Hey there, I know I’m not updating but there’s not much to be done about that at the moment. As it is I’m late for work because I was too exhausted to get outta bed this morning. 🙁
But! I am busy doing cool comics stuff for you to read… and to listen to…!
This weekend I was invited to sit in on Deb Aoki’s guest-roundtable for the podcast INKSTUDS, as host Robin Mconnel is taking a two week break from the show. It’s the “Mangastuds” edition, which is hilarious, and features myself, Deb Aoki of manga.about.com, David Welsh of the the Precocious Curmudgeon blog, and Ryan Sands of the Same Hat blog. All lovely people with stuff to say about manga.
The best part? It’s all about “indy manga”, or comics from Japan that might naturally appeal to the tastes of indy comics fans (and creators) here in North America. I think it turned out pretty neat, with lots of recommendations for great work to check out. If you visit the Inkstuds website you can listen to the podcast and get a recommended reading list based on the titles we described in the podcast.
I also wrote a review this week that should be going up any day, I’ll pop in here when it does.
Things should calm down around Saturday afternoon/Sunday, so I’ll likely start blogging in earnest again then.
Thanks,
– Christopher
Wow! I know I’m going to sound like I’ve got my tongue up your rear end but your rants should be required reading for publishers and comic creators alike. It’s not enough to try to understand the work from the reader’s point of view, it’s also very important to understand the perspective of the retailer. This isn’t simply to guide the work that we do but just to get another point of view of the comics world.
Reading your posts is exhausting but somehow satisfying. Many of us who have been in and out of the industry have an insular view bordering on solipsism. The truth is the world does not revolve around our work. Sometimes the difference between success and failure is a little more marketing or better understanding of what readers actually want.
Thanks again for the ongoing view of the sausage making side of comics and manga.
Live long and prosper.
Dennis Francis
DiD Publishing Inc.