October 31, 2010 Johanna Fantagraphics 3 comments

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec: Pterror Over Paris and The Eiffel Tower Demon

I don’t read enough European comics. I like many of their visual styles, but I’ve found often that the package seems expensive for the amount of story you get, or worse, they’re written from and for a very male perspective. (The science fiction books, for example, tend to have lots of undressed busty robots.) When I saw The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec: Pterror Over Paris and The Eiffel Tower Demon at the Fantagraphics table at SPX this year, then, […]

October 30, 2010 Johanna Manga News One comment

Digital Manga Guild Launches; Free Fan Labor, Pay on Profits

As briefly mentioned earlier this summer, Digital Manga has launched the Digital Manga Guild, their bid to get fans to work for them for no money upfront. The plan, actually, is that everyone will work for free. Fans will translate scanned works, and everyone, including Digital Manga and the original Japanese property owner, gets paid based on sales. They’re also looking for editors/rewriters and letterers, same system. As posted: With the changing tide of the economy and the high cost […]

October 30, 2010 Johanna SLG Publishing Leave a comment

Animal Crackers

Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese was such an award-winning success that it’s no surprise that his earlier works would be brought back into print. Animal Crackers collects Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks and Loyola Chin and the San Peligran Order. I’m not a fan of Yang’s work that I’ve tried. I was uncomfortable seeing so strong a reliance on stereotypes in American Born Chinese, even though they were used for the purpose of saying “stereotyping is […]

October 30, 2010 Johanna Comic News Leave a comment

Friends of Lulu Award Winners Announced, New Website, Organization Followup

This year’s Friends of Lulu awards were presented last night at the Long Beach Comic Con. According to an official source, 1164 people participated in the online voting. The winners are: Leah Adezio Award for Best Kid-Friendly Work: Diana Nock: The Intrepid Girlbot Best Female Character: Ramona Flowers: Scott Pilgrim, Bryan Lee O’Malley Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer: Kathryn Immonen, The Runaways Lulu of the Year: Kate Beaton Woman of Distinction Award: Lauren Sankovitch, editor, Marvel Comics Female […]

October 28, 2010 Johanna Viz Manga Reviews 4 comments

Butterflies, Flowers Volumes 3 and 4

I really want to support this series, because I very much want publishers to believe that there is a market for manga for adult women, not just girls, but its exaggerated sense of humor doesn’t quite match up with mine. Having experienced my own share of work discrimination in real life, I have a hard time finding it a laughing matter for Choko to be singled out for uncomfortable attention in the workplace. I don’t know the finer cultural distinctions, […]

October 27, 2010 Johanna SLG Publishing Leave a comment

Slush Pile: SLG: Sisters’ Luck, Shadoweyes, Captain Long Ears

I’m normally, as a comic reader, focused on story first, but I was surprised to find that these three SLG Publishing graphic novels impressed me more with their illustrations than their plots. All were review copies provided by the publisher. The Sisters’ Luck by Shari Chankhamma, $12.95 I was intrigued by the premise behind this graphic novel, that of twin sisters, one of whom steals good luck from others, another who brings bad luck, but it wasn’t handled the way […]

October 26, 2010 Johanna PR: What Not to Do Leave a comment

PR: What Not to Do: Undercutting Your Retail Partners

What exactly defines a release date? If a publisher says that they’re the only ones who can sell their product starting today, but any other retailer won’t have any stock until November, then is the release date today, or are they just making pre-sales (as comic publishers sometimes do at conventions) against a release date in November? I’m asking this question because I got this rather odd press release for the Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods DVD. Its message seems […]

October 24, 2010 Johanna PR: What Not to Do Leave a comment

PR: What Not to Do: Badger Reviewers Into Ignoring You

I was really really tempted to bring the old “Stupid Publisher Tricks” label out of storage for this one, because boy, do they deserve it. I’ve talked before about how dumb it is to require reviewers to jump through hoops before you let them see your comic. I understand that some small companies may be paranoid about copies of their work getting put online for free, so they want to use DRM copies and individual secret passwords and other worthless […]

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