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Posts Tagged Global Manga

Games With Me Omnibus Available for Pre-Order With A Chance to Win!

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, June 13, 2012

A shout-out today to promote some new and upcoming releases of Games With Me, a gorgeously drawn boys’ love story written by Tina Anderson and with art by Lynsley Brito. It’s a darker themed mini-series with lots of eye-candy. BL fans who are always on the search for ‘something different’ should definitely take the time to check it out!

“Ex Civil-War surgeon George Callahan is a man haunted by his past. Unwilling to deal with the demons of his childhood, he turns to opium and finds back alley employment with the heartless brothel keepers of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Dr. George Callahan searches for a Chinese woman from his past, and soon finds himself unwittingly drawn to dim-witted male prostitute Jun, whose own life is complicated by the unwanted attentions of an aggressive bouncer named Roan Baxter.”

One of the story’s leads is a young man named Jun who works in a brothel. The fact that he has a mental handicap may be a down point for some readers, yet I found it was handled well as Jun still seemed self-aware of things that were going on. This contrasts with a manga series it reminded me of for that reason, Brilliant Blue – a series which, though I enjoyed it overall, had a character with a similar personality but who seemed too innocent about sexual situations for me to be totally okay with what was happening. A warning, however, that Games With Me is rated 18+ and includes some violence and non-consensual scenes so not for the kiddies!

Volume one is available to purchase digitally via the Kindle or Nook.
Volume two is available to purchase digitally via the Kindle or Nook.

For those who prefer their shininess on paper, Games with Me is also going to print in a two-volume omnibus edition! It’s currently available to pre-order on Amazon.com. Unfortunately there’s no listing for Amazon.ca, but I’ll update here if it pops up! The 286 page book will only be $10.99 and released later this week – yay!

Tina Anderson is also holding a giveaway on her website where anyone who submits reviews of volumes one or two of Games With Me (based on their digital formats), will be entered into a drawing to win a print edition of the omnibus. The giveaway is open until June 15.

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Categories: Contests, News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Global Manga

Swag Bag: Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2012 Edition!

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, May 11, 2012

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This past weekend was Toronto Comics Art Fest – one of the best comic shows in North America for meeting and greeting comic artists and checking out their work. It was my second year to attend and I loved it. And who can possibly leave a show as magnificent as TCAF without an armful of comics? Certainly not I! The ability to buy directly from creators is an experience that blows my mind, I adore it and TCAF offers the perfect fix.

Bento Comics – a collection of artists whose works you can read online then have published print-on-demand – had a new anthology available: Peter Pan and the Language of the Dead. I was giddy to see it, as a fan of Bento Comics’ anthologies and a huge Peter Pan junkie. The theme combo was brilliant – it was so unnerving but at the same time fascinating. Wonderful!

Another anthology collection I picked up was Cautionary Fables & Fairy Tales which includes a story by one of my favourite artist/writer combos, Katie and Steven Shanahan. It’s a pretty hefty book with a bunch of artists new to me. I’m looking forward to discovering some new creators to follow.

Becky Cloonan premiered her new self-published short, The Mire, and I was quick to nab a copy. I haven’t read it yet but just the print quality and a quick flip-through shows it was worth each and every penny. Fellow Haligonian Jordyn F. Bochon also premiered a print collection of her comic, The Terrible Death of Finnigan Strap. Two other Halifax artists present whose works I couldn’t miss were Mike Holmes‘ – who had copies of his creative multi-style self-portrait art book, Mikenesses – and Kate Leth who debut her collected comic, Ultimate Kate or Die.

A lot of artists at the show were selling print editions of their web comics so I took the opportunity to buy a bunch. I don’t typically read comics on the web but when an opportunity to try them out via print arises, I go for it! I bought a book of Octopus Pie, Earthsong (Vol.01) and In The Air (Vol.01). Of the three I’ve read In The Air so far and it was great! I hope I enjoy the others just as much, and it’s fun knowing there’s more to read online should I be unable to wait for more to hit the printers.

There are a few web published comics that I read each week though, and of course I couldn’t possibly resist purchasing the print versions of those. The print editions of Starfighter (Vol.01) and Teahouse (Vol. 03) were both gorgeously reproduced and will now sit proudly on my BL shelves (once I’ve finished oogling them for hours). The colourist of Teahouse, Christina, was also selling hardcover books of her web comic (which I also follow regularly), Fox Sister.

Vertical Inc had a booth at TCAF and I was able to pick up a few volumes of manga from them too. For new volumes, I got Flowers of Evil (Vol.01) – very twisted! – and GTO: 14 Days of Shonan (Vol.02). An older book I’d been having trouble finding was Osamu Tezuka’s MW, which I’m now happy to have in my hands.

Outside of TCAF, I visited The Beguiling where I always know I’ll find a stack of goodies to buy. I was giddy to find a missing volume of One Thousand and One Nights (Vol.07) and an out of print copy of an old comic favourite of mine, My Faith in Frankie. Then it was boys’ love stock up time with Right Here, Right Now (Vol.01-02), The Desert Prince, Black Sun (Vol.02) and, in currently joint ownership with my awesome roommate, four volumes of bara manga. Not easy finding this stuff! Well… unless you’re at the Beguiling. Thanks, Chris!

Thus sums up my Toronto Comics Art Festival purchases for 2012 – all fantastic! It’s a great show that I look forward to attending again next year and I hope others do as well (and let me know!).

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Categories: Features, Swag Bag
Tags: Bara, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Canada, Conventions, Global Manga, Manga, TCAF 2012, Vertical Inc, web comics

Where’s the Rush?: Kickstarter for Laura Carboni’s Roulette

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, April 15, 2012

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Kickstarters have really taken off in recent months with creators and organizations using the crowd-sourcing service to collect the funds they need to get projects off the ground that wouldn’t otherwise be funded. I still hold my reservations towards companies using the service but I’m glad it’s worked out so well for creators getting their original works out to a wanting audience.

Just such a project has been started for Roulette, an original boys’ love style story written by Tina Anderson (Loud Snow) and drawn by Laura Carboni (Love Circles). Laura is looking to raised enough money to fund the completion and print of the book, which will be 255 pages long. Via Kickstarter’s often-used reward system, you can also get a number of extra goodies depending on how much you pledge.

“Mafia accountant Riley Leary finds himself blackmailed by an unseen party when he’s caught stealing from his boss. To make matters worse, he garnishes the interest of the dangerous hit man, Anton Colletti. Will Riley manage to get things right, or will Anton make things go from bad to worse?” (Read a preview chapter)

For those who aren’t familiar with Roulette, it was originally published in Rush, an anthology of boys’ love stories by creators around the world and published in print by Dramaqueen. When the company ceased production, so too did Rush come to an end after only a couple issues. There had been problems with DQ and it’s handling of the project practically since the get-go with subscribers and creators alike left wondering where their dues were. As someone who subscribed to the anthology, I was among those both disappointed and rather miffed when the plug was suddenly pulled. It’s unfortunate when projects like this don’t work out.

If curious about the other creators who contributed to Rush, you can see what they’re up to today via the links below (or under the cut if you’re on the main page!):

Review: Sun Fish Moon Fish

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, April 5, 2012

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Author/Artist: Morag Lewis
Publisher: Sweatdrop Studios
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: October 2011

Synopsis: “Justice can be costly… The Royal Family have been murdered and the main suspect is the Court Mage Anciarin, who fled the scene in suspicious circumstances. However, not everyone is convinced of Anciarin’s guilt. Iashar, assigned to the pursuit of the fugitive, becomes increasingly sure that there is more to the murder than he first thought. His search for the truth leads him to a forgotten history – and powerful enemies. What price will Anciarin pay to fulfil the promise made to a dying prince?”

Reading a one-shot is such a satisfying experience. It’s not an easy thing to put together either – going past the realm of a short story with the planning (and self-control!) to keep it from going on and on. Sun Fish Moon Fish pulls together a pretty solid beginning, middle and end, clocking in at shy of 300 pages. Published in the UK through an independent group of comic creators called Sweatdrop Studios, Morag Lewis’s political fantasy is a learner’s work – the unrefined artwork puts some dampen on the experience but, while delivering a story with a pair of likeable characters, shows a lot promise despite a lack of polish. Note: This review contains some spoilers.

Sleepless Nights, In These Words – New BL Titles Scheduled For Print

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, February 18, 2012

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A few different tidbits of boys’ love news rounded up from the week today. Always makes me happy when I can write up about more books heading to print!

Continuing a recent trend of license announcements, Digital Manga has posted news of their license for Sachi Murakami’s one-shot story collection, Sleepless Nights. The title is scheduled for both a digital and print release, with dates yet to be revealed. The book’s title story follows two men who, after sharing a sexual relationship when younger, meet years later and become roommates.

Over on Amazon, I also came across a listing for a print edition of Guilt Pleasure’s In These Words. The Guilt|Pleasure website confirms this book will have a summer release. As a big fan of Jo Chen’s artwork (Guilt Pleasure is her group name for her boys’ love work), I’m thrilled to see In These Words coming to print in English with some wider distribution. It’s listed as being published by Digital Manga’s 801Media imprint, also an exciting note for the branching out it symbolizes for the company. Digital Manga already offers several originally English-language titles on their digital eManga website such as a Teahouse preview and Yaoi Press books but this is the first time they’ve published one in print.

A text version of the story can be read over on the creator’s website and you can drool over her gorgeous artwork on the site’s blog. A short synopsis from their site for In These Words is as follows:

“Asano Katsuya is an US trained psychiatrist who had been recruited by the Tokyo Police Department to provide a profile through the victims’ data. Based on Asano’s profile and recommendation, an elaborate plan was put in place to lure the serial killer out. It was within months the plan bore a successful result. After three years and twelve victims, Shinohara Keiji was finally in the police custody. Shinohara had promised a thorough confession, however, on the absolute term that Asano has to be the one to receive it. Besides the curious request by the killer whom Asano was only familiar with on paper, disturbing nightmares began to plague him as soon as he was given the case…”

Yaoi Press – a publisher of boys’ love content from artists around the world – is returning to print publishing with a new title due out in the summer as well. The company has focused almost exclusively on digital BL novels via their Yaoi Prose (18+) imprint since 2009. Punishment is a one-shot graphic novel written by the company’s owner, Yamila Abraham, and illustrated by Yifeng Jiang. A synopsis and larger cover image for the book can be seen over on the Yaoi Press website. I’m really happy to see them returning to print publishing for a couple titles, and even more so that it’s a simultaneous return to fully illustrated releases.

And lastly, in digital BL news, SuBLime has released another title for purchase and download this past Valentine’s Day- Isaku Natsume’s Devil’s Honey. Originally scheduled for the same day, volumes two of Love Pistols and Husband, Honeymoon have both been pushed back to February 29.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, DMP, Global Manga, June, Manga, Manhua, SuBLime, Yaoi Press

Victorian Halloween: Seven Seas Schedules Print for 2012

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, November 15, 2011

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The end of 2011 is creeping up and companies are continuing to give us lots of manga-loving reasons to look forward to 2012. Seven Seas has listed print information for three new manhwa titles up on their website this week, all you can expect to be released this coming year. Two were announced back in August but fell under the radar as footnotes in a post about their online comics initiative.

Alongside their recent news about acquiring Young Miss Holmes, the company is starting a trend of mystery-solving, Victorian-era titles. Very neat! I really look forward to reading them and it’s fantastic seeing another publisher is still actively looking into the vast Korean market of comics.

Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries – Jeon Hye-Jin
First Volume (Omnibus, 1-2): August 2012

“Lizzie Newton, a young upper crust lady with a budding career as a mystery writer, is expected to know her place in Victorian society. …While the headstrong Lizzie tolerates earnest Edwin, she is not yet ready to accept him as her fiance. Besides, Lizzie is distracted by something far more important: an apparent suicide has occurred in the manor, and Lizzie is ready to solve her first real life murder case!” – Seven Seas

Witch Hunter – Cho Jung-Man
First Volume (Omnibus, 1-2): June 2012 | Second Volume (Omnibus, 3-4): October 2012

“Tasha Godspell, also known as the “Magic Marksman,” is one of the best Witch Hunters there is. Along with his sword-wielding Jack-o’-Lantern partner known as Halloween, Tasha puts his magical training and weaponry to good use, in his constant battles against witches. And yet, he cannot bring himself to fully hate the very witches he is tasked to destroy.” – Seven Seas

Jack the Ripper: Hell Blade – Jetae Yoo
First Volume: July 2012 | Second Volume: October 2012 | Third Volume: January 2013

“Jack the Ripper is not what he seems –but the truth may be more terrible than anyone imagined. A young police detective from Scotland Yard struggles to unravel the mystery behind the brutal slayings that grip 19th Century London. What he learns will turn his world upside down, and pit him face to face against the Ripper himself. But is Jack his savior or destroyer?” – Seven Seas

Witch Hunter and Lizzie Newton were originally announced as part of Seven Seas web-comic collection, Zoom Comics. The website is currently offering free online editions to read several of Seven Seas’ original properties, including the recently published Dracula Everlasting and Vampire Cheerleaders. It will be running the first volume of Witch Hunter starting in January.

With more titles on the horizon that’ll excite quite a few fans, Seven Seas is making an impressive come back into the licensed comic publishing market. With a bunch of new titles, strong digital initiatives and comics from sources few publishers are looking to these days, they’re a company you’ll want to keep an eye on.

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Categories: Licensing, News
Tags: Global Manga, Lizzie Newton, Manhwa, Seven Seas

Travel the CMX and Tokyopop Timelines with ANNCast

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, November 3, 2011

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ANNCast is always a must-listen for me over at AnimeNewsNetwork but they’re most recent two shows have been especially interesting for manga readers. I highly recommend listening to both:

ANNCast – Tarboxed and Feathered

“Justin and Zac shoot the breeze about some ANN business, and then it’s all awful blurays and the winter 2011 movie season. Then our guest shows up – longtime industry veteran Jonathan “Jake” Tarbox tells the story of his career up to this point, including his stint at Raijin Comics and DC Comics’ short-lived manga imprint CMX, and then takes your questions via Twitter. You can’t go wrong! “

ANNCast – Guy Kiley

“Former Senior Vice President of Tokyopop Mike Kiley is our special guest this week, and he runs us through his long and storied career at the shuttered publisher. We cover it all – the heady early days, the not so heady later days and the company’s untimely downfall. You’ve been waiting for this one!”

The manner in which DC handled choosing licenses for CMX was both fascinating and terrifying. It says a lot about the problems they faced over their years as a manga publisher and makes me more thankful than ever for the great titles we did get from them, some I know we’d never have gotten from anyone else (Key to the Kingdom – I love it, but really?). Knowing it was mostly done via a method akin to a dartboard shows how lucky we were for some. You could really tell things were tightening up over at CMX in its final year for selection and marketing though. It’s so unfortunate it was the beginning of the end.

This week’s ANNCast has Zac and Justin sit down to talk to Mike Kiley, Senior Vice President of the now no-longer-publishing-manga-until-I-see-otherwise, Tokyopop. He shares a lot about his experience with the company from the day it began up until his final days in their office. He’s a terrific guest and speaks very well with a lot of interesting info to offer. I was especially interested in hearing which series sold well and reasons for others not continuing, such as Kino no Tabi. I regret no one, myself included, thought to ask about Tokyopop’s boys’ love imprint, BLU, but it’s a minor quip in an otherwise great look at TP’s life start to finish.

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Categories: Misc
Tags: CMX, Global Manga, Light Novels, Manga, Manhwa, Podcast, Tokyopop

Super Savings: Grave-Digging for Halloween at RightStuf

By Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, October 30, 2011

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With Tokyopop wandering around the internet in zombie-form as of late, why not take a positive inspiration from their coincidentally Halloween-themed stunt? RightStuf’s Bargain Bin is full of old Tokyopop titles looking for homes. Time for some grave-digging!

In the holiday spirit, here are some Halloween-flavoured titles from the list for your enjoyment. I own each of these titles and love every one. Whether you want a mature, eerie story like The Embalmer or a liberally translated, hilariously entertaining ghost-seeing BL-laden story like Eerie Queerie!, or one of the many other in betweens, you’ll find each of these titles has its own uniqueness that makes it just right for October 31st reading:

Daemonium (Vol. 01) – $3.99
Eerie Queerie! (Vol. 01) – $4.99
Eerie Queerie! (Vol. 02) – $4.99
The Embalmer (Vol. 01) – $4.99
The Embalmer (Vol. 03) – $4.99
The Embalmer (Vol. 04) – $4.99
I Luv Halloween (Vol. 01) – $3.99
I Luv Halloween (Vol. 03) – $3.99
Mad Love Chase (Vol. 01) – $5.49
Mad Love Chase (Vol. 02) – $5.49
Tokyo Babylon (Vol. 01) – $3.99
Tokyo Babylon (Vol. 02) – $3.99
Zone-00 (Vol. 01) – $4.99

For some really good Halloween reads, I recommend checking back on Shannon Fay’s 13 Days of Halloween posts from last year too. It has a great mix of scary and fun titles to cover just about anything and everything you like about the day.

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Categories: Features, Super Savings
Tags: BLU, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Global Manga, Manga, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyopop

NYAF 2011: Yen Press

By Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, October 15, 2011

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New York Comic Con/New York Anime Fest is in full swing this weekend and the majority of their manga-related panels were on Friday. Publishers haven’t disappointed with a bunch of new licenses for the last big con of the year. Yen Press’s panel was up first with some new adaptations and new manga licenses, along with some really exciting news for fans of digital manga to top it all off and a good Q&A sesssion.

It was a lengthy panel with lots to share so you can see the complete post under the cut (or below depending on how you’re reading this).

Super Savings: EverythingYaoi and Clearance Doesn’t Hurt Either!

By Lissa Pattillo on Monday, February 21, 2011

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Sales come and sales go but many online sites have sales on 24/7. EverythingYaoi.com, a site that earns its name, has a handy Clearance section where they list just what it sounds like – items on clearance you can get for up to 50% off the cover price (and sometimes more).

Of the books currently listed, below are my top recommendations:

Going in alphabetical order, the first two books I’d recommend added to any boys’ love shopping cart is Can’t Win With You!. The series is three volumes long and while volume one isn’t on clearance, Can’t Win With You (Vol. 02) and Can’t Win With You (Vol. 03) are with each priced at $4.99/US each. The series is about a cast of amusing, often sexually explorative and teasing teenage boys in an all boys’ school, drawn by Yukine Honami, whose works have been published many times since by Digital Manga. The story itself is written by Satosumi Takaguchi who wrote Shout Out Loud! which was published by BLU.

Two other second-half volumes I’d commend are Passion (Vol. 03) and Passion (Vol. 04). This series has always had a special place in my yaoi-loving heart as one of the first (if not the very first) strictly boys’ love stories to be published in English (excluding Tokyopop‘s early fare in the genre). I remember the day I bought volume one the day it came out… ah the memories and the first of many purchases. The series itself is pretty standard genre-fare but it’s sweet and fluffy and has those great classic cliches of student-teacher relations and starting said relations off on the seriously wrong foot.

Two other Digital Manga series worth adding to your bookshelf from the clearance selection are Moon and Sandals (Vol. 01) by Fumi Yoshinaga and Princess Princess (Vol. 02) by Mikiyo Tsuda. The first is part one of a two book series wherevolume one gets you attached to the characters and the following book proves a steamy follow-up. Princess Princess isn’t really a boys’ love story but pretty boys, teasing and crossdressing definitely makes it an applicable crossover for many fans.

And last but not least, a one-shot from Yaoi Press, the original boys’ love publisher affiliated with EverythingYaoi.com. The book is titled Surge and is a cute love story between a surfer and book nerd. It’s got some funny moments and an adorable art style plus one-shots are always a great cart topper. All in one!

Though these titles are just some of those in the site’s clearance section, it’s also recommended you check out their other sale sections to see what books from different publishers they’ve got on discount as well. Shipping prices can get a little hefty though so be sure to read through the FAQ section when making your calculations. Shop on, boys-love collectors!

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