Checking in with Kodansha (and Cthulhu)
Forgive me for dredging this one up after most thought it buried and forgotten, but I’ve a personal stake in the story — or at least, in how it was reported:
It’s been 13 weeks since the ‘leak,’ (via comments on the Beat and Comics212) after everyone’s favorite Haunter of the Dark deigned to blight internet forums with his presence and drop a bomb on manga-ish websites with the initial blurb, and three whole months since confirmation came via machine-translated posts to Japanese business news websites.
Oh yeah. Really enjoying the new Kodansha-direct manga that was going to be here in September. [*smirk*]. I mean, it’s not like someone who follows US manga publishing in any kind of obsessive way expressed any reservations at all over the reports that Kodansha would be stocking manga in stores in (the month now passed) September. That would require a knowledge of publishing and retail realities — actual conditions on the ground, as it were — and not just a casual acquaintance with ‘someone’ in the ‘business’ who ‘knows’.
Posting to the internet is fine, but don’t claim *authority* and *anonymity* at the same time. Still not reading any of that lovely, promised Kodansha manga, Cthulhu…
And after I went out of my way to apologize and all…
Oh, wait. No I didn’t. I tried to apologize, but always prefaced it by saying “If Cthulhu had used his/her real name, then I could apologize.”
You’re a tool and a fop and a fob, and there is a big, big difference between “Kodansha Manga invades the US” and The Manga Guide To Akihabara shipping two months late and via a 3rd party bit player in publishing, not even their established book distribution partner.
Rumors and leaks are great and all, and fuel large portions of the blogosphere, but to me it’s not real until I can get it into the store and physically read something — and preferably, sell it. And $20 for a 96pg, extremely niche-fan-focused book? Not the best start for Kodansha USA.
Oh, I’ll read it, given the opportunity. I might even buy it — but only with the understanding that I’m buying it to review on the blog; I don’t really need this kind of thing. (I’m kinda-sorta hoping that Jim Killen in NY will be bluffed by Kodansha and a copy will show up at my store so I can flip through it without having to special order one.)
Kodansha apparently wants to start a brand-new Viz-type vertically integrated manga publishing operation — but if this is extent of what they’re attempting… well, we’re just not seeing it yet.
correction 7 October: the book *is* being distributed by Oxford; I find involvement of the Japan Publications Trading Co. in what was presented to be a Kodansha title confusing, but no doubt reflects how the book was published in Japan. — and the book appears to be just another Kodansha non-fiction title, originally scheduled for a November release and unrelated to the Mysterious Manga Initiative.
but don’t claim authority and anonymity
People who have the important information are not allowed to just share it. Deep Throat was anonymous, too. Get over it, guy. The details were wrong, but Kodansha is coming.
Comment by A. Nony Mouse — 8 October 2008, 10:47 #
In the original post, Cthulhu couched his commentary as being important not for what it is (and Kodansha publishing manga in the states IS BIG NEWS! and good news) but worthy of being leaked in advance so as to succor the (at the time) recently laid off Tokyopop employees. — the leak was in comments on a Tokyopop news item.
Needless to say, Kodansha wasn’t (and isn’t) hiring, or no more than a handful. I don’t know, I can’t make it over to their Lexington Ave office to see if they have a flyer up.
— and Mr. Anonymous, you’ll note that when I have something to say about Kodansha, or publishing, or retail, or even when I speculate widely on the future of the industry: I post it to my own damn blog under my own damn name.
And Deep Throat didn’t drop a letter in a mailbox — he got in touch personally with an investigative reporter who was in a position to follow up on it. …And Deep Throat didn’t win the Pulitzer: Woodward and Bernstein did, after months of interviews, leg work, and investigation. And if memory serves, Deep Throat didn’t even name names, he just said ‘follow the money’
I find your allusion to “Deep Throat” in this instance to be a bit off.
In the case of Kodansha — The actual press release followed just a week after the anonymous tip. And the information was handy, good to know, and good news, but hardly IMPORTANT. It could have waited a week.
I stand by every thing I’ve said, including all the insults. Of course, since I don’t know your name, or Cthulhu’s, or perhaps you’re the same person — there is no need for you to take it <em>personally</em> because you’re safe behind your wall of anonymity. I can’t insult you by name, Your job & reputation are intact — No one knows that I’ve insulted you. No one but you. If that still makes you feel bad then I guess you need to think about why.
Comment by Matt Blind — 8 October 2008, 14:01 #
I’m not entirely sure if it’s indicative of anything, since the corporate structure of a potential North American manga publishing arm isn’t apparent, but Kodansha International recently put out the excellent Yokai Attak http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=yokai+attack&x=0&y=0 and publishes other cultural book in North America
Comment by ScottGreen — 8 October 2008, 17:10 #