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NEWS: New Manga Company?


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Dejiko



Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 276
Location: Holland (between Great Britain and Germany)
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:04 am Reply with quote
Yet another publisher? I could post again about market saturation since they do not seem to be targetting a niche public and are fishing in the same pond as their competition is... but it's becoming kind of obvious so I'll leave it at this Wink
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Kagemusha



Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:15 am Reply with quote
Heh, I hear you. Any idea on what titles are going to be released?
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Haiseikoh 1973



Joined: 24 Apr 2004
Posts: 1590
Location: Waiting for the Japanese 1000 Gunieas.
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 4:16 am Reply with quote
Quote:
New Manga Company? (2004-09-28 14:36:06)
Seven Seas, an English-language manga production company, is showcasing several of their upcoming titles. Currently available are sneak previews of Amazing Agent Luna, Blade for Barter, Last Hope and No Man's Land. The website GoManga.com officially launches October 25th. Thanks to "Saemonosuke" for the link. [ discuss ]
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Toboe



Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 138
Location: Rakuen
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 8:05 am Reply with quote
This is another EigoManga type deal, where they round up a bunch of American artists and publish their 'manga'.
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Dejiko



Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 276
Location: Holland (between Great Britain and Germany)
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 9:17 am Reply with quote
Toboe wrote:
This is another EigoManga type deal, where they round up a bunch of American artists and publish their 'manga'.

Oh, in that case... they might stand a chance. The artwork so far looks more authentic and professional than the stuff EigoManga puts out. Also, unlike EM, their artists sure don't seem 'rounded up' to me.

And yes, there IS a market for derative Japanese style comics, not just in the US by the way. I agree we have a fair bit of catching up to do, but I wouldn't dismiss any artist on the reason he or she wasn't born in Japan (even though I wouldn't go as far as calling them mangaka, that seems kinda silly because there's this perfectly fine English word 'comic artist') Wink
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aoie_emesai



Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 52
Location: Necessary?
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 2:46 pm Reply with quote
Humm... intresting.... Maybe the US manga companies will stand a chance against the japanese.
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Cloe
Moderator


Joined: 18 Feb 2004
Posts: 2728
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 9:26 pm Reply with quote
Dejiko wrote:
And yes, there IS a market for derative Japanese style comics, not just in the US by the way. I agree we have a fair bit of catching up to do, but I wouldn't dismiss any artist on the reason he or she wasn't born in Japan (even though I wouldn't go as far as calling them mangaka, that seems kinda silly because there's this perfectly fine English word 'comic artist') ;)


I would love to give you a round of applause!! You're the first person I've seen who hasn't immediatley ripped into American manga the very moment anybody brings it up. I quite agree though... calling them mangaka is a little silly... and manga-influenced is probably a better description than straight "manga." But still, there's some great stuff on this side of the Pacific too.
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Dejiko



Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 276
Location: Holland (between Great Britain and Germany)
PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 4:17 am Reply with quote
Cloe wrote:
I would love to give you a round of applause!!

-takes a bow-
(thanks Wink)

Quote:
You're the first person I've seen who hasn't immediatley ripped into American manga the very moment anybody brings it up.

Really? That's kind of scary... Shocked. I have no warm feelings for super hero artists who slap a manga-style head on their characters and pass it off as being being manga, but fan artists who are every bit as serious as their Japanese counterparts deserve support, even if their skill is not on the same level yet.

Quote:
But still, there's some great stuff on this side of the Pacific too.

Not just America, people all over the world are creating their own interpretation of Japanese comics. We've got a couple of really good artists in Europe as well Wink
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Toboe



Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 138
Location: Rakuen
PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 10:52 am Reply with quote
Dejiko, your assertion flies in the face of conventional wisdom. So far the numbers prove that sales of American-created manga titles are a drop in the bucket compared to Japanese titles. When I say "drop in the bucket" I mean "absolutely miniscule". There's a market but it's really, really small; it doesn't help that the general quality of American-created "manga" doesn't stack up to the Japanese stuff, no matter how diplomatic you want to be about it. This Seven Seas stuff, aside from the One Piece rip-off (click on the peeing dog for a preview of it) looks prety high quality to me, so maybe they'll be the exception to the rule.

It'll be interesting to see if you're right or not.
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Kenshin5000



Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 39
PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 4:57 pm Reply with quote
I agree that that manga with the detective (I think) and the dog seems like a One Piece rip-off. But that wild west manga seems to be of very high quality. The Wild West (without any sci-fi attached like Trigun) could make for a really great comic, manga or not.
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ACDragonMaster



Joined: 23 Aug 2004
Posts: 405
PostPosted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 8:02 pm Reply with quote
You know, it's only the style that resembles One Piece, and Japanese manga artists sometimes borrow from each other's styles, anyway. Watsuki Nobuhiro (author of Rurouni Kenshin) used a style similar to One Piece to write his second work Gun Blaze West. And then went back to his own style for Busou Renkin when that didn't work.

Point being, drawing style really isn't any indication, for all we know the artist might've designed that without knowing of One Piece at the time.

My biggest complaint is that the pages seem to be reading from right to left. If you're originally writing somethign in English, and especially if you want a mainstream audience and not just anime fans, you really should stick to the natural format for the language...
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Dejiko



Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 276
Location: Holland (between Great Britain and Germany)
PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:04 am Reply with quote
Toboe wrote:
Dejiko, your assertion flies in the face of conventional wisdom. So far the numbers prove that sales of American-created manga titles are a drop in the bucket compared to Japanese titles. When I say "drop in the bucket" I mean "absolutely miniscule".

That may be so, but that's also just about the sort of ratio I see at the shelves of my local import bookstore. I'm not claiming that non-Japanese manga will be a big competitor to the genuine stuff in the foreseeable future, just that the quality (not quantity) gap will become smaller over the next few years.

Quote:
There's a market but it's really, really small; it doesn't help that the general quality of American-created "manga" doesn't stack up to the Japanese stuff, no matter how diplomatic you want to be about it. This Seven Seas stuff, aside from the One Piece rip-off (click on the peeing dog for a preview of it) looks prety high quality to me, so maybe they'll be the exception to the rule.

I see these better looking works as a forerunner of a bigger wave (see how well I'm elaborating on the sea motif? Wink). Look at Korea, their original comics didn't resemble manga too much, but after an entire generation of artists was weaned on them, Manwha sprung up and became an industry in its own right. It wouldn't be far fetched for such a thing to happen in other countries where these conditions are met. Actually, with the increasing exposure of anime and manga outside of Japan, I don't think we'll have to wait that long.

ANN wrote:
The company is headed by CEO Dallas Middaugh (former Viz Director of Sales) and President Jason DeAngelis (former manga translator).

Huh? Did Middaugh leave Del Rey manga already? He was there up until this press release. Boy, the manga publishing world sure is a fast moving place Wink
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lianncoop
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1705
Location: Indiana
PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:46 am Reply with quote
Dejiko wrote:
Huh? Did Middaugh leave Del Rey manga already?

No, he's still with Del Rey.
Quote:
No stranger to manga publishing, Middaugh has worked as the director of sales and marketing for Viz and currently consults with Del Rey Books as their Director of Manga, a relationship that will continue for the foreseeable future.
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Kagemusha



Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:57 am Reply with quote
There obviously is always going to be a market for Amerimangas; Antarctic Press is proof of this. There have been successful things like Jill Thompson's death, but this appealed to the mainstream comicbook audience more than it did the manga audience. In any case, they are going to need alot of great talent in order to be successful.
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Dejiko



Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 276
Location: Holland (between Great Britain and Germany)
PostPosted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 5:08 am Reply with quote
@Lian: doh, proof that I shouldn't post anything prior to actually waking up...

Kagemusha wrote:
There have been successful things like Jill Thompson's death,

That sentence was kind of nasty to read the first time around Wink
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