A few other observations: The Gossamyr comic from Th3rd World Studios features art by “talented newcomer Sarah Ellerton.” I don’t know who let that by, but Ellerton is anything but a newcomer; she has been making webcomics (Inverloch, The Phoenix Requiem) for close to a decade now, although it’s clear from the cover that her art has matured quite a bit. Viz is back in the FCBD game but not with their Shonen Jump samplers of years gone by; this year they are all about Voltron Force, and they were pretty excited about these graphic novels at NYCC this year. Yen Press is highlighting their adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices, which was announced at NYCC.

The graphic novel is based on Lego’s ninja-themed Ninjago playsets, which have already spawned a couple of made-for-TV movies, and there’s a cartoon series in the works. Plus, people really like Lego, so it’s logical that it would do well.

Still, numbers like that put Ninjago in rarefied company. The first printing of Scott Pilgrim (which admittedly wasn’t a slam dunk) was about 10,000, if memory serves. Potential blockbusters justify greater risk: Yen Press announced an initial printing of 350,000 copies of the first Twilight graphic novel, and over 168,000 copies were sold in stores monitored by BookScan (which includes sales from bookstores only, and not all of those) last year.

There aren’t many books that do that well, though. Dork Diaries, which is a prose-graphic novel hybrid, actually topped Twilight on the BookScan charts, and The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung Fu Cave, by Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey, came in a very close third. But only those three topped 100,000 copies; Scott Pilgrim filled slots 4 through 9 on the chart, with sales ranging from 90,000 to almost 60,00, and the number 10 book was a volume of Naruto that moved about 53,000 copies.

That effect was even more pronounced in 2009, when BookScan’s top seller Watchmen, dwarfed the ninjas and the vampires with sales of well over 400,000 copies. The second best-selling book that year was Dork Diaries (again!) with sales of over 68,000, a considerable dropoff from the top spot. With graphic novels, it seems you can’t count on volume—unless you have Lego ninjas on your side.

We’ve compiled a list of all the openings in the comics industry for non-creative office positions and put it all into one place. It’s a good resource if you’re looking to work in comics, and also for armchair speculators seeing what companies are looking to do by seeing what positions they’re hiring for. We accumulated these by looking on publisher websites and job boards — if you know of a job not listed here, let us know!

Marvel Entertainment

• Customer Service Coordinator
• Desktop Analyst
• Financial Analyst
• Inventory Manager, Worldwide Technical Services
• Linux & SAN System Administrator
• Manager, Digital Customer Acquisition
• Network System Administrator
• Retail Analyst
• Senior ERP Project Manager
• Senior Royalty Analyst
• Systems Administrator, Marvel Digital Media Group
• Web Interface Developer

DC Entertainment

• New Talent Administrator, Digital

Note: DC doesn’t allow internal linking; go to Time Warner’s career page and search for DC Comics.

Viz

• Digital Business Manager
• Animation Marketing Manager

Yen Press / Orbit

• Editor
• Online Marketing Associate

Diamond Comic Distributors

• Part-Time Retail Sales Associate
• Tech Support / Point-Of-Sale Specialist

Graphic.ly

• Product Designer
• Super Marketer

Comixology

• Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer – Mobile and Web
• Senior Mobile Developer

An additional note: Many comic companies hire interns. Check with each publisher’s website to see the details and the hiring process.

While a number of American companies publish licensed manhwa, they usually don’t brand it as such. Tokyopop and Central Park Media started bringing it over in the mid-2000s to supplement their manga lines, which led many fans to dismiss it as an inferior version of manga. I remember sitting in the CPM panel at NYCC in February 2007, when CPM managing director John O’Donnell asked the crowd of mostly manga and anime fans what they thought about manhwa. Hoots of derision echoed off the concrete walls as fans ticked off the things they hate about manhwa, weak art and fractured storytelling looming large among them.

But that had a lot to do with the selection available; at that time, most of the manhwa available in English were second-string genre titles, and a lot of them did look like crappy imitations of manga. What’s more, people didn’t have a sense of manhwa the way they do of manga; the highest-profile manhwa property in the U.S. is probably Tokyopop’s Priest, especially since the movie came out this year, but people don’t necessarily know it’s Korean. Tokyopop made a good try by publishing a number of manhwa by Hee Jung Park that could hold their own in any selection of American indy comics, but they never found their audience, which is a shame. And no discussion is complete without a mention of Bride of the Water God, the beautifully drawn but oft-delayed series published by Dark Horse.

Since then, however, manhwa has been quietly blossoming in the U.S. Netcomics, an online manhwa site owned by the Korean company Ecomics, has done a lot to bring over quality manhwa, and series like Let Dai, Dokebi Bride, and 10, 20, and 30 have developed fan bases among English-language readers. Netcomics was one of the first online comics sites, and it avoided many of the pitfalls that manga sites are prone to for two reasons: Korean licensors are not quite so tight with the rights, and Korea is a heavily wired country where comics sites are already common, so no one was reinventing the wheel. Netcomics had been quiet for quite a while but recently started updating again.

NBM and First Second have had some success with marketing manhwa to indy comics readers, NBM with Run, Bong-Gu, Run and First Second with their Color of Earth trilogy.

The biggest print publisher of manhwa in the U.S. is Yen Press, which purchased the catalog of Ice Kunion when that company went defunct and has since brought over a number of new series—again, not specifically branded as manhwa. Their catalog includes Goong, one of the most popular girls’ comics in Korea, and the violent supernatural story Jack Frost (which I hate but seems to do very well for them).

So manga is here and there, but outside of Netcomics, it’s not particularly celebrated for what it is. That may be about to change, however, as the Bicof people invited a number of movers and shakers, including comiXology CEO David Steinberger, ICv2 honcho Milton Griepp, and representatives from Bluewater Comics, as well as publishers from other countries, to the festival. If you want to get ahead of the game, check out Kate Dacey’s list of 10 must-read translated manhwa and follow Melinda Beasi at Manga Bookshelf, as she has a longstanding fascination with manhwa in English.

Square Enix is a Japanese publisher of manga and video games. It licenses print manga (including such high-profile titles as Fullmetal Alchemist and Black Butler) to Viz Media and Yen Press, and last year launched an online manga site that carries both those titles and 13 others. However, several reviewers (myself included) found the price of $5.99 per volume (in a streaming-only, no download format) to be a bit on the high side.

From now through Aug. 10, however, Square Enix is offering the first volume of any of its 15 series for free to readers who “Like” the company’s Facebook page or get a special URL at SDCC.

There are a lot of caveats to this: The offer is open to residents of North America only (“Regional eligibility will be determined by MindMax® geolocation services,” says the press release, which sounds a little ominous). You’re also going to have sign up for a Square Enix account and download its proprietary reader. The press release seems to say you have to have a Windows computer to use the reader, but I managed to make it work on my Mac.

Obviously, the Square Enix folks are trying to get people to sign on with their sites. Their registration process is pretty cumbersome; I signed up a few weeks ago and I counted five separate registration processes, including creating two passwords, before I could buy a book in their store and read it on my computer. Offering a free volume may make readers a bit more patient with the process, though. I’m curious to hear what other people think, so if you take them up on the offer, feel free to drop back here and comment on how you liked it.

Stormwatch #1

Publishing | DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio talks about the gay and lesbian characters appearing in the company’s books come September, including Batwoman and WildStorm imports Apollo, Midnighter and Voodoo: “When we looked at trying to incorporate some of the characters that inhabited the WildStorm universe Apollo and Midnighter are two characters that have always popped out. Not because of what they represent, but they’re just strong characters in their own right and [they] were able to represent a story, a style of character that wasn’t represented in the DC Universe. There’s more of an aggressive nature with those characters that will interact interestingly with other characters and allows us to tell more and better stories.” [The Advocate]

Publishing | Todd Allen, Tom Foss and Graeme McMillan react to the list of changes to the “younger, brasher and more brooding” Superman who will inhabit the DC Universe following the September relaunch. [Indignant Online, Fortress of Soliloquy, Blog@Newsarama]

Publishing | David Brothers takes a sharp-eyed look at the DC relaunch: “The fact that Vertigo isn’t included in the digital releases highlights a glaring problem with DC’s big relaunch. They’re playing it safe, essentially, by catering to the same audience that they’ve always served, while offering a few brief nods in the direction of new readers.” He also sees their digital strategy as falling short because it lacks a mechanism for pre-orders and subscriptions. [Publishers Weekly]

Comics | Todd Allen responds to a recent list by Marvel of “required reading” Captain America stories by providing one of his own. [Indignant Online]

Art by Rian Hughes

Creators | Rob Harrigan kicks off a series of Comics & Design Interviews with a discussion with U.K. artist Rian Hughes. [The Offset Past]

Creators | Robot 6 contributor Brigid Alverson interviews novelist Anne Rice about Yen Press’ planned graphic-novel adaptation of her Interview with the Vampire. [Publishers Weekly]

Comics | Forbes interviews Jordanian comics publisher Suleiman Bakhit, who views comics, games, and social media as paths to greater hope and tolerance in the region: “I go to a lot of poor areas and ask the kids, ‘Who are your role models?’ Sometimes they say Zarqawi and Bin Laden. But in one neighborhood I gave them comics and when I went back a few months later; the superheroes were now their role models.” [Forbes]

Vintage manga | The Comics Journal has a preview of Tank Tankuro, a 1934 manga featuring a superhero robot that’s worlds away from Astro Boy. [The Comics Journal]

Awards | Sean Kleefeld reflects on last week’s announced changes for the Xeric Foundation, which will no longer provide grants to self-publishing comic book creators, and instead devote funds to charitable organizations: “Clay Shirkey has noted that, culturally, we tend to bemoan the over-abundance of information when, in fact, the problem is more that we simply don’t have the proper filters in place to remove what’s irrelevant to us as individuals. The Xerics have been, for me at least, one of those filters. If I was looking for good books, I knew that simply choosing something off a list of Xeric-winners was a sure bet.” [Kleefeld on Comics]

Previews | Critic Paul Gravett pulls out the graphic novels you should be looking forward to in the latest Previews. [Paul Gravett]

Sales | John Jackson Miller detects a slight uptick in June sales. [The Comics Chronicles]

Yen Press launched its iPad app this week, and it’s a thing of beauty—which is good, because it’s also expensive.

The app itself is free, of course, but the books will cost ya: Single volumes are priced at $8.99 each, which is less than the list price of $12.99 for print volumes but pretty close to the actual price most people pay for print—in fact, the print edition of vol. 1 of Maximum Ride is going for less than that on Amazon.com right now.

Let’s talk look and feel first: Yen Press feels deluxe. It opens up to a gorgeous full-color page from Maximum Ride. The catalog page is less cluttered than most, with three featured books framed in black at the top and six more in catalog listings below, with no distracting animation or scrolling. Touch any part of a catalog listing and a frame pops up with complete information. But here’s the nicest part: Touch the preview button and you immediately get a full-page preview, not the smaller images that other app developers provide in their catalogs. Everything loads quickly, so the whole thing works like a dream. The Yen folks didn’t use the comiXology or iVerse platform, like most other publishers, but they did a great job.

The selection leaves something to be desired, though: Every book in the opening catalog is American, and four are based on existing properties: Maximum Ride and Daniel X, both based on James Patterson novels, and The Clique and Gossip Girl, both from the YA novel factory Alloy. The other books are Svetlana Chmakova’s Nightschool, James Burk’s Gabby and Gator, and Jason Kruse’s World of Quest. The latter two are pitched at very young readers, while the others are definitely teen books. They are all good, solid graphic novels—even The Clique, which I read in its paper edition, isn’t as awful as you might think, and Nightschool and the Patterson books have gotten good reviews.

What’s missing, though, is anything from Japan or Korea. Black Butler, perhaps Yen’s best selling series, isn’t on the app—although it is available for $5.99 a volume from Square Enix’s online manga site. Time and Again, a manhwa (Korean comic) that just made YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, is also not there. Yotsuba&!, which would be a natural fit with the kid- and teen-friendly books in the app? Absent. Yen has a solid lineup of manga and manhwa including cult favorites like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Higurashi When They Cry, and none of them are available—well, yet.

The problem, of course, is that the target audience, teens and tweens, isn’t going to spend $8.99 per volume. Higurashi and Haruhi fans are older and might have the money, but tweens don’t, and their parents are likely to balk at the cost. As for the kids’ books, they are great, but since they are buried in the app, only publishers who know that “Yen Press” exists will be able to find them for their kids. I know comiXology and iVerse are both working on kids’ comics apps; that would be the place for those books.

Still, Yen has done something no other manga publisher has managed to do—they eliminated their licensed manga from bootleg iPad/iPhone apps. I searched several popular manga apps and could find only a sprinkling of their books, although you can still find them online if you know the right combination of keywords to Google. Poor but tech-savvy teens will continue to do this.

Bottom line: This is a great, well designed manga reader that runs smooth as silk, but the high prices may keep the books away from their target audience.

The digital comics scene is still developing, but the iPad was the game changer. For many people, it was the first time that they could comfortably read comics on a handheld screen. Now, it’s just a question of marketing—this year, publishers will grapple with bringing comics to a wider audience, outside the existing readership, and balancing the digital marketplace with the established brick-and-mortar retail structure.

Here, then, is a look back at our digital year.

January

Apple announces the iPad.

February

Graphic.ly

Graphic.ly, which at this point still hasn’t released their product to the public, acquires iFanboy.

Forbes.com reports that Apple’s iBookstore would have “Comics and Graphic Novels” as a top-tier category. Plans must have changed, as the current version, sadly, features no such category.

March

Jason Thompson explores iPhone apps that pick up manga from illegal scan sites. At the end of the year, many of these apps are still going, but with less content than before.

Rantz Hoseley tells Heidi MacDonald that Longbox, billed as “iTunes for comics,” would launch its public beta at Emerald City Comicon.

Tokyopop CEO Stu Levy tells ICv2 that Tokyopop would publish its own iPhone content this year and that he is very excited about the iPad, especially the iBookstore. At the end of the year, only one new Tokyopop book (Hetalia: Axis Powers) is available digitally, and Tokyopop is completely absent from the iBookstore.

iVerse, one of the pioneers of iOS comics apps, announces it will have a comics app ready to go the day the iPad launches.

April

With the launch of the iPad just days away, Marvel announces that it will have its own app, developed by comiXology.

Comic apps on the iPad at its launch include Comics by comiXology and Comics+ by iVerse.

IDW announces four iPad apps, mirroring its iPhone apps: an IDW app and branded apps for G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Star Trek. (IDW’s apps were developed by iVerse.)

The Japanese publisher Animate begins publishing yaoi manga directly to the Kindle, in both English and Japanese.

Apple rejects a proposed iPhone app from Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore because it “ridicules public figures”—which is pretty much what political cartooning is all about. A few days later, Apple reverses that decision.

ICv2 estimates North American digital comics sales at between half a million and a million dollars annually.

I note that all the manga apps in the iTunes store take content from illegal scan sites.

May

Masaaki Hagino, of the Japanese e-book developer Voyager Japan, says that the iTunes store rejected 30% of the Kodansha manga his company adapted for the iPhone due to relatively mild violence and nudity

IDW announces it is creating comics apps for the BlackBerry; it is the first publisher to do so.

June

Marvel announces its first comic to be released in print and digital form on the same day: Invincible Iron Man Annual. The total cost of the digital version, which was released as three separate issues, was a dollar more than the print comic. Six months after this was big news, the price of the digital version has not dropped.

Longbox launches its public beta.

Apparently unaware of the irony, Apple forces the creators of Ulysses: Seen, a graphic-novel adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses, to re-frame a number of panels to eliminate some nudity. A few days later, they reverse their decision.

Boom! Studios unveils its iPhone/iPad app and announces that it will make its entire backlist available digitally through comiXology, iVerse, Graphic.ly, and Panelfly.

DC announces its iPad app, developed by comiXology, and reveals that it will pay royalties to creators for digital downloads of their work. Joe Quesada hastens to clarify that Marvel is also paying digital royalties to its creators.

July

Fraud arrives in the digital paradise, as a rogue developer hacks into people’s accounts and uses them to buy his comics apps (poorly translated bootleg manga) and boost their ratings in the iTunes store.

Graphic.ly launches a Windows 7 version, making digital comics more accessible to non-Apple users.

As things get crowded in the digital ecosystem, webcomics entrepreneur Joey Manley says the big publishers are getting it right, for once.

August

Just in time for summer vacation: The Scott Pilgrim iPad app (developed by comiXology).

Image Comics joins the growing number of publishers who have their own iPad app.

Webcomics creators rise up in arms against a mobile app that is basically an RSS feed pre-loaded with comics—but that accessed their sites without their consent, and which they fear would steal readers.

September

Chip Mosher of Boom! Studios says that making their backlist available digitally has grown their audience rather than cannibalizing print sales.

Comics come to the digital library service Overdrive.

Marvel comics become available on the Graphic.ly platform.

The Walking Dead goes day-and-date in the comiXology app with a cover price of $2.99 (higher than the previous delayed issues but the same as the print comic).

October

At New York Comic-Con, Dark Horse announces its digital initiative (a stand-alone app that will debut this month) and Boom! Studios reveals that its titles will be available on MyDigitalComics.com. Yen Press becomes the first manga publisher to announce its own app, which is also a stand-alone app (and which has not yet launched).

ComiXology launches a Walking Dead comics app.

Barnes & Noble unveils a color version of their Nook e-reader.

November

The manga publisher Viz announces its iPad app.

Due to a glitch in the system, comiXology releases Ultimate Thor #2, which Marvel is publishing simultaneously in digital and in print, a week early. Benjamin Simpson buys it, reads it, and wakes up the next morning to find that Marvel has locked the comic on his device, making it unreadable until the official release date. This raises the question of whether digital comics readers are buying the comics or just a license to read them, a question later explored in depth by David Brothers.

ComiXology announces it will make their developer tools available to a select group of publishers to help speed up the process of getting their comics onto the platform.

December

Apple posts its lists of top apps of the year, and comics do very well: ComiXology’s Comics app and the Marvel and DC apps (both developed by comiXology) are among the top-grossing apps.

Digital Manga Publishing makes its Vampire Hunter D manga available on the Nook.

ComiXology launches a version of its app for Android devices.

IDW begins releasing graphic novels as stand-alone apps.

Someone figures out how to put bootleg manga on the Kindle.

Marvel announces that the Death of Spider-Man arc in its Ultimates line will be released simultaneously in print and digital.

Dark Horse announces the initial lineup for its comics app, which will launch with full story arcs of Hellboy, Conan, The Guild, Umbrella Academy, and other comics, both bundled and as single issues.

Finally, just as Time Magazine has its Person of the Year, I think it’s appropriate to designate a Digital Creator of the Year. It’s a tie, actually, between Alex De Campi, creator of Valentine, and Mike Jasper and Niki Smith, the co-creators of In Maps and Legends. Alex, Mike, and Niki published their comics on every imaginable platform this year—iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle, Nook—and that sort of versatility is what creators will need to have in the coming year, as digital comics expand and develop in, hopefully, a variety of niches.

The Japanese publisher Square Enix, whose properties include the best-selling series Black Butler and Fullmetal Alchemist, revealed its online manga plans at the Tokyo Game Show yesterday.

Square Enix already has a website through which fans can purchase games, and they set up an online manga site for North America in July, with some sample chapters and an announcement that its digital media store would launch in Fall 2010. According to the information released at the Game Show, that date has been pushed back to winter. Square Enix already allows users to buy games through their website, and they will use the same system for manga, so existing users will not have to create new accounts.

Several Square Enix properties, including Black Butler, Soul Eater, and Pandora Hearts, are licensed by Yen Press but are not available on Yen’s online Yen Plus magazine. It looks like those series will be running on the Square Enix website.

As far as other platforms are concerned, Square Enix seems to be moving cautiously. In November, it will launch Gangan Online, an iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch app, but that will only be available in Japan, and foreign-language versions are not in the cards for the immediate future.

Coincidentally (or perhaps not), the Japanese series Black Butler, Nabari no Ou, and Pandora Hearts, which had been serialized in the print edition of Yen Plus, are now up on a new online manga site from Square Enix, the Japanese publisher of those series. That site is also in a free-sample mode right now, with an online store projected to open in the fall. Hassler would not comment on the relationship between the two, but the Square Enix site is currently hosting the Yen Press editions of these manga.

I spoke to Kurt about the new Yen Plus, the recent removal of all the online manga from OneManga.com, and Yen’s new line of children’s books.

Brigid Alverson: How will the paid version of Yen Plus differ from the free version we have been reading?

Kurt Hassler: It’s really not going to be different. The experience you have now will be pretty much the same. The only different element will be the PayPal component for getting your subscription.

Brigid: What about the Japanese content?

Kurt: That is something we are working on. We have the first title, but finalizing the contract is always getting down to the wire. It is not going to be a ton of material initially; you are going to see material being added gradually over time as licensors get comfortable with digital distribution.

Brigid: Are Japanese licensors still wary of online manga?

Kurt: It’s very new. It’s something they have been resistant to, and it’s new for everybody. Digital content is a new area for everyone and it is evolving very, very rapidly. I think it has reached a point where licensors in Japan are at least open to discussing it, but because it is so new and it’s something they haven’t done before, they are trepidatious about it—and understandably, to some degree.

The June (print) issue of Yen Plus

Brigid: The Japanese titles you had in the print magazine are no longer there?

Kurt: They are not there.

Brigid: But they are on the Square Enix site?

Kurt: They are not being serialized on Square Enix—I cannot talk about the Square Enix thing. There are ongoing conversations, so it’s a “no comment,” unfortunately. We are supplying materials for it, but I really can’t say anything more than that right now.

Brigid: So Black Butler is not coming back?

Kurt: I can’t say.

Brigid: One of the things Deb Aoki pointed out about Yen Plus is that it is not region-blocked—people can read it anywhere. Why did you decide to do that, and how hard was it to negotiate the licenses?

Kurt: It’s about raising the profile as much as we can. The thing about digital is there are going to be work-arounds, people are going to try to pirate material, and we felt, we know there is demand in other territories for this material so we really wanted to make the push to make it available.

Brigid: Is this the reason there are no Japanese series?

Kurt: No, it’s not really that. It all goes back to the digital trepidation, but territory control is something licensors are very focused on, I don’t think we really understand the concerns in Japan about the territory restrictions. It’s not that they are shortsighted. They do realize there is demand in other territories—that’s the point. They want to foster localization for particular territories, and if there is material in English going in there, it can undermine those efforts. It’s something they do look at and they are very concerned about. They have seen this in other markets in print, where they are trying to build local markets for the material in the language, but then English language material ends up getting in there and it really undermines the effort.

Brigid: I get that, but that’s not how the internet works.

Kurt: It’s a changing world, and it’s going to take time to change with it. Everybody seems to want these things to change overnight, but that’s not going to happen. As much as we would like to go further down this path, we are not pirates. We cannot do what we want irregardless of the feelings of the people creating this material.

Brigid: Speaking of pirates, OneManga.com is now down. [Yen Press is a member of a coalition of publishers that united to fight bootleg manga sites.] How did you do that?

Kurt: It’s nice to see people being responsible about it. It’s not that there was even a question that what they were doing was OK. I got a sense that the people running these sites think no one is paying any attention. Now people are paying attention. The sites that aren’t going that route, they are very much on our radar, and there is a lot of liability associated with what they are doing.

Aaron's Absurd Armada

Brigid: Still speaking of pirates, I know that Aarons Absurd Armada is web-only for now. Why is that?

Kurt: We are not going with web only for that. That will be in print.

Brigid: Oh, that must have been an internet rumor. Would you consider doing web-only series?

Kurt: We would consider it for the right books. We don’t have any immediate plans for that because ultimately we want to drive attention to a property for the purposes of supporting the performance in print.

Brigid: The magazine is rated 17+, and the website actually prompts the user to state whether they are over 17. Why?

Kurt: The magazine was always rated for older teens. It’s a recognition that there may be something that somebody might find objectionable. It’s a callout.

It’s not necessarily about reading levels. I think people misunderstand where the age ratings that come on books came from. They are not “This is the reading level for this book,” it’s really a callout to parents to give them a heads up that there may be content you might not find appropriate for someone this age. It’s a service to parent to help them monitor what their kids are reading.

Brigid: So you are OK with kids under 17 reading the site?

Kurt: As long as their parents are. That’s what it’s there for.

Jack Frost

Brigid: Some people, myself included, found the variety of material in the original magazine problematic—you had One Fine Day next to Jack Frost. I know this was a problem for librarians. Since this is fairly easy to do online, have you considered breaking up the magazine into different publications aimed at different groups of readers?

Kurt: Yes, if we get to that point. This is very experimental, just as the magazine was very experimental. We wanted to cast a wide net, and that’s why there is such a diversity of content. If this works and it makes sense to begin segmenting by age rating, that is something we have definitely thought about.

Brigid: Will you continue to have extras, such as interviews and fan art, on the website?

Kurt: Fan art I believe was already in the first one, and we plan on continuing that. Where there are interview opportunities, we will do that. We want to maintain that magazine experience. That’s why it’s laid out the way it is—I wanted someone to continue the magazine experience rather than select individual chapters and possibly miss something else.

For our purposes this is still very much a marketing tool. This is something we call out new series with. That was to me one of the best things about having the magazine in print: You may be a fan of Maximum Ride, but you might find something else in there you like. It’s that ability to introduce people to new things that they may not already be familiar with—that to me is one of the best marketing values of this whole proposition, and we wanted to maintain that rather than most sites, where you click on this and just read what you want. You have the ability to skip over chapters and navigate that way, but we want to encourage people to experience it as a magazine.

Brigid: Will there be any free content for readers who are hitting the site for the first time?

Kurt: It’s something we are looking at. There is nothing planned immediately, but the purpose of this whole month is to leave it up there for a good long while to let people get a test run. There will be lists of the content, but there are no plans for a test run after this first month.

Brigid: I just received a copy of Gabby and Gator, and I know you have Goldilocks and the Seven Squat Bears by Émile Bravo as well. These seem to be flying under the radar a bit. Why did you choose to go in this direction, and how will you be promoting and marketing them?

Kurt: It’s something we want to explore more of. We want to try more kids’ material, and we have a few things in the pipeline. I wouldn’t say it’s a new direction, but it’s something we are experimenting with.

It’s a lot of library marketing. We are trying to get it positioned in different areas of bookstores. Gabby and Gator is a Junior Library Guild pick. We hear the demand from librarians and educators for graphic novels to use as a rezding tool. It’s pursuing that path more than getting to our core manga fans.

Brigid: I suppose that being part of Hachette, you can get it into bookstores easily?

Kurt: It’s a challenge, because it is a new area: Should it go to a middle grade buyer? The kids’ graphic novel section? Picture books? It gets hard to categorize in a lot of ways, and there are political jostlings about where it should go, and buyers get territorial—if you say “graphic novels,” there is a whole category for that, so does everything go there even if it’s not necessarily the intended audience? It’s not easy, but when you do get the support, that is gratifying.

So for example, when VIZ Media started publishing the current chapters of Rumiko Takahashi’s Rin-Ne simultaneously with the Japanese releases, I was telling readers, “Look, isn’t this awesome? It’s free, it’s available the same day as it is in Japan, and it’s legit.” I asked, “Why are scanlators still scanning and pirating Rin-Ne? VIZ and Shogakukan is going through the extra trouble to translate and post it on the same day as Japan to address fans’ complaints that they don’t want to wait to read the latest chapters of their favorite manga.”

Then I heard from fans who told me that the manga posted on the Shonen Sunday website was blocked to readers who aren’t from North America. They said things like “No, I can’t read it because I live in Mexico,” or “No, I can’t read it because I live in outer Tasmania.”

While the licensors are certainly entitled to demand separate licenses for different regions, that’s not really the way the internet works. And a lot of regions aren’t ever going to have a big enough market to support their own manga publishers, so including them in the potential audience for online manga may be the only way to capture their dollars (or whatever the local currency is).

The inaugural issue of Yen Press was also notable for only having American and Korean comics, however, Japanese licensors are notoriously sticky about terms and conditions, and it may be that the next issue, which will contain Japanese content, will be more restricted.

Yen Plus magazine launched two years ago at San Diego Comic-Con, and at this year’s SDCC, Yen Press relaunched it as a web-only publication.

Subscriptions to the magazine will be priced at $2.99 per month, compared to $8.99 per issue for the print version, and Yen is offering a free trial through September 6, so I thought I’d go in and kick the tires a bit. What I found was a mixed bag: The interface is clean and smooth, and I was delighted to find a short comic by the talented Madeleine Rosca (creator of Hollow Fields), but just as with the print version, I was left wondering who exactly they are editing this magazine for: The signup restricts it to readers over 17, but most of the series (Nightschool, Maximum Ride, and especially Rosca’s Haunted House Call) are more appealing to younger teens, while Jack Frost and Gossip Girl are clearly pitched at older readers—and may make the magazine off limits to younger teens, at least if their parents get a glimpse of the full content.

There are no Japanese manga in this issue, although the Yen folks promise that Yotsuba&! will join the lineup in future issues. One reason for this may be that the Japanese publisher Square Enix has set up its own online manga site (apparently in partnership with Yen Press) and their titles include Black Butler and Soul Eater, two former Yen Plus series. I hope Square Enix is giving Yen a good cut of the take from that website, because Black Butler is one of their most popular series.

Signing up at the Yen Plus site was straightforward, although I was put off by the amount of information required—I shouldn’t have to reveal my full name and mailing address to sign up for a website. As with most websites, the signup process also includes consenting to a lengthy set of terms and conditions. I know that no one reads these things, but it is a legal document and there are two things Yen Press/Hachette should be doing to make it more consumer-friendly: Allow the user to print out a copy, and provide a live hyperlink to the privacy policy, which is mentioned almost as an afterthought. (Here it is. You’re welcome.)

PayPal is the only method of payment accepted, and the subscription fee is $2.99 per month, which is automatically deducted from your account every 30 days. That’s not as consumer-friendly as the model used by Digital Manga and Netcomics, where you buy points or chapters in advance, and when you have used up your allotment, you are prompted to purchase more. That makes each purchase a deliberate choice rather than a passive transaction. Still, we’re all over 17 here so no one should get bored, forget to cancel, and end up paying $2.99 a month for the rest of their life, because grownups don’t do that. Right?

Somewhat more bothersome is what you get for your money: The $2.99 doesn’t buy access to every issue, just the two most recent issues every month. A year’s worth of the online publication is $35.88. Under the old model, a subscription was $49.95, but you got to keep your old issues—which is an important thing when you are reading long story arcs. On the other hand, you don’t have to put up with stacks of old magazines; as always, digital is a two-edged sword.

On to the magazine! The interface is clean and uncluttered, with a browser in the center of the screen and an index to the stories on the right. There are some menus and icons for different things but thankfully they are pushed to the edges, putting the magazine front and center. The magazine displays at half size in this format, so it’s a bit small to read comfortably. The Pop-Out Viewer opens up a new window with nothing but the comic and a few navigational icons; it’s larger, easier to read, and fits nicely into the browser on my 18″ screen. A full-size display option is also available, but it’s too big for my computer. What is missing, surprisingly, is a full-screen option, something that is standard on a lot of comics sites. The navigation is easy and intuitive—you turn the pages by clicking on them, for instance—and overall the reading experience was pretty good.

The selection of comics was very different from what I remember in the print magazine (which, I confess, I didn’t read regularly), and the overall quality was high. In addition to Maximum Ride, which was one of the best-selling manga series in the U.S. last year, the lineup includes the first chapter of another James Patterson manga, Daniel X. Other continuing stories from the original include Svetlana Chmakova’s Nightschool and the lovely Korean comic Time and Again, about a wandering exorcist. I started skipping through the Gossip Girl story but then got pulled in—yes, it’s a soap opera, but it’s a well done soap opera. Aron’s Absurd Armada, which I believe will be online only, is a series of four-panel gag strips about comically inept pirates. This is the first time I have ever seen Korean gag strips; the art is nice, but like Japanese 4-koma, they aren’t exactly thigh-slappers; they’re more goofy than laugh-out-loud funny. Rosca’s short story, Haunted House Call, was a real treat, cute and funny, and her art just gets better and better. As for Jack Frost… well, I’m just not a Jack Frost fan, let’s put it that way, and I feel it’s the odd comic out in this magazine, although the short chapter included in this issue isn’t as egregiously violent or degrading to women as the chapter that appeared in the first print issue. So there’s that.

It’s hard to know what the lineup of the subscription version of the magazine will be, because the page that’s supposed to list the series is blank. However, the official post on the Yen Press site does say that Yotsuba&! will be included in future issues.

I really like the online magazine. The interface is nice, and the comics are good. The parent in me says Maximum Ride does not belong next to Jack Frost, but I have to admit that as teenagers do tend to read up, it’s probably pretty savvy marketing. Similarly, the 17+ prohibition, because it is not enforced at all, guarantees the magazine will be attractive to 13-year-olds, although only those with PayPal accounts will be able to read it.

The question, as always, is whether people will pay to read manga online, where the default price is zero. The fickleness of the market is a huge factor here, but if the question is whether Yen has created compelling enough content that readers would want to spend three bucks a month to read it, then I think they pass that test. I would prefer a more focused magazine, and Yen Plus is missing a few things, but if they bring in Yotsuba&!, that would make a very attractive package indeed.

Comic-Con International

Saturday at Comic-Con International in San Diego, once upon a time, was “big movie day” at the con … back before every day became big movie day at the con. Still, today somewhat lived up to its reputation for being eventful, as the Avengers assembled on stage, Green Lantern movie footage was shown and one poor fan was stabbed in the eye while attending programming in Hall H, where several of the big movie panels took place. The victim was taken to UCSD Medical Center, while his attacker was taken away by police after attendees detained him.

In happier news, here’s what was announced on the comics front:

• Marvel Editor-in-Chief and Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada confirmed that Marvel is “gonna be doing some CrossGen stuff.” CrossGen, which published numerous titles like Sojourn, Way of the Rat, Abadazad and Meridian starting 1998, went bankrupt in 2004. Disney bought their assets that same year.

Their titles covered many different genres, from fantasy to horror to detective stories. “I think with the CrossGen stuff you’re going to see us attempt a little more genre publishing, which I think is much-needed in our imprint,” Quesada said. No word yet on what properties they plan to bring back.

• Kurt Busiek announced that American Gothic, the urban fantasy comic announced at last year’s WildStorm panel, will now be called Witchlands. The series will be drawn by Connor Willumson. Busiek is also working on an Arrowsmith novel titled Arrowsmith: Far from the Fields We Know, which will include illustrations by Carlos Pacheco.

• Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness are working on a new Marvel project called Avengers 3 featuring Captain America, Thor and Iron Man.

• DC Comics announced that Chloe Sullivan from the TV show Smallville will appear in the Jimmy Olsen co-feature that will run in Action Comics. They also announced a new title called Weird Worlds, starring Aaron Lopresti’s Garbage Man and other characters. “Monster books, they’ve become horror books in the last 15 years, but I want to get back to monsters as superheroes,” Lopresti said of the character.

• Christos Gage and Darick Robertson are teaming up on an as-yet-unrevealed WildStorm comic.

• Fantagraphics announced today that they’ve obtained the rights from Disney to publish the complete Mickey Mouse comic strips by Floyd Gottfredson.

• Tokyopop, Yen Press and Drawn & Quarterly have all announced that they’ve picked up new manga licenses. Tokyopop has picked up Koge-Donbo’s Naki Shōjo no Tame no Pavane (Pavane for a Dead Girl) and Ghost Face, by Min-Woo Hyung. D&Q will publish two Shigeru Mizuki manga, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths and NonNonBā. Yen will publish Otoyome-Gatari, Highschool of the Dead, Aron’s Absurd Armada, Betrayal Knows My Name, and another arc of Higurashi When They Cry.

• John Byrne’s Next Men are returning in new stories from IDW this December.

• Marvel confirmed, finally, that the Atlas team of Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman are taking over the Hulk.

• IDW will publish a four-issue Rocketeer anthology by various creators, including Mike Allred, Kurt Busiek, John Cassaday, Darwyn Cooke, Michael Golden, Gene Ha, Michael Kaluta, Garry Leach, Bruce Timm and Bill Willingham, with covers by Alex Ross.

• IDW will also publish the Ultimate Alex Raymond Collection: The Definitive Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim.

• Joe Kelly will team again with J. M. Ken Nimura, the artist on I Kill Giants, for an Image Comics project called Immortal Sergeant.

• All nine issues of Joe Madureira’s Battle Chasers will be collected in an oversized hardback in November.

Movie, television and video games

Avengers cast

• Fans who weathered a long day of movie panels, not to mention the horrible stabbing I mentioned earlier, ended the day in Hall H with the Marvel Studios panel, where directors and cast from Thor, Captain America and the Avengers gathered on stage to discuss the upcoming films.

• Sony released an extended trailer for the upcoming DC Universe Online game, which has to be seen to be believed. I played the game yesterday, and will have a longer report on what I thought, but I played as Nightwing, and boy did Dick Grayson get the beatdown of a lifetime. I’m pretty sure the Joker and Harlequin I was fighting were ringers.

• Ultimate Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis will help produce and write the aptly named Ultimate Spider-Man animated series.

• A new CGI animated Green Lantern series is coming to Cartoon Network.

• Top Cow Productions announced a Witchblade video game.

• Ameratsu, the spirit dog main character from the video game Okami, and Thor have joined the cast of Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

• The video teaser shown during the Walking Dead TV panel this weekend can be found online.

• Footage has been released from The Goon animated movie.

• Today brought several unveilings, from the Green Lantern movie logo and the Avengers movie logo to the Destroyer armor from next summer’s Thor movie and the first photo from the upcoming Cowboys & Aliens movie.

Pavane for a Dead Girl

I’m going to lead with a new license announcement from the Tokyopop panel at Comic-Con International: Koge-Donbo’s Naki Shōjo no Tame no Pavane (Pavane for a Dead Girl), a story about a musical prodigy who makes a deal with the angel of death. Tokyopop’s Marco Pavia told me they have another new title as well, Ghost Face, by Min-Woo Hyung, the creator of Priest.

The other big manga news is that Drawn & Quarterly has the license for two Shigeru Mizuki manga, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths and NonNonBā. (If you’re wondering why that sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because NonNonBā won the Best Album Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival a couple of years back. This is very good news for those who like their manga on the literary side. And the D&Q folks had to be smiling pretty broadly after Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s autobiographical tome A Drifting Life took two Eisner awards.

Meanwhile, Yen Press announced a number of new titles, including Otoyome-Gatari (The Bride’s Stories) by Emma creator Kaoru Mori, as well as Highschool of the Dead, Aron’s Absurd Armada, Betrayal Knows My Name, and yet another arc of Higurashi When They Cry. They also revealed that Yen Plus magazine, which stopped print publication this month, will continue as an online anthology that will be free the first month and cost the reader $2.99 per month after that.

There was one bit of sobering news, a reminder that things are still not all they should be in the manga industry: Del Rey’s indefatigable marketing manager Ali T. Kokmen is no longer with the company. Ali is well-liked in the industry, and hopefully some smart manga company will snap him up soon.

Comic-Con International

As we inch another day closer to Comic-Con International, which kicks off in just 13 days, organizers have released the schedule for Friday, July 23.

Below you’ll find highlights of the comics-related programming, which range from a panel on AMC’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Walking Dead to spotlights on such creators as Chris Claremont, Moto Hagio, Paul Levitz, C. Tyler and Stan Lee to, of course, peeks at publishing plans for companies ranging from Marvel, DC and BOOM! to Dark Horse, IDW and Top Shelf.

The full programming schedule for Friday can be found here.

10 to 11 a.m. DC Talent Search 2 — DC’s editorial art director Mark Chiarello presents an informative orientation session that will explain how DC’s Talent Search works and discuss the different needs of DC Universe, Vertigo, WildStorm and MAD magazine publications. If you want to learn what DC Comics looks for in artists and how to improve your chances of becoming a working professional, this is the panel for you! To have your work reviewed, attendance at this orientation session is mandatory.  (Please note: Not all attendees are guaranteed a one-on-one review.)  Room 4

X-Men: Curse of the Mutants

10 to 11 a.m. Marvel X-Men —  Following “Second Coming,” Marvel’s merry mutants are unable to catch a quick breather. As “Curse of the Mutants” begins, there’s no telling what the vampires have in store for the X-Men … or is there? You’ve got questions & these people have answers! VP/executive editor Axel Alonso is joined by a host of creators to lay out what’s going on with the X-Men. Panelists include Matt Fraction (Uncanny X-Men), Victor Gischler (X-Men), Marjorie Liu (Dark Wolverine), Daniel Way (Deadpool), editor Nick Lowe and more for this all-new, all-deadly panel! Room 6DE

10 to 11 a.m. Publishing Comics — Four publishers — Matt Gagnon (BOOM!), Gary Groth (Fantagraphics), Dallas Middaugh (Del Rey Manga) and Mark Siegel (First Second Books) — each from a different part of the comics industry, discuss what’s involved in running a publishing company and in creating and fostering a unique comics ideology. Moderated by Graeme McMillan (Techland). Room 8

10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Nappy Hour — Keith Knight (the Knight Life, the K Chronicles, MAD) brings his informal gathering of African-American creators out of the bar and onto the stage for an hour of tips, hints, secrets and thoughts on how to make it in the comics biz. With Ned Cato Jr. (GeekRoundTable.com), David Walker (BadAzzMofo.com), Spike Trotman (Templar AZ) and Dwayne McDuffie (Static Shock, Justice League).  Room 3

10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Spotlight on Moto Hagio — Comic-Con special guest Moto Hagio  is considered to be the mother of shōjo (young girl) manga. Her large body of work is renowned the world over, and Fantagraphics Books is publishing a new collection of her short stories, Drunken Dreams. Celebrate her first-ever visit to the U.S. at this special Q&A session, moderated by Matt Thorn, associate professor in the department of manga production at Kyoto Seika University in Japan. (Thorn decided to translate shōjo manga into English after reading Thomas no Shinzō  by Moto Hagio in the mid-1980s). Room 5AB

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Batman: The Brave and the Bold Screening and Q&A — The Caped Crusader swings back into San Diego as Batman: The Brave and the Bold returns to Comic-Con for its third consecutive year, with an advance screening of an upcoming episode as well as a lively discussion with voice of Batman Diedrich Bader (Surf’s Up), executive producer Sam Register (Teen Titans), producers James Tucker (Justice League Unlimited), and Michael Jelenic  (The Batman) and voice director Andrea Romano (Superman Doomsday). As a special bonus for fans, the panel will also screen the world premiere trailer for the upcoming and highly anticipated Cartoon Network/Warner Bros. Animation series Young Justice … don’t miss this Comic-Con exclusive! From Warner Bros. Animation, Batman: The Brave and the Bold airs Fridays at 7:30 pm ET/PT on Cartoon Network, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold — Season 1, Part 1 will be released on DVD Aug. 17. Room 6A

10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Neal Adams and Stan Lee: They Spoke Out — Against the Holocaust — Neal Adams (Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow) and Holocaust historian Dr. Rafael Medoff unveil the new series of educational “motion comics” they are creating with ABC News about Americans who spoke out for the rescue of Jews from the Holocaust. They will be joined on the panel by Stan Lee  (co-creator of Spider-Man, X-Men) and will screen an episode from the upcoming series, illustrated by Neal Adams and narrated by Stan Lee. Room 9

10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Retailing in the Digital Age — Publishers are looking at more digital comics releases, and the comic book apps are among the most popular on the iPad and iPhone. How can comic book stores update their retail practices to stay involved with digital distribution? What are publishers doing to encourage new digital readers to pick up print comics? Jim Lee  (co-publisher, DC Comics) and John Rood (executive VP of sales & marketing, DC Entertainment), along with Jim Sokolowski (COO Marvel Comics), Chip Mosher (director of marketing, BOOM! Studios), and David Steinberger (founder, comiXology.com), talk about upcoming promotions aimed at sending readers to comic book stores. Moderated by Joe Field (ComicsPRO president, Flying Colors Comics, Concord, California). Room 12

11 a.m. to noon BOOM! Studios/BOOM Kids! Panel — The BOOM! team — Mark Waid, Ross Richie, Matt Gagnon and Chip Mosher — take over Comic-Con for one full hour. Learn what is next for BOOM! History will be made. New titles will be announced. Heads will explode! And comics will never be the same again! Room 8

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Dark Horse Comics: Make Contact in 2010 — Couldn’t get into the Dark Horse panel last year? Well, here’s another chance to be at the forefront of breaking news from comics’ most dynamic publishing house. Dark Horse president and publisher Mike Richardson, plus a host of the industry’s top creators, present a firsthand look at the future of the medium. Featuring everyone from Eisner Award winner Gerard Way to New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich, this is one panel you don’t want to miss. Room 3

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Spotlight on Paul Levitz — Paul Levitz has been a comics fan (The Comic Reader fanzine, NY Comic Art Convention committee), editor (Batman), writer (Legion of Super-Heroes) and executive (DC Comics, including publisher from 1989 to 2010). Now he’s interviewed by favorite writer and DC chief creative officer Geoff Johns about his varied career and his return to writing Legion and other DC projects, including a coffee table book history of the company. Room 5AB

The Walking Dead

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. AMC’s The Walking Dead — Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually), Jon Bernthal (The Pacific), Sarah Wayne Callies (Prison Break), Laurie Holden (The Mist), Emma Bell (Law & Order), series creator/director/executive producer Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), executive producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator) executive producer Robert Kirkman (creator/writer of The Walking Dead comic), makeup artist Greg Nicotero and Joel Stillerman (AMCs senior VP) discuss the making of AMC’s series The Walking Dead, based on the Image comic book series created and written by Robert Kirkman, premiering in October on AMC. Room 6BCF

noon to 1 p.m. Spotlight on C. Tyler — Comic-Con special guest C. Tyler  is known for her personal brand of storytelling. Her latest book, You’ll Never Know, Book 1: A Good and Decent Man chronicles the story of her father’s life during World War II and interweaves it with her own story. Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth interviews Tyler about her work. Room 4

noon to 1 p.m. IDW and Their ‘Bro — Representatives from IDW and Hasbro discuss what’s coming up next in the world of Transformers, G.I. Joe, and the impending relaunch of Dungeons & Dragons. IDW’s Andy Schmidt moderates a panel with D&D editor Denton Tipton and writers John Rogers and Alex Irvine, G.I. Joe artist Robert Atkins, writer Mike Costa, and more! Room 8

noon to 1 p.m. Archie Comics: Cooler Than Ever! — It’s been an exciting year for Archie Comics, but that’s just the start, with plenty of surprise announcements about the future of Archie Comics, including the latest news about Archie on television and in feature films! Panelists include executive producer of The Dark Knight and Archie writer Michael Uslan, Archie Comics co-CEO Jon Goldwater, iVerse CEO Michael Murphy, IDW Publishing COO Greg Goldstein, Dark Horse Comics VP of business development Michael Martens, Archie Comics president/editor-in-chief Victor Gorelick, and Archie Comics VP/managing editor Mike Pellerito. The panel will feature a Q&A session. Room 24ABC

noon to 2 p.m. CBLDF Master Session: Jill Thompson: Secrets of Watercolor Technique — Bring your sketchbooks and learn the secrets of expressive watercolor from one of the medium’s top practitioners! Renowned for her work on Beasts of Burden, Scary Godmother and Sandman, Jill Thompson  shows you the intricacies of the watercolor medium and how to apply it to making masterful comics and covers. The original art from this session will be auctioned off on Saturday night at the CBLDF’s Art Auction! Room 30CDE

Aspen

noon to 1 p.m. The Official Aspen Comics Panel — Creators Frank Mastromauro (Dellec, Shrugged), Peter Steigerwald (Soulfire, Brightest Day), Vince Hernandez  (Dellec, Fathom: Kiani), Mark Roslan (Heroes, Brightest Day), J.T. Krul (Mindfield, Green Arrow), Joe Benitez (Soulfire, Lady Mechanika), David Schwartz (Fathom: Blue Descent, Meltdown), David Wohl (Executive Assistant: Iris, Witchblade), Micah Gunnell (Dellec, Shrugged), Alex Konat (Mindfield), Eric Battle (The Scourge), Beth Sotelo (Soulfire, Fathom), and surprise guests are on hand to unveil Aspen’s all-new properties for 2010 and beyond! See never-before-seen covers and art, hear firsthand from the creators their plans for exciting new properties, and ask them questions directly in a special Q&A session. All fans in attendance will receive an exclusive gift courtesy of Aspen Comics. Room 32AB

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Remembering Frank Frazetta and Al Williamson — The late legendary artists Frank Frazetta and Al Williamson will be remembered by their friends and colleagues during this memorial panel. A giant of comics and book illustration, Frank Frazetta was a major influence on countless comic artists. From his early work at Magazine Enterprises and EC Comics to his Warren Publications and Conan paperback covers, Frazetta’s art was monumental in scope, design, and execution. He passed away on May 10. Al Williamson was an artists’ artist, with a clean, elegant style. He’s most famous for his work with EC Comics and in the syndicated comic strip world, with Secret Agent Corrigan and Star Wars. He passed away on June 12. Moderator Arnie Fenner (co-author/editor of the Frazetta books Icon, Legacy and Testament, and director of Spectrum Fantastic Art) talks to writer/artist Mark Schultz (Xenozoic Tales, writer of Prince Valiant), artist/illustrator William Stout (Dinosaur Discoveries, Prehistoric Life Murals) and publisher J. David Spurlock, whose Vanguard Productions recently launched a number of Frazetta books, including a complete reprinting of Johnny Comet, the artist’s syndicated daily comic strip from the mid-1950s. Room 3

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. DC Focus: Grant Morrison — The mastermind behind bestselling hits such as Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, Joe the Barbarian, Final Crisis, Arkham Asylum, All-Star Superman and many more invites you to this rare sit-down. You won’t want to miss this candid chat about projects past, present and future, with glimpses into what goes on in the mind of Grant Morrison as he crafts some of the world’s most thought-provoking comics! Hosted by DC’s senior story editor Ian Sattler. Room 6DE

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Spotlight on the Immonens: Sex, Lies and Comic Books — Kathryn Immonen (Heralds) and Stuart Immonen (New Avengers) enter the ring with the peerless John Siuntres (wordballoon.com) to talk about working for Marvel, publishing with Top Shelf, and sleeping with the enemy. See new work unveiled! Bring your questions! Room 9

12:45 to 1:45 p.m. Marvel Animation — Hosted by an all-star cast of Marvel Animation talent and featuring a special guest of legendary proportions, this interactive game-show panel will get you more than excited about Marvel’s new and continuing animated series. Here’s your chance to snag some sweet Marvel merchandise! Come be a part of the action, with all new seasons of The Super Hero Squad Show and Iron Man Armored Adventures as well as Marvel Knights, Marvel Anime and other upcoming Marvel Animation properties! Room 6BCF

1 to 2 p.m. Spotlight on Michael Zulli — Artist and Comic-Con special guest Michael Zulli  is best known for his work on Sandman with Neil Gaiman. Zulli talks about his career and what’s coming next, including his new book, The Fracture of the Universal Boy. Room 4

Berkeley Breathed

1 to 2 p.m. Bloom County’s Berkeley Breathed: The Secret Sex Tapes — The creator of the 1980s’ most-enduring strip act, Comic-Con special guest Berkeley Breathed, reveals all the behind-the-scenes shockers … and some never-before-seen tests of the Miramax Opus movie that was eventually killed by the Deptartment of Homeland Security. Plus, Bill the Cat’s private home videos of Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Diane Sawyer and Barbara Bush. Room 6A

1 to 2:30 p.m. Comic-Con How-To Session: Whilce Portacio and Francis Manapul — Acclaimed artists Whilce Portacio (Uncanny X-Men, Image United) and Francis Manapul (The Flash, Adventure Comics, Superman/Batman) will demonstrate how to create and draw characters for comic books. Room 18

1 to 2 p.m. Yen Press — Catch up with the Yen Press crew to discuss new licenses, answer questions, and of course be there for the ever-important distribution of swag! Panelists include publishing director Kurt Hassler,  senior editor JuYoun Lee, assistant editor Tania Biswas and editorial assistant Abby Blackman. Room 25ABC

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. A Tribute to Ken Krueger — He was the “go-to guy” and the “adult in the room” when Comic-Con first started 41 years ago. Ken Krueger was a dynamo who helped launch the country’s largest comics and popular arts convention in 1970. Comic-Con friends and associates pay tribute to the life of this larger-than-life retailer, publisher, and fan in this special panel. Moderated by author Greg Bear (author, Quantico), and featuring fellow early Comic-Con committee members Scott Shaw! (Oddball Comics), Jim Valentino (Shadowhawk), J.M. Towry, Janice Campbell and Wendy All. Room 3

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Spotlight on Jerry Robinson — One of the true legends of comics, Comic-Con special guest Jerry Robinson is a writer, artist, historian, curator and creator rights activist. Jerry discusses his 70 years in comics — from his contributions to the Batman mythos to the creation of the Joker and development of Robin, Alfred, Penguin, Scarecrow and Two-Face. Jerry is interviewed by Michael Uslan, the executive producer of the Batman movies, comics historian and author of the upcoming Archie Marries … (Abrams). In their discussion, Robinson and Uslan will take the audience from behind the scenes of the Golden Age of comics to the filming of The Dark Knight and Jerry’s latest book projects.  Room 9

Batman and Robin #13

1:45 to 2:45 p.m. Batman: The Return — As Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne rages on, follow the Bat-Signal to this panel and uncover clues about the future of the Dark Knight from some of the A-list talent behind the publishing line. If you think you know where this story’s headed — Think again! Hear it here from group editor Mike Marts, Paul Dini (Batman: Streets of Gotham), David Finch (Batman), Grant Morrison (Batman & Robin), Dustin Nguyen (Batman: Streets of Gotham) and others. Room 6DE

2 to 3 p.m. Graphic Novels: The Personal Touch — You know when you read it: that certain something that sticks out in a graphic novel. It’s the personal touch, a work that draws on the life of the creator or the people around him or her. Call the work autobiographical, call it reality — many times it results in truly personal and inspiring comics. Comics creator and journalist Shaenon Garrity (Narbonic, Skin Horse) talks to Comic-Con special guests Gabrielle Bell (Cecil & Jordan in New York), Howard Cruse  (Stuck Rubber Baby), Vanessa Davis  (Make Me a Woman), Larry Marder  (Beanworld), Jillian Tamaki (Skim) and C. Tyler (You’ll Never Know Book 1: A Good and Decent Man) about their very personal work. Room 4

2 to 3 p.m. Spotlight on Stan Lee — Comics legend and Comic-Con special guest Stan Lee discusses some of his latest projects at POW! Entertainment and the future of comics and new media distribution, including challenges today’s writers and artists face. Join Stan and company, including Gill Champion (COO POW! Entertainment) for this special panel, which includes a Q&A with “The Man” himself. Room 6BCF

2 to 3 p.m. Peanuts Turns 60 — On October 2, 1950, the Peanuts comic strip launched in seven American newspapers. Little did anyone know the impact this comic strip would have around the world for decades to come. Nearly 60 years later, Peanuts appears in over 2,200 newspapers, in 75 countries and 21 languages. The animated specials have become a seasonal tradition and thousands of consumer products are available in every country around the world. Moderator Jerry Beck (animation historian/cartoon producer/consulting producer to Warner Bros., Universal and Disney), Comic-Con special guest Jeannie Schulz (widow of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz), Paige Braddock (creative director of Charles M. Schulz’s studio in Santa Rosa), Andy Beall (fix animation lead for Ratatouille, Wall-E, UP), Stephan Pastis (creator of Pearls Before Swine) and Marge Dean (general manager, W!ldbrain Animation Studios), present an in-depth foray into the work of Charles M. Schulz and what new things fans can look out for from Peanuts. Warner Premiere is joining the celebration with a sneak peek of something all new from Peanuts that fans won’t want to miss. Room 25ABC

2:30 to 3:30 p.m. The Image Comics Show — Image Comics promises a slew of exclusive announcements about upcoming projects, updates about ongoing projects, and a Q&A session with some of Image’ best writers. Don’t miss your chance to find out about what Image is up to before anyone else does, get exclusive giveaways, and ask questions of your favorite creators! Panelists include Marc Guggenheim (Resurrection, Web of Spider-Man), Joe Kelly (I Kill Giants), Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible), John Layman (Chew), Ben McCool (Choker, Memoir) and Nick Spencer (Existence, Morning Glories). Room 3

2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Spotlight on Steve Rude — Award-winning artist and Comic-Con special guest Steve Rude describes the high points of his career, including how he broke into comics; the various comics he’s worked on, including Nexus, World’s Finest and Space Ghost; and the trials of working on them. Plus Steve gives his thoughts on today’s current comics and artists. A “big surprise” will also premiere at this panel. Room 9

3 to 4 p.m. Spotlight on Émile Bravo — Eisner Award 2010 nominee — three nominations for My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill (Fanfare/Ponent Mon) — and Comic-Con special guest Émile Bravo makes an illustrated presentation: “Graphic Writing, Comics as Calligraphy,” with Michele Foschini (BAO Publishing, Italy) and Stephen Vrattos (Captain Gravity; www.heroesinmycloset.com), followed by a Q&A. Room 4

3 to 4 p.m. Superman: Man of Tomorrow — It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s The Man of Steel — and he’s back on Earth and primed to take 2010 by storm! Don’t miss members of the exciting new Superman creative teams as they discuss their plans for Superman, Lex Luthor, Superboy, Supergirl and more led by DC group editor Matt Idelson, with Paul Cornell (Action Comics), Shane Davis (Superman: Earth One), Sterling Gates (Supergirl), Jeff Lemire (Superboy), J. Michael Strazcynski (Superman: Earth One, Superman) and others. Room 6DE

Jim Lee

3 to 4 p.m. Comic-Con How-To Session: Jim Lee — This is your opportunity to see Comic-Con special guest Jim Lee draw for an hour! Room 18

3 to 4 p.m. Spotlight on Chris Claremont — Comic-Con special guest and world-renowned writer Chris Claremont talks about his career in this special Spotlight panel. Claremont’s incredible body of work, including his many years writing the X-Men and his newest collaborations with Tom Grummet (X-Men Forever) and fellow special guest Milo Manara (X-Women), are fan favorites. Room 24ABC

3 to 4 p.m. Spotlight on the Adams Family: Neal, Jason, Joel, and Josh — Comic-Con special guests Neal, Jason, Joel and Josh Adams make up one of the first families of comics. Neal started his career in the medium in the late 1950s and is famous for his depictions of Batman and numerous other characters. Sons Jason, Joel, and Josh have followed in their dad’s rather large footsteps to carve out careers of their own in sculpture, animation, and comics. Be a part of this first time ever “family reunion” as the Adams Family gets together at Comic-Con! Room 25ABC

3 to 4 p.m. Digital Comics and You — A panel of industry professionals ranging from creators to publishers to retailers to entertainment agents discuss the benefits and drawbacks of digital comics and ultimately how digital comics can and will affect you, now that the digital comics revolution has begun. Ben Templesmith (co-creator, Choker, Fell, 30 Days of Night), James Sime (retailer, Isotope: The Comic Book Lounge in San Francisco), Micah Baldwin (Graphic.ly), Scott Agostoni (entertainment agent, William Morris Endeavor) and more surprise guests will discuss, argue and hopefully hear what you think in this honest, no-holds-barred conversation moderated by Ron Richards (iFanboy). Room 32AB

3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Spotlight on Nicholas Gurewitch — Comic-Con special guest Nicholas Gurewitch is the Eisner and Harvey Award–winning cartoonist behind the hilarious online comic strip The Perry Bible Fellowship. Now being reprinted by Dark Horse, Gurewitch’s twisted strips are fan-favorites the world over. Hear what’s next from Gurewitch in this exclusive Spotlight panel. Room 5AB

3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Comics Design — How do pages of art become a book? Six designers — Mark Chiarello  (DC Comics), Adam Grano (Fantagraphics), Chip Kidd (Random House), Fawn Lau (VIZ), Mark Siegel (First Second Books) and Keith Wood (Oni Press) — discuss what’s involved in the process of comics design, and the importance of design to a book’s critical and consumer reception. Moderated by Chris Butcher (The Beguiling). Room 26AB

4 to 5 p.m. Krazy Kat’s 100th Anniversary Celebration! — An exclusive multimedia show of unpublished strips, drawings, and paintings presented by Craig Yoe, author of Krazy + Ignatz in Tiger Tea (IDW) and the forthcoming Krazy Kat and The Art of George Herriman: A Celebration (Abrams ComicArts). The panel will explore a century of Krazy-ness, with Greg Goldstein (IDW), R. C. Harvey (The Art of the Funnies), Charles Kochman (Abrams ComicArts) and Douglas Wolk (Reading Comics). Plus a thrilling bonus: a never-before-seen home movie of Krazy’s kreator George Herriman! Room 4

Criminal: The Sinners #2

4 to 5 p.m. Spotlight on Sean Philips — Comic-Con special guest, artist Sean Phillips (Criminal, Marvel Zombies) and moderator/artist Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy, Jay and Silent Bob) have known each other for over twenty years. Hear Duncan ask Sean questions that Duncan already probably knows the answers to! See lots of Sean’s art you haven’t seen before! (Unless you read his blog.)  Room 8

4:15 to 5:15 p.m. DC Nation Special Edition — It’s the DC Nation State of the Union address as DC co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee  join forces to give fans all the info they can handle! With those two leading the Nation, expect the unexpected … The Nation welcomes all! Room 6DE

4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Indy Comics Writers Unite! — Another in our series of “Year of the Writer” events, this panel focuses on independent comics writers (and some writer/artists!). Moderator Mark Waid (Amazing Spider-Man, Irredeemable) talks to Van Jensen  (Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer), Larry Marder (Beanworld), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder) and Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise, Echo) about the fine art of writing comics without capes (on the protagonists, not the writers themselves). Room 3

4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Archaia: Lucid — Lucid, the first comic book project from Archaia’s partnership with Before the Door, is finally here! Lucid creator and writer Michael McMillian (True Blood) and BTD partners Zachary Quinto  (Star Trek, Heroes), Neal Dodson and Corey Moosa share cool, behind-the-scenes info and other interesting tidbits about the making of the comic. Moderated by Archaia editor-in-chief Stephen Christy. Room 25ABC

5 to 6 p.m. Girls Gone Genre: Movies, TV, Comics, Web — Meet and talk with women who write, read, game, and perform in arenas that are historically and statistically dominated by men. What’s it like to try and get a job in a field where most of your competitors and colleagues are guys? Can women write men, and vice versa? And what happens when traditionally “male” genres are reinvented by female writers and embraced by female fans? Sex and the City it ain’t! Meet the women who like to play with trucks and Barbies … and Wolverine action figures. And flux capacitors. Featuring Felicia Day (writer/producer, The Guild; actress, The Guild, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog), Kathryn Immonen (writer, Patsy Walker: Hellcat, Runaways, Heralds), Laeta Kalogridis (screenwriter/producer, Shutter Island, Ghost in the Shell, Avatar), Marti Noxon (screenwriter/producer, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Mad Men), Melissa Rosenberg (screenwriter/producer, Dexter, The Twilight Saga) and Gail Simone (writer, Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey). Moderated by Io9′s Annalee Newitz. Room 24ABC

5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Vertigo: On the Edge — Find out what compelling tales comics’ edgiest imprint has in store for you in the months to come! Led by senior VP/executive editor Karen Berger, the all-star lineup of talent includes Rafael Albuquerque  (American Vampire), Gabriel Bá (Daytripper), Cliff Chiang (Neil Young’s Greendale), Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition), Joshua Dysart (Neil Young’s Greendale, Unknown Soldier), Peter Gross (The Unwritten), Matt Kindt (Revolver), Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth), Peter Milligan (Greek Street, Hellblazer), Fabio Moon (Daytripper), Chris Roberson (iZombie), Scott Snyder (American Vampire), Matthew Sturges (Jack of Fables), Jill Thompson (Little Endless), Bill Willingham (Fables) and others. Room 6DE

Ax

5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Top Shelf 2010: Sweden, Japan and so much more! — The crew at Top Shelf Productions celebrate their most international year yet, discussing their hit “Swedish Invasion” initiative, the acclaimed graphic novel The Playwright from British-Australian expats Eddie Campbell and Daren White, and their brand-new book of cutting-edge manga, Ax. They’ll dish all the digital details on the exciting new Top Shelf apps for iPhone and iPad! And they’ll show off exclusive sneak previews of upcoming books from Robert Venditti (The Surrogates), Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Marshal Law), Jeffrey Brown (Incredible Change-Bots), Jeff Lemire (Essex County, Sweet Tooth), Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole), and so much more! Plus Top Shelf’s hottest creators take your questions! Room 9

5:45 to 6:45 p.m. Marvel: The Heroic Age: Avengers — The Heroic Age is here! Heeding the call, Earth’s Greatest have assembled for the most anticipated comic’s event in a decade! With Steve Rogers back leading the charge, what kinds of threats can his teams expect to face? Find out here as the creators behind your favorite Marvel heroes answer your questions and let you in on what happens next! Editor-in-chief and CCO Joe Quesada, Marvel’s talent liaison C. B. Cebulski, and creators Brian Michael Bendis,(Avengers), Matt Fraction (Invincible Iron Man), Jim McCann (Hawkeye & Mockingbird) and more shed some light on the Heroic Age. Room 6BCF

6 to 7 p.m. The Goon Film Panel — The Goon creator Eric Powell joins Tim Miller and Jeff Fowler from Blur Studio to discuss the animated feature film adaptation of the comic book series. Room 24ABC

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Future of Manga— When many people today think of “comics,” they think of webcomics and indy releases, but Japanese comics still seem like a distant world of print-based mega-publishing and tattered copies of Shonen Jump. Think again. The manga world in Japan is changing due to competition from ebooks, cell phones and online comics, and the old manga magazines may not be the same for much longer. How are Japanese artists today publishing their works, and what will the manga of the future look like? A visual presentation by Jason Thompson (Manga: The Complete Guide). Room 3

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thomas Jane and Tim Bradstreet’s RAW Entertainment — Join the crew from RAW Entertainment as they discuss their exciting slate of current and upcoming projects in comics and film. Moderated by Thomas Jane (Hung, The Punisher) and Tim Bradstreet (The Punisher), panelists include Bernie Wrightson (Frankenstein), Bruce Jones (Twisted Tales), James Daly (Bad Planet), William Stout (Pan’s Labyrinth), Mark Schultz (Cadillacs & Dinosaurs), Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and a surprise guest! Room 4

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Archaia: All Access — Get updates and new information on all of your favorite Archaia titles, including Awakening with writer Nick Tapalansky and artist Alex Eckman-Lawn; Critical Millennium: The Dark Frontier with writer Andrew E. C. Gaska and artist Daniel Dussault; Feeding Ground with creators Chris Mangun, Swifty Lang and Michael Lapinksi; God Machine with creator Chandra Free; Gunnerkrigg Court with creator Tom Siddell; Hybrid Bastards! with writer Tom Pinchuk; The Killer with writer Matz; Killing Pickman with writer Jason Becker; Titanium Rain with writer/artist Josh Finney and artist Kat Rocha; and Starkweather: Immortal with writer David Rodriguez and Patrick McEvoy. Room 9

7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods — Get a first look at the upcoming feature-length documentary chronicling the life and work of one of comics’ greatest writers, Grant Morrison. Featuring extensive interviews with Morrison himself as well as key collaborators, the film takes you inside Morrison’s creative process and explores how his life and work have become inextricably intertwined. Moderated by FJ De Santo (producer, The Spirit), the panel features Patrick Meaney (director), Jordan Rennert (DP/producer) and a special guest! Room 9

7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Udon: 10 Years of Comics and Games — Celebrating Udon’s 10th anniversary, Erik Ko (Udon chief), Jim Zubkavich (Udon project manager), Omar Dogan (Street Fighter Legends, Robotech), Chamba (Street Fighter II Turbo), Joe Ng (Street Fighter IV, Transformers) and others share tips and tricks they’ve learned working with some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Capcom, Marvel, Hasbro and Blizzard. Find out how to break into the biz, and get a sneak peek at Udon’s upcoming projects. Room 3

8 to 10 p.m. World Premiere: Batman: Under the Red Hood — Warner Home Video, Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Animation proudly present the World Premiere of Batman: Under the Red Hood, the eighth entry in the ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 movies. In the film, Batman faces his ultimate challenge as the mysterious Red Hood takes Gotham City by firestorm. One part vigilante, one part criminal kingpin, Red Hood begins cleaning up Gotham with the efficiency of Batman, but without following the same ethical code. Killing is an option. And when The Joker falls in the balance between the two, hard truths are revealed and old wounds are reopened. The stellar voice cast is led by Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek), Jensen Ackles (Supernatural), Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), John DiMaggio (Futurama), Jason Issacs (the Harry Potter films) and Vincent Martella (Phineas & Ferb). Executive producer Bruce Timm (DCU films), director Brandon Vietti (Superman: Doomsday), award-winning comics writer Judd Winick, casting/dialogue director Andrea Romano (DCU films) and members of the voice cast will be around for a post-screening panel that will reveal details behind the making of the film, a glimpse of the 2011 DC Universe Animated Original Movies slate, and a first look at the next DCU film, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. Warner Home Video will distribute Batman: Under the Red Hood on Blu-Ray and DVD, OnDemand and For Download on July 27, 2010. Note: a second encore screening will take place in the same room beginning at 10:15.  Ballroom 20

8:15 to 9:15 p.m. Marvel: Iron Man Anime — Witness the dawn of Marvel Anime with the world premiere of the highly anticipated full-length pilot episode of Iron Man! Also: an exclusive first look at upcoming designs produced by the world-renowned Japanese animation studio Madhouse, whose notable films (to name a few) include hits such as Ninja Scroll and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Room 6DE

8:30 to 11:30 p.m. Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards — The 22nd annual Eisner Awards, the “Oscars” of the comics industry, will be given out at a gala ceremony at the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront. This year’s special theme is “Comics Fiesta.” The masters of ceremony are Bongo Comics’ Bill Morrison and voice actor Maurice LaMarche (Pinky and the Brain, Futurama). Presenters include writer/actor Thomas Robert and Ben Garant (Reno 911, Balls of Fury), cartoonist Berkeley Breathed (Bloom County), comedian/voice actor Phil LaMarr (Futurama, Family Guy, MadTV), comics writer James Robinson (Starman, Justice League of America), with many more to be announced. Other prestigious awards to be given out include the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award and the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award. Admission to the Eisners is free to all Comic-Con attendees — just be sure to bring your badge. Doors open for pro and VIP seating at 7:30 and for attendees at 8:15. All those who attend will receive a free Will Eisner graphic novel. Indigo Ballroom, San Diego Hilton Bayfront

Your manga is being served... on the iPod

It looks like the first round in the scanlation wars has gone to the publishers, but appearances can be deceiving.

Shortly after several publishers announced that they had formed a coalition to fight manga piracy, a number of the most popular scan sites removed scans of series that had been licensed in the U.S. Or did they? As a blogger named Kimi-chan explained a few days ago, the site admins at two sites, Mangafox and Animea, merely disabled the links from the home page. If a user had bookmarked the series, however, the bookmark would still work, and Google searches still turn up valid links for these series.

Kimi-chan’s post has been up for about a week, and when manga blogger Deb Aoki tried the tactic with a number of Viz titles on MangaFox, she found that they truly were gone. But that made me curious about something else.

A few months ago, I downloaded an iPod app that pulls manga scans from the Onemanga database—it’s one of several free or cheap apps that do that. I opened it up for the first time since April, apparently, and it immediately updated the list of available titles. Sure enough, all the Viz manga were gone from the list. There were a scattering of Del Rey, Tokyopop, and Vertical series, though, and a number from Yen Press.

All the Yen Press titles were listed as “suspended,” and if you go to the Onemanga home page, sure enough, the links to the individual chapters are dead. But in my iPod app they open just fine. Onemanga seems to have stopped updating the series in March, but all the previous chapters are obviously still in the database.

It’s interesting that the situation has shifted a bit. When I was first looking at these apps, back in April, I asked Yen Press publisher Kurt Hassler why he was able to have his manga removed from the iPad apps that draw from scan sites but not the sites themselves. He replied,

With respect to your question about the app, Apple has a very effective system in place whereby concerns about content are redirected to the app developer. Developers who fail to respond to these concerns run the risk of having their apps removed. Unfortunately, similarly effective remedies with respect to scanlation sites are not as readily available. While publishers can and do send DMCA complaints to such sites, they are all too often ignored. Certainly this has been the case for Yen Press in several instances in recent months. As a consequence, we are actively pursuing other avenues to remedy these situations.

Those “other avenues,” as we know, include the publishers’ coalition

Purely for research purposes, I bought a slicker app from the iTunes store, one that draws from several scan sites, including Onemanga, MangaFox, and Manga Volume. While blockbuster series like Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece do seem to be absent, I was able to download recent chapters of Toriko, a new series from Viz, and Black Butler (listed under the Japanese name).

What this means, of course, is that the publishers have a long road ahead of them. The internet is vast, and as many, many commenters pointed out after the first round of takedowns, the manga is always going to be available somewhere, if you look hard enough. The key is to make it hard to find, and if the scans are still turning up via a Google search or an iPod app, the sites haven’t really complied—no matter what they say on their home page.

Prime Baby

Prime Baby
by Gene Luen Yang
First Second, 64 pages, $6.99

Every book by Gene Yang thus far follows the same basic thematic plot: A young man (or woman, but usually man) feels his life would be perfect if he could only attain that one special thing (acceptance, money, popularity, etc.). Through supernatural or otherwise fantastical means, he obtains his goal, only to discover (all together now) that it wasn’t what he really needed after all.

So it is with Prime Baby, Yang’s newest book, which was originally serialized in the New York Times Magazine. It’s about a young boy, Thaddeus K, who dreams of global conquest and is supremely resentful, jealous of, and thoroughly annoyed by his baby sister. When it turns out that his sister also serves as an inter-dimensional doorway to an alien world and tens of little pod spaceships start spitting up of her mouth, Thaddeus sees an opportunity to rid himself of his sister once and for all. Does he come to regret his decision? Are there stars in the sky?

Yang is a talented cartoonist — he’s got a nice, clean, minimalist style that I like — and he knows how to pace his story and deliver a joke (he gets some amusing mileage out of the invading aliens, who turn out to be peace-loving missionaries). But he telegraphs his themes so broadly in advance, and those themes are so banal and lacking in any real depth, that it’s hard not to be get irritated.

Perhaps that’s a bit of an unfair criticism for a book that’s so slight and has such meager aims, and certainly I think kids will be able to enjoy the book without noticing any of the above-mentioned problems, but it’s awful hard to shake the feeling that Yang has been running in place since the success of American Born Chinese. Here’s hoping he stretches out a bit for his next book.

Black Blizzard
by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Drawn & Quarterly, 134 pages, $19.95.

Black Blizzard

As you no doubt are already well aware of by now (assuming you visit the same Web sites I do), this is one of Tatsumi’s earliest works, done while he just an eager young manga-making lad. It’s a genre exercise whose act of creation was chronicled in Tatsumi’s more recent work, A Drifting Life.

So yes, the story — involving two criminals on the run and handcuffed together — is a bit hackneyed, and yes, the art isn’t as controlled as Tatsumi’s more mature work, and yes, the third act denouement is comparable to the psychiatrist scene at the end of Psycho in terms of it bringing the story to a crashing halt.

But man, this thing moves. It’s almost pure energy, all slashing diagonal lines and tight, angular perspectives. The young Tatsumi seems to have studied and absorbed every aspect of the film noir that was so prevalent at the time and attempted to regurgitate it on the page in as frenzied a manner as possible. The book all but forces you to read faster, to turn the page, to become even more deeply absorbed in the story. Whatever its faults, Black Blizzard has passion and a sense of urgency, two qualities that seem to elude most comics — be they American or Japanese — these days.

Twilight: The Graphic Novel Vol. 1
by Stephenie Meyer and Young Kim
Yen Press, $19.99.

Twilight: The Graphic Novel

Is there any real surprise that this is bad? Was there anyone out there actually thinking to themselves, “Oh, this is going to be just as good, if not better, than the original novel and the movies”? I would like to meet that person. They must be an unending font of optimism.

While Young Kim’s adaptation of the insanely-popular vampire series doesn’t sink to the bottom of perdition like the proverbial stone, neither is it particularly inspired or well thought-out. Kim is a decent enough artist (by OEL manga standards at any rate) but she seems more concerned with having her cast strike cool-looking poses than ensuring that her readers can understand what is going on from panel to panel (I loaned the book to a co-worker who’s a fan of the series and she said she’d never have picked up the books if she had started with the comic instead). The issue of the book’s poor lettering has already been commented on, but I’ll just chime in long enough to say it is indeed really distracting and comes off as amateurish.

Not that any of that really matters. This is just another franchise spin-off of a currently “hot” product, regarded by most as the equal to the notepads, journals, key chains and other ephemera. Effort was certainly made to make this book attractive, but not, sadly, to be any good.

Ristorante Paradiso
by Natsume Ono
Viz, 176 pages, $12.99

Ristorante Paradiso

What’s more interesting to you, the story of an abandoned daughter who, upon reaching adulthood, attempts to confront her long-lost mom and figure out why she left her, or the story of a young woman who comes to work at an Italian restaurant staffed entirely by older, but handsome men, all of whom wear glasses.

For me, it’s strictly the former, and I was more than a bit annoyed when Ono sidestepped what I thought was the more emotionally compelling tale to focus instead on the cute girl interacting with the handsome wait staff. There’s a real tragedy and a lot of hurt feelings at the core of this manga, but Ono never does more than dance around it, constantly hinting but never really plumbing what lies behind these characters calm veneers. It doesn’t sink the book entirely, but it does give it a shallow, artificial gloss, and ultimately led me down the path to disappointment.

Yen Plus

Manga | Following up on Wednesday’s announcement that Yen Press will move its Yen Plus manga magazine online after the July issue, Gia Manry gets a few more details from Publishing Director Kurt Hassler — among them, that the web version will utilize a dedicated browser designed to emulate the print edition.

Digital publishing | In its White Paper presented last week at C2E2, ICv2 estimates that digital comics sales in North America last year totaled between $500,000 and $1 million. Naturally, it’s expected that sales in 2010 will “expand dramatically.”

iTunes | After Apple CEO Steve Jobs weighed in on the issue, the company has approved for its App store the NewsToon app from Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mark Fiore. Apple had rejected the app in December, stating that Fiore’s Flash-animated political satire, “contains content that ridicules public figures,” a violation of its iPhone Developer Program License Agreement.

Digital comics | At Extreme Tech, Jim Lynch provides a lengthy overview of comics on Apple’s iPad: “Marvel and the other publishers have taken some important first steps, but they still have a way to go. The iPad has solved the problem of storage and readability, but now publishers must provide the app features, subscriptions, and digital delivery that will fully take advantage of the iPad and make reading comics on it as easy and as much fun as reading them in traditional book form.”

Copyright | A response to a brief post about the Manga Rock 1.0 app is a contender for quote of the day: “This is awful. You’re PAYING to use OneManga, which illegally hosts copyrighted materials! This is such crap.”

Yen Plus (April 2010)

Yen Press announced today it will end the print edition of Yen Plus with the July issue and move the two-year-old manga anthology magazine online.

“The print magazine will be no more,” Publishing Director Kurt Hassler wrote, “but Yen Plus will live on as an online manga anthology! As such, it will have the ability to reach more readers than ever before while giving those same readers an option to peruse manga (and maybe some light novels?) legitimately online. Will there be other changes? Most definitely. You can expect to see content changes which we will announce when the time is right. Our commitment, however, is to keep bringing you the best and most diverse anthology experience every month.”

Launched in August 2008 by the Hachette Book Group imprint, the magazine has been used to introduce such titles as Black Butler, Nightschool and Soul Eater and the adaptations of Maximum Ride and Gossip Girl.

From "Twilight: The Graphic Novel"

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Yen Press announced yesterday that Twilight: The Graphic Novel had a highly successful debut week. Here’s the official word:

The graphic novel adaption of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight sold over 66,000 copies in its first week, the largest debut for a graphic novel in the US, according to publisher Yen Press. Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1, illustrated by Korean artist Young Kim, already broke the record for largest first printing for a graphic novel with 350,000 copies.

You may be saying, “Duh! It’s Twilight!” but success doesn’t always transcend genres when a prose work is adapted into a graphic novel. When best-selling author Christine Feehan tested the waters with Dark Hunger, a global manga based on her Carpathian novels, readers on Amazon gave it terrible reviews (some of which, admittedly, were due to people buying it online and not realizing it was a graphic novel). The book was on the remainder tables within months. And this for an author whose readers are so obsessed, they compile book-length guides to her created world.

Twilight looks like it will fare better. While the initial burst in sales is not surprising, early reviews have mostly been positive, aside from Chris Sims’ brutal commentary on the lettering. Japanator’s Karen Gellender does a good job of explaining how the graphic novel compares to the prose book, and what it does better.

Of course, these numbers are tiny compared to the real giant of the industry: Jeff Kinney’s graphic novel-ish Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has sold 24 million copies, according to official company PR. That gives Bella and Co. something to shoot for.