It looks as if reports of the demise of the Science Fiction Book Club may have been premature.

Last week, science fiction editor Jonathan Strahan wrote that the 54-year-old club likely would close or be merged with the Doubleday book club as part of Bertelsmann’s restructuring of Bookspan. SFBC Editor-in-Chief Ellen Asher and Senior Editor Andrew Wheeler were among the 280 Bookspan employees cut.

But today Publishers Weekly reports on three new editorial appointments at Bookspan — among them, Rome Quezada as editor of the SFBC. He previously was an associate editor at William Morrow.

The SFBC offers a selection of graphic novels and comic novelizations, including Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, Batman: Year 100, The Surrogates and The Goon.

Update: SFScope has a little more background on Quezada

Seven Seas publisher Jason DeAngelis has a lengthy post on the company’s message board, explaining why he decided to cancel the controversial manga Nymphet. The answer may surprise you:

First off, to give more context, if you’re not familiar with the behind-the-scenes process of licensing manga from Japan, it has reached a point of being so highly competitive among US publishers, that most of us, including Seven Seas, tend to place offers on titles while they’re still being serialized in the weekly magazines, often before they are ever collected into tankoubon (ie. graphic novels). If not, the license may very well get snatched up by the competition. In the case of NYMPHET, we placed an offer on it soon after the first volume of the tankoubon was released in Japan, with an option to license the rest of the series later on.

It was not until these past few days, actually, that I personally took the time to delve more closely into the rest of the series and the specific content of the subsequent volumes. Sure, I’d flipped through them before, and what I saw on a cursory glance seemed harmless enough. But this time I sat down and read the series carefully in Japanese, and what I found in volumes two and three were very disturbing. (Particularly, pages 129-131 in volume three, which are highly problematic.) So much so, that I now have to retract some of what I said in my first letter where I tried to defend the content, because certain scenes in the subsequent volumes are indefensible and inappropriate, in my opinion. (If there is blame to be cast, I’ll accept blame on our license acquisition and evaluation process. If you were to add up the large number of licenses we acquire, and the total number of volumes per series, it would come to literally hundreds of volumes that we would need to read and review in order to stay on top of all the content and make sure that it is appropriate. In this case, NYMPHET fell through the cracks in our review process.)

So, my primary reason for canceling NYMPHET is due to my recent realization that later volumes in the series can not be considered appropriate for the US market by any reasonable standard. For those of you who have been defending the title and have expressed anger about its cancellation, as a fan, I understand your frustration. But, at this point, I can only assume that you have not seen certain segments later in the series, just as I hadn’t, which very clearly cross the line, and which I can no longer stand by or support in good conscience.

Go read the whole thing. It’s a very well-reasoned thoughtful look at the sort of problems publishers face when publishing controversial and/or potentially offensive material. Be especially sure to check out some of the comments afterward.

If you’re looking for more commentary, there’s always Heidi, Brigid and Simon. Meanwhile, Floating Sakura has some of the offending pages in question up on her site.

(Grab a snack; this may take a while.)

Talking about Batman means walking a fine line. The more reverent or facile one’s tone, the less credible the arguments become. I mean, really: would you take me as seriously (assuming you do anyway) if I started out opining about how “The” Batman could/should/must assume his rightful place as a Serious Figure of Graphic Literature? By the same token, I have a pretty good idea of who reads these little weekly offerings, and I’m not going to pretend that there’s nothing worthwhile about the character.

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USA Today, which has become the place to unveil movie vehicles, has the first look at the Mach 5 from the upcoming Speed Racer movie.

Although most of the racing effects will be computer-generated, Speed Racer star Emile Hirsch reveals that Chim Chim will be very real.

“They’re using a real monkey,” he tells the newspaper. “Just don’t call him that. He’s a chimpanzee. He gets upset if you call him a monkey.”

The movie is set for a May 2008 release.

His latest editorial simulation completed, Tom Brevoort looks at what we’ve all learned:

I was astounded by just how quickly the talk turned to massive crossovers and alternate covers–the sorts of things that most online fans purport to dislike. Which isn’t meant as a condemnation of these moves–quite the contrary, it kind of illustrates how and why we may do these things as often as we do, when there are specific financial goals that need to be met. But I thought it would take a bit longer before the players got to that stage–that they’d stick to their own points of view about what made for good comics and good stories a bit longer before swinging so whole-heartedly into this camp.

Me, I thought a couple of things about the simulation this time were interesting: Firstly, that the contestants went out of their way to co-ordinate their moves by creating a separate blog in which to do so, and secondly, that Patrick Cook’s dream team comics were so funny (”Lost Gorillas [...] Written by Alan Moore [with a]rt by Dave Gibbons [...] The one that all of fandom has been waiting to gets its tentacles on! Moore and Gibbons bring you a different take on the female persuasion of the simians you love to read about over in Primate Pirates! Warning: Explicit Content.”).

Alternative Comics publisher Jeff Mason emailed me yesterday to let everyone know that Israeli prose and comics author Etgar Keret that took home the Camera d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival last weekend for his independent film “Meduzot.”

Israeli writers Etgar Keret and his wife Shira Geffen won the Camera d’Or prize, given to the best film by debut directors at the Cannes film festival for their film “Meduzot” (“Jellyfish”). The film, based on a script written by Geffen and directed by her and Keret, is about the life of three women in Tel Aviv. “Everything here is so far from our lives,” said Keret, wearing a tuxedo and bow tie at the glittering red-carpet award ceremony Sunday, May 27. “I haven’t worn a suit since my bar mitzvah.” Keret and Gefen also won the “Young Critics” award and the French Artist and Writers Guild (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques) award for best directors.

The Camera d’Or Prize is considered the most prestigious for debut directors – it is for first features in the entire festival, regardless of category. Thirty-three other films were nominated in that category.

Of course, Meduzot isn’t the only Keret movie coming to theaters soon. Wristcutters, the film adaptation of Etgar Keret and Asaf Hanuka’s graphic novel, Pizzeria Kamikaze, will be out in August from Lionsgate.

You can read the full press release after the jump.

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This is probably only of interest to me, but what the hell.

Comics critic Derik A. Badman recently posted a favorable review of Yukiko’s Spinach, a “nouvelle manga” by Frederic Boilet and published by Fanfare/Ponent Mon.

The story tells of Boilet, (the character/author stand-in, I am not sure how much of this is autobiography) who lives in Japan working as a manga-ka, and his brief affair with a young woman named Yukiko. We see a number of their meetings over the course of 7 weeks from their first acquaintance to their last rendezvous, all through the eyes and pen of Boilet.

In the comments section, however, Cold Heat artist and Storyville author Frank Santoro takes the book to rather savage task:

I’ve never had such an adverse reaction to a comic. I wanted to rip it up in my hands and throw it across the store. It’s all about the white man’s gaze and ownership of the “other.”

It’s also a form of colonialism that I find disturbing. And despite it’s formal inventiveness I think the reliance on photographs undermines any real “sight” or insight by the author.

Their back and forth afterward is interesting, especially considering that Santoro says he originally was going to do a review of the book for Comics Comics magazine, but having vented online, doesn’t see the need. Glad you got it out of your system Frank.

Personally I enjoyed the book, but I remember thinking while I was reading that you could write an interesting feminist critique of the book based on the whole notion of the “male gaze.” I don’t think Boilet is as unaware of the issues of colonialism and sexism as Santoro seems to imply however.

At any rate, it’s a lively discussion about comics and worth pointing out for that reason.

via Comics Comics

IGN gathers together a Brain’s Trust of two fans to discuss whether event fatigue has set in yet. Their conclusions may surprise you:

So far, and I don’t see how this would change, the publishers are being very cautious and, overall, considerate of the fans. Clearly the idea here is to make money, and I think that has to be taken into consideration. Events mean hype, hype means sales, and potential sales will naturally lead to more incorporated titles. However given those necessary conditions, I think DC and Marvel are constantly evolving the nature of their storytelling to tell good stories that generate a lot of excitement. Absolutely no event has been perfect so far, but I think we’re seeing an upward trend in terms of execution. As of yet, I don’t sense any blatant exploitation, only a focus on content. Until that time all I can say is: “Bring on whatever’s next!”

Former Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane artist Takeshi Miyazawa, who drew the cover for Heroes for Hire #12, comments on the controversy over the cover to the next issue, and comes to the defense of artist Sana Takeda:

I drew the previous cover to Heroes for Hire and was asked to choose at least two girls out of the cast and draw them as sexy as possible so, naturally, I did. It ended up looking more cute than sexy but herein lies my point, I guess. Cultural attitudes towards sex and nudity are, well, different. Especially between North America and Japan. J-comic readers know that there are many non-porn titles that will probably never see the light of day due to these differing tastes. Showing penises and boobies aren’t that big of a deal in Japan but often get censored or edited backhome. Even if it’s the cute Dragonball style double U for a wee-wee. Y’know what I’m talking about.

There is also the issue of what an “ideal” woman is considered to be between NA and J. Basically, dominant vs submissive. I’m not saying which is better, just that it does indeed exist and that it falls under the umbrella of sexy and attractive. And I’m speculating that what hit the biggest chord with most people had nothing to do with the tentacles or the hairband or the cleavage but the expressions on the faces of the three girls. And, y’know, I understand. Especially since I’m somewhat familiar with the characters and the fact that they are supposed to be strong kick-ass amazon woman-like. It’s rather uncharacteristic of all three of them to be acting so helpless and contrary to the purpose of the property. I’m sure Takeda-san had no idea, though, and since she recieves work through translated e-mails and notes, I’m not surprised. She drew the most attractive cover in a way only she could.

Miyazawa now lives in Japan, and has been blogging fairly regularly about his efforts to break into the comics industry there.

Wouldn’t you know it, the morning the blog I write about Austinite Alex Gray’s villain-in-training project, Villain 101, later in the day, a YouTube video appears on the site that explains the hysterical premise better than words ever could.

You’ll get to see what ordinary John Q. Public thinks about Gray’s project and watch focus groups in action, along with a quick shot or two of TokyoPop/Marvel scribe Paul Benjamin throwing his 2 cents in for good measure. One suggestion for The Anachronist: Ditch the wire-rimmed glasses. They make you look more contemplative and cuddly (see Seth Rogen) than malevolent or menacing…

Filming of Sin City 2 has been delayed.

After actor Michael Madsen’s comments to Premiere.com earlier this week — “They haven’t shot it yet. I don’t know if they ever will.” — Frank Miller confirms to Rotten Tomatoes that production of the sequel has been postponed while he and Robert Rodriguez work on other projects.

“Sin City 2 is still likely to happen,” Miller says, “just not right away. The script is written and Robert and I are raring to go, but it looks like I’m going to be doing The Spirit first and Robert’s going to be doing Barbarella first.”

According to IMDB.com, filming on Sin City 2 had been set to begin in June.

Wired spotlights the “Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga” exhibition at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, which features more than 200 of Osamu Tezuka’s original drawings. The exhibit runs from June 2 through Sept. 9. Wired also includes a slide show of Tezuka art.

Convention season means a lot of things to a lot of people … for action figure fans, it means the hunt is on for exclusive toys.

Over on the Comic-Con 2007 site, you’ll find the list of this year’s exclusives for San Diego, including a long-awaited Justice League Unlimited three-pack:

The unmasked Hawkgirl/Ray/John Stewart set has appeared on many internet sites and even on the back of other figure packages, so it’s nice to see it being released. Other figures to look for include a lawyer She-Hulk from the Marvel Legends line, Abe Sapien, Butters from South Park dressed as Professor Chaos, several Transformers and much more.

Had there been a Blog@Newsarama back in 2005, no doubt, we would’ve been talking about Judd Apatow’s warm and raunchy comedy, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, and for much more than Andy Stitzer’s awesome collection of action figures (think The Six Million Dollar Man’s boss Oscar Goldman or his pristine Aquaman).

I don’t know if comics culture will play a prominent role in Apatow’s follow-up, Knocked Up, opening tonight with midnight shows, but I can’t wait to see Virgin co-star, turned leading man Seth Rogen and his improv buddy Paul Rudd back in action.

If you’re as stoked as I am about Knocked Up, you’ll enjoy reading this funny interview with Rogen from USA Today and a slightly more somber one from, surprisingly, The Onion.

Many thanks to the intrepid Mr. Campbell for routing us to these cool pictures from the recent wedding of Alan Moore and his American muse Melinda Gebbie via Flickr.

My fav of the bunch: A shot of Neil Gaiman taking his own picture of the beautiful bride…

–Reminder: Guest blogger Cecil Castellucci is still accepting questions over on this thread; she’ll answer them tomorrow, her last day to blog with us.

–Per Jason Rodriguez, the book’s editor, the upcoming Postcards anthology has been pushed back to July 17, the same day that the new Harry Potter book comes out. Jason, who blogged with us some weeks back, also has a nifty contest idea related to both books’ releases:

Ok, seriously. If anyone can provide me with proof that they went into their bookstore during a Harry Potter Midnight Launch Party and asked for/buys Postcards, I’ll make sure that one of my creators gets a sketch postcard mailed out to you or we get you a signed book or something. You can still buy Harry Potter, but if your receipt says Postcards or if you go ahead and make a little film of yourself raising a ruckus because your bookstore doesn’t have any Postcards for its Postcards Midnight Launch Party, I will find a way to get something cool to you.

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Tim Leong says on the Comic Foundry blog that they’ve reached a compromise with Diamond, which will carry the magazine in September at a lower cover price:

All has been quiet on the magazine front — until now. I’m happy to report that Comic Foundry and Diamond have struck a compromise! Diamond Comics will distribute the magazine in September, and we will drop our cover price on the first issue from $6.25 to $5.98. Thems the terms.

Diamond was very gracious to reconsider the book and meet us half way on this. I hold no ill will against them, and let’s hope they feel the same way. I feel confident though, that despite the… unusual start we can continue on to forge a good business relationship.

We were considering taking the book to a publisher, but we’re going to stick it out on our own for the first issue. Maybe we’ll reconsider after this issue, maybe not. All I know is it’s going to be a fun ride.

All it takes is one American holiday to throw comics fandom off-kilter. We’re a fragile bunch.

Still, Chris Mautner and I soldier on, taking another look at the comics scheduled to appear this week at a comics store near you. Only a day later.

This week, Papercutz reoffers a bevy of Nancy Drew graphic novels, just in time for the Nancy Drew movie, while Marvel rolls out Silver Surfer Requiem #1 and the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy hardcover … just in time for the Fantastic Four movie. Ah, synergy.

At DC, 52 gets its first trade paperback, while at Dynamite, Wildstorm refugee The Boys settles into its new home with Issue 7 and a collection of the first six.

As always, let us know your choices in the comments below.

For our rundown, and the list of books set to appear this week in finer stores everywhere, just click “more.”

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Hoo boy, it’s it a weird wild time to be a Marvel fan these days. I’m not saying that the Distinguished Competition don’t have their own share of disharmony, but with Joe Quesada on the defensive again, this time for the rather surprising cover to Heroes for Hire #13 due out in August, there can be that sinking feeling. That ‘us’ and ‘them’ feeling. The fans get angry over a cover, the creators get mad at the fans for getting angry in the first place and where does that get anyone?

This past weekend I got a chance to go to the Star Wars: Celebration IV in Los Angeles. I’ve been going to cons of one sort or another since I was wee, just on the other side of the sci-fi tracks (I’m nerdcore enough to admit I have a perfectly good Romulan uniform in my closet), so it was kind of cool to see all the sights and sounds of how the other half lived. But we’re all here with a purpose and the con was aptly titled ‘Celebration’. One interest or another, everyone can speak the same language, whether that’s Klingon or Wookiee Speak.

And boy, is it a language. I have people almost every week come into the store and nervously tell me that they don’t know anything about comics because of that almost universal feeling that there is a certain amount of knowledge on something one must acquire before they are considered ‘a fan’. And it’s the respect paid to that knowledge, the ability to remember all of it and keep to it that puts us on the fine track to fandom. At the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed panel, I got a chance to listen to a portion of the design team and the story director talk about their new game and the biggest thing I was struck by (aside from watching a guy go through two walls with a Force push!) was how much at the service of the fans they were.

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Police in Japan investigating the murder and dismemberment of a woman by her 17-year-old son discovered manga in the boy’s room depicting “a detective with multiple personalities who solves strange murder cases.”

Although the newspaper report doesn’t name the manga, ComiPress follows the trail of clues and arrives at MPD-Psycho, which is set to be released in North America next week by Dark Horse.

The violent and controversial manga, by Eiji Otsuka (The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service) and Sho-u Tajima, stars a police detective with multiple personality disorder — hence, the title — and a dark past who investigates a series of bizarre murders.

According to the ComiPress summary, police found chat logs on the teen’s computer in which he asks, “Is what’s in that manga real?” The murder apparently was carried out in a way similar to scenes from the manga.

MPD-Psycho began serialization in Shonen Ace in 1997, and was adapted as a six-episode live-action TV series in 1999 by director Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer).