Friday, May 22, 2009
Hooray for Viz!
Viz's new online "magazine" Ikki seems like a really cool idea. Basically it's a way for Viz to promote new series but they're doing so by letting customers read entire series (one chapter a month) online for free. I'm a little unclear on the details (for example, Viz says "[a]fter the completion of the online serialization of a volume, that volume will become available as a VIZ Signature graphic novel, subject to reader demand" but it doesn't specify how reader demand will be determined), but Viz is calling this a soft launch with the full roll-out scheduled for August, so I'll hold off more thorough questioning until then.
In the meantime, enjoy the first chapter of Daisuke Igarashi's engrossing Children of the Sea. And what a meaty first chapter it is: 68 pages of beautifully illustrated intrigue.
OK, one more question: How will Viz finish serializing a volume's worth of Children of the Sea online if the first book comes out July 21st and it's 320 pages long? Perhaps June and July's chapters will be even longer than 68 pages? Or maybe the "online serialization complete before it sees print" sequence of events only applies to subsequent series, not Children of the Sea? ANSWER: As Greg
OK, last question, I promise: Is Bokurano basically Gantz but with mecha and even younger kids?
OK, last one, I swear: Any chance Viz will serialize Wombs? And does anyone know if the series is really about what it looks like, a militaristic future state where the abortion debate has gotten so intense that pro-choice and anti-abortion factions have literally gone to war over women's wombs?
OK, this isn't a question at all, so back off: To see what other Ikki series you'd like to see Viz offer here, be sure to poke around the Japanese Ikki site where you can see short samples of the various series. This and this look especially interesting to me. Anime News Network has more info about the latter series, and Ed Chavez wrote about it for Otaku USA. ANN and Wikipedia also have (incomplete) lists of some of the series that have run in Ikki, and I'd love to see Happiness by Usamaru Furuya picked up by Viz, and online distribution seems like a perfect fit for these shorter one-shots if there's not enough material to fill out an entire print volume..
Viz's new online "magazine" Ikki seems like a really cool idea. Basically it's a way for Viz to promote new series but they're doing so by letting customers read entire series (one chapter a month) online for free. I'm a little unclear on the details (for example, Viz says "[a]fter the completion of the online serialization of a volume, that volume will become available as a VIZ Signature graphic novel, subject to reader demand" but it doesn't specify how reader demand will be determined), but Viz is calling this a soft launch with the full roll-out scheduled for August, so I'll hold off more thorough questioning until then.
In the meantime, enjoy the first chapter of Daisuke Igarashi's engrossing Children of the Sea. And what a meaty first chapter it is: 68 pages of beautifully illustrated intrigue.
OK, one more question: How will Viz finish serializing a volume's worth of Children of the Sea online if the first book comes out July 21st and it's 320 pages long? Perhaps June and July's chapters will be even longer than 68 pages? Or maybe the "online serialization complete before it sees print" sequence of events only applies to subsequent series, not Children of the Sea? ANSWER: As Greg
OK, last question, I promise: Is Bokurano basically Gantz but with mecha and even younger kids?
OK, last one, I swear: Any chance Viz will serialize Wombs? And does anyone know if the series is really about what it looks like, a militaristic future state where the abortion debate has gotten so intense that pro-choice and anti-abortion factions have literally gone to war over women's wombs?
OK, this isn't a question at all, so back off: To see what other Ikki series you'd like to see Viz offer here, be sure to poke around the Japanese Ikki site where you can see short samples of the various series. This and this look especially interesting to me. Anime News Network has more info about the latter series, and Ed Chavez wrote about it for Otaku USA. ANN and Wikipedia also have (incomplete) lists of some of the series that have run in Ikki, and I'd love to see Happiness by Usamaru Furuya picked up by Viz, and online distribution seems like a perfect fit for these shorter one-shots if there's not enough material to fill out an entire print volume..
Labels: Online Comics, Series I'd Like To See, Viz, Viz's Plans for World Domination
12:12 AM | |