The World’s Greatest First Love Publishing Schedule Delayed

The World’s Greatest First Love: The Case of Ritsu Onodera was announced last June by SuBLime, and the yaoi community was happy. (The series was announced four years ago from Tokyopop but never came out before they shut down their publishing arm.) There’s a devoted fandom for works by Shungiku Nakamura (and an associated anime), and the plan was to release all eight books in the series bimonthly, starting in February 2015.

Except things didn’t work out that way. Volume 1 came out in mid-April. Volume 2 has now been rescheduled for the end of July, and the following books have been cancelled. SuBLime says that’s temporary, due to glitches in the approval process. In their news post earlier this month, they stated

As you may or may not know, when a publisher licenses a book from Japan, there are certain parts of the book we need to send to the Japanese publisher and mangaka for approval (the cover, color pinup, credits page, etc.). Until those items are approved, we cannot send the book to the printers.

This brings me to The World’s Greatest First Love. The approvals process is no different for this series, and Sensei (Shungiku Nakamura) must review all of the above-mentioned parts of the book. Unfortunately, Sensei’s current schedule is making it too difficult for her and for us to meet an every-other-month release schedule. Going forward, what we must do is wait for Sensei to approve the volume and then do what we call a schedule “drop in,” which we will start doing with V3 (V2 is unaffected).

What is a drop in? When we have a situation such as this one where we do not have a way to schedule the release dates ahead of time, then we must drop each volume into the release schedule as they are ready. Since this will affect volumes three through five, we will have to pull the current preorders down from retail sites, and that will cancel all existing preorders for those specific volumes. This is something that is out of our control as retailers will not allow us to keep a book up for preorder that does not have a set release date.

This strikes me as unusual. I would assume that, by the time a series is planned and announced for US release, most of the approvals have been taken care of. Or at worst, the schedule for such is understood. For a creator to hold up the process to the extent of not being able to commit to future release dates for books is not typical — particularly since without set dates, retailers can’t take preorders, which will damage sales plans and potentially depress print runs.

I’m not a huge yaoi fan, but I found the premise of The World’s Greatest First Love intriguing, since it’s about a privileged young man who winds up working as a shojo manga editor. Ritsu was a book editor, but since he was working at his father’s company, he got tired of accusations he only got his job because of connections. He aims to prove himself by moving to another publisher, but he winds up working in the shojo department even though he knows little about the genre. His new boss turns out to be his first love from high school, of course.

Unfortunately, while I enjoyed the bits of information about the manga industry (similar to Bakuman), the “love story” was pedestrian and way too typical of the genre in the wrong ways. I don’t like stories where one partner has to be pressured into admitting his feelings, because the idea of consent is important to me. The art also seemed generic, with the young man appearing childlike, which adds another level of creepiness.

The emphasis is, of course, on the soap opera, with various rivals for attention and such in between the forced kisses. I couldn’t keep some of the characters separate in my head (the two bosses look a lot alike), and when we got to the rape scene, where one character is being fondled, actually says “no! stop!”, and is ignored, I gave up on the series.

But learning how shojo editors put together a book proposal, with survey popularity results and marketing plans and estimates of publication numbers, as happens in the second volume, was kind of neat.

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Metazoa

Metazoa just launched on ComiXology Submit. Story is by Peter Marshall Smith and art by Sandy Brion Spreitz. It’s described as anthropomorphic sci-fi and cyberpunk neo-noir. I found it redundant, too familiar in its setup and events to many other stories I’ve seen.

It’s your standard “tough guy must walk these mean streets alone” premise, only everyone has an animal head. We’re told that Ram, a bear, is feared by most at the bar he visits, and he randomly beats up folks to demonstrate how macho he is, when he’s not monologuing about whiskey. Then he gets beat up in response to his unwillingness to kowtow to anyone.

The two parts, art and text, don’t interact too often, with a lot of cliched narration over the cluttered images. The visual style is different from a lot of other comics, at least, with a riot of color leaving no white space anywhere. I suspect it’s meant to evoke the kind of dark rainy neon look of such projects as Blade Runner, but the simplified figures and lack of depth instead make me think of a coloring book gone mad. It can be difficult to tell exactly what’s going on, which does make the ever-present text useful in that regard.

The area we’re shown is called the Bamboo District, run by pandas, so characters speak Japanese. Whether you find this clever or vaguely racist or appropriating a more interesting culture depends on how much you like the rest of it. Similarly, the few women are drawn as bunnies: waitresses, pinups, and bar girls. Ram meets one, develops an instant crush, and finds out she belongs to the big boss. Again, nothing new here, and nothing clever, just a mishmash of better elements from elsewhere.

The pitch email I got talks about a concept of each type of animal evolving their own society and the aim of being “an ideological critique of class inequity” with characters escaping into the virtual realm of cyberspace. That all sounds interesting, but I didn’t see any of it on the actual page. (The creators provided a digital review copy.)

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What Did You Eat Yesterday? Volumes 7-8

The more time I spend with Shiro and Kenji, the couple behind What Did You Eat Yesterday?, the more I like them and their stories. Particularly now that they’re celebrating Christmas with another couple in volume 7. Mr. Kohinata makes sense for them to get along with, since he’s relatively well-behaved and shares some of the same interests, but Gilbert seems to exist just to make smarmy cracks about how they’re not “being gay” right. (He was the one criticizing Shiro’s bento-making in the previous volume.) For example, his comment upon being welcomed into their home for an Italian-flavored holiday dinner is “What a snug little apartment with no attention paid to interior decoration whatsover.” It’s kind of cute how this riles up Kenji, though.

This time, Gilbert demonstrates what a poor guest he is, complaining that the food is too rich and fattening but it’s too good to stop eating. In other words, everyone else is to blame for his lack of self-control (also demonstrated in his comments). I can sympathize, but that’s why I’m reading about all this tasty food instead of making it myself. (Not that I’m sure I could, what with the Japanese-specific ingredients.) His self-centeredness makes for entertaining contrast with the central couple, a tendency also on display when he cooks for himself in a later chapter.

The humor at Gilbert’s behavior is nicely balanced with a touching revelation, that the private Shiro has been thinking about his relationship with his resistant parents. He wants to bring Kenji to meet them for the first time over New Year’s, a major step forward for him.

I adore how realistically these small moments are portrayed in What Did You Eat Yesterday? The focus of the series on mature conflict and little happinesses and the everyday struggles to keep a relationship together makes it irresistible to me, all the more so because feelings are symbolized through cooking. For instance, while visiting Kenji’s parents, there’s an uncomfortable silence, but even when he and his mother can’t directly talk, they can cook favorite dishes together.

Additional chapters catch us up on what’s going on in the beauty salon where Kenji works and with the family of Shiro’s budget-buddy housewife. The two men also go on an impromptu date to a Western-style cafe for tea, a concession on Shiro’s part to indulge Kenji’s desires. They discuss their thoughts about end of life legal matters after Shiro’s mother helps execute a friend’s will, and Kenji even cooks for the two of them when Shiro is particularly busy.

What Did You Eat Yesterday? volume 8 has more luxury dishes than in the previous book. Shiro gets oysters from a family with a pregnant woman (who can’t eat them), so he fries them for himself and Kenji. Then the two are taken to a thank-you dinner for Shiro’s help with a famous woman’s divorce. The star’s gushing makes Kenji jealous, so Shiro makes his favorite stew to make it up to him. Food equals love, after all.

Later, the two go on vacation together to Kyoto, where they sample all kinds of dishes. Shiro’s being so nice that Kenji believes something must be wrong. It’s quite funny that that’s the conclusion he jumps to, that he’s being set up for bad news. It turns out to be ok in the end, though, as they feast on local delicacies. As always, the dishes are drawn in loving detail to show their deliciousness.

US readers will find the men’s introduction to making brownies, a treat they’ve never had before, amusing as well. They need a use for a gift of cocoa powder, and they get to bake together for Valentine’s Day.

The final chapter was a real standout for me, as we get to meet Kenji’s family, who are very different from Shiro’s parents. They’re much more “live and let live” about Kenji’s love life and how he grew up, making for a nice contrast.

My only complaint about this series is a continuing one — I find the lack of notes troubling. I know that there is a perception that a good translation doesn’t need explanatory notes, but there are too many weirdnesses that need more information for the reader. For example, in various recipes in this volume, Shiro uses scallions, leeks, and later “Welsh onions”. Those are leeks, to my understanding (and they look that way in the art, too), so I’m left wondering if there’s a translation mistake; if different people translated different chapters with different words for the same ingredient; or if there is some subtle difference between “Welsh onions” and “leeks” in Japan, the way that some culture separate shrimp and prawns or yams and sweet potatoes while the US doesn’t. But then, maybe this is just a side effect — I don’t know how much cooking knowledge the adaptor has. Regardless, with a search engine, most of the untranslated ingredients can be figured out.

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Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma Volume 6

Just when I started feeling that reviews of Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma could become almost mechanical — what’s the special ingredient for the challenge? what’s the competition hook? what crazy dish does Soma come up with to win, or at least demonstrate his strength of character? — volume 6 comes along to shake things up.

The next big competition for the cooking school kids is the Fall Classic. Before summer break, those who have been selected to participate are announced, which gives them their whole vacation to prepare. The cast continues to expand with various contestants in these huge battles, but it’s the few I can keep up with that I continue to follow.

But first, there’s a more personal story, the one I was thinking of when I said this volume was a bit of a change-up. A former student, a member of the elite council and currently a traveling chef with rock-star hair, has returned to the dorms. Everyone’s impressed, and then he’s revealed to have a secret connection with one of the students. His globe-trotting means he has all kinds of techniques and ingredients from various countries to incorporate into his repertoire.

The visitor gives Soma new perspective on the quest he’s been placed on at the school and the history that brought him there. Of course, the two wind up quickly in a cook-off, competing to make a morning “dish to energize and invigorate the body!” for some of the other students. The food needs to be light, easy to eat, and healthy, and as always, it’s fascinating to see what the contestants come up with. Plus, their recipes are included.

Then comes the research for the upcoming showdown, including information on spices and how they’re prepared, with a particular emphasis on smell in cooking. The art is typical for manga. Lots of focus on expressions to put across the desired emotional mood, mixed with high-energy action to capture the struggle of competition. It’s the food information that keeps me reading, not the competent but unchallenging art.

Unlike with some of the other challenges, I liked the way the setup for this big competition — drawn out to emphasize its importance, since the effort barely gets started in this volume — shows the kids actually working hard and studying, instead of relying on their natural talents and home experiences. (The publisher provided a digital review copy.)

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Cleopatra in Space: The Thief and the Sword

Cleopatra in Space: The Thief and the Sword follows up last year’s Target Practice. I thought that volume was light on story, and I feel the same way about this book. I guess it’s about time I realize that while Mike Maihack draws terrific action sequences, I shouldn’t expect much more than that from this series.

For instance, The Thief and the Sword starts with a 20-page chase sequence in which a new character, the thief of the title, defeats a bunch of guards while breaking into a secured location. I have no idea who this person is or how they relate to any of the story so far. To me, it feels like a waste of time, but then, I don’t get lost in the art — attractive as it is — if there isn’t a substantial story for me to care about. Others likely feel different, since it is an exciting sequence in staging and pacing.

The overall story pacing, though, is glacial. There’s a long party scene that’s imaginative in design but establishes very little about the characters. (We already knew that Cleo craves action and her friend Akila wants to make sure everyone’s having a good time.) There are two guys introduced there — one of whom is a walking plot encyclopedia, explaining new revelations to the readers — and the other of whom may mean something later, but not yet in this book. Maihack is good at introducing threads and cliffhangers that hang for a long while.

When characters do talk, it’s lots of chatter about things that will presumably be important later in the story, although I tend to lose interest while waiting for them. For example, we kept hearing in book one about how Cleo was fated to be really important, but it takes another half of this book to get any details on that. I tend not to care much about stories, anyway, that feature solo heroes finding their predetermined mission based on a fated prophecy. They’re too old-school for me.

Clearly, I’m not the right audience for this book. If you like a series of well-cartooned action sequences, you might be.

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Prophecy Volume 3

My hopes for this series raised in volume 1 weren’t completely fulfilled. Instead of thoroughly exploring the nature of computer crimes and behavior online, Prophecy volume 3 follows up on the manhunt started in volume 2, focusing on more human motivations of loyalty.

It’s certainly a more dramatic way for Tetsuya Tsutsui to wrap up the series in this book, and it makes for a tighter character arc, but I liked the themes of how growing computerization are affecting society more than the somewhat standard cast members. And the revenge stunts in the first book were clever.

Anyway, enough about what I would rather have seen the series do. Let’s talk about what’s on the page. Typical of really complex modern crimes, the Paperboy collective is done in by a tip from a source, someone spilling the beans, which then drives the followup detective work.

Meanwhile, Paperboy is setting up for a stunt at an energy drink launch event, one that’s being promoted through a viral campaign on social networks and one that’s also attended by the government official they’ve threatened to kill. There’s a public debate over whether the drink should legitimately be promoted as “healthy” given rumors of bribery to get it approved.

The real scheme, though, is to expose the official’s hypocrisy. He’s pushing a bill to regulate the internet in order to make it more “wholesome”, but he’s been engaging in sock puppetry and false support to make support for his position seem more widespread. By making his life so troubled, Paperboy sends a lesson to anyone else who wants to try and control the online world. In this case, it’s a crusade the reader can get behind, but I can’t help but wonder how I’d feel if I agreed more strongly with the official’s position. Mob justice is a dangerous weapon, not one easily controlled.

The final caper is twisty, with multiple meanings. They aim to give the vicious, bloodthirsty internet users what they’ve asked for, but even once they get their “justice”, they’re not satisfied. Still, the reader gets to know the secret, the driving force behind the actions, and comes away feeling smarter than the authorities.

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Murder Is Bad Manners

Murder Is Bad Manners is a wonderful read for anyone who likes English boarding school stories or classic mysteries. Although put out by a young adult imprint, and thus marketed for kids, I also enjoyed reading it.

Robin Stevens has captured the antique flavor of a residence for proper young ladies during the 1930s, but with a modern attitude. Our narrator is Hazel Wong, who’s come to the school from Hong Kong, and the Brit girls aren’t above the occasional bit of racism. Hazel plugs through, accompanied by her best friend Daisy, a privileged alpha girl. How the two really feel about each other is one of the more subtle themes underlying the mystery.

The two have already formed a Detective Society when Hazel sees one of the teachers (all women, except for the disruptive Mr. Reid, music and art instructor) dead in the gym. When she returns with help, the body is gone. Daisy and Hazel are the only ones — aside from the murderer — who even know the instructor is dead. As they work to sort out motives and figure out what happened to the body, they may not realize how much danger they’re in. Possible causes for wrongdoing include a love triangle, a broken heart, a struggle to become the next deputy headmistress of the school, and various secrets in the teachers’ pasts.

Stevens does an excellent job with atmosphere, capturing the details of school life, even if some of the girls do kind of blur together unless the reader pays close attention. I quite enjoyed spending time with the young women, particularly since the short chapters are as addictive as popcorn. I stayed up late reading “just one more”. It’s a twisty mystery that isn’t easy to figure out but rings true in motivations.

Best of all, this is first in a series of three. The others are out in the UK; here’s hoping they come to the US soon. (The publisher provided an advance digital review copy.)

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Powers DVD Details

More information is now available on the upcoming Powers DVD set, collecting the TV series that aired on the PlayStation Network.

The series, available on July 14, stars Sharlto Copley as detective Christian Walker and Susan Heyward as his partner Deena Pilgrim. Together, they investigate homicide cases involving people with superhuman abilities.

There are 10 episodes in the first season, arriving on three discs. The Blu-ray edition includes two featurettes:

• “Policing the All Powerful: Envisioning and Filming Powers”
• “From One Visual Medium to Another:The Art and Adaptation of Powers”

as well as outtakes and deleted scenes. The DVD edition only has the first featurette.

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Apartment Hunting

Alison Wilgus (A Stray in the Woods) has released a new full-color minicomic, Apartment Hunting.

The title’s a pun, you see. Hanne is a licensed apartment hunter in a world where you can shoot wild rooms to obtain housing.

Click that title link for a six-page preview. When I read it, I immediately bought the PDF ($2). You can also order a print version, but then there’s a wait to read it.

What I like most about the story is how much isn’t said. Wilgus is drawing this rich, diverse world but her dialogue is spare, conveying as much in what isn’t verbalized as in what the characters say to each other. In going out on a hunt, Hanne’s doing a favor for Jokum, who makes his jerkiness clear early on.

She’s quietly competent, but he’s showing off, which makes it all the more fun when she can contradict him with facts. I want to know more about why she would bother doing him this favor and what they used to be to each other, particularly given how stupid his assumptions are. There’s enough in the story that I can read the hints, but I’d like to spend more time with Hanne.

Plus, as seen on the cover, there are square trees, which I love.

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The Perhapanauts Return Via Kickstarter

I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed reading the Perhapanauts. The series, written by Todd Dezago and illustrated by Craig Rousseau, has had a few publishers and stops and starts over the years (as can happen with an independent adventure series). It’s about a team investigating weird monsters who are themselves odd creatures — a sasquatch, a ghost, a telepath, and more. (Find out more about the characters at the official website.) Here’s the bibliography as far as I know, in case you want to read the whole thing:

• The Perhapanauts: First Blood — collects the first four-issue miniseries from Dark Horse (2005-2006)
• The Perhapanauts: Second Chances — collects the second four-issue miniseries from Dark Horse (2006-2007)
• The Perhapanauts Volume 0: Dark Days — reprints the first two Dark Horse collections under the Image label
• The Perhapanauts: Triangle — collects the first five issues and the annual published after the series moved to Image in 2008
• The Perhapanauts: Treasure Obscura — reprints the remaining Image issues from 2009-2010, including various one-shots and webcomics
• The Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under — reprints the five-issue miniseries of the same title from 2012

This is all available digitally via ComiXology as well.

Now, the series is coming back via Kickstarter. The campaign has been up for a week, and it’s already over 60% funded. The main reason for the effort is to publish The Perhapanauts: Into Hollow Earth, an original hardcover graphic novel. It’s a stand-alone story, so it should be fine for new readers. If you want to get the previous stories, there’s also a pledge level that includes all the books (at a reasonable price). Shipping is kind of high, but the print purchases also include a PDF copy.

Here’s the Kickstarter exclusive cover:

And the eventual retail version cover:

Even if you’re not interested in pledging, if you like cryptozoology, you should visit the campaign page, because the promo video is hosted by a puppet of Choopie, the chupacabra character who’s part of the team.

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The New Serialization: Digital With Preview Chapters — Heart in a Box

It used to be that a comic story (and I’m talking here about non-superhero work, stories that are planned to have some kind of ending) could be published as a limited-run miniseries and then collected into a final volume. However, miniseries these days don’t sell well. There are just too many comic options for shoppers, and many will wait for the eventual collection (since it’s a better package and often a better deal). So smart publishers have now switched to digital, instead of print, serialization — which also allows the reader a cheap sample taste. Oni has been a leader in this space, with their current title Odd Schnozz and the Odd Squad and previous books like I Was the Cat available in digital chapters before print release.

The latest example is Dark Horse’s Heart in a Box, due out September 29. It’s written by Kelly Thompson (who’s also writing Jem and the Holograms)and drawn by Meredith McClaren (who’s also drawing the new Hopeless Savages comic). It’s been split into seven chapters, all from Dark Horse Digital, but the first one is available for free. The remaining installments, released weekly, are 99 cents each.

That means you can get the whole story for less than $6 online while the book is priced at $14.99, but that kind of discount makes sense to customers (instead of paying $3 or more an issue in print and less than that total for the final book). And a free taste is the best possible indicator of whether someone wants to read the whole story. Here’s the description:

In a moment of post-heartbreak weakness, Emma wishes her heart away, and a mysterious stranger — who may or may not be totally evil — obliges. But emptiness is even worse than grief, and when Emma learns that her heart can be regained piece by piece, she takes the strange bargain. But will the cost of her heart be her soul?

I read the issue — free comic! — and here are some quick thoughts. I’m interested in the emotional beats of the story, which made the violent opening to issue #1 surprising. I know it’s common advice in comics to start with the action, and if the story is going to turn that way, better to let readers know early on, but it’s a bit off-putting to me. I also had trouble getting used to the square word balloons and the harsh computer lettering, but I love the expressive, caricatured cast. The dialogue is terrific, with distinct voices. And the effect used to indicate Emma’s emptiness after her stupid choice (come on, we all know that when a mysterious person shows up and offers you a metaphysical deal, you shouldn’t take it) is a terrific use of coloring and perspective, as shown here:

Heart in a Box is a good read so far, and I’m curious to get the whole story this fall.

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Doctor Who Summer Comic Event Crosses Over Four Doctors

In keeping with the tradition of the big summer event, Titan Comics has announced that they will publish a five-part weekly crossover in August among their ongoing Doctor Who comic titles. Their “Year One” will conclude with issue #15 in each title, followed by this weekly event, “Four Doctors”, written by Paul Cornell and illustrated by Neil Edwards. Each issue will have a regular cover with an illustration of the Doctor:

Together, the backgrounds interlock. But there will also be a series of photo covers:

Which you can see reveals the special guest in addition to the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctors — the War Doctor, played by John Hurt.

The third cover option features art of the companions, solo and together:

The event starts on August 12, with the second years of the series beginning after the event concludes.

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