“IN MAPS & LEGENDS” a Zuda.com Finalist!

So it’s been a little while now since we stopped updating here at Deutsche Mangaka, but we haven’t been sitting still!

I (Niki/Elae) have been busy working on breaking into the comics scene myself. And now, I’m one giant step closer! But I need your help.

Read the monthly Zuda competition that DC Comics runs? It’s a webcomic competition, with 10 finalists each month, and the people who visit the site vote for which comic will take 1st place and get an ongoing contract from DC.

A few months ago I teamed up with writer Michael Jasper and we put together an entry… last week we found out we were chosen to take part in this month’s competition! :D

If you want to help out, just do the following:
(If you’re confused by the instructions, I put a how-to graphic on my site )

1. Register on ZudaComics.com
2. Verify the account via your email.
3. Sign into ZudaComics.com and select “IN MAPS & LEGENDS”
4. Read the comic! :)
5. To the right of the comic, please press the VOTE button, rate the comic five stars and ‘add as favorite.’ The vote is by far the most important of these three things. (You can also add a nice comment if you want~)
6. Have your friends do the same before the end of November.

And that’s it! I can’t say thank you enough if you choose to help us out.

Even if you don’t vote for us, be sure to check out the contest. Zuda puts up some really interesting stories each month, and it’s a great chance to see what’s popular with readers and why. And spread the word!

New manga from creators of Sketchbook Berlin

According to AnimeY, Tokyopop announced that Marie Sann and Guido Neukamm have a new series in the works. Krähen (Crows) will be two volumes long, the first of which should be out by the end of the year.

The blog Manly Manga and More recently posted Carlsen’s Bestsellers for 2007— fans of Chibi should be excited to see that four titles made the top 20: Luxus, Drachenschnee, Raccoon, and White Pearl. All four are from the first Chibi set. The blog does mistakenly say that all Chibi titles use a super-deformed art style, though.

Quite a few books are set to come out at the annual Leipzig Bookfair. One of these is Schwarzer Turm’s Hungry Hearts v2, which contains a short story called “Zweigeteilt” that might be of interest to readers of this blog!

“Germangaka” article

German readers might be interested in an article recently published in the Bookfair-special edition of the Leipzig newspaper: Dragon Ball und die Folgen. According to the article, “Almost all up-and-coming German comic artists draw in this style.” It also lists some sales numbers for various authors, and gives summaries of the most well-known titles published.

Y Square English Review

The English reviews keep piling up!  Y Square has a new review up at Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review.

 I haven’t been a teenager for a long time and school is (thankfully) a distant memory as well. Consequently, there was nothing there that engaged me at all. I read the whole thing but there was nothing there that made me want to keep reading.

In the End – English review

There’s another review of the English version of In the End up, this time at Prospero’s Manga.

This could have been an ugly look at the real world of abuse, but instead the author wants the reader to feel some kind of sympathy for Ren without putting enough work into describing Ren’s motivations.

Vote! Tokyopop RSOM8

Time for some very unabashed pimping!

I’m a finalist in Tokyopop USA’s Rising Stars of Manga 8! There are 21 finalists, only 8 genre winners, and 1 People’s Choice winner!
Voting went up last night, and you can take part by voting here! Voting will be open March 7 – 14.
There’s no need to register; all you need is an email address.

My entry is Crabapple Crush, a 16 page romance/drama.
Please vote if you like it!

– Niki (“Elae”, main blog writer here at Deutsche Mangaka)

Apologies and some Licensing News

Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone– I’ve been devoting every moment of my time to trying to break into the business myself!

Here’s a few bits of information I’ve spotted, though, for those interested in titles that have been licensed for release in the USA.

Yen Press has a new and improved website, and on their long list of titles one can spot Y Square Plus. There’s no more info up yet (release date, ISBN…), but I’ll try to let you know when I find it!

Also licensed but not widely announced: Tokyopop’s In the End. ActiveAnime did an advance review, and has little bad to say.

There is a great deal of mature subject matter in this story. It is not for the faint of heart or those hoping for neat endings with pretty bows to tie things up nicely. Although the men in this manga are drawn exquisitely and with edge, that edge is a part of the story and the riveting illustrations. A look that is a cross between punk and Goth, the dark drawings have detailed designs that are uncommon in most manga and have a unique texture to them that is absorbing to look at.

Y Square English Reviews

With Y Square’s release in America being one of publisher Yen Press’ first releases, many are jumping to review it. Here are a few samplings of what we’ve seen.

About.com: Deb’s Manga Blog

German-Korean manga artist Judith Park has a nice style – the boys and girls are cute and there are lots of lovely details on almost every page. But pretty pin-ups can’t hide the fact that Y Square’s characters are one-dimensional, their dialogue is stilted and the plot is all over the place.

Comixmix: Manga Friday

 Y Square is a lot more conventional, and not as much goofy fun as Sundome is. I also expect that Y Square will be much more popular, especially with young women who either haven’t quite made the big jump to full-on yaoi or young women who prefer their boy-on-boy sexual tension to remain unresolved.

EMA’s manga preview publication has gone online! Available in flash format, you can check out summaries of upcoming series and a wide variety of sample pages.
To see the info regarding global manga works, enter the following page numbers into “Gehe zu”:
5: Gott Gauss, a three volume work by Bruno Cotting & Viviane.
6: Musouka, a two volume boys’ love work by Diana Liesaus.
7 or 8: Drama CDs of Catwalk and Mon-Star Attack.

Also mentioned are a number of changes to the release schedule.
Moved to Summer 2008: Gott Gauss 2 and Independent 3.
Pushed back: Mon-Star Attack CDs, Fight!, Freaky Angel 2, and Without Identity 3.

Also of interest is a new manga-style tarot deck that’s being released with art by Viviane. The deck is coming out from publishing house Urania (well-known for their card decks), and sample images can be seen on Viviane’s portfolio site. “I had to draw all of 78 cards. What a huge amount of work!”

Tokyopop Beginnings and Endings

Tokyopop just sent out a newsletter, with a few points of interest:

Freche Mädchen – freche Manga!
Tokyopop has joined efforts with Stuttgarter Verlag Thienemann to put out a manga version of the successful series, Freche Mädchen – freche Bücher! (Cheeky Girls, Cheeky Books!). Originally written by Bianka Minte-König, Tokyopop has brought on artist Inga Steinmetz (who was in Manga Fieber) to draw the manga.
Each of the three planned books will focus on one of the three protagonists, and the readers can look forward to amusing and turbulent stories that revolve around the exciting teenage life of Hannah, Mila and Kati. Handykuss und Liebesrätsel comes out in June.

Kulla
Followers of Schwarzer Turm will find Kulla very familiar! Tokyopop is putting out a reworked version of Kulla und die Wunschblume next year, and the story will be followed by two more volumes of stories about Anne Pätzke’s small bunny.

While not part of the newsletter, it’s been revealed that Lime Manga has split from Tokyopop.  The creators have released volumes of two series through Tokyopop, Evergrey and Yaru, but will be taking over publication and distribution themselves, licensing the works from Tokyopop. The split “was a totally mutual split and on good terms,” according to Lime Manga. The two were interviewed for an article at Publisher’s Weekly, which mentions that they plan on bringing out remastered editions of their series at the end of next year, and are currently looking into English-language publication.