This month’s WIRED magazine has gone Manga – well at least it has a large feature article on Manga and its cultural impact.

I’d heard a few Tokyopop folks raving about the article, so I borrowed a copy last night from work (yes I’m that cheap) and was very impressed.

The feature article is one of the best written pieces I’ve read about manga, covering not only the basics of Japanese Comics, but also discussing the cultural reasons why they became so popular in Japan, the current crisis the Japanese comics industry faces from new technology and why the manga publishers are turning a blind eye to the massive "fan-fiction" movement. This last part is particularly interesting as the writer puts forward an argument that this attitude of tolerance may be the basis for the future entertainment media business model.

For those who prefer reading pixels to print an online version of the article is available.

Following the article is a 10 page manga chronicling the history of manga in the US market and its spectacular rise over the last few years. Again this is one of the best use of comics I have seen in both communicating a complex story effectively while at the same time demonstrating the power of the medium.

Wired.com provides a PDF version for download.

It appears that The Dark Knight has a black belt in Origami..

Stills of Adam West as Batman matched with Frank Miller dialog from Dark Knight and All*Star – priceless.

This wonderful volume arrived in the mail about two weeks ago and has been sat on the family room coffee table ever since daring me to pick it up and start reading.

The thing is I know that once I open it, I will be drawn back to the sixties when I was a wee young thing and looked forward with anticipation to the arrival of Look & Learn through the mailbox every Saturday morning. Forget Saturday morning cartoons, once L&L arrived I was lost for a good few hours.

It was this magazine’s mix (it was never referred to as a "comic") of entertaining articles and stunning art that inspired both a love of the comics medium and a thirst for knowledge that has never left me. It was in the pages of Look & Learn that the trivia monster was born.

Here’s a short extract from Lew Stringer’s the downthetubes blog on this stunning collection.

I’ve known for a long time that there have been plans in place for yet another go at establishing a market for Doctor Who comic in the USA.

I’ve spoken to a couple of people who were asked to pitch ideas for new original stories and one in particular who got close to signing a deal. A writer who has written contemporary Who stories featuring the Time Lord’s current incarnation – you know the one that has won over legions of new fans who have no knowledge (and perhaps only a passing interest in) the classic Who I grew up with.

But for various reasons, the deal was never struck. Now IDW have released information on the long awaited new series and what do we US domiciled Whovian’s get?

Reprints of Tom Baker era stories that have already been reprinted over and over again. First up are two Dave Gibbons penciled strips from the old Doctor Who Weekly series, The Iron Legion and City of the Damned.

I like these stories, but this must be at least the fifth time they’ve been reprinted. Including at least twice for the US market during Marvel’s tenure as The Doctor’s American publisher.

If we are lucky maybe this new IDW series will match the 23 issue run at Marvel, but to be honest I doubt it will last beyond six issues.

According to a report on the Variety website, it appears that my personal favorite Howard creation will be making his sword wielding puritanical way to the silver screen.

Great news, and the casting of James Purefoy is perfect – but spot the deliberate mistake in the Variety report:

Man, I never knew Robert E. Howard wrote comics – how come Finn never mentioned it in his book?

Kane will be returning to comics in a Dark Horse produced mini-series in May 2008.

Since I’ve posted these nearly everywhere else I may as well stick them here too..

Item the first… BOND

Now available at your local bookstore, and other purveyors of fine literature including Amazon.com (or .co.uk, or .ca, or .fr , or .jp, or .de– whatever works for you).
JAMES BOND 007: DEATH WING, which includes “To America With Love” the first of two feature articles by yours truly on Bond’s adventures in American Comic Books.

JAMES BOND 007: DEATH WING is from Titan Books (ISBN 1-84576-517-6),priced $19.95 (US)

Item the second…NEIL, DOUGLAS and SID JAMES

I turned in the three pieces I did for this back in December last year, and it’s all been quiet since then.

But now I see that it’s listed on the publisher’s website so hopefully it will be out by the end of the year.

What am I talking about?

An Unofficial Companion to the Novels of Terry Pratchett from Greenwood Press – estimated publication date 12/30/07

My contributions cover:
– Douglas Adams
– Neil Gaiman
– The Carry-On Movies.

I just got goose bumps watching this – and the use of that particular guitar riff?

– They just had to do it.

While writing this post for my Beatles blog, I had reason to check out novelist Jonatan Lethem’s website. It seems he’s a bit of a comics geek. (EDIT – of course he is – he’s the guy that wrote a novel called Fortress of Solitude)
Tucked away on his site is a piece entitled Top Five Depressed Superheroes

So who are these morbid men in tights?

1. Black Bolt
2. The Vision
3. Deadman
4. Ragman
5. Omega The Unknown

To find out why Lethem considers them to be living less than fulfilled lives check out the essay.

The excellent downthetubes blog (a must for lovers of British cult SF) reports that Virgin Comics will be publishing a new DAN DARE title starting in November.

On a personal note, while it’s great to see Dan Dare back in comics, I have doubts if a post-apocalyptic Dare written by Garth Ennis will be my cup-of-tea. I was raised on The Eagle and the 1950s style Pilot Of The Future. I also hope that Virgin’s acquisition of the Dare license won;t adversely affect the new old-style Dare stories being presented in the excellent Spaceship Away.