Archive for the Events Category


Event: "Ghost in the Shell: Innocence" Lecture at the Brooklyn Museum of Art

June 13th, 2008

Just a heads up for all the New York City-area readers we have here.

Tomorrow, Saturday June 14, at 1:PM, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, as part of a New York citywide exploration of Japanese culture and art, is showing the Ghost In The Shell: Innocence movie.

I will be introducing the movie, and doing a short Q&A afterward.

The movie begins at 1PM, I’ll be doing my intro at about 12:45. It all takes place in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Forum on the 4th floor. Admission to the movie is free with admission to the museum. If you pay for a Muakami exhibit ticket, you get to see that exhibit, the rest of the museum AND the movie, so I hope you’ll come early and take in the great art, then join for Ghost In The Shell: Innocence!





MoCCA Report and Egregious Self-Promotion

June 8th, 2008

As expected, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art event was fabulous. I never fail to have a good time there – the level of creativity and passion and attendee engagement is much higher than the usual con at which the attendees expect to be entertained, rather than be part of the entertainment.

As always, my sincere thanks to David Stanley and Prism Comics. I cannot say enough good things about these people. Every time I’ve had the pleasure of their company it has been a genuine pleasure. Thanks to Peter, for finding good coffee, to Chris and his boyfriend Chris and special thanks to Kate Fitzsimmons of Girlwonder.org/Four-Color Heroines for hanging out with us all day and keeping us company. And also for having the line of the event – Is it so much to ask that a manga have a couple whose lives *won’t* be ruined by them having sex? lol

We were right next to Jennifer Camper, who was selling her cool new mylar-covered artbooks and her fabulously funny comics. Abby Denson’s Dolltopia 2 is out! Got a couple of copies of that. Spent some quality time busting J.D. Glass’s chops – she got posters made for “Sakura Gun,” her American Goth side story which will run in Yuri Monogatari 6, and X, her next novel. (Which is my favorite so far, fyi.) And it was a pleasure to see Allan Neuwirth and Ivan Velez again.

Oh, oh, oh! I got to meet Mariko Tamaki, author of Skim, which I absolutely adored. If you haven’t, you should definitely read it.

Here’s the self-promotion bit. The Prism Comics Guide 2008 is now in print and its chock full of GLBT-themed comics by many talented artists. And coincidentally, it contains an article by me on Yuri (I know, can you believe it?) Right now you can only get it by having your local comic book store order it from Diamond. But soon it will be on sale on the Prism Comics shop. Support independent GLBT comics and get the Guide!

Kate (thanks Kate!) gave me a copy of Comic Foundry, a new comics culture magazine which, I have to say, seems pretty cool. Volume 1 includes a glossary of manga/anime-related terms, which includes Yuri, and lo and behold! ALC’s books are recommended. Who knew? A nod of appreciation to the CF folks for that.

Before I wrap up, I have a few more names to drop – hello to Margeaux and the Comics Alliance folks, Eve is once again starting up Blood and the Art of Baking, a Vampire lesbian baking adventure comic I quite like, and great big thanks to translator extraordinaire Mari Morimoto, reviewer and writer Casey Brienza and brilliant journalist Kai-Ming Cha, all of whom I got to spend some quality time with and as always, laughed my ass off, traded good gossip and had some fun. :-)

Seriously, IMHO, MoCCA is the best comic show of the year. See you at the MoCCA Art Festival, 2009.





Yuri News This Week – June 7, 2008

June 7th, 2008

We’re trying something new this week. This is pre-recorded programming. Cool, huh? Even as you are reading this post, *I* am in NYC at Puck Building, joining the fab folks of Prism Comics for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Art Festival today. If you are in or near the NYC area, drop by. It’s an amazing event full of amazingly talented independent comic artists from all over. The MoCCA event is a don’t-miss event if you like comic art!

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Yuri Anime

It’s pretty much the all Mai edition this week! First off, Bandai has announced that they will be releasing all four of the Mai Otome Zwei episodes on one disk. In the past Bandai ran into some serious clashes with the fans over Japanese-style DVD releases (two TV episodes or one OVA per DVD.) In this climate of contracting markets and struggling anime sales, it’s nice to see that they’ve gotten a clue.

Speaking of Mai devoted reader Eric P. points out that Bandai has announced a new Mai HiME series, starring a girl named Mao. There’s not much more info available, but I expect it to be the same service with a light negligee of plot that the rest of the series wears. :-)

While I’m beating the Mai series to death, I just want to say that I have added the Mai HiME/Mai Otome/Destiny Light Novels to the Light Novel Page on the Yuricon Shop. I had no idea how many Mai novels there were!

And for those three of you who were wondering if there’d *ever* be a new Mai Otome ~ S.ifr, the answer is – yes. Look for episode two of that OVA to arrive sometime in July.

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Yuri Manga

Speaking of July, you can look forward to a new edition of Yuri Hime Wildrose coming out that month. (Yes, yes, pun intended.) Look for more girls who are not lesbian having sex with other girls, even though they don’t quite know what girls do in bed. This will be released on the 18th, the same day that the next Yuri Hime magazine hits the selves.

Looking for a quick fix of 4-koma goofiness with a light flavoring of Yuri? Rakka Ryuusui, Volume 3 is already on sale in Japan. Get your fill of kyuudo klub komraderie and inexpressible puns. :-)

Here’s an interesting piece of news – Hayate x Blade is switching not only magazines, but publisher as well. Up through Volume 9 it will continue in Mediaworks’ Dengeki Daioh, but as of the September issue, which ships in August, it will be running in Ultra Jump magazine and the collected volumes will be printed by UJ Comics. How interesting…. Makes you wonder what went on there, doesn’t it? LOL It was reported on Hayashiya Shizuru’s blog. (Thanks to Erin, btw, who made me *read* what it actually said, because when I scanned it the first time, I completely missed what she was saying. lol)

Also of note, creator of Yuri OEL manga Steady Beat, Rivkah, has some very interesting things to say on her Livejournal about the reorganization of Tokyopop and what it means for the third and final volume of her story! She includes some of the pencils from the climax, so definitely check them out.

And Sean reminds me that Strawberry Marshmallow, Volume 5 is shipping next week. For all us Miu fans.

And for those who have Internet Explorer, don’t mind downloading Digital Object Reader and can navigate basic Japanese, Young Gun Carnaval has been made into a free manga distributed through Flex Comics’ Yahoo Japan site. I’m told there’s Yuri in the novels. I don’t know if there actually is. There are girls who kill people. That’s good enough for me. :-D

For fans of Mnemosyne, there is a manga for the series “Daughters of Mnemosyne Manga: Miss Black” running in Comic Valkyrie. Has Yuri-service just like the anime. :-) I’m not sure at this point if it is a one-shot or not. I’m sure someone will weigh in with details.

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Other Yuri News

There is a very interesting blog which I have mentioned before – Ultimo Spalpeen – which follows the American anime and manga industry in Japanese for a Japanese audience. The writer, Komatsu-san, has been a terrific supporter of Yuri in general and Yuricon, ALC and Okazu in specific. Last week he emailed me with a question about the title of my Light Novel, Shoujoai ni Bouken. He asked me if I knew that it wasn’t quite right Japanese. I told him my little secret about the titles for SnB and the sequel Saiyuu no Ryouko, i.e., SnR. I *chose* to use not-quite-right Japanese for the titles on purpose, since it always fascinates me that so much anime/manga/doujinshi use English in a way that is not-quite-right. lol We had a long conversation about the whole thing and he’s transcribed the entire thing in Japanese for his readers. Thank you, Komatsu-san for all your support!

Now on to much more important things, like Strawberry Panic fighter jets!

Anastasia Moreno posted on her Manga Gunkan blog that Friend of Yuri, soulassassin547 realized, after learning that Ana is a ex-Marine who translates Strawberry Panic, that Astrea Hill would be the natural location for an air base. To that end, he designed the StoPani fighter jets…and one special Lillian squadron. (Commander “Ice Queen” Ogasawara. Swoon….)

Also from Ana’s blog, this Pixel Maritan AMV. The song is from the CD that accompanied the book I reviewed. There are subtitles in English, so you can enjoy it fully. You all have to watch – this way you’ll get a feeling for how insane this series really is. I believe Ana told me that she wrote the English lyrics for this song. My favorite line is “Let’s beat those evil fuckers now!” (Yay!)

Last up, a non-Yuri item, but it may be of some interest to readers here – and feel free to pass it on to other MLs and groups you know of:

The Kurodahan Press Translation Prize

It gives us great pleasure to announce the Kurodahan Press Translation Prize, awarded for excellence in translation of a selected Japanese short story into English. We hope that it will be possible to continue this prize as an annual event.

Kurodahan Press was established to preserve and circulate contemporary and historical observations of Asia, and to produce informative and entertaining translations. The Japanese literary world needs no help from us in producing outstanding works, but they cannot be introduced to a broader, global audience without skilled translators capable of rendering delicate nuances and atmospheres into another language.

The Kurodahan Press Translation Prize is held to help locate and encourage these translators.

The short story to be translated is 笛塚 by 岡本綺堂, and is about 9500 characters in length.

Submissions will be accepted through September 30, 2008, Japan time.

Three judges will select the winning entry (alphabetical order by surname):
– Juliet Winters Carpenter, Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts
– Meredith McKinney, Visiting Fellow, Japan Centre, Australian National
University
– Royall Tyler

The winning entry will receive a cash prize, and an additional payment for first English publication rights in the upcoming kaiki anthology. Submissions will not be returned, but translators will retain all applicable rights to their work.

For additional information and a complete contest package download, please see our website:http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/khpprize/

or write us at:

Kurodahan Press
3-9-10-403 Tenjin
Chuo-ku, Fukuoka
810-0001 JAPAN

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It’s been a long post, but finally, that’s it for today! See you next week!





Events: Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival 2008

June 7th, 2008

Just wanted to remind everyone that this weekend is the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival in NYC, at the historic Puck building. I will be there tomorrow at the Prism Comics table, along with a host of other cool independent GLBT artists, writers and publishers.

I hope you’ll drop by!





Free Comic Book Day Report

May 7th, 2008

Probably should have written this up Sunday, but was too tired from having fun on Saturday with the folks at Comic Fusion in Flemington, NJ. :-)

My deep and sincere thanks to Bill and Stacy, for being genuinely fabulous comic book store owners. In all seriousness, I’ve never been in a store that is so welcoming of men, women, kids and families. Everyone who walks through the door is treated like a friend – and there’s very little of the clubhouse atmosphere (I mean that figuratively and literally) one finds in many other stores.

There were three indie artists at the store, cheerfully drawing pictures of anything or anyone for anyone who asked. (Thanks Glenn for my spiffy picture of Yuriko!) Kids got figurines as extra gifts and there were free posters, so most people ended up with a pretty good pile of get. :-) I was pleased to note that the number of kids who came in and were polite and interested (and interesting) significantly outweighed the number who had issues and made me want to slap their parents. lol

The folks who helped out for the day, Dave, Beth and John, were also really nice and Beth and John were fetching in their costumes. The kids who came in in costume were adorable…of course. One little Wonder Woman gleefully told me that her father said that if she didn’t wear the costume, he would. We all giggled at how silly Daddy was. He would have looked *terrible* as Wonder Woman. Stacy told me that her favorite moment was when John’s two kids (all dressed up as various iterations of Iron Man) were asked by his wife ” Okay kids, blast Mommy!” so she could get a picture. lol

There was a lot of camraderie and fun, and Bill and Stacy were consummate hosts (as I know, because Stacy has been the consummate host in our Dealer’s Room for Yuricon events, as well) and really – it was a lovely day.

Comic Fusion is pretty much the nicest, friendliest comic and collectible store I have ever been in. Which is totally due to Bill and Stacy being two of the nicest, friendliest people around. (Stacy’s from California, she can’t help herself. lol)

Here’s what I always say – if you’re going to buy stuff anyway, why not do it from friends? Comic Fusion will order pretty much anything, and if you can’t find your fave manga, games or figurines at the book store, or you’d rather support a great local store than a monolithic corporation, visit Comic Fusion online or in person, and buy from friends.

Thanks again Stacy and Bill – I had a blast!