Welcome back to another installment of “Last Week in Geekdom” where I comb the internet for all the news you need to know so you don’t have to. Anime Boston is coming up next week as is Easter weekend, so the next news post may be cancelled, but I’ll let you know. As for news items this week: the Studio Madhouse employee who collapsed seeks compensation for more than 200 hours of unpaid overtime; Disney+ begins to announce the new Marvel series coming to its platform; and the Library of Congress considers digitizing its whole collection over the next couple years. Be sure to check out the articles and videos linked below and let me know if I’ve missed anything. As always, enjoy your Sunday!
Anime and Manga News
In continuation of the news last week that a Madhouse employee had collapsed due to overwork, we learn that the employee was a production assistant and they have currently joined a trade union and are seeking compensation for unpaid overtime. The assistant was made to work more than 200 hours of overtime a month including weekends and holidays and had collapsed due to overwork previously. We’ll see what, if anything, comes out of this.
Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki discusses why the company decided not to seek continuous growth and merchandising. Suzuki explains that he wanted the company to remain small and resolved to only make up to 10 billion Yen.
It looks like Penguin Random House is stepping into the manga industry. A new job opening was just posted calling for Production Manager for manga that will be managing all aspects of print production for a “major Japan-based entertainment company that is entering the English-language publishing market directly for the first time.” Who this company is is still under question, but I’m interested to see what eventually comes out of this.
Anime Announcements:
- Yesterday wo Utatte to get anime adaptation
Manga Announcements:
- Tekkonkinkreet, Ping Pong author launches Tokyo Higoro manga in June
- The Call of Cthulhu get manga adaptation
- One-Punch Man web-manga gets new chapter
- Maki Enjoji launches new manga series in June
Comic News
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has plans to digitize the Library of Congress’ massive collection and make it available to the general public. The library just happens to include the largest collection of comic books in the world, and if her plans are realized, all of those will available to read online.
Saga writer Brian K Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples have confirmed that the series will end with issue 108. The series is currently on hiatus after the publication of of issue 54, the exact mid-way point, but the team has started talking plans to return soon to continue after they recharge.
Talk of a Hulk/She-Hulk TV series has been confirmed with Mark Ruffalo to star as Hulk. The series will most likely be developed for Disney’s new streaming service, Disney +, and rumors are that the series will shift to focus more on She-Hulk as Ruffalo plans to eventually leave the Hulk role.
Featured Articles and Interviews
- Kurt Busiek on Twitter calls out the people who are complaining about writers being hired for comics with no comic writing experience.
- Futekiya on Twitter gives us three well-researched articles talking about the culture of fujoshi and boys love in Japan.
- The Comics Beat sits down with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola on the future of the franchise especially with the new movie coming out.
- Elseworlds Exchange Podcast sits down with Eisner award-winning creator Chip Zdarsky on how he got into comics and his experiences in the industry.
Featured Videos
- ShadowForks Games goes into what DC is doing right with their new Shazam movie and what they might be doing wrong with their new Joker movie.
- The Canipa Effect has posted the first part of their series on 3D animation and its complete history especially in regards to the anime industry.
- Get in the Robot talks shock value in anime and how it can be used well or not so well in regards to certain series.
Featured WordPress Post
- Atelier Emily discusses Carole & Tuesday this week and how the first episode talks about the nature of creating music and the nature of being an artist.
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