5by8: Column Zero
originally written for and posted on Comicsnob.com [Dec ’06 – May ’08] — in fact, this was my first post over there
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My Esteemed Colleague gave me half an introduction in a previous post, but let’s make it official: Hi, my name is Matt, and I’ll be your Manga Guide this evening.
On top of the reviews that I hope to contribute, I’m also making an attempt at a weekly column, to be titled “5by8”, which we’ll be posting on Mondays. (Manga Mondays!)
I reserve the right to post on something other than Manga, of course, but there are a lot of nooks and crannies to explore in this particular field, so I likely won’t have to lapse into major digressions for many months yet.
More…The main point of this introductory column is to preface some of the upcoming manga reviews with an few notes on how my reviews will differ from Bob’s. Title, publisher, writers, artists; I’m sure you’ll get all that. But some of the information I’m going to include in a manga review is a little different, mostly because there is an extra layer of production (translation and adaptation) for manga, as opposed to mainstream comics. Let me go over a few points and background now, hopefully so I won’t have to repeat myself 50 times over the next year.
I’ll include a page count, both the total number and the net after we subtract ads, translator’s notes, bonus art and other extras. US manga editions (which correspond to Japanese tankoban) are more like paperback books than magazines, and can run into the hundreds of pages.
I’ll note the original language. Now, some might think, “Wait, isn’t it all Japanese?” but the short answer to that is No. Korean manhwa (same word, really. well, same root and meaning anyway) and original works in English are also being published, and for some folks the original language makes a difference.
Japanese books are printed ‘backwards’, right-to-left. Some American editions are flipped so they read left-to-right, but that means you get a mirror image instead of original artwork. Doesn’t matter to me, but I’ll be sure to note orientation on reviews as well.
Two other points I’ll make a note of are the publication dates, both of the original (when I can find it) and of the US edition, and also the rating the publisher puts on the book. Not all of these are for kids.
Let me get way ahead of myself and say that after a couple of dozen of these, you’ll be able to pick up on these particulars without really thinking about it, but it’s good to cover the basics first.
