Friday Procrastination Aides, 9/10/10

If, by some fluke of internet connectivity, you haven’t read David Welsh’s editorial about shojo manga and comics criticism, go correct that now; these links will still be here when you’re done. Brigid Alverson just posted an interesting response to David’s essay in which she argues that critics beat up on shojo for the same reasons they beat up on superhero comics: both are genres characterized by a rigid set of storytelling and artistic conventions. While I don’t agree with everything Brigid says — I see shojo as more of a marketing category than a true literary genre — she raises some excellent points about who shojo manga is for and how that influences critical discourse, pro and contra. I’m also sympathetic to what Brigid has to say about her own relationship with shojo; as I approach my fortieth birthday, I, too, have less patience for stories about student council intrigue, school plays and cultural festivals, and hot but emotionally remote guys. The same is true of my relationship with shonen manga, by the way; I’ve had my fill of stories about ordinary boys who discover that they are, in fact, DESTINED TO SAVE THE WORLD and attract busty maidens. That doesn’t mean I detest manga for teens, or only like the classics (because we all know that manga was better in the olden days, right?), just that a shojo romance or shonen action series needs to be exceptionally well done to hold the interest of this grouchy, middle-aged woman.

More links after the cut.

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Friday Procrastination Aides, 9/3/10

If you’ve poked around the site this week, you’ve probably noticed that the new layout features a studlier menu and retooled sidebar. The goal of my renovations was to make it easier to find reviews and articles of interest, whether you’re looking for manga, manhwa, or kid-friendly titles. A few of the categories aren’t populated yet, but stay tuned — they will be in the coming weeks. As always, I welcome suggestions about the site design and navigation, especially if you find any glitches. And if anyone can tell me how to tweak the index.php file so that I can eliminate those stray commas that are flanking the category tags, I’ll return the favor by sending you some manga.

Linkward ho!

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Friday Procrastination Aides, 8/20/10

Special thanks to everyone who made Bad Manga Week such a success! I enjoyed the lively debate over the relative merits of Pretty Face and Lycanthrope Leo, and plan to track down copies of several titles that readers nominated for the Manga Hall of Shame. (I’m a glutton for punishment, I guess.) If anything shocks, appalls, or amuses, expect to see a write-up here. And speaking of reviews, I haven’t forgotten my pledge to read Apothecarius Argentum or Short Cuts; I’m in the process of assembling the copies I need, and hope to post those critiques shortly. On to the links!

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Friday Procrastination Aides, 8/13/10

One quick reminder before I dive into this week’s links: my Bad Manga contest runs through Sunday night. To enter, simply email me a brief description of the worst book you’ve read, telling me why it belongs in The Manga Hall of Shame. The person who submits the funniest entry will win a copy of every book I review this week as well as $25 Amazon gift certificate with which to buy some good manga. Click here for details. Look for a follow-up post on Monday announcing the winner and sharing your nominations for Worst Manga Ever.

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Friday Procrastination Aides, 8/6/10

In manga- and manhwa-related news, Carlo Santos interviews Moto Hagio at ANN… Deb Aoki interviews Yen Press editor JuYuon Lee about Yen+, asking the question that’s on many fans’ minds: why does a subscription only entitle readers to two months of archived material?… Brigid Alverson confirms that OneManga has pulled most of the licensed manga from its site, shifting its mission from scanlation clearing house to fan forum… ICv2 reports that Tokyopop will be publishing Ghostface, a five-volume, full-color manhwa from the creator of Priest. The format hasn’t been finalized yet, but look for the first installment in spring 2011… Ed Sizemore contributes a guest article at Manhwa Bookshelf summarizing “The Rise of Manhwa,” a panel given at Otakon 2010… and speaking of Manhwa Bookshelf, new contributor Hana Lee posts an informative essay on “webtoons,” or Korean online comics.

Elsewhere on the web, NPR explores a new trend in Japanese architecture: ultra-modern micro-houses, built on urban lots as small as 350 square feet… the Japan Society is offering several late summer language workshops for folks in the NYC area… and Pink Tentacle rounds up 99 critters from the Japanese Figure Trademark Database. Leave it to the Japanese to make a cockroach look cute.

Friday Procrastination Aides, 7/30/10

Don’t forget: this month’s Manga Movable Feast is underway, with Michelle Smith of Soliloquy in Blue as hostess. The subject of the July MMF is Ai Yazawa’s out-of-print classic Paradise Kiss. If you haven’t been keeping abreast of the conversation via Michelle’s daily link posts, you can find the entire Paradise Kiss archive here. The discussion continues through Sunday.

The folks at Pink Tentacle round up a macabre collection of monster images from 1970s children’s books… Wired Magazine‘s geek-mom-in-residence Corrina Lawson reads Hyde & Closer with her sons, who pronounce it “awesome”… Glen Wheldon does a SDCC post-mortem at NPR’s Monkey See blog, listing Alice the 101st (hooray!) and Cigarette Girl (hooray!) among the con’s buzz-worthy titles. But no love for A Drunken Dream? C’mon, NPR, Moto Hagio is the perfect candidate for a feature story… and speaking of Hagio, do yourself a favor and read Shaenon Garrity’s funny, candid interview with the “godmother” of shojo.

By the way, I still have a copy of Raiders in need of a new home. (It’s volume three, for the curious.) If interested, please leave a comment.