Irene of Studio Revolver stopped through Tokyo recently! In this episode, she chats with Tim and Mulele about displaying work at conventions, and how conventions are changing.
We also visit Tokyo’s massive Comiket event (imagine a San Diego-sized con that’s entirely Artist’s Alley!) and give our impressions.
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On November 23, Tim once again visited the International Manga Festival (Kaigai Manga Festa) at Tokyo Big Sight. Comics creators from around the world (including Mulele!) were exhibiting their work to an enthusiastic mostly-Japanese crowd. Tim interviewed a number of exhibitors; hear them in this week’s episode, and see them below the jump in this post!
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While Chris Taylor goes by the pen name “Sketchfro“, he no longer has an afro and he does a whole lot more than sketch. An American living in Tokyo, he does freelance art, his own comics, and pro-level digital coloring. In this episode he talks about getting digital coloring right, drawing women with sex appeal, and the work he’ll be promoting at Tokyo’s International Comics Fest later this month.
When last we checked in on the Web comic Evil Diva, an artist needed to be paid and fans were being asked to cough up cash before the next page could be drawn. Now the comic is being published as a graphic novel, and will even get a cameo in an upcoming movie. Are the comics gods finally smiling on Evil Diva? Let’s ask the strip’s creator, Peter Menotti, and see.
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FLASHBACK! On December 31, 2006, Tim visited the Tokyo Comic Market event, and gives his impressions. Also: A Mulele update, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, and Brandon’s review of the movie Eragon! (Originally published January 8, 2007)
Photos below the jump (complete with admittedly goofy captions written in 2007)…
Continue reading #057 Tokyo Comics Market
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Dan Kanemitsu talks with Tim about how he and others in the manga industry have responded to the new Tokyo censorship law. The conversation also covers the differences, and interactions, between American and Japanese comics, the creative freedom enjoyed by women in Japanese comics, and much more.
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From the Japan Times: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20101230a2.html
The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly recently passed a law that further limits minors’ access to “Any manga, animation, or pictures (but not including real life pictures or footage) that features either sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real life, or sexual or pseudo sexual acts between close relatives whose marriage would be illegal, where such depictions and / or presentations unjustifiably glorify or exaggerate the activity.” Perhaps understandable, but without clear guidelines for determining what is OK and what is not, there are fears of a slippery slope. Could this become defacto, outright censorship? Tim, Kumar, and Mulele discuss the new law, and how this situation compares to the events in the U.S. that led up to the creation of the comics code.
Dan Kanemitsu’s Paper Trail — many good blog postings on the topic
Publishers boycott anime convention
“My publisher has banned school uniforms” — (visuals on this site are NOT SAFE FOR WORK)
Child sex in manga: Art or Obscenity? — The Japan Times
JL Roberson touts Deconstructing Comics
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With a main character who “revolves” between a mundane world where he has a lousy job, and an alternate world where multiple terrorist attacks have thrown the average person into a bleak, violent survival mode, Revolver (by past guest Matt Kindt) explores issues from nature vs. nurture to violence in video games. Tim and Brandon review.
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Comics are being used increasingly to get messages across visually, even those aimed at the business world.
Doug Jackson, a Tokyo-based business consultant, was involved in adapting Patrick Lencioni’s “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” into a “manga version.” He talks to Tim about the challenges he faced in turning Lencioni’s “business fable” into a comics script, and the potential for using sequential art as a teaching tool.
Grant Brownrigg of Grantland.net sells usage rights to his business-themed comic strips and one-panel cartoons through the site, for use in everything from newsletters to presentations. He tells Tim about how the business started in 1984 and how it has evolved.
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Emily the Strange began life as a character that appeared on merchandise, but lately she’s been fleshed out with a Dark Horse comics series and much more. Tim and Mulele talk about the first two trade paperback collections, and the controversy surrounding her origins.
Also, if you’re looking for a comics-creator “scene”, what’s the best city to go to? Some possibilities.
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