’s works in general, and this one in particular, are not something that you simply read with your eyes — you need to use all five senses to give the best impression, or else it will become dull.

Last and never least, Ash Brown reviews A Zoo in Winter. This is the first book-length work of Taniguchi’s that he’s gotten to read. Can’t tell you how happy I am to see Taniguchi make a new fan. For us gnarled veterans of manga, it’s nice to remember the joys of discovering a new creator.

A Zoo in Winter is a quiet story. Some people may even find it boring, but I think its realism is what makes it work so well. While there may not be thrilling action sequences, there is still plenty of interpersonal drama as Hamaguchi finds his place in the world. His relationships with other people and his own self-discovery provide much of the driving force behind the story.

Thanks to all three for such well-crafted writing. Hopefully, reading these will inspire others to read some Taniguchi and maybe contribute to the MMF. It’s Thursday, so keep thinking Taniguchi thoughts.

It seems everyone was busy thinking about Taniguchi yesterday for this week’s Manga Moveable Feast. Today, we’re seeing the first fruits of those efforts.

Benkei in New York

Kate Dacey has set a very high standard for the Taniguchi MMF with her review of Benkei in New York. It’s a book I just picked up myself, but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. If this quote doesn’t make you go and buy the book, then maybe you just hate good fiction.

If Benkei’s motives and methods are sometimes inscrutable — or downright illogical — the stories still work beautifully, with crack pacing and memorable denouements that can be as deeply unsettling as they are emotionally satisfying — or, in Warren Ellis’ words, Benkei in New York is “diabolically well-told.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Linda was our early bird today with her review of Kodoku no Gourmet. I agree with Linda, Taniguchi’s art is best read in book format. You can really savor the details better than on a computer screen. I like this observation from her own time in Japan.

This book is a good follow-up for those who have tasted Japanese foods and continue to want to explore more of the foods. One of my favorite chapters of this book centered on the conbini [convenient store] foods, since Japanese combini are a hundred times better than the American counterparts.

Finally, Khursten from Otaku Champloo pointed out this article on the Japanese website Natalie about Taniguchi. I don’t read Japanese, so I can’t tell you what the article says, sorry. I do know the pictures on the article’s first page are of Taniguchi receiving the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. There are more pictures on the other two pages. I know I shouldn’t be shocked, but I do find it surprising such a frail looking man draws such beefy protagonists. I love that his office is packed with books.

My Taniguchi sense tells other people are busy writing pieces for the MMF. So stay tuned for more great reviews.

Welcome, everyone, to the official start of the Jiro Taniguchi Manga Moveable Feast, beginning today and continuing until midnight Saturday, March 24 (East Coast time zone). Various members of the manga community will be posting reviews and thoughts on Jiro Taniguchi, and we’ll be keeping an archive of those posts here at Manga Worth Reading.

The Walking Man

I’ve already given a brief biography of Taniguchi in my call to participation in the MMF. However, I did leave out one important piece of information. Taniguchi was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) in France last year.

We’ve been fortunate for this MMF in having two news stories about Taniguchi this month. The first was Taniguchi getting an asteroid named after him by the Saji Astro Park observatory located in his home town of Tottori City.

The second news item is an interview with Taniguchi regarding how the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami impacted him. The tragedy had him doubt wether he should continue on as a manga artist. The story is by Karyn Poupee of the Agence France-Presse. It’s been picked up by Yahoo, Japan Today, and Asia One. You can read it here.

(Personal aside on Poupee’s story. It’s heartbreaking in this day and age to see a reporter still drag out this old stereotype for a manga piece. “His subject matter also stands in stark contrast to the usual fare of high school romance or sometimes violent pornography consumed by some of Japan’s manga fans.” The only flaw in an otherwise fine story.)

It seems only natural that our MMF be international in scope. After all, this is a Japanese comics creator heavily influenced by French comics. We have a review of The Walking Man by JE in the Philippines coming up tomorrow. Russell in England gives us reviews of The Walking Man and A Distant Neighborhood. Representing Ireland, Phillip contributes reviews of The Quest for the Missing Girl and The Walking Man. Back here in the USA, Kate Dacey gives us reviews of Hotel Harbor View and The Times of Botchan.

There are so many great reviews of Taniguchi that I can’t talk about each individually. So I hope the following authors will forgive me for just providing links to their reviews.

Deb Aoki: The Walking Man, The Ice Wanderer and Other Stories
Kevin Church: A Distant Neighborhood
Kate Dacey: A Zoo in Winter, The Summit of the Gods Volume 1
Shaenon Garrity: The Summit of the Gods Volume 1
Alex Hoffman: A Zoo in Winter
Terry Hong: The Times of Botchan Volume 1, The Times of Botchan Volume 2, The Quest for the Missing Girl
Jason Thompson: The Walking Man
Ng Suat Tong: The Times of Botchan Part 1, The Times of Botchan Part 2
Linda Yau: The Walking Man, A Distant Neighborhood

Starting this Sunday (March 18), the Jiro Taniguchi Manga Moveable Feast will begin here at Manga Worth Reading. To make this a successful MMF, we need your participation. We’re not looking for in-depth, scholarly discussions about Taniguchi’s subversive use of Moebius’ art as a Japanese manga creator. (But we don’t mind those either.) We’re just looking for people to share their opinions and experiences reading his works.

We welcome the entire spectrum of reactions. Navel-gazing middle-aged men not your thing, let us know. Love his stuff and wish there was more, let us know. Find his art too stiff or his page compositions too boring compared to other manga you enjoy, let us know. Wonder at the detail and line quality of his work, let us know. While we are fans of Taniguchi, we’re not looking just for people who agree with us. The more diverse the opinions we get, the better the MMF.

If you’re interested in writing a piece for the Taniguchi MMF and don’t have a blog or website to post your piece, then Manga Worth Reading will post your opinion. We love getting pieces from people outside the normal review and manga websites.

Here is some information about Jiro Taniguchi himself. He was born in 1947. He became an assistant to manga creator Kyota Ishikawa in 1966. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kareta Heya (A Desiccated Summer), published in the magazine Young Comic. We’re told in the endnotes to volume 1 of Kingyo Used Books that Taniguchi stumbled across a single page of Jean Giraud’s (Moebius) art and it changed his life and his art style. Because of the Giraud influence, Taniguchi’s art is very accessible to American and European comic readers. He has three Eisner nominations (but no wins, the injustice!). He’s collaborated with several people over the years, including Jean Giraud (Icaro). To top it all off, he got an asteroid named after him this year.

The deadline for submissions to the MMF will be midnight (New York Time) on Saturday March 24th. I’m looking forward to everyone’s contributions to the Taniguchi MMF.

Here is the wikipedia page on Taniguchi.

This is an excellent French website on Taniguchi.

Ponent Mon/Fanfare’s Taniguchi page.

Here is the official Jiro Taniguchi fansite (in Japanese).

Picking up where the first volume left off, Howard finds out the banished King Abdul has a new ally. Abdul is coming after Howard and the book Howard has been tasked to guard. Howard’s adventures have him teaming up with his not-as-crazy-as you-thought father and a remarkably well-armed local policeman.

Howard Lovecraft
and the Undersea Kingdom

I asked my nephew Christopher (now 10) to help me in reviewing this book, since he enjoyed the first volume. Christopher really enjoyed this book and read it quickly. He said it was a good adventure story with major twists and turns. He didn’t find the book scary at all. In fact, he thought was a good blend of action and humor. He found the policeman and his cat particularly funny.

Christopher admired Howard’s bravery and liked him as a character. However, Christopher didn’t want to be friends with Howard because he is surrounded by people Christopher hopes to never meet.

I asked about the art. Christopher thought the art was good and easy to follow. He liked the colors used in the book. They let the reader know that the book could be creepy or eerie at times. He especially liked the change of art style when Howard is given a vision of Azathoth. It really caught his attention.

This was the first chance I had to have Christopher read a comic book on the iPad. For the most part, it was a positive experience, but it wasn’t impressive enough to get him to give up physical books. The boy is a true bibliophile in the making. For him, comics on the iPad meant other kids couldn’t bend or mark on pages. He didn’t like how carefully you have to hold the device to keep the display in portrait mode.

For myself, I also enjoyed the book and found it a very quick read. Brown has done a solid job of crafting his own all-ages verison of the Lovecraft universe. Honestly, I didn’t imagine you could do that. I’m happy that kids like my nephew will get some exposure to H.P. Lovecraft and that this series could encourage them to check out Lovecraft’s own writings one day.

I welcomed the change of artists. Boatwright is a better draftsman, and Howard now has a proper character design. Thankfully, the use of watercolor tones was retained, since it’s one of the aspects of the art I liked from the first volume. There’s a lot of use of green in this book, and Christopher is right, it does an excellent job setting the proper mood.

Both Christopher and I recommend this book to kids who enjoy a good action-adventure story. It’s been two years since the first volume appeared. I’d like to see another volume come out next year. A volume every other year will only hurt the series. It’s a lot to ask of adults to wait that long, never mind kids. Lovecraft fans should do like I did and order two copies: one to keep and one to pass on to a child reader or to give to your local library.

Arcana has a five-page preview for the book on their website. You can preorder the book through Diamond using the item code JAN12 0814 or order through Amazon. (An advance PDF review copy was provided by the publisher.)

Like any good geek, I’ve got more interests than I have time or money for. One lifelong passion I’ve had is writing instruments. Over the years, my taste has evolved from ballpoint pens to fountain pens and most recently to brush pens. So when JetPens asked if I’d be interested in reviewing some products for them, it was like a dream come true.

I’ve been ordering from JetPens for about four years or so. I can’t remember what obsession first led me to their website, but they quickly because one of my favorite pen stores. They constantly add new products, so I visit frequently to find new toys to play with. I have to exercise a lot of self-control when ordering, so I don’t max out my credit cards. Thankfully, they have a wish list feature to help me keep track of what I’d like to try or reorder in the future.

Let’s start with my biggest surprise. Brad from JetPens sent me a Pocket Clutch Lead Holder by E+M. I didn’t think I would like it because it was so small. I was wrong. It’s just the right length to fit into my hand. Also, the short body makes it easy to change your grip for different uses. For example, I like having my pointing finger resting on the top of the holder when shading. This was the perfect size to let me cup the holder in my palm. It’s got a nice thick body to keep you from getting cramps if you’re drawing for a long time. The only disadvantage is the short body means the standard size 5.5mm leads are too long to fit the holder, so you will have to either buy E+M leads or break other brand leads to fit. A minor inconvenience at worst.

Pilot’s Hi-Tec-C pens already have a devoted following. This was my first time trying one. I was sent a .4 mm point with brown ink. Usually, when you get tips this small, the pen feels scratchy against the paper. I was really impressed with how smoothly the pen wrote and its nice rich color. I can see why artists like this pen; it has a great ink flow and a thin line perfect for those detailed drawings or for crosshatching. This will be going on my wish list.

The Pilot Double-Sided Brush Pen was fun to play with. One side has black ink, the other side has grey. It’s listed as a brush pen, but it’s a felt tip that simulates a brush line. The tip on this is very stiff, making it a good beginner’s pen. The black is nice and dark. The grey is the same shade as your standard No. 2 pencil, so you can do your outlines with one side and your shading with the other. I could see artists using this as a sketch pen at conventions. I know Johanna liked it, too.

Brad sent one of my favorite disposable brush pens, a Pilot Pocket Brush Pen with hard tip. This is the perfect starter pen for people who want to explore drawing/writing with a brush pen. It has a felt tip with some play to allow for line variation. Because it’s a disposable pen, you can really experiment without worry of ruining a pen you had hoped to be a permanent part of your collection. This has been my convention note-taking pen for a couple of years now. I love the feel as it writes and how smoothly the ink flows. A great pen no matter what you use it for.

If you try the Pilot Pocket Brush pen and want to get more serious about using brush pens, then the next step is the Kuretake No. 13 Brush Pen. This is a pen with a real brush tip. The bristles are nylon. It’s a soft pen, but not as soft as natural hair. This is a pen I’m still trying to master. Andy Runton, creator of Owly, is one of the few people I’ve seen in person who has mastered using a brush pen. He gave me some great advice about maintaining steady pressure. The pen has amazing line variation from hair thin to a nice thick medium. The ink flow is marvelous. It’s like working with a constantly wet brush. This pen is a real pride of my collection.

For people who are looking for a good calligraphy pen, let me suggest the Pilot Parallel Pens. These pens put the old standard Sheaffer calligraphy pens to shame. They are much easier to use and have a smoother feel. The nibs are more forgiving of how you place them on the paper for good ink flow and nice line variation. I use the 1.5 mm nib because it’s the ideal size for addressing envelopes and writing notes. Given the compliments I’ve received for my Christmas envelopes, this pen was money well spent.

If you use wood pencils, then you must get the Stad One-Push Pencil Holder. Finally, someone designed a pencil holder/extender with actual writers and artists in mind. It’s easy to use, comfortable to hold, and actually looks great too. A co-worker saw me with one of these and begged me to get one for her and one for her daughter. All three of us still use and love these. I really can’t praise them high enough.

Finally, this is also for pencil users. The Stad T’Gaal Pencil Sharpener is simply an amazing pencil sharpener. It allows you to choose one of five tip styles for sharpening your pencil. You can go from a long thin point used for writing to a short point commonly used on coloring pencils. Most sharpeners that adjust point length do it by having a fixed blade with a stop. This means for any setting other than the longest, the pencil doesn’t have a real point. T’Gaal actually adjust the blade angle, so no matter the setting, your pencil has a nice sharp point. It’s amazing to get that level of engineering at such a low price. For wooden pencil users, this is a must have.

JetPens really is a wonderland for those of us that love writing instruments and novelty office products. I’ve had nothing but great service from them. They answer all your questions and are willing to do special orders for Japanese products that you’ve seen but that they don’t carry. I highly recommend you check out their website. You won’t be disappointed.

Looking back over 2011, there were some great manga published. In particular, three significant books were translated into English: Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, Tank Tankuro, and Wandering Son. Only Tank Tankuro by Gajo Sakamoto didn’t make my top ten list. It’s an important children’s manga from pre-World War II. However, it doesn’t age very well. Sakamoto’s unquestioning patriotism and use of stereotypes makes it hard to enjoy.

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths

There were two Tezuka manga published this year, and I desperately wanted to include them in my top ten. However, honesty forbids me. Book of Human Insects is well-written, but I still struggle with a Tezuka story where the villain or villainess wins in the end. Princess Knight is a fun book, but it’s also deeply flawed in its storytelling.

Here are my top ten favorite manga for 2011.

1. Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki. Finally, we get a manga by Mizuki in English. A powerful, semi-autobiographic tale of the hardships faced by Japanese troops during World War II, this book is also a needed reminder that not everyone wearing a Japanese uniform supported the Imperial regime. I hope this does well enough to spark interest in his other works, especially GeGeGe no Kitaro.

2. Wandering Son by Shimura Takako. Words fail me when trying to describe the beauty and artistry of this manga. The genius of this series is that Takako doesn’t focus on how ‘strange and unusual’ transgender people are, but rather how ordinary. I want to say this should be required reading for junior high students as a way to help promote understanding. However, I don’t really know if that approach works.

3. A Bride’s Story by Kaoru Mori. My review of the first volume focused too much on my own hang-ups instead of the breathtaking art, wonderful storytelling, and meticulous research. My eyes almost die from ecstasy with each new volume.

4. A Zoo in Winter by Jiro Taniguichi. I feel like Taniguichi is writing his stories for me. His sense of nostalgia, history, and character are almost identical to my own. I immediately identify with his lead characters and sympathize with what they’re going through. Maybe it’s a middle-aged man thing.

A Zoo in Winter

5. Stargazing Dog by Takashi Murakami. Everybody and their brother has praised this book and rightly so. It’s as moving as everyone says. It’s a sad story, so best to save it for when you’re ready for a good cry.

6. 7 Billion Needles by Nobuaki Tadano. This series seems to have been overlooked by most people. It deserves a much wider audience. It’s a solid sci-fi story that gets better with each volume and has a terrific ending.

7. 20th Century Boys Volumes 13-18 by Naoki Urasawa. This series has been an amazing roller coaster ride. I’m impressed that Urasawa is able to maintain real suspense over so many volumes. I can’t wait to see how it all wraps up.

8. Twin Spica Volumes 5-10 by Kou Yaginuma. Another great sci-fi series by Vertical that is getting criminally neglected. This is more of a soft sci-fi, where the focus is on the characters and their development over technology and world-building. A very moving story with lead characters you’re constantly rooting for.

9. Yotsuba Volume 10 by Kiyohiko Azuma. This series is pure joy. Yotsuba is the cure for any bad mood. Unfortunately, we have caught up with the Japanese releases, so that means only one or two volumes a year. Azuma needs to write faster.

10. Chi’s Sweet Home Volumes 5-7 by Kanata Konami. Look, it’s a cat manga, so it’s already 90% there for me. It’s well-written and adorable, so I’m totally sold. This is another manga where we’ve caught up to the Japanese release and will have long waits between volumes.

Well, let’s just dive in to the latest issue of this journal of anime and manga studies. I’ll start with the articles I had problems with.

“Dark Energy: What Fansubs Reveal About the Copyright Wars” by Ian Condry shouldn’t have been printed for two reasons. First, the article is out of date. Most of the events referenced in the article took place in 2007 or earlier. This was before Crunchyroll became a legitimate source of streaming anime and licensors Funimation and The Anime Network began their own serious anime streaming initiatives. Such radical changes in the online landscape have changed the dynamics of the discussion about fansubs. Now the article reads like a quaint discussion of bygone days.

Mechademia 5: Fanthropologies

Second, Condry’s portrayal of fansubbers as noble, but maligned, pioneers of new value paradigms is extremely one-sided and destroys any claim he wants to make for objectivity. Condry chose to focus on the actions of a few exemplary fansub groups and then portray them as normative. My favorite example of this distorted view is: “The pedagogical orientation of fansubs, explaining words, kana {Japanese writings}, obscure references and jokes, all reflect a desire to teach.” (203) Sorry, I simply can’t take Condry seriously with such sentences as that. This essay is an embarrassment to the reputation Mechademia is trying to build.

“Undoing Inter-national Fandom in the Age of Brand Nationalism” by Iwabuchi Koichi is another great example of long-winded academia. The entire message of the article is that we should not allow governments to use culture and cultural products for diplomatic and economic purposes. It took Koichi nine pages to say that. This should have been a one-page manifesto.

“Suffering Forces Us to Think Beyond the Right-Left Barrier” by Karin Amamiya is a powerful piece about the realities of being a member of the permanent part-time labor force in Japan. She discusses the psychological effects caused by being part of the “working poor” and how this helped shaped the politics she embraced in her youth. While Amamiya does briefly mention manga as an influence on her politics, it’s hard to see how this article fits into Mechademia. This would be better suited to a sociology or political science journal. An excellent essay, even if misplaced.

I can’t thank Mechademia enough for including “World and Variation: The Reproduction and Consumption of Narrative” by Eiji Otsuka. Otsuka is a leading thinker about anime and manga as well as a manga author himself (The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service). Steinberg points out in the translator’s introduction that Hiroki Azuma’s Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals can be seen as a reaction to Otsuka’s work. You can see that immediately in this essay.

Otsuka argues that what attracts consumers to products is not necessarily the product itself, but rather the narrative behind the product. We buy the toy, DVD, poster, etc. because they are signifiers of the larger story, and by owning them, we can participant in that story ourselves. It’s a marvelous article and a must-read for those any serious fan of Japanese pop culture. It makes me hunger for an entire book of Otsuka’s writings.

Let’s face it, “Speciesism, Part II: Tezuka Osamu and the Multispecies Ideal” by Thomas LaMarre was an easy sell for me. LaMarre begins by looking at the vision of a multicultural empire the Japanese Imperial government preached during World War II. He then explores Tezuka’s own post-WWII stories that wrestle with and ultimately reject this utopian vision. It’s a fascinating study. LaMarre is becoming one of my favorite scholars.

“The Art of Cute Little Things: Nara Yoshitomo’s Parapolitics” by Marilyn Ivy ended up being my favorite piece of the issue because it introduced me to an artist I was unfamiliar with. On the surface, Nana’s paintings sound like the standard hyper-cute figures Japan is (in)famous for. They are children with oversized heads and eyes. However, one look at his paintings will purge you of any warm, sentimental feelings. Nana has subverted, perhaps perverted, the typical notions of cute. Ivy explores the themes in Nana’s work and how his fans connect deeply to the characters he paints. It was like discovering a whole new world existed.

The other essays are also very good, but it would take too much time to talk about each. I will commend Brian Ruh (a friend via Twitter) for his marathon research in documenting every second cut from Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind to create Warriors of the Wind and the cuts made to the original Japanese programs to make the first episodes of Voltron and Robotech. My eyes get sore just imagining all that time in front of the TV.

Mechademia 5 is another solid issue. There is even some value to Condry’s article. It highlights the problems fans are going to have making the transition to scholars. The temptation is to use your training to justify old habits. However, such scholarship will only serve as fodder for critics that doubt the legitimacy of manga and anime studies. Fans who can’t be objective and critical of even their own practices may need to pursue another field of study. I look forward to the next issue of Mechademia and the ways it will excite and challenge my own thoughts. Mechademia has never failed to do that. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

Because of a mischievous angel, Princess Sapphire is born with two hearts: a boy’s heart and a girl’s heart. In the realm of Silverland, only males may become rulers. Since Sapphire is the King’s only child, she’s raised as a boy. Her boyish heart allows her to excel at fencing and other ‘manly’ activities. Her girlish heart and body wishes she could admit to being a girl, so she can wear dresses and go to dances.

Princess Knight Book 1

Lurking in the shadows is Duke Duralumin, who wants his son to be king. He suspects that Sapphire is really a girl and sends his henchman, Sir Nylon, to discover the truth. However, Sapphire and the royal household are too clever to fall for Sir Nylon’s schemes. The Duke’s desperation for the throne leads him to plot the murder of Sapphire. And that’s just the opening chapters of Sapphire’s incredible adventures.

Princess Knight is Tezuka’s love letter to Disney and Western literature. Everything from the artwork to the characters to the plot reads like an epic fairy-tale adventure. Here are just a few of the references I found in this book: the Disney films Cinderella, Snow White, and Pinocchio, William Tell, Captain Blood, Hamlet, and Swan Lake. It’s fun to watch Tezuka weave these influences together to create a rich and cohesive tapestry.

The art is Tezuka at his most Disneyesque. The character designs remind me most of the “Pastoral Symphony” section of Fantasia. It’s a cutesy realism. There are some breathtaking panels and splash pages. As with all his works, you can just flip through the book and get a sense of the story. Tezuka believed in having the visuals tell the story more than dialogue or narration, and he pulls out all his cinematic techniques in this manga.

While the book has one continuous storyline, it’s told in a very episodic manner. Each narrative arc within the greater story feels like a different story genre, which keeps the series exciting. We start out with royal intrigue and romance, then move into the adventures of a masked crusader for justice. Next is a fairy tale complete with an evil witch, and finally, swashbuckling adventures on the high seas. The book is a roller coaster, constantly delivering thrills at each turn.

If Astro Boy is the superhero who is seemingly perfect, then Sapphire is the very human hero with frailties. She can be a fierce swordswoman one minute and a hapless damsel the next. She is kind, loyal, and pure of hearts (remember she has two). She struggles to determine what the right thing to do is. She even wrestles with understanding herself and who she wants to be.

At first glance, it appears Tezuka is asserting traditional gender roles. In Sapphire, it seems only one heart may be active at a time. While her boy heart holds sway, she is one of the finest swordsmen in the country. If her girl heart takes control, she is barely able to defend herself. However, it’s all the same person, Sapphire.

Looking more closely, we discover that Sapphire is not responding to which heart is more dominant. Whether she realizes it or not, both hearts are equally active all the time. Instead, Sapphire is acting as the people around her perceive her. If she is seen as a boy, then she is able to be strong and fierce. If she is seen as a girl, then she is frail and submissive. Tezuka is critiquing the false dichotomy that society creates among male and female. Sapphire needs to learn to be true to herself and not let others dictate who she is or what she can do.

It’s this message of gender equality that’s the secret to Princess Knight’s appeal. Tezuka is telling girls that they have the potential to be what they want. The only limits women have are the ones they place upon themselves. Helen McCarthy mentions the influence of the Takarazuka Revue. Perhaps it’s a lesson he learned while watching the female actors portraying men and women equally. He saw women being kings, warriors, fathers, princesses, maids, and mothers. As a young boy, seeing women be anyone on the stage shaped his belief they could be anyone in real life.

As Helen McCarthy points out, Princess Knight is one of the most influential shoujo manga of all time. It inspired series like Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Tezuka has created a gripping story that is almost impossible to put down. When the book is over, you’re left anxiously waiting for volume two. It’s truly a masterpiece. With its pseudo-European setting and numerous references to Western literature, Princess Knight is Tezuka’s most accessible work for American readers. This is a master of the comic genre at his peak. All comic fans owe it to themselves to read Princess Knight.

Sunday

I starting out Sunday by running the CBLDF booth in Anime Artist Alley. We had a few people return to the booth to take part in the daily manga giveaway. I again enjoyed the experience. After the manga raffle, we closed the booth.

My only panel for the day was the CBLDF: History of Censorship. Charles Brownstein was the lone speaker at this panel. This was a much more detailed history of censorship and the CBLDF than given at the Defending Manga panel.

He started off by reading the CBLDF mission statement and the First Amendment. He briefly discussed Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent and the Senate subcommittee hearings on comics.

The CBLDF came into existence in 1986 when a comic retailer was arrested for selling adult comics to an undercover cop. Denis Kitchen started the fund to help the retailer. From there, the fund has helped retailers and readers defend their right to read what they want. A lot of the work goes unseen because the CBLDF helps to make sure cases don’t go to court but are dismissed during the investigation. They also help libraries fight challenges when someone wants to remove a comic from the collection.

This was an excellent lecture and a must-see for everyone. If the CBLDF is giving this panel at your convention, definitely go. Also, become a member of the CBLDF and make sure to protect your own First Amendment rights.

Overall Thoughts & Impressions

We’ll start with my complaints. First, NYCC/NYAF needs to do a better job at crowd control. I know they want to accommodate as many fans as possible, but when a room runs out of chairs, you should stop letting people in. It’s simply not safe to have people lined up against the walls of a room.

The convention really needs to reevaluate room sizes. When you have a convention of 105,000 people it’s ridiculous to have rooms that only seat 30 or 40 people. I would suggest the minimum room size be 200. Also, unless the room is a workshop, tables are a waste of space, so the only table in a room should be the one used by panelists.

Next, have a strict “no signs” policy and strictly enforce it. I saw lots of “Free Hugs” signs and a few “Hugs Free, Kisses $2″. Every anime convention in the country has banned these, and NYCC/NYAF needs to follow suit. The potential for problems is too great not to shut this down immediately. Let’s keep the cons as safe a place as possible.

This brings us to the problems of being press. My understanding is that 10,000 press badges were given out. That means 1 in 10 attendees were press. That’s ridiculous. Because of the high number of press, NYCC/NYAF didn’t have press seating at the panels. This made it difficult, if not impossible, for people who are serious about covering the convention to do so. It meant having to stand in line an hour before most industry panels if you wanted a seat, so you couldn’t cover back-to-back panels.

Let me propose three possible solutions. First, and simplest, limit the number of press badges given out to 1,000 or 2,000. If it means I get dropped from the press list, then so be it. I’d rather make sure the real journalists get the access they need to events and guests than let everyone with a blog in. This would allow you to either have press seating or give press front-of-the-line privileges to most of the events. I understand some panels are simply going to be too popular to accommodate everyone, but those will be very few in number.

If that’s not acceptable, then how about making the first row at every panel press seating. This way it guarantees some press are able to attend. This would be on a first come, first serve basis. Once the front row is filled, then any other press wanting to attend the panel simply have to wait in line with the rest of the attendees.

Finally, you could try a two-tier press pass system. There would be a regular press badge and a VIP press badge. VIP press would have front-of-the-line privileges and first access to guests. Regular press would simply be treated like regular attendees.

Overall, I was slightly dissatisfied this year. This is the first time I’ve attended such a large-scale event. Also, it was the first time I’ve been to a pop culture convention. I was a little overwhelmed by the sizes of the crowd and the variety of the booths. I like my conventions a little more focused. That said, I’d be willing to give NYCC one more try now that I know what to expect. I’d like to see if I could make such a convention an enjoyable experience or if it’s simply something not for me.

Friday Afternoon

I left the CBLDF booth to attend the Anime Mythbusters panel. The hosts were Rukan Shao and Zhao Chen, both physics students who run the website Animechanics.com. The panel discussed topics like: How fast must breasts jiggle in High School of the Dead to dodge a bullet? (Mach 1.28.) How strong would a character’s legs have to be to jump 25.6 meters like in Naruto? (Strong enough to leg press 3800 lbs.) And how much energy does it take for a Gundam to fly? (128 Terawatts or 8.5 times the current consumption of all humanity.)

Shao and Chen certainly knew their stuff, and it was fun to listen to them discuss how they solved these questions. I do think they might need to tone down some of the physics. I don’t think any of the crowd was interested in which equations they used to come up with their solutions.

However, the Anime Mythbusters also highlighted the fact that this year, the New York Anime Fest was once again ghettoized. First, NYAF was reduced simply to Anime Artist Alley and the Anime Stage, which is where the fan-run panels were held. The anime and manga industry booths and panels were blended into the New York Comic Con. This was a slight improvement from last year, where even the anime industry panels were segregated out.

Second, NYAF was held on the top floor of the Javits Convention Center. Mind you, this was a much nicer ghetto with loads of natural lighting. It was also one of the few places in the Javits where non-Verizon customers could get cellphone service. The downside was that there was only one set of stairs that took you to the NYAF. So you couldn’t just randomly wander up there.

Finally, all the natural lighting meant you couldn’t see anything on the projection screen at the Anime Stage. This was a problem for the panels using that stage. The Anime Mythbusters panel was running short video clips to introduce each segment, and you had no idea what they were showing, so the panelists had to describe the clip to the audience. It’s an understatement to call it a frustrating situation.

There is no reason for participants of Anime Artist Alley to be segregated out from the simpler-named Artist Alley connected to main showroom. The goods being sold were very similar, although there were more handcrafted items in Anime Artist Alley. The same goes for the anime fan panels. Let’s face it: the New York Anime Fest is being treated like the unwanted stepchild of the New York Comic Con. It might be best to drop the pretense and simply declare the NYAF dead.

My next panel was The Anime Network panel. Honestly, I went to this more out of a sense that I should attend at least one anime industry panel than any real interest. The panel was hosted by April Brem, Samantha Stevens, and Stacy Dodson. They opened by showing clips from their current show roster. They went on to show clips of upcoming shows like Persona 4, Murdock Scramble, and Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere. They announced the Loups-Garous movie would be out next month. They also announced the Broken Blade OVA series will air in January. It was an entertaining panel, and the hosts worked the crowd expertly.

I then went over to the Hiro Mashima & Kodansha Comics panel. Mashima is the creator of the popular manga Fairy Tail. This panel was packed past capacity, with people lined up along the walls. Thankfully, the Fire Marshall was nowhere to be found.

The panel began with Mashima giving a drawing demo. While he drew, Dallas Middaugh provided a brief history of Mashima’s career. Then Middaugh asked Mashima questions. It was revealed that Mashima’s favorite current manga is Berserk. He works six days per week, with at least one day being 17 hours. To be able to come to NYAF, he had work several 18-19-hour days so he would have all his required pages handed in ahead of time. He said looking at the NYC skyline inspired him.

Mashima left after they gave away the sketch he did. Middaugh announced the Sailor Moon manga sold so well, there was going to be a second printing. They are upping the print run on future volumes to 100,000. Genshiken and Kitchen Princess will be back in print in omnibus format. They announced two new titles, Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney and Attack on Titan. Also, Kodansha’s iPad app launched during NYAF.

Next up was XX: The Women of Queeer Comics. This panel was hosted by JD Glass. The panelists were Paige Braddock (Jane’s World), Jennifer Camper (Rude Girls and Dangerous Women), Joan Hilty (Bitter Girl), Kris Dresen (She’s in the Trees), Abby Denson (Tough Love: High School Confidential), and Erica Friedman (Yuricon & ALC Publishing). My apologies to the panel, I got confused during the introductions and so wasn’t able to keep track of which person was speaking.

They panel began with Glass asking the panelists why they started creating comics. They talked about wanting to create stories of gorgeous women who were tough, wanting more realistic portrayals of lesbian relationships, and out of a desire to express themselves. They mentioned Howard Cruse and Robert Triptow as being very supportive of lesbian cartoonists.

Glass asked what they saw change over the years. The big one was that queer characters no longer exist just to tell the ‘coming out’ story. They now have their own narratives. They also said the manga boom brought more women to comics reading and creating. They mentioned Archie Comics now having a gay character. This was another excellent panel that helped open my eyes to a different part of the comics universe. My thanks to the panelists for sharing their experiences.

Erica Friedman wrote up her experiences of being on the panel at Okazu. You can listen to the panel at Gay-Nerds.com.

My final panel for Friday was Vertical Inc., run by Ed Chavez with Ioannis Mentzas adding comments. Chi’s Sweet Home has been a huge success for Vertical and helped fund their expansion. Unfortunately, with volume 8, Vertical will catch up to the Japanese releases, so there will be a long wait for further volumes.

Chavez feels that No Longer Human will be their most important release this year. Drops of God will be getting a website. New releases for next year are Flowers of Evil by Shuzo Oshimi, the manga adaptation of 5 Centimeters Per Second by Makoto Shinkai and Yukiko Sieke, Sakuran by Moyoco Anno, and Message to Adolf by Osamu Tezuka. Chavez was really excited about Sakuran. It’s a title he’s wanted to license since he first started working at Vertical.

Saturday

My first panel of the day was Super Inspirations. This was part of the Comics Study Conference (CSC) track of academic programming on comics. This panel was held in a very small room and was quickly packed out with people lining up against the walls. Each panel in this series was an hour and half long with three speakers. The presentations were very dense, so I’ll only offer a very brief description for each.

Brad Ricca’s presentation was The Secret History of the Fantastic Four. He looked at Fantastic Four in light of the space race. He saw the origins of the group as a retelling of history where, through the Fantastic Four, Americans are the first in space.

Hannah Means-Shannon presented a paper called Heroic Process: Super Strength and Supernatural in Tom Strong and Herakles. She compared and contrasted the heroic journey taken by Alan Moore’s character Tom Strong and the inspiration of the character Herakles. She made me want to read Tom Strong.

Rich Shivener’s presentation was Joker and Camp. He used Susan Sontag’s definition of camp to examine the history of the Joker and campiness. We can use the Joker to discuss how our perception of camp has changed over the years.

This was an excellent panel. Hopefully, NYCC will place the CSC in a larger room next year.

Afterwards, I wandered up to the anime ghetto to visit and help out at the CBLDF booth. The “Manga Is Not a Crime” stickers were delivered, and we began to hand them out. Nothing will get you attention at an anime con like free stickers. I found the time spent at the booth in Anime Artist Alley very satisfying. I got to talk to a few people and make them aware of the Christopher Handley and Brandon X cases. Unfortunately, we ran out of stickers before the day was over.

My experiences at the CBLDF booth were wonderful, and I discovered how much I enjoyed discussing these issues with people. It energized me enough that I’m hoping to get a booth and panel set up for Otakon next year.

After the CBLDF manga raffle was complete, I went to the CSC panel, Understanding Comics and the Self. For some reason, I didn’t catch the titles for each presentation. Neil Cohn was the first presenter and spoke on how our brain reads and organizes comics. It’s known that we read sentences in word groupings and not as individual words. It turns out that we do the same for comics. He discussed the details of the tests used to prove this theory.

CJ Suzuki discussed Keiko Tobe’s manga With the Light. This is a semi-autobiographical series about raising an autistic child. This manga helped to raise awareness in Japan about special needs children. The manga even served as an inspiration for a 2004 law to protect the handicapped.

Jeff Barbanell spoke of his experience using comics teaching Native Americans. One way that he used comics was to look at the way Native Americans are portrayed in comics and then discuss the attitudes that inform those images. Terry Moore’s Echo was cited as one of the best depictions of a character with a Native American heritage.

My final panel for the day was CBLDF: Defending Manga. The moderator was CBLDF president Charles Brownstein, with participants Erica Friedman and Deb Aoki.

The panel began with a brief history of censorship. Brownstein pointed out that every generation has its form of entertainment that it believes is corrupting our youth. In the past it’s been jazz, rock and roll, and comic books. Now it seems like the focus is manga and video games. The people that prosecutors have targeted has changed, too. First it was the publishers, then it was retailers, and now it’s readers. The first manga-related arrest was in 2000 when a Texas retailer was arrested for selling Demon Beast Invasion: The Fallen to undercover cops.

Erica pointed out that with Bill 156 now in effect, we can no longer argue that it’s simply a case of misunderstanding Japan culture. A savvy prosecutor can use this bill to show how the manga found offensive by police in the US is also considered offensive in Japan.

The panel pointed out it wasn’t just porn that could get you in trouble. Manga like Love Hina and High School of the Dead feature underage nudity. Depending on the mood of the cop or the customs agent, they could get you arrested for possessing child porn. The only way to be safe is to get the law to understand that a drawing of a child is not a child. Nor is it the photograph of a child. Until such a time, manga readers need to be aware of the risks they face for their hobby. Erica wrote of her experience on the panel at Okazu.

Wednesday

This year I arrived in New York City a day earlier so I would have time to visit two exhibitions Johanna had mentioned to me. The first was Jim Henson’s Fantastic World. This is a traveling exhibit by the Smithsonian Institute; it is ending its run at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria.

The exhibit is a retrospective of Jim Henson’s life. There are pictures he drew as a child, posters he did for his college’s theater department, storyboards from various shows, and original Muppets. I didn’t know Henson’s biography, so a lot of the exhibit was new to me.

Three short films were shown. The first was an experimental piece that Henson did called Time Piece. One film was an abbreviated version of A&E’s Biography of Henson. The final film looked at the legacy of Jim Henson and the Muppets.

Some of the muppets on display were the Kermit used in the 1970s, the Ernie from the same period, the Burt from the 1980s, Rowlf from The Muppet Show, and Miss Piggy. This is the real reason I went to the exhibit. It was quite awe-inducing to see icons from my childhood on display. It’s a shame you couldn’t take pictures. You can see some of the earliest commercials and muppet sketches Henson did on YouTube.

The Museum of the Moving Image is an amazing place in itself. It celebrates all forms of moving images, including movies, cartoons, and video games. There is a history of the movies starting with the earliest zoetrope and going to modern CG animation. Anyone living in or visiting New York needs to make the trek out to this museum. It’s definitely worth the time and effort.

The other exhibit was Comics Stripped at the Museum of Sex. This was a retrospective of nudity and sex in comics and cartoons. The exhibit starts with Tijuana Bibles and American comics, then ends with a brief section on adult comics in other countries. Unfortunately, the Japanese examples are a tentacle porn anime and the Bondage Fairies manga, which only serve to reinforce stereotypes about Japan. I wish a copy of Manga Sutra had been included. Otherwise, it was a good exhibit overall.

The rest of the museum didn’t really hold much appeal to me. I understand this is a private museum, but I felt the admission fee of $19.50 was too steep. Even if they hold further comic and cartoon exhibits, I doubt I’ll be back.

Thursday

In the morning, I went by to pick up my convention badge. There were some panels in the morning, but most didn’t interest me, so I decided to do some sightseeing instead. The convention show floor opened at 4:00 PM for press, professionals, and people who bought a four-day pass. I went there to purchase an advance copy of Princess Knight, meet the folks running the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) booth, and meet up with fellow manga bloggers. I was successful on all three accounts.

The best part of Thursday was a chance to wander the showroom before the big crowds hit. The small crowd meant you had room to walk around and exhibitors had time to talk to you. Of course, the bigger booths, like Marvel, DC, and Funimation, were still swamped with people trying to meet artists and get a jump start on the freebies.

I went to visit this year’s version of the anime ghetto and discovered that the Anime Artist Alley was closed and wouldn’t open until Friday. That was a little disappointing.

Friday

The crowd was noticeably larger on Friday. I’d say the showroom felt about as crowded as it did during the peak last year, which made me worried about trying to walk around on Saturday.

My first panel of the convention was It Gets Better (With Comics!) at 11:00 AM. The moderator was Chris Shoemaker, with Prism Comics. The speakers were Charles “Zan” Christiansen from Northwest Press; Daniel Ketchum, an associate editor at Marvel Comics; Ivan Velez, Jr., author of the seminal Tales of the Closet, and Rica Takashima, author of Rica ‘tte Kanji!?.

The panel was packed, and there were people standing up along the walls to attend. I’m not sure why the room had tables in it. They were nice for taking notes, but they used up space better served by bringing in more chairs. Also, this was held in one of the smallest panel rooms.

The discussion started with Shoemaker pointing out that comics (he seemed to mean mostly superhero comics) have gained more popularity in the general culture, but there is still a lack of significant LGBT characters. The panelists pointed out there have been some LGBT characters in comics, and there is a more open atmosphere toward LGBT characters in superhero comics. The problem is that most creators are still white, heterosexual males. They don’t feel comfortable using LGBT characters for fear of offending people. Christiansen pointed out there are many creative restrictions when working with a shared universe, and so writers will have to work harder to introduce new LGBT characters. Velez stated that you need to start off creating a character that is interesting as a human first, otherwise the LGBT aspects of the character come off as a crutch for attracting an audience. Velez also recommended training in LGBT sensitivity for Marvel and DC writers to help them be more comfortable using LGBT characters in their stories.

Takashima talked about how when she began creating her manga there was nothing for lesbian women. The only comics to feature lesbians were porn for men. She was the first to write about real issues for lesbians in their lives and relationships. She has seen the field of lesbian manga grow up and develop its own fanbase during the course of her career.

Ketchum pointed out that while there may not be that many LGBT characters in superhero comics, there are certainly themes in some comics that LGBT readers can identify with. He grew up reading Marvel comics and felt many of the stories spoke to him as a young gay man, especially the themes found in X-Men comics about mutants who feel they are outsiders to ‘normal’ society and how they try to find ways to fit in and be accepted.

Next, they moved on to talk about how to balance advocacy, outreach, and support in the comics you write. Velez said he has lots of training as a counselor and so that informs his writing. If you make the characters authentic, then it’s easy to talk about real issues. Christiansen said the worst thing is to tell lies. The stories have to be honest. Velez said the danger is accepting stereotypes; that’s the sign of a hack. Takashima agreed that creators have to be intentional in the characters and stories they create. We can’t just accept anything.

The panel discussed the need to get their comics into libraries and the hands of teens. The problem is lack of library budgets, so they can’t have as diverse a collection of comics as they would like. Also, LGBT comics get stolen by people too scared to openly check them out. Libraries need help in getting new copies of the books they do stock. Velez and Takashima are putting their comics on the web for free to help reach a wider audience. Christiansen said that Prism will gladly send free books to libraries, churches, or schools.

This was an excellent panel and helped me see a new dimension to comics and comic readers. All the panelists were passionate and articulate about the potential for comics to reach out and inform readers about LGBT people and the issues they confront in life. Hopefully, there will be a panel like this every year at NYCC and in a much bigger room.

After the It Gets Better (With Comics!) panel, I headed over to help out at the CBLDF booth. There was some miscommunication, and the booth that the CBLDF was supposed to have in Anime Artist Alley wasn’t ready, so I helped out at the booth in the main showroom. The crowd was more interested in the books for sale and not the mission of the CBLDF. I got to talk to a few people during the two hours I was standing there, but I felt a little frustrated connecting to the anime and manga attendees. Thankfully, later in the afternoon, the CBLDF was able to set up a booth in Anime Artist Alley.

Like Johanna, I discovered Love Hina early in my anime/manga fandom. I had only been a fan a couple of years when the anime was released, and it was love at first sight. I remember getting the manga as each volume came out and loving Akamatsu’s art and storytelling.

Kodansha’s re-release of the series is like having a mirror that lets me look at my past self. I’m given an opportunity to examine my tastes as an early fan. Truth be told, I was hoping to discover I had great taste from the beginning. Or, at least, come up with a justification of my earlier choices.

Love Hina Omnibus Volume 1

When I first encountered Love Hina, I hadn’t sampled that widely the anime and manga available. I had stuck mostly to the sci-fi genre and some widely praised series like Ranma 1/2. So I didn’t know much about harem comedies or the hyperactive humor used by Akamatsu.

I remember being captivated by it all. I had never experienced a cartoon or comic like Love Hina. I was caught up in that honeymoon phase of a new hobby when everything you experience is wonderful. I was still learning about Japanese culture; Love Hina was my first introduction to hot springs, university enterance exams, and New Year temple visits. It was all new and I wanted more.

Ten years later, how does Love Hina hold up for me? Not as well as I had hoped.

On page 142 of the omnibus, Akamatsu tells us it took 20 submissions and two editorial meetings to finally get Love Hina accepted. That’s not really hard to believe. The setup for the series feels like it was composed by a committee seeking to engineer a hit manga by including all the female stereotypes fanboys love. You have everything from the older, slightly sluttly woman (Kitsune) to the shy, unsure, younger sister (Shinobu). The main love interest is the secretly sexy librarian type. Take off those Coke-bottle glasses and frumpy clothes, and you’ve unwrapped a Playboy playmate.

Our protagonist is the everyman loser that fanboys can both easily identify with and feel superior to. Keitaro isn’t a very good student. He’s not athletic. He’s average-looking and has never had a girlfriend. He has lots of self-doubts. However, he is also romantic, a hard worker, sincere, and has a good heart.

Now take our cast and figure out a setting that allows for maximum fanservice and comedic high jinks. How about an all-girls dorm that was formerly a hot springs inn? It’s the perfect setup for lots of chances for nudity and misunderstandings. At this point in my fandom, it’s a little hard not to be cynical about the whole premise of Love Hina. It feels designed to exploit male fans.

I find that I don’t have much patience any more for the storytelling in Love Hina. Keitaro’s constant tripping and exposing one of the girls gets old before the end of the first volume. Naru’s screaming “pervert” and hitting Keitaro into the sky gets old even quicker. If I wasn’t reviewing this omnibus, I would have quit before getting to the halfway point. I’m shocked I was previously able to read 14 volumes of this.

I can also see the appeal this story had, and to some extent still has, for me. Akamatsu is able to breathe life into these stereotypes. Keitaro’s sincerity and naiveté come across as believable, which is hard to do. Naru isn’t just the cute smart girl. She also has her own fears and doubts. Even Shinobu takes on more depth as we get to know her. Akamatsu’s skill crafting likable characters that transcend their stereotypes is the real secret to his success.

The best story arc in the omnibus is when Naru and Keitaro run away after both fail the entrance exam to Tokyo University. The fanservice and slapstick are toned down, giving the characters a chance to come alive. There is also room for their relationship to develop. It was a refreshing and much welcomed change of pace.

Another reason I loved Love Hina was the artwork. Even now, there is no denying that Akamatsu is a skilled artist. He has no weakness. Everything in the book is done well from character designs to page layouts to beautiful backgrounds. He adeptly handles comedy, drama, and quiet emotional moments. The book is still gorgeous and feels fresh.

At its core, Love Hina has an appealing story of a burgeoning romance. Unfortunately, that’s only 10% of the book. You have to wade through a lot of muck for so little gold. I’ve since discovered many manga that tell the same basic story much better. I won’t be re-reading the series. As I said before, I don’t have the patience. I’m hoping this is a sign of my maturity as a manga reader. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

I can tell the New York Comic Con/New York Anime Fest is coming very soon, because I’m now getting daily emails from exhibitors and companies wanting me to come see what they have on display. The show takes place from October 13-16 this year.

The programming schedule and exhibitor list for NYCC/NYAF was posted about two weeks ago, and there’s a lot to offer. Unless you have narrow tastes and are determined not to experience something outside your comfort zone, you’re bound to have several conflicts when trying to plan out your schedule.

Speaking of being outside your comfort zone, I’ll be a volunteer at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund booth. One of CBLDF’s goals at NYCC/NYAF will be making manga fans aware of threats to their First Amendment rights. I’m putting together a raffle to help encourage people to stop by the booth and to donate. Some exciting things are happening; look for more details soon. So stop by, say hi, and bring cash to donate. Lots of cash, trust me.

Here are the panels I plan to see at the show.

The Must Sees

It Gets Better (With Comics)
Friday 11:00 AM
The It Gets Better discussion about the impact comics can have and their potential to help people is something I’m deeply interested in. We forget that comics are art, and art can be a powerful influence in people’s lives.

Hiro Mashima and Kodansha Comics
Friday 6:30 PM
Hiro Mashima is the creator of Fairy Tail, but I’m not attending to meet him. I’m going to meet the staff at Kodansha. They have been a black hole of information, so getting to put a human face to the company will be a great help.

Vertical, Inc.
Friday 8:45 PM
My love of all things Vertical is well-documented. Ed Chavez, Marketing Director, has promised new license announcements. I believe one is even a Tezuka license. So yeah, I have to be there.

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Defending Manga
Saturday 7:30 PM
The CBLDF will be discussing the recent case where a man was arrested by Canadian Customs officials for the manga he had stored on the hard drive of his laptop. I’m a huge believer that a person should have the right to read whatever comic they want.

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Censorship Then & Now
Sunday 2:45 PM
This is just what the title says, a history of comic book censorship from the 1950s to today.

The Most Likely to See

Yen Press
Friday 12:15 PM
I’m going to see what new licenses will be announced. Also, I’m hoping they will announce an expansion of their digital manga to a multiplatform system like Viz Media has.

The Comics History of the World
Friday 1:30 PM
This panel is about writing comics based on real people and events. Fred Van Lente of Action Philosophers is one of the panelists.

Mythbusters: Anime Edition
Friday 2:00 PM
Two graduate students in physics talk about the physics of anime. I’m geek enough that I enjoy learning why things are physically impossible.

Food and Comics with Wylie Dufresne
Friday 2:45 PM
Even after reading the panel description, I’m not really sure what they’ll be talking about, but a chef and a Marvel VP (C.B. Cebulski) on a panel together promises to be interesting.

Comic Studies Conference 1: Super Inspirations
Saturday 10:30 AM
There will be a programming track of academic discussion of comics on Saturday, 8 panels in all. This one talks about the real-world and mythical inspirations behind some comic characters and the world they live in.

Comic Studies Conference 3: Requiem for Weisinger: The Life and Work of Superman Editor Mort Weisinger
Saturday 1:00 PM
Superman is my favorite superhero, and this is essentially a look at the first 30 years of the character.

Makoto Shinkai Spotlight
Saturday 2:45 PM
Since I missed his spotlight panel at Otakon, I’ll most likely make this one.

Comic Studies Conference 6: Understanding Comics and the Self
Saturday 4:00 PM
This is a look at what happens in the brain when we read comics, how shojo creators use manga to make social/political critiques, and how comics are used in Native American education. Wow, this might move up to the must-sees as the convention gets closer.

Archaia Entertainment & The Jim Henson Company
Sunday 3:45 PM
This is an advance look at the upcoming graphic novel, A Tale of Sand, a previously unpublished story by Jim Henson. I already have the book on pre-order.