Entry tags:

conventions, dramaqueen, drmaster, mediablasters, netcomics, new titles, sdcc, tokyopop

SDCC Confidential
Okay, the subject is a little silly but there was plenty of news made outside of the manga panels. And actually some news over the last week plus might not have happened in San Diego at all.

A couple of the publishers present did not get a chance to sit down with their fans. DrMaster, ICE Kunion, netcomics and MediaBlasters were present selling their books, meeting with their readers in a more intimate manner. Some of them were handing out literature detailing new titles and new releases. While one them almost seemed to forget they sold manga.

In this post I will take a look at these publishers and I will also touch on some other news that has been floating around the mangasphere.

TOKYOPOP

Huh? Why am I starting with TOKYOPOP?! Well, flipping through the latest edition of their MANGA publication, I noticed a couple new titles buried within their fall 2006 releases.

Last week, a MangaCast reader pointed out the acquisition of Little Queen. I honestly got this confused with another manhwa title QUEENS (also from TP). Created by the artist who drew CPM's Platina, Kim YeonJu, this title focuses on how a girl nicknamed the Queen of Light protects her school from her rival the King of Darkness.

A title that seemed to have slipped through everyone's watch was Oh SeKwon's Utopia's Avenger. I have to admit, I have long been disappointed by the amount Korean shonen translated into English. This is not only for guys but its also Sci-fi! Now that's a big step. Most manhwa for guys in English has been comedy, action or fantasy. Check out that cover. I think Jarred could get into that.

소녀왕 by: 김연주 Little Queen by: Kim YeonJu Daiwon CI 7+ vol/shojo

홍길동 무림전사록 by: 오세권 Utopia's Avenger by: Oh SeKwon Daiwon CI 4+ issues/shonen

DrMaster

DrMaster had a small booth hidden deep behind the artist alley next to most of the merchandise stores all of which were selling anime/manga figures along with their other wares. DrMaster had some huge sales. Most of their books were on sale for either $8 or $5. They debuted Stray Little Devil there to high praise (excellent packaging for this super-cute fantasy title).

DrMaster had two fliers they were handing out. Their 2006 fold-out had release schedules for their fall/winter 2006 line-up:

Onegai Twins - Summer 2006
High School Girls #7 - November 2006 (this is actually a pretty fast turn around as this was released in Japan around March 06).
Category: Freaks #3 - December 2006 (another quick turn around for a great horror title)

A new title from DrMaster is Etermal Alice Rondo. Like many of DrMaster's titles, this new series focuses on bishojo character designs. The Alice in Wonderland theme of this series should provide some substance to this kawaii series from mangaka team Kaishaku (Magical Meow Meow Taruto, Steel Angel Kurumi, UFO Princess Valkyrie).

On another flyer, co-produced with DGN Productions, DrMaster announced two more titles slated for 2007. I asked the guys at the DrMaster booth for details on Purgatory Kabuki and Chinese Hero, but I wasn't able to get much from them. Both titles are DGN properties and they have yet to announce the titles themselves. I was able to find out that the artist for Purgatory works for Treasure Soft (I am guessing it's Kikuchi Tetsuhiko). And a little bit of manga hunting got me some basic info on the Hong Kong classic Chinese Hero (I kinda want to check out the movie based on this). Check out that old skool cover art! Man isn't that mid-80's. Reminds me of art for Crying Freeman or Fist of the North Star.

鍵姫物語　永久アリス輪舞曲 by: 介錯 Eternal Alice Rondo by: Kaishaku MediaWorks/Dengeki Comics 4 vols/shonen

中華英雄 by: 馬榮成 Chinese Hero by: Wing Shing Ma ??? 9 issues/seinen

netcomics

netcomics could have been found at two different locations. They had their own booth buried among the video game and toy makers and they also had a corner in the KOCCA pod. As this was netcomics' first SDComicCon booth they were possibly not prepared for the huge structures and dj boards that were built around them. Their small booth was very humble, however they did a good job presenting their manga. Where netcomics really showed their stuff was with their guests. Fans had the opportunity to meet two manhwa superstars. JTK (Hotel California/Madtown Hospital) and Won SooYeon (Let Dai/Full House) were onsite signing autographs and taking inspriration from the legions of comic readers in San Diego.

At their booth, netcomics passed out postcards, posters and manga samplers. The manga sampler provided details on recent licenses and a schedule for the rest of the year.

Manhwa Novella will be released monthly at an $11.99 price. The artists featured are as follows:

Vol #1: Lee YoungRan
Vol #2: Wann
Vol #3&4: TBA
Vol #5: KimJin

As there were no new announcements I decided to post the cover art and publisher info on a title I was long hunting down. This apparently is a 19+ series in Korea. I was lucky to get this etchi cover as the one usually found online were much more tame. I wonder if netcomics, who has redone covers before, will go with this for volume 3 or not.

변태가 되자 by: 이유정 Let's Be Perverts by: Lee YuJung Sigongsa 4 vol/seinen

ICE Kunion

ICE Kunion decided to stick soley to the KOCCA pod, so actually finding someone to talk to was near impossible. Most of the time, KOCCA reps were either locked in rooms built into the pods possibly negotiating deals or they had a booth gal busy with managing their many raffles.

Behind the scenes (maybe in those rooms) ICE Kunion was involved in Manhwa Showcase 2006. Along with netcomics President Chung HeeWong, ICE Kunion Senior Editor Lee JuYoun hosted a presentation called Print to Pixel. The ICE Kunion editor covered most of the print element as Sigongsa (aka ICE) still does a good number of titles in print. The market is definitely changing in Korea. Printed anthologies are now on the endangered species list but graphic novels are still being print, despite so much of manga being read on computers.

ICE Kunion announced one title through their sponsored KOCCA trade packets. Comic has actually been in the Amazon.com databases for around a month now. However the strange title had people wondering if that was a strange typo or something.

Comic 하시현 Comic by: Ha SiHyun Sigongsa 9 vol/shojo

DramaQueen

Did not even have a booth at SDCC, but they were around. And while they did not announce any new licenses, they did drop a huge bomb! RUSH is going to be the first original anthology to be launched in the US since Shojo Beat (well J-Boy died before it could really take off) and the fact that it is global makes it even more unique.

MediaBlasters

MB was on-site but if you were looking for manga you possibly wouldn't have noticed. Most of their booth (directly across from AnimEigo) was covered with anime. If I was not in line for the free mandarin orange frapoccino's Starbucks, I possibly would not have noticed the small stack of BL. None of the recent releases of Eiken were out. Same could be said about Kamunagara. Most of their stock was BL and all of it at least a few months old. I did not see Frank Pannone this year. Shame too because he always had stuff to share. And as a whole no one knew much about the manga dept (sounds much like their website - under construction).

Over at LoveManga David found information on two new releases leaked through the darkness of night. Why MB didn't bother to release this info in San Diego is beyond me. I am sure it would have helped get the word out for a struggling publisher like this. But then again, we are only playing Thursday Night Publisher here at the MangaCast (until Jarred and I get our act together and start our own manga company that is ^_^ HA!!).

ポイズン・チェリー・ドライブ by: 本仁　戻 Poison Cherry Drive by: Motoni Modoru Houbunsha/Hanaoto Comics 1 vol/BL

男のコだからね by: わたなべ　あじあ Because I'm a Boy by: Watanabe Asia Houbunsha/Hanaoto Comics 1 vol/BL

So as you can see over the last week as much news could come from what you read as what you hear. Got to give props to the mangasphere community for their vigilance over the last week. At times I almost feel the blogs and fan community is more on top of new releases than the publishers are themselves.