alanajoli | Entries tagged with manga

I just discovered today that my blog is actually working in syndication over at Tokyopop! Hi manga readers!

Since I'm reaching the comics crowd, I'll take a moment to talk about Cowboys and Aliens: Worlds at War. We're back to the story now after a couple of weeks of concept art, and it's just thrilling to see my scripts turn into actual comics. Sometimes it's interesting to see how the artists take ideas and run a slightly different direction with them. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, Rick (Hershey) ended up giving much more focus to the facial close-ups than I'd realized I'd put forward in the script. The result is stunning--getting right up close to the characters' faces carries emotion better than I'd imagined.

It will be interesting to see how people read today's page, when it goes live. My intention had been to imply that the room was full of noise--and I don't know if we succeeded in that. The second panel shows definite argument in the background--but does it come across as hushed? Noisy? How do you show widespread noise in a comic without resorting to "bang" and "pow"? (Even that doesn't really cover it.)

I'm learning more and more as we go, and loving the whole process. I hope those of you who are along for the ride are enjoying it also!

In an effort to export my livejournal blog over to Tokyopop, I'm posting this phrase: f5304fcb062e17e4fe64525c228b670f. Why Tokyopop, the leaders of the "Manga Revolutions"? In part because, I suppose, it's there and asking me to put a blog on my profile, and as long as I blog one place, I might as well have that same blog pop up pretty much everywhere. (This blog exports automatically to my facebook account as well. If only I could get it to export to MySpace...)

The other part is that I pretty much love Tokyopop as a publisher. They're doing great things in Original English Language Manga, bringing new authors like Amy Kim Ganter (whose fabulous Reman Mythology is currently not posted at her Web site, but her blog is) into the printed world. There are a lot of other manga publishers I like. (HarperCollins is putting out Mark Crilley's new series! And I got to review it for School Library Journal! It was entirely too tempting to squee like a fan girl--Mark Crilley is not only a great writer, but also, by all reports from my old coworkers who know him first hand, a pretty great guy.) Tokyopop, however, seems to be the dominating force in American Manga right now, and the put out a great free comic preview, which helps me keep up with what's going on in the industry without having to read the first volume of everything. I used to attempt that when I worked at the bookstore in West Bloomfield, MI, but that was back before the Manga Explosion, or right on the edge of it, so I actually had a hope and a prayer of keeping up.

At any rate, that's my manga post of the day, again, with the purpose of getting the crossposting to work.

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If anyone knows how to get this journal to export to either MySpace of Friendster--could you let me know?

Also, I'm always looking for manga recommendations that I might not hear about in Tokyopop's news. Not working at a bookstore has dropped me out of the loop a little, so any help I can get is much appreciated.

First, a quick post stolen from Neil Gaiman's blog about a new housing development in Oregon. I am both amused and vaguely frightened.

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Earlier this week, as part of an ongoing project to prepare myself for the independent fiction novel I'm planning to write at the end of the year (once my other deadlines have gone away), I skimmed Teutonic Mythology by Jacob Grimm. I say skimmed because more than half of the book is in German, Old German, Anglo Saxon, Old Norse, and an assortment of other languages that Grimm uses to make a linguistic case for the relationships between Teutonic, Norse, Greek, and even Celtic mythologies. (And yes, Jacob Grimm is, I believe, the same Jacob Grimm of the famous Brothers.)

At any rate, here are the conclusions I came to about Teutonic Mythology :

1) Aside from Beowulf, which I am now compelled to read (no, I haven't, and I apologize to all the other English majors in the world), the Germanic groups didn't seem to have any particular sagas, creation myths, or cycles of their own. They've borrowed a good bit from the Norse and the Greeks. It's possible that the people doing the recording of the mythology (largely Tacitus, c. 56 - c. 117, from his Germania) projected these other mythologies onto the Germanic tribes. But the lack of any original cycles to me indicates that, by the time Tacitus started writing stuff down, a good bit of borrowed material had already made its way in.

2) The Germanic roots for words like temple are similar to the roots for forest, grove, or another group of trees. Grimm suggests that there was a general forest religion, based on the worship of an overgod, before there was a more solid mythology.

3) Aside from borrowed gods, goddesses, and heroes, the most interesting bits of Teutonic Mythology are the half-goddesses. These ladies of mythology seem to be far more important than their half-god counterparts. In some cases, they loom even larger than the goddesses themselves. Swan maidens, wise women, and other manner of powerful ladies seem to me to be fairly unique, and I'm curious about this. Not, unfortunately, curious enough to learn Old German, Old Norse, and all the other languages Grimm uses.

Unfortuantely, I didn't find what I was looking for--a story about the gods going under ground. So, K will be glad to know that I'll be sticking with Celic mythology for my project. Though she's also promised to have lots of insightful things to say about the gods going underground when I next see her, so perhaps I will change my mind.

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Currently rereading: The Fruits Basket manga series, because my brain was working too hard, and Tohru Honda makes everything better.

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Myth, the Universe, and Everything

The Journal of Writer Alana Joli Abbott

Entries tagged with manga

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Teutonic Mythology by J. Grimm

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November 2023

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