What happens when beloved fictional characters go away?
I’ve been thinking about how much I miss fictional characters when they’re gone – and it all started because some of those lost characters are kind of coming back.
Otaku Service Announcement: It’s a SALE, Dodi!
We got this email:
“My name is [redacted] and I’m the owner of Totally Manga, a retail comic store. In 09 we started the comic store concentrating only on manga. We had a fun few years but now were closing our doors and liquidating the last of our inventory. The most economic way for us to do that was to close up shop and liquidate online so we have set up the remaining titles we have on our website in a $5 close-out sale. We have 222 titles of Shonen, Shojo and Yaoi, all $5 a book, all brand new stock directly from the publishers or diamond distributers. I’d like to note we have mostly yaoi stock left because DMP/June/801/Doki Doki offered us a really great direct sales rate, so we were able to buy more from them than of other titles that go through a distributer. We also are running two specials in addition to the $5 a book. Buy 10+ books and get one free, and spend $100 get free shipping. Sale opens on June 22nd @ midnight.
“We’re hoping you can announce our sale on your website and socials. We have a page set up with ads as well, I’ll post the link below with our other info. We had a fun run, but it’s time to move on and while we will be maintaing a presence in the manga world with a future project, being a retailer has to be marked off that list. Please let me know if you have any questions. I know this could count as advertising and we don’t mind paying for ads, but as were closing we do have a very very sad limited budget for it so if you could spread the word to other manga fans about the sale we would appreciate it! Thanks for your time! :)”
So shop Totally Manga. You’ll be totally glad you did.
This has been an Otaku Service Announcement. (Are we nice or what?)
Book review: Once More Upon a Time
Once More Upon a Time
By Patrick Thomas and Diane Raetz
Publisher: Dark Quest, LLC
ISBN: 978-0-9826197-5-9
Review copy purchased by reviewer
Review by Ida Vega-Landow
This is a different kind of Mystic Investigators tale by my New York homeboy, Patrick Thomas, and his latest collaborator Diane Raetz. I’m more accustomed to reading about the exploits of Agent Karver, and his empathic partner Mandi Cobb, in the Department of Mystic Affairs. They’re both pros at dealing with practitioners of the Dark Arts, fairies and mystic beasts. But the protagonist of this novel is a young witch named Jillian Anderson, an agent of Templar Mason, once known as the Knights Templar. She’s new at this business, so new that her mistakes can cause serious repercussions for the people she’s trying to help.
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In Praise of Scan Girls
Yeah, I read a few scanlations, but I also buy the printed English version if it’s licensed and published, and if I just can’t stand it, I’ll even buy the Japanese version. No, I can’t read Japanese, but the pictures tell most of the story. And the scanlations often have a note urging readers to support the mangaka (creator) by buying whatever version of the work is commercially on sale. That’s no hardship for me because I love the feel of a book in my hands. But if there are only scanlations, then I will read the scanlations and hope I can eventually read it in book form.
In the course of reading these scanlations in undisclosed locations, I became aware of a most wonderful thing: communities of manga loving females devoting their time, talents, and energy to producing this work, and producing it well enough, for other likeminded, non-Japanese reading females. I became very impressed by the camaraderie and professionalism of these groups offering new members a chance improve their Japanese, editing, or visual editing skills. I’m not a joiner, but this is one club I’d love to be in if I had the time, talents or energy for it. The scan groups, as they call themselves, have often been the catalyst for getting certain Japanese works licensed and published in the U.S. In every case that I’ve seen that happen, the scan groups do the following things:
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Great. Our voicemail company just went out of business
And didn’t tell anyone. Well, anyway, good luck to wildgate.com because they’ll need it.
Our new contact number is 323-201-7147 Yeah. If you have J LHLS business cards, please make a note when you hand them out. I’ll be generating new cards soon-ish.
Comic Con 2011: Sho Murase
Sho Murase has been working in animation as a freelance character designer and storyboarder for the past ten years. At this year’s Comic Con, she’s showing and selling her personal work. She was raised in Spain and went to art school in Canada. She’s been exhibiting at CCSD, APE and WonderCon for the past five years. I got a copy of her comic book, “Sheila,” volume 1.
Cosplay photography panels at AM2 convention July 3, 2011
Hey, cosplay fans, mark your calendars: Tom Good and I will be doing panels from 10-12 on Sunday, July 3, 2011 at the AM2 Convention at the Anaheim Convention Center.
July 3, 2011
10-11 AM
AM2 Convention
Anaheim Convention Center
Room 207 D
and
Creative Cosplay Photography
July 3, 2011, 11AM – 12PM
AM2 Convention
Anaheim Convention Center
Room 207 D
And it’s FREE ADMISSION all three days of the convention.
AM2 convention, July 1-3, 2011, Anaheim Convention Center, FREE ADMISSION
Yes! It’s really happening!
Also, Tom Good, assisted by G Mayerson, will be doing a two panels at AM2:
Cosplay Photography for Models
From a Photographer’s POV
Sunday, July 3, 2011, 10-11 AM, Room 207 D
and
Creative Cosplay Photography
Sunday, July 3, 2011, 11 AM -12 PM, Room 207 D
Postcard for AM2 this year in Anaheim. Free admission.
Convention Report: Sakura-Con 2010
Sakura-Con 2010
by Tom Good
This year’s Sakura-Con was the largest ever, with an attendance of just over 18,000 people at the Seattle Convention Center. The convention provides an amazing variety of things to do, combining educational and cultural events with pure fun and entertainment. Fans can learn how to waltz or learn to dance ParaPara, learn to sew costumes or learn to draw comics, go to a martial arts demonstration or a video game tournament. And just walking around between events is enjoyable in itself, because there are so many great costumes to see.
Yaoi Review: Manhattan Love Story
Manhattan Love Story
Story and Art: Momoko Tenzen
Published by the Juné Imprint of Digital Manga, Inc.
Copy supplied by Publisher
ISBN-10: 1-56970-038-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-56970-038-9
Review by Kris
Manhattan Love Story is a collection of related vignettes tied to a midtown flower shop. Dan “Diamond” Loving is the manager of a flower shop in midtown Manhattan that is owned by his lover Rock Melville. Rock is a powerful CEO and is rather busy so the time that the two of these men is few and far between. They love each other but Dan has a hard time dealing with not being able to see his lover as often as he would like.
We also get stories featuring Dan’s employee Kanan who falls in love with a Japanese high school student who is in town visiting family, Kenji’s (the Japanese high school student) nephew falling for his teacher, and Rock’s secretary Jessie is dating an old college friend of Rock’s. Jessie met Louis at a bookstore he was working at. This is the couple that adorns the front cover.
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