The 'New' graphic novel

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (frenchhie) — Sun, 04 May 2008 19:58:11 GMT

Off the record / not speaking as an employee : I've not been here long enough to say for sure, but I'd think they would have access to most of the color images. Who knows. I'm speaking TOTALLY speculatively on that one! ^^; It's also pretty easy for anyone to tell if something was intended for color or not so its most likely an intentional decision.

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Yoiko Hibiki) — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:37:57 GMT

But Viz does have access to all the color imagery, Frenchie? I thought they might not be reprinting some of them due to inability of getting them, or the editor (or whomever) not knowing they were meant to be in color in the first place.

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (frenchhie) — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:56:37 GMT

Off the record / not speaking as an employee : Contrary to popular belief, the flipping issue is not due to laziness. It's to be a more authentic reading experience for manga fans in the US. Also... some artists really don't like to have their work flipped. A lot of work has going into the VizBig titles and the paper/print quality is really nice! I have no idea...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Diko Linnai) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:41:55 GMT

Even though technically people out there in general can go online for anything and work the system to get around having to pay anything for manga/movies/etc., (probably the same kids I see in bookstores sitting on the floor of the manga section for an hr. and just put the book away) I entirely agree with producing the english manga faster as well as simultaneously when the japanese versions are released b/c when I was younger only a handful of my friends that bought the original manga...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Alindawyl) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:07:01 GMT

Rob Heinbecker wrote:
I also say its time to start licensing these series faster. Its time to do what most companies who sell multiple products do, push new series(products) in return for the popular series(product) "Oh, you'd like to license Bleach? Sure, for a three year run. Oh, you'd like it longer than that? Well, maybe we could work something out if you publish series X, Y and Z!! The same thing is done for...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Rob Heinbecker) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:31:07 GMT

I think I should make clear my true point about translating overseas. As I observe the industry, it is clear that the access of the internet by Western fans has made it very difficult for the Japanese companies to keep up. Cumbersome licensing agreements and production techniques push back release dates in North America by months or even years.

The trouble here is that a fan can go online and read a fan-translated series before it even makes its debut on the bookstore shelves. These...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Ranko sama) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:24:37 GMT

Eh, flipping's a tricky issue in a number of regards. I can recall when I was working for Ironcat watching all the work going into cleaning up the sound effects and such so that you could place new ones over top of them; it's quite labor intensive as Hylentor pointed out. Further, flipping can throw some things way off in several ways (the translation may need to be altered to flip left and right (and if a joke involves it, there's extra complication there), cars appear on the...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Diko Linnai) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:40:41 GMT

When I first started purchasing VIZ manga it was back in the early 90s and all I remember is that the paperback graphic novels were POORLY made and the glue barely held the pages together and the bigger 1st volumes like Lum/Perfect coll. and the 1st vol of Ranma 1/2 always had huge sections that would fall out and smack me in the face. This is probably irrelevant but the above doesn't bother me as much as this new reading experience they're doing w/ a lot of manga co.'s is the...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (hylentor) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:58:04 GMT

Unfortunately, those costs would just be pushed down the line, although it *might* save some.

The problem is, for its size and the market, ~$10 is VERY good. Consider OMG and Ranma while they were still monthly issues. They were priced at the amount of a normal US comic book (I think the last ones were $2.99), at 5-6 issues per volume (the one I grabbed at random had 11 stories in it, so 5.5 issues), that would be $15-$18 worth for $10. If the costs were shaved a bit, that would...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Rob Heinbecker) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:06:29 GMT

Costs saved in terms of time. I feel that a small team based in Tokyo could react to the market. If a piece of text is tricky to translate, they can consult almost immediately. I'm also not sure if the Viz translations for the US and Canada are used for the UK, Australia, or NewZealand. Is there a separate company holding those publishing rights who do their own translating? To reduce the costs of the books abroad, I wonder if a Tokyo based translating team, could have their costs rolled...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (hylentor) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:28:30 GMT

hmm... I don't really see where having someone living in Japan doing the translation cutting down costs THAT much, but who knows?....

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Rob Heinbecker) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:08:33 GMT

Its true Hylentor. I've only noticed such collected volumes for big series such as Fruits Baskets or Negima! I don't want to see them milk existing manga-fans for the same series. I believe that it is of more importance to continue to encourage existing fans to try new series. I would agree with such volumes as long as they target new readers to a series. What I mean by that is to use the omni-volumes as permanent replacements for the single books. Basically, Fruits Baskets vol. 1 -...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (hylentor) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:00:25 GMT

Well, after my experience as part of ILM, I can see where they're coming from with higher prices (that are STILL lower than most equivalent US comic collections). First you have the licensing fee to the original publisher/artist/whathaveyou. Then you have to pay the translator, then someone to put it into readable English (especially if its a comedy) you have to pay someone to wipe out most/all of the kanji, etc., then you have to pay someone to replace said kanji with English, then pay...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Hoshi Shouri) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:01:01 GMT

I definitely understand what you're saying Rob. I have a bigger problem when the animation distributers release a series as single discs, with the first disc coming out with an empty box for the next consecutive volumes. I assume there will be no box set later on down the road, and usually buy the individual discs when they do this. So I get pretty annoyed when a year or even six months after I've finished purchasing a series (each disc individually, at almost $30 a disc) the...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Rob Heinbecker) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:45:07 GMT

Sure, in Japan, the market is so strong you can do that. In North America it is still growing. In fact, in my opinion, the manga market becomes even more important to the overall strategy of selling here because the anime side is being decimated by online piracy. Keep finding ways to introduce new series and find ways to hold the price on the books or even make them cheaper. I wonder if we'll see third party ads on the inside or back cover of the books someday. Would any of you be opposed...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Rob Heinbecker) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:44:09 GMT

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Yusaku Godai) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 00:45:27 GMT

I agree with you Rob. I do think its just a way of getting more money out of a property thats been a good performer in the past. The good thing is, is that (at least with Viz) all of the series that are getting the VizBIG treatment have already been finished here in the US, so one can get it all in single size format without having to wait around on the new edition.

That being said, I can't help but be a bit disappointed in the new format. It looks nice, but they are...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (tsubasafan) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 09:06:40 GMT

For me it's an one volume a book or all in one book mentality. I don't like idea of 3 volumes a book. It would be confuseing and weird to have three volumes per book. Otherwise very idea of a volume becomes meaningless.

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Rob Heinbecker) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:47:43 GMT

I think you're making way too big of a deal out of this.

We elderly tend to do that !! Its one of the reasons why the comic industry struggled. Some fans who used to buy the individual issues made the decision to stop and wait for the collections. But the comic market is still vast and has a long history. The mangaverse is still young and developing. Could certain series survive if half of...

Re: The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (lum no fanboy) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:39:59 GMT

I think you're making way to big of a deal out of this. It really dosent matter what format manga is published in as long as it has the same content. I don't think fans are going to care much about what format they are reading in as long as they are reading the cheapest available copies. I havent seen that many manga being published in the format you are describing, but if they are more expencive I don't think they are as likley to sell. Remember the main demographic is...

The 'New' graphic novel

feeds@yuku.com (Rob Heinbecker) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:10:50 GMT

Okay, so when Viz first started publishing years and years ago it was comic form that would be collected into graphic novels. This got the hardcore fans to purchase both formats at an increased cost. As time evolved, Viz and other companies abandoned the comic format for straight graphic novels. 'Good!' I thought, 'we can all get behind a single format.'
Now I'm beginning to see these 'Mega' graphic novels that gather three books into a single volume. Often...