Forum - View topicNEWS: Witchblade Manga to be Flipped, Unflipped
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Treeloot
Posts: 140 |
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Who still buys flipped manga?
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kamidai
 Posts: 83 Location: California |
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Anyone who wants to buy a title that isn't available unflipped, of course. It'll be interesting to see which of these editions sells more, though. Very casual fans might not care about flipped vs unflipped and assume that color is cooler, but I'm betting more knowledgeable manga fans would prefer unflipped and black and white. Of course, it also depends on how much this appeals to different audiences too....gah, speculation r us. |
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Unholy_Nny
 Posts: 622 |
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Well, from my perspective the unflipped b/w GN format is for manga fans. Then the colored single issue flipped format is for comic fans that would normally not read manga. Which makes perfect sense since Witch Blade is originally a colored American single issue comic book series =)
EDIT: Wasn't paying attention and made so many grammatical errors it made me sick... |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18168 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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You need to remember that Witchblade is NOT an original Japanese property. It is an original American property, so the flipped colored books are being marketed to fans of the original comic book who aren't manga fans. Because the vast majority of them probably aren't, I'd be surprised if this one doesn't sell better flipped.
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JRR
Posts: 3 |
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YO!
I think that is a good way to introduce manga to other poeple who are more reserved towards manga (partly because of the different reading style)... i would however buy unflipped, I only buy flipped if its utterly necessary.. Question. is the manga originally in color, or was the color added to appeal to the american audience? |
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tekwych
 Posts: 75 Location: New Mexico |
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TopCow is adding the color based on their own internal design choices. The original was B&W. TC has been VERY involved with the Japanese writer and publisher from the get go since Witchblade is their flagship character. It would not surprise me in the least to see the layout and design of this book was done in such a way to make the flip that much easier. TC also brought in Bandai very early to make sure that an 'authentic' version is published in North America as well. The Bandai version will come out after the TC version but I don't know if Bandai will use the TC translation or do their own in house. It has been hinted by TC that a collected edition will be planed based on sales and would include BOTH versions in a slipcase box as an attempt to open fans of one style up to the other. They see this as a chance to show that both formats have a place side by side and fans don't need to 'choose' one or the other.
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Ninja337
 Posts: 43 |
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I don't think the colored and flipped edition will go so well. Most comic book fans over the age of 14 know and understand what manga is and read it in varying levels of interest to my understanding. Comic book fans I know read both international and American graphic novels, as opposed to manga readers who only read Japanese or other Asian titles if given the choice. I don't believe the coloured version is neccesary. I think it depends on the quality of the colouring for people to buy it.
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tekwych
Posts: 75 Location: New Mexico |
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The built in Witchblade fan base, having purchased over 100 issues of a colored comic and many offshoots, will surprise you and the TC version will sell in the top 100, maybe top 50, of comic titles for the months that it is released.
This is a title that MOST comic fans will think of as another TC comic book featuring a new version of the Witchblade. The fact that it was a Japanese manga first will be lost on most of them. |
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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The people who've kept Blade of the Immortal going for 119 issues , for one ^^ As other people mentioned, Top Cow is clearly aiming for that same comic reader/collector audience...and since the average *manga* reader is also catered to, there really is nothing to complain about here. Corporate synergy at its *least stupid*... |
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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The big diffrence there is that most Blade fans (that I know) wouldn't mind having it unflopped, but the monthly format is a must for many of them. I guess they could start releasing pamphlets unflopped like they're doing with GitS 1.5, but since no "manga only" fans are going to bother buying a monthly series that's already in the 100's, it's kind of pointless. But yeah, no one really has a right to complain about this. The original Witchblade fans get what they want, the manga fans get what they want. End of discussion. |
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The Xenos
 Posts: 1519 Location: Boston |
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You see American comic book fans don't expect cheap black and white comics like manga.
I'm half kidding. Though seriously, from one point of view, manga is cheap black and white comics. And that's not a bad thing. You get more story for your buck, but you lose the feature of color. Personally, I could do with colored unflipped, but eh, I don't mind the flipping. Then agian, I never cared for Witchblade anyway and buy way too many comics and manga, so I doubt I'd be picking either version up. As for Blade of the Immortal. I am very far behind, so I would just get the unflipped collections. As for the monthly comic format for that manga, I do understand it. Though I don't see why they don't have it unflipped in comic format. In America we don't get the weekly or monthly fix like Japan does in their anthologies. So Dark Horse wants to fill in those gaps. That's one annoying thing about manga publication in America. It's months to many months between issues. Meanwhile the storyline and pacing is written for weekly or monthly gaps. |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Like I said in my previous post, they're not going to attract any new readers to a 100+ issue story by unflipping it, so why bother messing with continuity? Depending on when it wraps up and how DH is doing in the near future I've been told that they would consider releasing it in the cheap format, but when is the big question there. |
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