• ICv2 interviews Viz Media’s Seiji Horibuchi on the subject of Viz’s growing slate of movie releases beyond the DVD market:

With the growing interest in Japanese pop culture do you think that some of these films may get exposure on cable or satellite TV here in North America?

Yes. We’re currently in discussion with some cable channels already. Kamikaze Girls has been aired on AZN television. Also we’ re expecting to get more of our titles exposed not only on TV, but also on Internet broadcasting channels. We’ve obtained the Internet broadcasting rights for Hula Girls, so we’re planning to release this title on the digital distribution channels in the near future.

• Comic Book Resources talks to Image’s new marketing guyJoe Keatinge:

“I believe we’re producing titles for the entire planet, not just the typical comics market,” declared Keatinge. “The company came into being out of a creative revolution that still flourishes today. People have really caught on that if you’re creating comics, there’s no better place to do them. That’s why Kyle Baker (‘Special Forces’) took his line of creator owned works over to us. Same with Mike Allred (‘Madman’). Richard Starkings could have continued producing his great line of books such as ‘Hip Flask’ and ‘Strange Embrace’ through Active Images, but he chose to bring them to Image. The list goes on. These are the comics that are the dream books of the creators. Comics produced out of the purest love of the medium you’ll find. It shows in every, single panel of every last book we do.”

• Steve Bissette talks to nascent cartooner and CCS grad Sean Ford, whose ONLY SKIN comes out soon.

I visited CCS in November 05 and liked it, but it was actually a work-related visit to Jim Lee’s WildStorm Studios in La Jolla, CA the next spring that made me decide to apply. I didn’t really want any part of WS and certainly less of the creepy, cookie-cutter town of La Jolla, but seeing those offices I just couldn’t help thinking that Lee had been able to do that by pursuing what he really wanted to do in life and I was just kind of wasting away at a job I didn’t particularly care about. It was a really weird setting for a sort of life-altering decision like that, but somehow I was able to look past the Hollywood cheesiness of the moment and I got home from that trip and started drawing my first real comics I’d drawn since I was 14 or 15. And after a month or so of drawing, despite the general shittiness of the results, I applied to CCS and magically got in.

Here you go! Bare bones! No time for snappy patter! We’ve got things to DO.

HORNSCHEMEIER EAST COAST/MIDWEST TOUR DATES:
WHEN: June 15 - June 17
WHERE: Heroes Con 2007
Charlotte Convention Center
501 S. College St. (& Stonewall Ave.)
Charlotte, NC
704-339-6000
http://www.heroesonline.com/con-update.htm

WHEN: Tuesday, June 19, 3:00PM - 6:00PM
WHERE: Velocity Comics
904 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA
804-225-7323
http://www.velocitycomics.com/

WHEN: Thursday, June 21, 7:00 - 9:00PM
WHERE: Atomic POP (w/Tao Lin)
3620 Falls Rd.
Baltimore, MD
410-366-1004
http://atomicpop.blogspot.com/

WHEN: Friday, June 22, 8:00PM
WHERE: Rocketship
208 Smith St.
Brooklyn, NY
718-797-1348
http://rocketshipstore.blogspot.com/

WHEN: June 23 - June 24
WHERE: MoCCA Art Festival 2007
Puck Building
293 Lafayette (at Houston)
New York City, NY
http://www.moccany.org/artfest-main.html

WHEN: Wednesday, June 27, 7:30pm
WHERE: Stop Smiling Storefront
1371 N. Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL

A shitload of shit is going down and we don’t have time to make it all pretty, so here’s a raw info dump. It is so raw we are bringing out the dreaded “bullet point” in lieu of the elegant “section mark.” Like they said in the trailer for EVAN ALMIGHTY, be prepared for “Persistant rude humor and some peril.”

• Clio Chiang, the amazingly talented animator, illustrator and FLIGHT contributor has drawn a few pages of art in a Marvel comic, namely the Deadpool/GLI Summer Fun Spectaculaaar. You know if we didn’t know better, we’d say that behind all the bluster and hype, Marvel is actually sneaking in way more interesting things than they get credit for these days.

• As ICv2 points out and several of our eagle-eyed readers noted, the 30 DAYS OF NIGHT poster flaunts the fact that it is based on a graphic novel! Evidently that is now A Good Thing!

The poster for Sony’s film adaptation of Steve Niles’ 30 Days of Night clearly flogs the original graphic novel (published by IDW) with the caption “Based on the Graphic Novel” right under the title itself. The striking black and red poster design is also the key element in the opening page of Sony’s official 30 Days of Night Website, which also includes a link to a new trailer on the IGN Website.

• THE ENGINE is now home to a couple of interesting thread. In this one writers post pages of their scripts in progress — the html doesn’t allow for a lot of formatting, but it’s still of merit.

• And in THIS ONE Warren Ellis posts the first page of the last issue of PLANETARY. Ten years down.

• Jacob Covey takes the Salma-is-Luba thing and runs with it all the way to daylight.

• A Kenny Scharf–curated Basil Wolverton show? Damn it, if only we lived in Portland!

Basil Wolverton - A prolific comic creator, Oregon-born Wolverton gained national prominence when his character Lena Hyena appeared in the popular Al Capp comic. Wolverton published numerous titles, including Powerhouse and Pepper for Marvel Comics, and contributed regularly to Mad Magazine. With his grotesque and distorted characters, he influenced a generation of artists, most notably R. Crumb, as well as many animators. After converting to Herbert W. Armstrong’s “Radio Church of God” in the 1940’s, Wolverton created some of his most outstanding work: apocalyptic illustrations for pamphlets, publications and bibles.

• Spekaing of Marvel, they have seriously redesigned the Marvel Universe live page. This is the Wiki page for Marvel characters, and frankly, we think a public Wiki for Marvel characters is probably the greatest thing ever because it will keep the nerds from filling up the actual Wikipedia with nothing but nerd crap! Seriously, the new Marvel page looks nice and includes this super-flash intensive The Marvel Universe Connections, a 3-D map/visualization of the Marvel Universe that kind of blew our mind, as if the Beyonder and the Impossible Man and the In-Betweener all starred in a book by Fletcher Hanks.

• Lots of cute James Kochalka paintings.

Even though we couldn’t go, the recent Toronto Con was so well blogged, we might as well have been there! Reading all the blogs is like everything but the oysters. A few more links people have sent us:

• http://thatstheheavy.blogspot.com/” target=”_blank”>Danny Truong photos and report
• Jason Truong report and photos
• Many photos by Jamie Coville including the one above, of Diana Tamblyn, Mariko Tamagi and Cecil Castellucci.
• Diana Tamblyn
• Stuart Immonen
• Ramon Perez
• Cecil Castellucci
• Marv Wolfman Day One, Day Two, Day Three
• Tania Del Rio. BTW Tania was the victim of some thoughtless shits who jumped ahead of her in the shuttle line, and they should really be ashamed of themselves! I mean it is a pretty minor etiquette infraction, but I know for sure they were American, because Canadians are the most polite people on earth!

On a more serious note, we want to give a shout out to Joey Delfini, a familiar figure on the New York comics scene, and one of the truest pals you could ever want. Joey is in rehab right now following a spinal operation and he’s a got a long road ahead of him, but we know that horror, metal and the beautiful women of Brooklyn will keep him motivated. And if that doesn’t do it, maybe our thoughts and prayers will help, too. You’ve got them all, Joey.

Long ago, we linked to Herk Harvey’s Shake hands with danger!, an unforgetable ’70s safety film, that taught us about drive shafts and reading the service manual at all times. Well, just in case you couldn’t get enough of the proper way to grease an axle, Boing Boing links to a complete version and then this edited down dance version which includes all the glory of (ba-dong-a-bong-a-dong-a-dong) “Three-FInger Joe.”

We’ve been doing a bit of our own shaking hands with danger here at Stately Beat Manor. Some foes long thought vanquished are stirring in cold Tunguska. Friends we thought were standing by have had to see to their own perils in Cajamarca and Gyor. It’s a long, empty night and a lot of work to do, and there’s only one thing keeping us going: Ice Road Truckers!

Jackknifing, breakdowns and accidents are commonplace. Last year, because of the effects of global warming, the ice road was closed early, leaving hundreds of tons of supplies stuck at the dispatch station. Since the terrain in this region is virtually impenetrable, and there are so few paved roads, the only way for supplies to reach the mines is by traveling over the ice road. The entire industry depends on the weather and the courage of the ice road truckers, who go 48-hour stretches with no sleep and who constantly hear the cracking of the ice right beneath their wheels.

Yeah baby! GIANT TRUCKS FALLING THROUGH THE ICE! That’s what I’m talking about. Shake hands with danger! We’re taking it to 12! Yeeeeee haaaaaaaa.

Okay, who’s going where? Heroes Con in Charlotte, or WW Philly?

Sound off in the comments. Also, first time posters are still being modded.

While that headline could be taken two ways, it appears that Japan is not quite the land of anything goes that we thought it was, as Kyoto police are giving so called “lolicon” manga greater scrutiny:

An official of the Kyoto police juvenile section said, “Intercourse involving children under 13 is in violation of the criminal law. Lolicon manga may stimulate similar crimes in the real world, so we can’t leave this situation unattended. We are going to warn the parents through these labels. This is not a restriction of the “freedom of press” since the act of labeling is not banning the publication of the books itself.”

As you can see, the Japanese reaction is not to ban the material but to label it, which may still strike many as odd.

In another story from ComiPress, police are checking bookstores for comics whose interiors covers may be far tamer than the contents. Again, they seem to have the opposite problem of what we have.

Both links via Dirk.

A search is underway to cast Supergirl on SMALLVILLE this fall:

This fall, Supergirl will be joining the lineup of burgeoning superheroes and villains in Smallville. Supergirl is the latest DC Comics character to join the series that has previously welcomed Martian Manhunter, The Green Arrow, The Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg and Brainiac. Casting for the Supergirl role is currently underway. Smallville airs on Thursdays at 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on The CW.

On Smallville, the seventh season premiere kicks off with the arrival of Supergirl, whose name is Kara, as Clark’s (Tom Welling) 19-year-old cousin.

[SNIP]”One of the joys of creating Smallville has been our ability to reinvent and reinterpret classic DC Comics characters,” said Smallville executive producer Al Gough. “Miles and I believe that Supergirl will give our series the mythic jolt that it needs as we head into our seventh season.”

Mothers react with shock to the discovery of a copy of HOW TO MAKE MONEY LIKE A PORN STAR buried among the legit children’s comics at a Singapore Book Fair, and some suggest even grater scrutiny.

Books like these have upset some parents, who also complained that some graphic novels, clearly intended for mature readers, were available at the National Library.

Mrs A Chen, 40, a housewife and mother of three boys aged 8, 11 and 15, said such books should be kept in a separate section which is not accessible to children.

Another parent, Madam Haslinda Putri Harun, 36, a mother of two daughters, aged 7 and 4, said: ‘If this happens to me, I will be shocked. I think the library has to play its part and have more stringent guidelines.’

However, the director of a dental clinic added that ‘parents should also be more pro-active and check the books and programmes their children are reading and watching’.

Mr Roger Ong, 42, a counsellor with Care Corner Service Centre, agreed that parents must take an active role in supervising their children, and not just leave it to the authorities.

He said his daughter was only 2 1/2years old when she asked him: ‘Daddy, can I have sex with you?’

She had learnt the words from television. He and his wife had left the TV on and had left her unsupervised for a few minutes.

Evidently a few minutes exposure to TV radiation is all it takes to create a lifetime of shame.

UPDATE: Via Kevin Melrose, news that THe Punisher: Barracuda, and Punisher Max have both been pulled off the shelves in Singapore. And it may not end there.

However, The Punisher: Barracuda was not the only book with explicit content available there. We also found other comics from the same series with similar content. We borrowed one of them.

The comic had the words ‘explicit content’ in small print in bold on the back cover.

We alerted the National Library Board (NLB), which said it has since pulled The Punisher series from its shelves. An spokesman said that they have found the series unsuitable for loan.

She said: ‘Meanwhile, we are reviewing all the other titles in the existing adult comic collection to ensure that they meet our criteria for inclusion. We are re-examining our processes to ensure that such incidents are not repeated.’

She apologised for the slip-up but did not explain how it occurred.

The LA Times looks at the battle for the top boy toy among all the licensed items this summer. :

Toy industry analysts expect this year to be strong in action figure sales because of the number of summer movies featuring swashbuckling heroes or crime fighting characters including “Spider-Man 3,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” The biggest seller of the season, however, could be Transformers, the popular toy series that will be brought to life by Michael Bay’s upcoming action film. “Transformers,” which features the heroic robot Optimus Prime and the villainous Megatron, will be released July 3 by Paramount Pictures. The toys have been out since early June.

Sheliah Gilliland of the Internet toy retailer EToys.com is betting on Transformers.

“Transformers will be the biggest seller—it’s a movie based on a line of toys that has been popular since the ’80s,” she said. “They have always been strong sellers but, because of the movie, they are coming back in a huge way.”

Although last year’s box office attendance was up by about 5%, action figure sales fell by 9% in 2006, generating close to $1.25 billion of the $22.6 billion in overall toy revenue, according to NPD Group, a consumer and retail information company. Action figure sales fell partly because of a robust 2005, which benefited from the release of “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith” and its related toys.

Die-cast die-hards will be amused by the following typo, however:

Transformers are considered the ultimate boy toys that could also be a hit with dads who played with them when they were young. Hasbro has come out with an updated line, including the Optimist Prime 18-wheel truck that transforms into a blaster with one pull of a handle.

A delightfully written con report:

There was lasagna, sexy salad, intelligent bread, nice red wine, and one kissable mother of a rhubarb pie to wash down the approximately eight tons of original work we forced Chris [Baldwin] to drag out of his studio. All present agreed that it would be easiest simply to chloroform Chris and make off with the best pieces, hoping afterwards he would dismiss it all as an illusion. Unfortunately he showed signs of struggle, so eventually we just grabbed what we could and made a break for it.

The other highlight was establishing first second third fourth contact with Donna Barr, currently reigning as comics’ Most Completely Insane Artist Whose Stuff Somehow Works Beautifully Despite Or Perhaps Because Of It (Dave Sim has retired his title there in recent years, but oh boy, imagine the cage fight he and Donna would produce! Make that a charity event and with the resulting proceeds you could actually buy Harlan Ellison’s silence!).

After this weekend’s FF2 opening, the rest of the year’s comics-to-film slate will be fare with more indie origins, iuncluding 30 Days of Night, starring Josh Jartnett and Melissa George and directed by Danny Slade. It’s based on the Steve Niles/Ben Templesmith tale of a vampire at large during an Alaskan winter night — which lasts a month. Now the poster and the trailer are up in advance of its October release.

§ Brett Warnock has a long post filled with goodies at the Top Shelf Blog but it starts out with this:

Alex Robinson will be doing a short fantasy comic for us later this year, called Lower Regions. (You read it here first, folks.) If you’ve never had the opportunity to read Alex’s fantasy stuff (like the strip “One Gold Coin,” in his mini-comic Tales of Action and Adventure), then you are in for a real treat.

§ Meanwhile, Oni has a big preview of a new book by Rick Spears and Chuck B.B. called BLACK METAL. We’ve never been disappointed by anything Spears wrote, and this looks very tasty indeed:

Black Metal is the story of Sam and Shawn, misunderstood twins with a mysterious lineage and a penchant for the darkest metal. Though daily plagued by the rituals of the normal; school, shopping trips to the mall, and little brothers, the boys endeavor to stay true to the blackness in their souls. When they acquire the new Frost Axe album, their true destiny is revealed: they are the Roth incarnate.

Empowered by the legendary sword of Atoll, these kids are determined to thrash and wail on however many demons they have to in order to fulfill the ancient prophecy and regain their rightful position as Hell Baron of the Pit. Loud, fast and heavy like the music it is inspired by, Black Metal ties into the youth culture that has grown up around this ferocious sound. Then infused with a shot of ancient myth and a healthy dose of high adventure, it rises to the level of a truly epic tale.

If you’re wondering why the Beat is a little sluggish today it’s because we are still recovering from the wedding of Leslie Augenbraun to cartooner Steven Goldman (Styx Taxi) last night at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. But no it wasn’t the wine. Steve (above, in chair), brother of Shooting War’s Dan, and Leslie are both foodies and this was some of the tastiest nuptial noshing we’ve ever encountered; you won’t often find The Beat eating almost an entire goat cheese and onion tart…but we did. And we have been regretting it for the last 12 hours. Well, not really, because it was really, really good, but still…coming in the heels as it did of the NYC Barbeque Festival on Saturday was too much for our fragile system.

The wedding was a festive affair, of course, attended by a cross section of Steve and Leslie’s Act-i-vate and Brooklyn Cartoon Mafia posse. The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens is one of the most prized wedding locales of NYC, and it didn’t disappoint, the green swards of early summer giving way to a dramatically cloudy sunset. Congrats to to the new couple, Leslie and Steve Goldman!

Jesse at What We’re Reading Now assays to read Naruto:

What I want to say before I get too deep into it is that Naruto is a very poorly done comic. The figure drawing and linework is fine enough, but the storytelling — that all-important sequential clarity that all comics require — is sorely lacking. I spent a lot of my time doubling back a page or two trying to figure out what had just happened only to learn that there was no way to tell other than to read ahead and hope I got it in context or expository dialogue later on. The writing is equally bad, by necessity, since there is indeed a lot of expository dialogue needed to explain very simple plot points that I could have gotten on my own if the drawing was better.

With that out of the way, I also want to say that I really liked Naruto, I want to find out what happens next, and I completely understand why kids are gobbling this up like cookies all around the world.

Mark Evanier reports on the passing of cartoonist Roger Armstrong, a very prolific cartoonist whose work was doubtless known to anyone who read kids comics from the 40s on. He worked on numerous Dell/Western/Gold Key titles, before moving on to Hanna-Barbera strips, then Bugs Bunny and Little Lulu in the 70s. He also drew the daily Ella Cinders. It was his teaching that he will really be remembered for, Evanier recalls.

Roger Armstrong, a giant in the world of cartooning and a teacher to countless art students, passed away in his sleep on Thursday at the age of 89.

This is a very difficult obit to write because Roger did so much and meant so much to so many people. I want to underscore, so it doesn’t get lost in the career details, that while he had an amazing life as a cartoonist, he had an equally important — perhaps more important — life as an art teacher and watercolor artist. His landscapes were exhibited in every major gallery in Southern California and hundreds of accomplished artists cite him as a great tutor and source of inspiration. He encouraged so many to paint and draw, and led by example.

Mike Lynch has a bit more. You can see Armstrong’s later watercolors at his website.

©2007 Roger Arnstrong

Sequential has a full round-up of links, but here are some highlights:

BlogTO looks at the Women of Comics symposium:

Through a series of panels, and by showcasing some of the best female talent in the industry today, the Women of Comics organizers were able to put together an engaging pulsecheck of the state of women in comics, from the heights of Vertigo to the self-publishing indies. And yeah, it didn’t hurt that the goings were often hilarious as the women speakers described their topsy-turvy role in a boy-dominated world.

Blake Bell reports on the Shuster Awards ceremony

There were two very memorable moments. The first was Dave Day accepting his late brother Gene’s Hall of Fame award from Dave Sim, Gene being a mentor to Sim back in the early-to-mid-1970s. Sim did a yeoman’s job keeping his composure, but Dave Day, who kept it short and sweet, mentioned this year was the 25th anniversary of Gene’s passing, and the room almost wept collectively.

Weeping was a theme (and not just when co-emcee, Rob Salem, tripped onto all fours onto the stage, proceeding by his emcee partner, Rick Green, riding him up to the podium) when the Outstanding Retailer Award was given to Edmonton’s Jay Bardyla for his store Happy Harbor Comics & Toys. His wife’s eyes were soggy the moment they appeared on stage, and Jay broke down in mid-speech.

He also delivers some bits of news:

It appears that Terry Moore will be writing something for DC?

He was feeling in such a good mood that, once wife and publisher, Robyn, removed the hands from around his neck, Terry spilled the news that he had just signed an exclusive deal to write two books (current ones) with a name publisher.

He wouldn’t commit to the name of the publisher, but there was a lot of DC people at the SIP wrap party in late May, including Bob Wayne and Dan Didio, so I’m putting my money there.

Even better is that Terry said it sounds like they’re trying to rope him into doing the artwork for the books! Terry’s already committed to the covers, but here’s hopin’.

And also that Dave Sim is flirting with Marvel, perhaps for the announced “indie anthology.”

I told Dave Sim about Terry’s news at the Shuster Awards, as he’s also in negotiations with Marvel Comics to do a little something (a little something on Dave’s terms, which is dragging out the negotiations), and he referred to it as the “Ed Brubaker Syndrome.” Dave is being very deliberate with Marvel because, as he says, “I don’t want to be one of those who never ‘come out’ the other side.”

CLEANUP

The JPKComics blog has the list of winners and pictures anre a report. Darwyn Cooke was the big winner for THE SPIRIT with Outstanding Writer, Artist and Cartoonist.

The results of the 2007 Canadian comic book creator honours — the Joe Shuster Awards:

Outstanding artist — Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone for Batman/The Spirit
Outstanding cartoonist — Darwyn Cooke for The Spirit #1
Outstanding writer — Darwyn Cooke for Superman Confidential #1, 2
Outstanding publisher — Drawn & Quarterly
Outstanding web comics creator — Dan Kim for April May & June, Kanami, and Penny Tribute
Outstanding international creator — Brian K. Vaughan for Pride Of Baghdad, Ex Machina, Runaways, Doctor Strange: The Oath and Y: The Last Man
Fan-favourite creator (English) — Dan Kim for April May & June, Kanami, and Penny Tribute
Fan-favourite creator (French) — Michel Rabagliati for Paul a la Peche
Harry Kremer Oustanding Retailer Award — Happy Harbor Comics & Toys, Edmonton, Alta.

Our spies on the Ground, Trish Mulvihill and Elim Mak, have sent us some pictures of this weekend’s Toronto Paradise Comicon. A few of the IDs are missing, but we’ll add to it:

Carla Drmay (?) and Trish Mulvihill

Tara McPherson

Talent Caldwell

Christine Norrie

The Women of Comics panel — we recognize Diana Tamblyn, Raina Telgemeier, Unknown, Tara McPherson, Svetlana Chmakova, Janet Heatherington, and Unknown.

Mike Oeming and Ivan Brandon

Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman

The very civilized world of Billy Tucci

Greetings from Ty Templeton.

That’s show co-organizer Peter Fisico on the right.

Our heroine!

The big star of the show, Elim Mak.

A few costumes.

A few views of the show floor.

Chip, Chip….will you never learn?

In a Stirring Belmont, the Filly Beats the Fellas.

Akismet, the spam filter, seems to be down or crashed or something, and in order to avoid a flood of spam comments you must now have an APPROVED comment in order to post. I have no idea how this will work, but we’ll learn as we go.

Fight spam!

The Paradise Comicon is Toronto’s largest convention that focuses ONLY on comics and sequential art. Selected year after year by fans and pros as the BEST Toronto comic convention! Come and see why we are every comic book fan’s PARADISE! COMIC BOOK PROFESSIONAL GUESTS INCLUDE: MICHAEL GOLDEN * TERRY MOORE * MATT WAGNER * MARV WOLFMAN * ADRIAN ALPHONA * KAARE ANDREWS * TALENT CALDWELL * CECIL CASTELLUCCI * SVETLANA CHMAKOVA * DARWYN COOKE * DAN DAVIS * TANIA DEL RIO * TOM FOWLER * JUSTIN GRAY * TOM GRUMMETT * NIKO HENRICHON * STUART IMMONEN * GEORGES JEANTY * DALE KEOWN * KARL KERSCHL * JOSEPH MICHAEL LINSNER * JOHN LIVESAY * FRANCIS MANAPUL * TARA MCPHERSON * PATRICIA MULVIHILL * CARY NORD * CHRISTINE NORRIE * MICHAEL AVON OEMING * MIKE PERKINS * DAVID PETERSEN * JERRY ROBINSON * NICOLA SCOTT * DAVE SIM * GAIL SIMONE * MARK SPARACIO * CAMERON STEWART * RAINA TELGEMEIER* TY TEMPLETON * J. TORRES * BILLY TUCCI * …and hundreds more! Check out our GUESTS link to see the full list. Need Directions?: View Map We have currently sold out of all available Dealer, Artist and Corporate Booths. If you would like to be placed on our waiting list please contact us at info@torontocomicon.com CGC is the official grading service of the Paradise Toronto Comicon. We are also the home of: - The Women of Comics Symposium sponsored by AllNewComics.com - The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards

We await any and all reports from the scene!

The controversy over NYMPHET, the planned American version of Kaoru Watashiya’s KODOMO NO JIKAN ust keeps going. Now Watashiya-san has addressed the controversy in her diary. As this translation shows, however, there is still some confusion:

There are differences in the border [between what’s acceptable and not] for representations of young girls in each place, time, and culture, so if the people there have decided that it’s unacceptable then that’s that. To those commendable Americans who wanted to read it, I’ll say “There’s always the original.”

I especially felt the difference between cultures in regards to the comment [by Seven Seas president Jason DeAngelis] that the 2nd volume and beyond were problematic. I wondered what was in the second volume that would cause a problem that wasn’t in the first, so I used a web translator to look at the BBSs over there and “incest” was pointed out, so that’s probably about Reiji [Aki’s cousin, currently taking care of Rin] and Aki [Rin’s mother].

However, it wasn’t the second, but the THIRD volume that was the problem, as Seven Seas’ Jason DeAngelis explains in his brand new blog:

Their opinion may be due to some inaccurately translated scanlations out there. Or, if you’re just looking at the pictures and can’t read Japanese, you might miss the gist of what is really happening in this scene. But for me, this was the scene that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, changed my mind about the appropriateness of this title. See, my whole defense before was based on the idea that Nymphet was not so bad because it was about a girl who tries to sexually entrap her teacher but fails because he in no way reciprocates. But in this scene in the third volume, it shows him getting literally, physically aroused by her (the original Japanese text unmistakably and unequivocally backs this up.) This is what completely crossed the line for me, and showed me that I could no longer defend releasing this title. Yes, there are other questionable scenes as well, but it isn’t my job to go through a graphic play-by-play of all the objectionable material. Suffice it to say that this one scene crossed the point of no return. I don’t see how anyone can possibly defend this scene. ‘Nuff said.

These scenes have been shown on a blog somewhere, but I managed to lose the link. If someone has it, please send and I’ll put it in so everyone can judge for themselves.

This cultural divide thing is fascinating stuff, and as we hinted earlier, we’ve heard many theories about why showing a grown man becoming sexually aroused in Japan just doesn’t offend (or alarm) the way it does here.

We did have one of our correspondent’s point out something that we’ve heard many times over the years: that a lot of the so-called “shojo manga” is actually read by middle-aged salari-men. Yes, can you believe it? Middle aged men getting off on the adventures of teen-aged girls. That’s not to say that stuff like NANA or the work of the Forty-Niners doesn’t have a loyal female readership. You could probably write several books on the issues of voyeurism and repression all of this brings up. Maybe someday when we have time.