The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again...

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usamimi
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The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again...

Post by usamimi »

Stu Levy really doesn't know when to quit, apparently: he's trying to stage a "comeback" for Tokyopop at this year's San Diego Comic-con, complete with a panel and "portfolio reviews". My favorite part is that he doesn't seem to have any concrete idea as to WHAT Tokyopop will be doing, so it just sounds like he's making everything up as he goes along. From Stu's blog:
You’ll learn more about what we’re doing starting this summer (and as we figure it out and dream it up!) but one thing I can promise – we won’t sit still or lick our wounds. We’ll get back in the ring and give it our all – and enjoy all the ups and downs that come with building, rebuilding and evolving a brand that means something to awesome people like you.
http://tokyopop.com/tokyopop-evolving/

(Also love that he has an image that he labels as "manga evolving" that is clearly different popular anime art styles throughout the years... :roll: )

I really hope that they don't use this "comeback" BS to try to sucker a new group of young, naive comic artists to blindly sign contracts with them, after all their shady business deals they tried to pull before they went bankrupt the first time (for example: http://t.co/RKirdFFDwE) After talking with some industry people while at A-kon, it's apparent that some of TP's terrible business practices are STILL effecting the manga market in bad ways even today. I wish Stu would just admit defeat and let his empty shell of a business die with a little dignity (TP's still alive and kicking in Germany, though--why not just go focus on the actual thriving part of your business instead?)

Although I will admit that I do have a morbid curiosity as to what exactly Stu and co. will be announcing at SDCC. He tries to make it sound like it's gonna be so earth-shattering and amazing, but part of me is convinced that it's just gonna be more Hetalia related stuff (since that's literally the only actual manga property they still own, from what it looks like) or more re-releases of their old "OEL" titles in e-book format.
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Re: The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again.

Post by greg »

Wow! Shady practices! I didn't know about that. However, I'm deeply grateful to Tokyo Pop for driving the manga to not be reversed. I always enjoyed their releases because they had some really great titles. Some of them tried to dick around with the artwork to replace kanji on signs and such with English, while other titles provided footnotes instead. It depends on the team of translators, I guess.

I was on good friendly terms with the owner of a comic book store in Glendale, AZ, called Stalking Moon. We had a Japanese class together. When I moved to the other side of town in Chandler, he was holding on to some manga for me: the final volumes of Sgt. Frog and Fate/Stay Night that TP had released. They released that right after calling it quits, and I was surprised that they even released a small run at all. But by the time I had come to buy those, the landlord had changed the locks because he had gone delinquent for several months on his rent. I could still see everything inside the store when I looked inside. Nuts. Those final few volumes that TP had released skyrocketed in price due to their scarcity. I never did get to buy them.
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Re: The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again.

Post by usamimi »

That was one of the only good things to come out of that company. I've heard rumors that TP only stopped flipping manga because it was less work to edit titles, though...Which wouldn't surprise me terribly. I talked to someone that worked there briefly and she said that there were times they'd get a title but the Japanese publishers didn't have access to the original art anymore, so they'd just buy a Japanese tankobon and photocopy the artwork and edit it that way. Don't know if that's BS or not, but considering how poor some of the print quality was on their older titles, again, I wouldn't be that surprised....

Viz had actually toyed with releasing stuff unflipped before Tokyopop came along, back in the days of single-issue comic releasing (I know I have unflipped singles of Evangelion, Inuyasha, and Dragon Ball Z somewhere)...so I'd like to think that this would've come about eventually. Stu Levy likes to claim credit for things that he was not the first person to do (ie he likes to claim he invented "original English language" manga....aka western comics done in manga-style, which I think is hilarious, since Ninja High School was a thing WAY before he came around, same with Adam Warren's Dirty Pair).

I'm glad a lot of companies have picked up stuff that TP didn't do justice with or never finished properly. If I recall, I believe Viz is re-releasing the Fate manga digitally now? TP didn't finish that one, so hopefully Viz can at least get that far.
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Re: The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again.

Post by greg »

Ninja High School... That really takes me back. I never collected any issues, but I certainly remember it. Adam Warren sluttified the Dirty Pair, and for that I never cared for him or his art style. I was a DP fan, and seeing them skanked out was a bit heretical for me. However, Warren's BGC miniseries was actually drawn rather well.
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Re: The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again.

Post by usamimi »

greg wrote:Ninja High School... That really takes me back. I never collected any issues, but I certainly remember it. Adam Warren sluttified the Dirty Pair, and for that I never cared for him or his art style. I was a DP fan, and seeing them skanked out was a bit heretical for me. However, Warren's BGC miniseries was actually drawn rather well.
"sluttified"? :? I never got that impression, but I guess to each their own...I like Dirty Pair as well, obviously, and I always thought they were fun (though to be fair I guess it's been a while since I read any so who knows). I also liked his BGC series.

Apparently one of Tokyopop's panels is going to be called "Rise of the Robofish" which sounds a bit odd, no idea what that's supposed to reference....I guess they'll probably explain it at the panel? lol
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Re: The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again.

Post by labsenpai »

I recall a wasted summer drawing material for a TP manga contest. I think my story needed more dewy eyes.
I gave up on such things after the alternative/webcomic bubble burst; realizing that our "fandom" economy favors imports, MS Paint, and recycled superhero content. I can't harass Warren too much, since he is one of the few survivors of Mangadome.
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Re: The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again.

Post by greg »

Well, of course DP was always really sexy, but IIRC, didn't Warren draw them with heavy eye makeup and such? I think he had them behave rather lewdly, too. Kei and Yuri certainly had their physical charms and were a bit boy-crazy too, but they still retained a sort of innocent charm to them in the anime. Warren's version of them was too much of a departure, I think. Didn't he draw tattoos on them as well? Or am I just thinking of Hookups T-shirts?
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Re: The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again.

Post by usamimi »

greg wrote:Well, of course DP was always really sexy, but IIRC, didn't Warren draw them with heavy eye makeup and such? I think he had them behave rather lewdly, too. Kei and Yuri certainly had their physical charms and were a bit boy-crazy too, but they still retained a sort of innocent charm to them in the anime. Warren's version of them was too much of a departure, I think. Didn't he draw tattoos on them as well? Or am I just thinking of Hookups T-shirts?
Even if he put makeup on em, I don't equate "lots of makeup" with "slutty", myself...I don't remember lewd behavior, but like I said, it's been a while since I've read it. As for tattoos, I know he's drawn plenty of DP art over the years and it wouldn't surprise me if he drew something with them having words/tattoos on them, but I think that was made just for fun, kinda like fan art? *shrugs* If you look at his old Deviantart, he's got tons of art that he did for commissions or just for fun that don't have any actual place in the story he and Toren Smith did, iirc. (Same with BGC.)

I dunno, I'd take Warren's Dirty Pair over that new official manga any day...I don't like the style at all. http://dirtypair.wikia.com/wiki/The_Gre ... 28manga%29

This kinda makes me wanna go back and read it again, though, to see if I still feel the same way about it...another thing to put on my to-do list. :lol:

His new comic, Empowered, is actually really fun. I like it a lot, tho I'm super behind on it.
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Re: The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again.

Post by greg »

Well, I stand by Charlie Sheen's good advice about wearing too much eye makeup. As far as I'm concerned, women who go overboard with too much eye makeup can either be badass like Siouxie and the Banshees, or sleazy like Avril Lavigne, looking like a damned panda bear who just scored a touchdown.

Perhaps it's best to just use pictures to illustrate why I always took offense to Adam Warren's take on the Dirty Pair.

Charming Dirty Pair.

Skankified Warren Dirty Pair. (Although I congratulate him on featuring the Bloody Card from the original DP novels.)

Sexy Dirty Pair.

Slutty Warren Dirty Pair.
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Re: The shambling zombie that was once Tokyopop moves again.

Post by usamimi »

I prefer not to describe heavy makeup on a women as anything in regards to their sexuality, myself. How much makeup a person wears shouldn't be an indicator of what their sex life is like. It's an aesthetic choice--some people like it, some people don't. I don't wear heavy makeup, but I know both men and women who do. It is a different style than original Dirty Pair, for sure, so I can see why some wouldn't like it and that's totally valid! So I don't blame anyone for not liking Warren's DP comics. They're more cyberpunky than the original anime or novels, which might be why I liked them? I still prefer OG Dirty Pair anime above all else for sure, but I never minded the American comics.

As for your labeled "slutty" Dirty Pair image, that was drawn by Jason Pearson, not Adam Warren.
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