DMP’s Big Gamble

Digital Manga recently announced through press release that its yaoi-publishing imprint, June Manga,  that it would be releasing some of its yaoi titles for early print if they reached a payment window. This prerelease of soon-to-be-released June books could happen as much as a quarter (4 months) earlier than expected.  Johanna at Comics Worth Reading wondered if Paypal is going to be a dealbreaker for the publisher’s book printing, but I have a few thoughts to the contrary.

Doujinshi (fan written manga) written here in the USA is often printed using the exact same methods that DMP has recently decided to act upon, and many other forms of publication do the same. Normally, this is due to a lack of funds to be able to pay the printer to print and bind your comic, role playing manual, or other written work. It’s a bit of a trust game here, because fans of the genre must be willing to advance their money now for a potential payoff that will occur later down the road. On the plus side, it looks as though DMP is going to charge less for the presold books than what you would spend at a regular bookstore.

Paypal shouldn’t be a problem for the publisher, because of the slippery words of the presale agreement. Content that could be bagged under the fund-transferring site’s terms of service (ie pornographic materials) is being sold by DMP, so unless they are careful, they could have those funds frozen. However, I think that with the current wording of the web-a-thon’s sales agreement DMP should be just fine.

Presales initially seem like the company may be weak, but in actuality, I am convinced that DMP is doing something very unique that also happens to be a strong business move. Yaoi is microniche, and by using a prepay web-a-thon, DMP can do something with the information they garner with their presales – what fans want, and what they’re willing to pay for. It comes as no surprise that DMP is looking for better ways to market and make money on their microniche titles. By liscensing and publishing manga that people are dedicated enough to purchase in advance, the June imprint can save money while looking like “the publisher that listens to fans.”

Fanhood is a very interesting thing. Fans are more often than not willing to support industry that takes the time to listen to their wants and needs and respond in a positive manner. DMP has seemed to have realized this, and is taking steps to get a better gauge on what its customers want.

Now, the whole program could flop, and it may take some time before DMP starts to understand the trends and responds accordingly. It also takes a long time for customers to get their material, although if a book doesn’t hit the total dollar value before its time is up, those who preordered will still get the manga a bit early. However, what some people seem to think is a gamble looks more like a solid business venture to me. Time will tell if it works out for DMP.

The Implications of Shojo Beat’s Demise

Well, it’s official; it’s been way too long since I’ve updated my blog, but finals and heavy coursework will do that to you. I’m in finals week here at University, so my free time is going to increase very soon (more time to read manga! yay!!). In the meantime, I have been working hard at www.eyeofthevortexonline.com, and the May edition is finally ready for your viewing pleasure. We’ve got a ton of great features this month, so check it out.

I clicked over to ICv2 earlier this afternoon and was shocked to see that Viz Media is canceling their Shojo Beat anthology magazine in light of economic issues. This disappoints me for a number of reasons, which I’ll get to in a moment, but I think it’s safe to say that overall this is fairly disheartening, especially for anyone that had subscribed to the magazine. I cannot say that I was one of those people, but it’s akin to when Newtype USA was canceled; something you enjoyed every month is now missing.

The most difficult issue with economic downturn is that you start to see what portions of a company’s business are profitable and which aren’t. This normally isn’t a problem, but when the product is something you’ve invested in emotionally, it can get a bit hairy. Viz is traditionally known as a manga publisher with a very strong shonen lineup, including the chart topping Naruto, Bleach, and Black Cat. Their shojo line is also strong, but doesn’t get near the amount of attention that the shonen does.

The strange thing is though, that manga as a whole, is a comic s0ld to women (at least in your major book retailers). Shojo Beat is the heart of the girl’s comics movement, a collection of the “normal” girly magazine stuff with comics specifically written to be enjoyed by girls. And, when most of your bookstore market is the young female audience (who doesn’t have Twilight to distract them this summer), it seems like an inopportune time to cancel the anthology. More appropriately, it would seem, now is the time to give the anthology more press, more promotions, and try to tie it into product lines and get it into the hands of its chosen audience.

In contrast, Shonen Jump has received a lot of tie-ins with other products, giving it some cover recognition in stores, with its Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and other promotions. It also has Saturday morning cartoons to back it up, giving it more eye appeal to the younger crowd. Can we say that for Shojo Beat? Did it ever really get its chance to shine? Or was it more of a background player to the antics of Naruto and his other shonen buddies?

One of Viz’s interesting moves is that they’ve promised to send all Shojo Beat readers a free copy of Shonen Jump, which is well intentioned, but for the most part, seems misguided. The people who enjoy shojo and shonen are completely different, and the subject matter in Shonen Jump is far different from the content of Shojo Beat. You may get a few converts, Viz, but the people that would read both anthologies are probably already doing so anyway.

While I’m sure funds are tight in manga world right now, I don’t know that Viz is doing bad enough that it absolutely needed to cancel Shojo Beat. I’m sure Shojo Beat wasn’t profitable. I’m not actually sure that Shonen Jump is profitable. I think it was probably the right business move.

But as I say this, we see the loss of a very specific, important piece of the manga puzzle. Manga is meant for anthologies, like fish are meant for water.  It has been my joy to subscribe to Yen Plus, and I’m currently looking at Shonen Jump, because I think the anthology is so key to the way manga is written and should be read.  In losing Shojo Jump, we lose a part of that experience, and we lose a quality publication which has inspired and entertained consumers since it was originally published.

Viz has promised to continue the series in the magazine through their paperback manga volumes, but the effect is certainly not the same.  It seems like such a tragedy that such an important portion of the manga industry in Japan is so lacking here in the USA, and the loss of Shojo Beat further removes manga from its traditional format here.

April Edition of Eye of the Vortex

I’m not sure how much press this is getting, but the April edition of Eye of the Vortex is available to download or view on Issuu, at this link right here. This month, I go over an old review with The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and check out Yen Press’ Black God. We’ve also got game suggestions, reviews of some new suppliments for White Wolf Entertainment’s World of Darkness d10 system, as well as a look at Privateer Press’ new collectible miniatures game Monsterpocalypse. It’s an excellent edition, and I hope you will all take the time to look at it.

Expanding the Collection During Recession

Wow, it’s been a while!

In these uncertain economic times, everyone has had to cut back; this especially true for comic connoisseurs like manga fans, especially those who follow more than one series at a time. It’s almost impossible for me to purchase books for all the series I follow as soon as they come out, and there are plenty of manga that I’ve yet to be able to read.

My solution? eBay.

eBay is great place to buy manga; despite all the nasty things that you typically hear about the place, and the people selling you their books, the fact remains that eBay is one of the easiest ways to get your hands on multiple books for cheap, esepcially if they’re older series. However, bidder be warned, eBay is full of tricks, and auctions you want to steer clear of. Here are a few of my tips to help you save money and still keep up your manga obsession this spring.

1) First thing’s first; look at the books. If you type manga into the search bar at eBay, you will undoubtedly see all sorts of neat things, half of which, of course, are not manga. They may be posters, tea cozies, dog t-shirts, buttons, cosplay clothing, figures, and all other manner of otaku based goods, but they aren’t the comics you’re looking for. Make sure you filter your search so that you only end up looking at books. It’ll keep you away from anything tempting that would impede upon your manga budget.

2) Stay away from single books. Most sellers are going to try and sell you a book and make you think it’s a good deal; they post the initial price of the first bid at around 3.50. You think you’re getting a good deal, but take a bit of a closer look. They’re probably charging you $5+ for shipping, which can make it even more expensive than the book was originally, if you’re purchasing one of Viz’s 7.99 books. Be careful not to get charged by these tricksters. (If you’re looking for individual books, check out the Amazon or Border’s Marketplace for used copies that cost you around 4.50 (with shipping included).

3) Check out the big lot offers. Sometimes, you’ll have fans clearing out sections of their libraries to make room for more manga, and they’ll sell a large quantity of books in one fell swoop. These situations are key, and recognizing the deals when you see them might be tricky. You’ll look at a lot of 40 books for 50 dollars plus 12 dollars shipping. At first, that seems expensive, but do the math. $62 for that lot means you end up paying approximately $1.55 per book. That amount of money could only probably buy you 5 books at the local Barnes and Noble.

4) Stay away from Buy It Now. The caveat to my previous statement are the Buy It Now auctions. Many of these auctions are for entire sets of manga, but they sell the books at list price. If you look at them carefully, you’ll see they even charge extra for the shipping, so you’re ending up doing worse than you would if you went to the store and bought them. That’s not the point of using eBay.

5) Don’t be afraid of auctions that contain books you already own. Especially if the auction has a lot of books you want, but a few you already own, take a chance on it. You can always sell those books back on eBay, give them to your local library, or give them to friends. Extra copies of xxxHolic make great presents for your otaku friends.

6) Don’t spend more than you want to. Your manga budget is important. Don’t get sucked into the hyper-aggressive oneupmanship of heavy bidding right before the item ends. If the lot goes above your budget, forget it, even if it has some amazing stuff in it. That doesn’t matter. You’re trying to save money here, not throw it around. Be patient, and you’ll get some amazing deals.

Hopefully these tips have helped – even if you don’t decide to bid on manga on ebay, remember that, it’s always on display, and you can wait for that special deal just for you. With patience, and if you tone down your desire to get new manga immediately, you’ll be able to save a lot of money without that much work.

March Edition of Eye of the Vortex Released

I’ve been kind of quiet lately, and hopefully that will change soon, but in the meantime, Eye of the Vortex Online has released the March edition of our online magazine, and it features comics that don’t need spandex (a great little list of some pretty amazing comics) and my review of Toto! volume 1, published by Del Rey.

I’d be super stoked if you checked it out!

Will Akamatsu Change Content for Changed Readership?

Canned Dogs reported on Sunday that Ken Akamatsu has seen a trend in his readership; lately, the people that have been sending in the most fan letters and illustrations to the famous manga-ka for his latest series Negima are girls. Younger girls, at that. Akamatsu has declared that it’s the sign of changing times in Japan, that women are reading shonen comics because there are more “attractive men” to look at. Someone in the comments even posted the idea that Negima has more “pairings” (a la yaoi) than its spiritual predicessor Love Hina, and I can’t necessarily say I disagree. What makes me think isn’t necessarily that more women are reading what is considered a man’s comic, but whether or not Ken Akamatsu is going to do anything about it. Will the fan service and other things we’ve come to expect from Akamatsu take a decidedly female-oriented turn?

I wonder what this means for shonen manga as a whole. Does this change in readership make mangaka want to change the way they write their shonen manga? Or is this more an affirmation of the appeal of shonen style manga? I really can’t say what the change means, but I can say that it’s very interesting.

The Mainstream Conversion

Manga and western comics for years have been a fairly niche market, and each type of media catered to a very specific and small audience. Manga focused on girls comics and on shounen battle sagas, and western comics have been running superheroes since before I was born. Strangely enough, though, things are changing. Broadening out, if you will. It seems over night that comic books and graphic novels have suddenly taken a turn for the legitimate side of printed media. It’s been a long time coming, but I think somewhere between The Dark Night and Watchmen, comics and manga suddenly became mainstream.

I suppose the unlikely culprit is actually the superhero movie. It started realistically with the Spiderman movie, and worked its way from there. Now, with 300 a major production, the movie based off the manga Priest wrapped up, and comic classics like Watchmen hitting the big screen, the general population has been immersed in comic book entertainment. The New York Times even added a section to their best sellers list called “Graphic Books.” Their tactics for determining the list notwithstanding, we have seen a push for legitamacy in the comics market.

So, comics fans have Hollywood to thank for the bit of sunlight that’s peeked its way into our dusty little corner. And while the world is watching the Watchmen, it’s time to get out there and prove to the world that comics are legitimate. Now is the perfect opportunity to increase manga readership as ordinary Joes finish Watchmen and begin to look for their next fix. Comics can survive, manga can survive this economy;  publishers just need to apply the proper pressure at the right places.

Urasawa’s Higher Price Point

During my spring break (yes, a spring break in February), I was finally able to get my hands on some of the titles that have seen a lot of talk on the manga blog scene, which include some very amazing books. Del Rey’s Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei is a hilarious look at Japanese social commentary, and it’s really a beautiful book.

When I first picked up the two Urasawa books, Pluto and 20th Century Boys, I was happy to see that they had been given star treatment, with dust jacket-style covers, a larger book, and Pluto even had some beautiful color pages. Flipping to the back of the book, I saw that it was $13 USA, the same price as Takehiko Inoue’s Real. While the price on these manga don’t bother me, I would like to point a few things out for this Monday’s musing.

$13 is a high price point for casual manga fans. For those of us who had to have Urasawa’s work no matter the cost, it wasn’t a big deal. Initial sales were more likely than not high due to a greater than average amount of internet clamoring. But I wonder what the higher price point is doing for people who can get the same kind of entertainment from the latest copy of Naruto, at $5 less the cost. Entertainment budgets are slipping as the bad economy looms, and those fans who like manga but aren’t willing to drop more than $10 every time they stop in to the book store, Viz’s Signature line quickly jumps out of reach. I wonder, in light of the current ecomonic situation, if Viz is actually seeing a lower number of long-term sales than expected because of the higher price point.

Now, it is true that you get what you pay for; I for one love my copy of Pluto. Still, I have to wonder, by what kind of margin is Pluto begin outsold by its cheaper competitors? And in this economy, is the price of manga having an appreciable impact on the amount of manga sales?

Marvel In Amazement… Or At The Stupidity

First, let me direct you to the MangaVillage Roundtable regarding the Marvel manga crossovers. I was allowed to participate with some truly instrumental minds, some people that know much much more than I do about manga and comics in general, and I am truly happy to have been a part.

As much as I rallied for the Marvel crossovers, I find myself more and more shaken by comments by John, in particular, about the true purpose of the Marvel crossovers, and for a few reasons. Let me explain myself. Marvel has decided to release two manga that feature characters from their X-men IP, a book aimed at boys about Wolverine, and a book aimed at girls about Kitty Pryde “as the only girl in the all-boys School for Gifted Youngsters” who eventually helps “form the X-men.” Both series will be two volumes long (a fact that disturbs me) and will be at the regular Del Rey price ($10.95 USA).

I really like the idea of a manga that features characters from the X-men world. X-men is by far my most favorite series of comics of all times (barring Calvin and Hobbes), and introducing characters in a format I mostly dislike to a format I like is a good thing for me. X-men also have a great pull for the non-comic book reader, because of their movie time. They’ve caught a bit of the public eye, and they’re more likely now than ever to be picked up at a local Borders or Barnes & Noble than their pamphlet book counterparts. Manga is also a much more accessible format for women, and for people who don’t do normal comics.These reasons give weight to why Marvel would release their characters in a different format.

But, let’s face it, the main reason why Marvel is releasing manga-themed X-men books is clear; they’re trying to make more money off of their characters, and they’re trying to get some exposure in the manga side of comics by releasing manga through a well respected, well known manga publisher. Manga has been doing better than traditional comics as of late, so I think it’s reasonable to want to tap that kind of revenue stream.

The two books coming down the line fit into classic genres of manga. The first book is a shonen version of Wolverine fits surprisingly well with the timeline of the release of Hugh Jackman’s 4th take on the Wolverine IP, and it probably will get sales. My guess is that it’s the safer of the two titles, because it doesn’t really do anything new with the series, and it should probably get regular comics buyers to take a look at it.

The problem with the title is that already, people who buy manga are involved in series that are undoubtably better than this new book, like Naruto or Bleach. So, your main shonen manga purchasers are probably already involved in a series, and will probably skip this one to get the latest volume of their favorite series. That means, by and large, you’re looking at people who normally don’t buy manga and pamphlet comic book guys to pick up the new series. That might not be a good bet.

The second book, the shojoized Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, is more objectable based on content than the former, considering the fact that Kitty Pryde, a character that didn’t exist until 1980 is now the “only girl” at the Xavier Institute which originally started back in 1963, with Jean Grey, our lovable sometimes-Dark Pheonix and Scott Summers love intrest. It seems odd that they chose Kitty to be the shojo heroine, but if you think about it, it’s not that difficult to comprehend. Kitty is the lost and forlorn character in the 3rd X-men movie, and Marvel probably has data that show that she connects well with the segment of the population that they’re targeting with this book.  Jean is kind of the bad guy in X-3, after all. Still, this change in storyline doesn’t really affect the people that would care (ie. the comic junkies) because they’re most likely to not read it. It’s not written for them, its written for girls.

So, we have a shonen that will connect with customers, but probably not most of your regular shonen junkies, and a shojo that definitely won’t attract comic book junkies, but may have a significant pull with girls that watched the X-men movies. The more I analyze the subset of people that are going to be interested in these books, the more I realize what a small portion of the manga buying population it is.

To drive things further into the ground, Marvel has decided to only run two books in each series. As an OEL title, coming out and saying “two books for each series,” gives me some bad conceptions, which I’ll go ahead and list:

1) These books are quick shots into the manga industry, and an attempt to make some quick money: If they don’t work out, well, they didn’t lose that much, since they printed a total of 4 books.

2) They probably aren’t expecting these books to be good: If you think you’ve got a good thing coming down the pipe, you at least give it the ability to breathe and see what it does in the market. Coming right out and saying it’s only going to be 2 volumes long tells us that you aren’t investing in the story.

3) Normally, a one or two volume manga is kind of rushed.It’s going to be two books, and that really can only be helpful if you want to, A) stem the flow of blood, B) get out quick while the getting is good. I wish I could see a bit more commitment to the property, but I guess that’s not to be.

4) There’s no room for growth: what if you want to continue? What happens if the series is a hit? Marvel only signed on for two books, so if the series does remarkably well, it will take time to renew contracts and get things geared up for an extension of the series. This means that if the series turns out to be really good, it may lose steam in the process of getting it extended.

I’m supportive of an X-men crossover, but I think it’s pretty stupid the way that Marvel is going about it. I guess time will tell us if the books do anything or not.

Personal Update

Sorry everyone for the lack of posting. It’s finals week here, so I’m slightly bogged down.

More to come later this week or next week about indie manga, plus a few reviews.