99.95% of the time, About.com Manga focuses on manga - mostly Japanese comics in English. But this week, something came up on the interwebs that brought my attention to the other side of the comic shop, where the superhero comics are sold. It made me think about how these two worlds are similar, and where they are so, so different. It reminded me why, as a lapsed former buyer of US-made superhero comics, I mostly buy/read manga and indie comics, and why that's probably not going to change any time soon. But first, some context.

DC COMICS REBOOTS... AND SETS OFF FEMME FAN FURY
This summer, DC Comics made waves by announcing that they would be doing something radical to their line-up of titles. They decided to do a massive reboot of all of their series, giving every one of them a new beginning, new creative teams, new stories and starting them all from issue 1 all over again. One of the goals of this move was to update the stories and characters to make them relevant and interesting to new and current fans. Read More...

After letting this blog snooze for a while, I'm catching up on some recent noteworthy news. One very exciting development is Fantagraphics' recent announcement that they'll be publishing Moto Hagio's landmark story, Heart of Thomas (Thomas no Shiinzo) in 2012, as a complete-in-one-volume 480-page hardcover saga.

Originally published in 1974, Heart of Thomas is considered to be one of the earliest examples of boys love manga, a genre that has since evolved into a hugely popular and diverse part of Japanese comics.

Heart of Thomas is set in an all-boys boarding school in Germany, and centers around a two boys, Thomas and Juli.  As the story opens, Thomas commits suicide and leaves a note for Juli, his friend and unrequited crush. This event leaves Juli shaken to his core -- but things get complicated when a new student enrolls in the school, and just happens to resemble Thomas. Read More...

You don't need to watch the news to figure out that it can be tough to find a job out there nowadays, but with so many North American manga publishers downsizing operations or going out of business in recent years, finding a job in the manga publishing biz can be pretty challenging. But if looking for work in the manga or comics biz is your dream (and you live or are willing to move to New York City), then Yen Press might just have an opportunity for you.

Yen Press and their sister company / sci-fi imprint Orbit have recently posted two openings in publicity and marketing that might be of interest.

Read More...

With the annual Toronto Comic Arts Festival, loads of great comics and book shops, and many talented comics creators who call it home, Toronto is  one of the most comics-friendly cities in North America. Now there's yet another reason to put Toronto on the comic readers' list of must-visit towns: the arrival of Little Island Comics, possibly North America's first-ever comics / graphic novel / manga shop for younger readers.

The folks at Little Island are celebrating with a special weekend of grand opening events on Saturday, October 1 from 11 am to 7 pm, and Sunday, October 2 from 12 noon to 6 pm.  Meet and chat with kid-friendly comics creators including Fiona Smyth (The Never Weres), Kean Soo (Jellaby), Tory Woollcott (Mirror Mind), Clayton Hanmer (Cton's Super A-Maze-Ing Year Of Crazy Comics!), Jeremy Tankard (Boo-hoo Bird), and
Claudia Dávila, who will be debuting her new release,  Luz Sees the Light. Read More...