A Short Love Story in Stop Motion
by Carols Lascano

The Filmmaker writes:

A couple of pencil-outlined birds escape from a little girl’s drawing, leading us through the life she dreams of.

You can find more about the making of at this link: http://www.carloslascano.com/

Overflowing with both style and emotion, this is yet another example of conquering both style and substance. This film has flavor. You’ll see what I mean.

If you enjoyed this one, or if you’re looking for darker fare, then you might also want to check out Carlos’s Legend of the Scarecrow [Spanish, no subtitles].

MW （ムウ) • Osamu Tezuka • Vertical (2007) • Shogakukan (Big Comic, 1976-1978) • Seinen Action Suspense • 16+ (graphic violence, nudity, sex)
Stoic Catholic priest Iwao Garai has a dark secret: he is the lover and confessor of Michio Yuki, a beautiful, bisexual, Kabuki-trained sadist who commits crimes of shocking depravity—rape, kidnapping, murder—between trysts with Father Garai. The two men are the sole survivors of an accident, covered up by the Japanese government, in which a deadly nerve gas developed by a foreign country (unnamed but obviously the United States) wiped out an entire island village. What happened in the village changed Garai from a juvenile delinquent to a guilt-ridden priest, and Yuki from an innocent boy to a soulless killer, and now Yuki torments Garai like a demon from his past. But there is a method to Yuki’s madness, as he tracks down the people responsible for the accident and the chemical weapon itself, MW. One of Tezuka’s bleakest works, MW consists mainly of a long litany of Yuki’s crimes and evil schemes, which Father Garai watches with maddening passivity. The plot is as convoluted and improbable as any of Tezuka’s attempts at intrigue; even the characters admit that the final denouement is like something out of a cartoon. But it’s arrestingly told and endlessly audacious, and the effeminate, sexually magnetic, unabashedly wicked Yuki is one of Tezuka’s most memorable characters—and an interesting counterpart to the more sympathetically portrayed gay and bisexual bishonen just gaining popularity in shojo manga at around the time MW was serialized. (Review by Shaenon Garrity)

Today’s review is another Tezuka review by my good friend and amazing writer/artist/mangaphile, Shaenon Garrity. As I mentioned yesterday, I gave Shaenon the job of doing all the Tezuka reviews for Manga: The Complete Guide (both the original book and this update), because Tezuka is too classy for me and I would rather spend my time grubbing around in the dirt reading manga like “Enmusu” and “Violence Jack.” -_- *ahem* Anyway!

The good folks at suvudu.com recently tallied up the statistics for the first 50 days of “365 Days of Manga” and answered the question “Just what sort of person fills out forms for free manga online?” Personally, I kind of imagined a mixture of people like Tank Girl in the ’80s and Bruce Campbell in those Old Spice commercials. More realistically, I’ve gathered some data from the forms, and I’ll share it with you now.

First, your ages:

Over 18 - 77%
Under 18 - 23%

I had noticed that most of the winners are over 18, despite the attempts by companies like VIZ and Udon to publish “all ages” and preteen manga. Is the age of manga readers rising? Teenagers and preteens, send us your manga requests! But what about your manga preferences?

Shojo/Josei - 30%
Seinen - 22%
Shonen - 15%
Yaoi - 11%
No Preference - 24%

Shojo/josei is the highest requested category, although so far the winners have been mostly seinen lovers — is this just bad luck for the shojophiles? The preference for seinen over shonen might be linked to the ages of the readers. We have a steady undercurrent of yaoi requests, and a lot of “no preferences,” which I take to mean “prepare to receive the weirdest manga I have.”

So those are my wild guesses about the demographic of web-savvy manga maniacs. There’s something else I’ve been wondering which can’t be answered by the suvudu form results — do “365 Days of Manga” readers read just manga, or do they also sup of a variety of other types of graphic novels and comics? Do they know the joy of “Yokaiden”, “Scott Pilgrim”, “Finder”, “Won Ton Soup,” the work of Dylan Meconis and Jason Shiga and Derek Kim and Jen Wang? Recently I’ve been working on some of my own comics, specifically on a comic adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story The Strange High House in the Mist. I’m a horror and fantasy fan from way back and it’s a huge pleasure to draw my own stuff when I’m not reading manga. I’m currently on page 11 of a projected 16 pages, so please check it out!

And now, today’s winners! Today’s new manga winner is Mona K. of California (congratulations!), and the repeat winner is Adele S.!

Congrats, Adele! I’ll do my best to send you some really awesome books that you don’t already have for your next 5 manga. Till tomorrow, it’s “365 Days of Manga,” over and out.

Conventions are great fun!

Del Rey Books editor-extraordinaire Chris Schluep has supplied Suvudu with a diary of sorts cataloging some of his adventures at last weekend’s World Fantasy Con.

Want to know how an editor spends some of his time?

Below is his account! Enjoy!

Greetings from San Jose!

World Fantasy 2009 is now in the books, and I am leaving, tired and slightly humbled by other people’s energy, but with spirits high. What a great time! After a several-year hiatus, I found that little has changed on the World Fantasy front (other than the host city). There were still lots of writers, editors, and agents on hand. There were fans and pros. There were seemingly endless conversations, meetings, parties, drinks, ad hoc meetings at parties, meals, meetings over meals, and more drinks. To be honest, I feel like the weekend lasted about a week and a half.

I flew into San Francisco on Friday afternoon, where I met my friend and fellow editor Fleetwood Robbins. We had decided to take CALTRAIN down to San Jose together. But first, there was time for the initial Mexican meal of the weekend. I have included documentation.

Welcome to California!

After carnitas, a short train ride, and an even shorter cab ride, we got to the Fairmont hotel. Almost immediately, we began to see old friends. We spent the afternoon catching up, and then a dozen or so of us headed out to find dinner. we ended up sitting outside, enjoying a pleasant evening, and eating Moroccan food. I have included a picture I took from the evening.

APOLLO’S SONG (Apollo no Uta, “Apollo’s Song”) （アポロの歌) • Osamu Tezuka • Vertical (2007) • Shônen Gahosha (Weekly Shônen King, 1970) • Shonen Science Fiction Fantasy Romance • 16+ (graphic violence, nudity, sexual situations)
Apollo’s Song opens with one of the most outlandish and unforgettable sequences in all manga: hundreds of naked men race down a tunnel toward a naked woman with a crown and scepter, at which point it becomes clear that the men are sperm and the woman an ovum. One man embraces the woman and merges with her, forming new life. From there, Tezuka launches into a weird, choppy exploration of his ideas about romantic love. As punishment from the goddess Aphrodite, juvenile delinquent Chikaishi Shogo is condemned to love and lose the same woman in one reincarnation after another, from the past to the distant future. Or is he just experiencing hallucinations brought on by shock therapy? It may sound like the material of a sappy love story, but in Tezuka’s hands it’s anything but: Apollo’s Song is certainly melodramatic, but it’s far from romantic, as Tezuka fills his pages with violent men, icy women, pop psychology that was dated even in 1970, and action-packed plotlines that have nothing to do with the nominal central theme of love. The structure is similar to Phoenix, but on a smaller scale, with Shogo zipping back and forth through time but always running up against the same fate. It’s not one of Tezuka’s better adult-oriented works, mainly because he seems to have so little interest in his chosen theme, but even lesser Tezuka is rife with eye-popping moments. (Review by Shaenon Garrity)

Today’s review is by Shaenon Garrity, creator of numerous comics, manga editor, comics critic, and one of my best friends. For “Manga: The Complete Guide” and 365 Days of Manga, I asked Shaenon to review all the manga by Osamu Tezuka. I love Tezuka, but to be honest, so much has been written about him that I have never had a strong desire to write about him myself. There are other, lesser known manga creators who need the attention. Writing about Tezuka reminds me of that scene in the 1983 movie “A Christmas Story” when the kid is fantasizing about his teacher giving him his grades “A plus… plus… plus… plus… plus!” Actually, not all Tezuka manga deserves an A+ (Apollo’s Song for one), but still, although I can’t put down a Tezuka manga once I pick it up, I gave the Tezuka honors to Shaenon so I could spend more time reviewing yaoi manga, shojo manga and stories about spiky-haired young boys who want to be the best at something.

Today’s winner is Nathan G. of Indiana! Congratulations, Nathan! Soon you’ll be getting five free manga, just like this other dude, Brandon W.:

Thanks for sending us your photo, Brandon! You’ve allowed us to continue the “circle of manga” by sending you five more graphic novels. See you all tomorrow!

I flew into New York City a few days ago in preparation of an online signing I would be having with author Naomi Novik for her newly released omnibus, In His Majesty’s Service.

If I haven’t said it before, I love New York City!

I have been here twice, both times for the NY Comic Con. I haven’t done very many tourist-type things—meetings, events, dinner and drinks at the Comic Con take up a great deal of time—but instead have tried to embrace the city as it is. Great food. Great people. Great city. I highly recommend a visit if you haven’t, especially if a visit to Comic Con can be worked in!

The first time I visited I had author Terry Brooks and his wife Judine as a guide; they have been here many times before and found the very best restaurants and fun things to do away from the convention. The second time I was alone and spent more time walking the city to discover its true nature.

Chaotic fun!

This time I have been almost exclusively at Random House.

And I thought it would be fun to write a post about it!

So Eragon’s Guide to Alagaesia is out in bookstores now and so we thought it’d be nice to do a roundup of all the awesome things that are Alagaesia-related floating around on the web!

1. Check out a sneak peek of Eragon’s Guide to Alagaesia

2. Submit your questions for a monthly Q&A with Christopher Paolini over at Shurtugal

3. If you love games, we’ve got Become a Dragon Rider for you!

4. Rewatch the Live Chat with Christopher Paolini and Terry Brooks, then check out the follow-up post, Christopher Paolini Answers Your Questions

BAKU (Baku) (ばく) • Hakase Mizuki • Tokyopop (2007) • Shinshokan (2003) • 16+
This anthology contains two short stories by Mizuki (The Demon Ororon). In the title story, Takeshi, a slender young model who lives with relatives since his mother was institutionalized, discovers that he is the reincarnation of a Baku, a supernatural creature. (In Japanese folklore, the Baku is a monster which eats dreams, but this defining element doesn’t even come up.) In the more comedic second story, “Mephisto,” a half-demon kid exorcist lives with his twin sisters, a pet hamster, and a pixie he keeps in a suitcase. Both stories have bits of clever plotting (the title story is nicely dark and wistful) and demonstrate Mizuki’s distinctive minimalist, elongated artwork, but they feel like incomplete fragments of longer, unfinished tales.

50 days… 50 manga reviews… 250+ manga sent like mushroom spores out of my house to germinate in the homes of others. (Is that metaphor appropriate?)

It’s been an exciting first 1/7th of the giveaway. One of the most interesting things, for me, is seeing the photos that people send in. It’s like a high school yearbook of the kind of people who read manga (or at least, who read manga and enter online contests) in America. I could have almost called this contest “365 Faces of Manga,” although (1) that sounds a little inappropriate and (2) not everyone who wins manga in the first round submits their photo for the second round. I hope you’re all enjoying the manga, first-round manga winners! It’s fascinating seeing this Studs Terkel-esque survey of manga readers.

Speaking of winners, today’s winner is Francene L. of Michigan. Congratulations, Francene! I hope you like the manga (or “mangers”, as my friend Dr. Urian Brown would pronounce it)!

It’s interesting. There are some people who you know you’re indebted to, even though you’ve never met. Folks who created something popular and valuable and precious that lasts and thrives and grows, sometimes to the point that its origins and originator are forgotten. And while that’s natural, it’s also important to occassionally take the time to remember.

On November 3, 2009, Shel Dorf, the creator of that which is now known as Comic-Con International: San Diego, died.

Here are the book, video game, DVD and movie releases for the week!

Hardcover

• Death Masks: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
• The Silver Mage: Book Four of the Silver Wyrm by Katherine Kerr
• Heart’s Blood by Julliet Marillier
• Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt
• Destroyer of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner
• Eyes like Leaves by Charles de Lint
• Elegy Beach by Steven R. Boyett
• Gaunt’s Ghosts: Blood Pactby Dan Abnett
• The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
• The Sisterhood of the Rose by Jim Marrs
• The Captain’s Witch by Rosemary Hawley Jarman

Paperback

• Born of Fire by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Code Geass Novel Stage 3 by Goro Taniguichi and Ichiro Okouchi
• Chasing Midnight by Susan Krinard
• Agents of Artifice: A Planeswalker Novel by Ari Marmell
• Corsair: Blades of the Moonsea, Book II by Richard Baker
• Crusade: Destroyermen, Book II by Taylor Anderson
• The Fall of Highwatch: Chosen of Nendawen by Mark Sehestedt
• Finch by Jeff VanderMeer
• The Golden Tower: Book Two of The Warriors of Estavia by Fiona Patton
• Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier
• The Lord-Protector’s Daughter by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
• Magic in the Shadows by Devon Monk
• Asmodeus by Dawn McClure

Video Games

• Dragon Age: Origins
• Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
• Zodiac Online
• Battle of Giants: Dragons - Bronze Edition
• Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron
• The Force Unleashed: Sith Edition

DVD Release

• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
• Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One

In Theaters Friday

• The Fourth Kind

AWABI (Awabi, “Abalone”) （泡日） • Kan Takahama • Fanfare/Ponent Mon (2007) • Junkudo (2004) • Underground Comedy Drama • 1 volume • Unrated/16+ (sex)
Kan Takahama (Monokuro Kinderbook) is an underground artist whose work, as much like jôsei as it is like any conventional manga demographic, deals with age, depression and relationships (generally younger woman-older man, and often unhealthy). Her un-idealized characters and gray, tonal artwork, which appears to be scanned directly from the pencils and computer-painted, have a warmth and depth not often found in manga, even when the action consists mostly of people talking. In the title story, “Awabi,” a troubled young woman collapses drunk in a pool outside an old folks’ home, prompting a moment of lucidity from a senile old man inside, and forming a bond between the woman and the old man’s former mistress. This wry story is followed by several short vignettes—in “My Life with K,” a middle-aged man gets involved in the life of a suicidal young woman, in “Something’s Not Quite Right Story” a young Korean man talks about his depressed manga artist girlfriend, and in “Local Wide Show” Takahama makes up an imaginary tabloid scandal about her own life. There’s also a two-page collaboration with French artist Frédéric Boilet (Yukiko’s Spinach). While none of the other pieces are as substantial as the title story, and some are fairly cryptic, it’s an insightful, if downbeat, collection.

Fanfare/Ponent Mon is one of the highest-quality publishers of art-manga (and European comics) today. Who else would publish work as underground, as personal, as Kan Takahama’s? Their books don’t have the best distribution, so keep an eye out for them.

Today’s winner is Carolyn U. of Utah! Congratulations, Carolyn! We’ve also received a new photo from a previous winner, Noel of Florida:

Thanks for sending your photo! I hope you enjoy the manga, particularly “Category: Freaks” and the out-of-print horror manga of Junji Ito, creator of “Uzumaki.” I’ll be sending you five more possibly less horrific manga in the immediate future as soon as I run to the post office. See you tomorrow, and as they’d say in “One Piece,” “do it with a DON!”