Random: the Shelf Life of Graphic novels / Comics

I tried to do up lists of josei, seinen and children’s comics yesterday, but after checking and comparing my suggestions with the availability at various retail sites, it’s near impossible. Half is already out of stock and the other half just is out of print or at unreasonable prices (US$16? Please!).

I hadn’t realised until now that the shelf life of English-translated graphic novels and comics is pretty much same as category romances, which shocked me. Especially when I compare the lists with the availability at Amazon.co.jp — all are still available. And at lower prices, too.

A typical US-published graphic novel is approximately $12 and a typical JPN-published graphic novel is approximately US$6 (approx. 560 yen). Older titles are even lower at around US$3 (approx. 350 yen). I guessed the additional costs stem from translation, editing, administration, print run and licensing, but the 50% spike is still rather disconcerting.

I checked Amazon.co.jp to see how Japanese-translated English comics fared (at least 80% of English-language novels and comics any year are translated for the Japanese market). A typical price is US$7/8, just one or two dollars higher than the usual price for the original language comic, which undermines the justification of the spike for US-published works.

I then checked Amazon.fr as Japanese comics are quite popular in France and vice versa. I opted for Setona Mizushiro’s excellent Le Jeu du chat et de la souris (A Game of the Cat and the Mouse(?) a.k.a. A Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese).  The current price is Euro 6,17, which is roughly US$7.

Since this title isn’t available in the US (and never will be, according to two US publishers when we tried to interest them in this title), I need something I can compare between US and France, so I had a look around and found some:

You and Me Etc. - Kyugo (Jan 2012) [FR] EUR 8,42
You and Me, Etc. - Kyugo (Feb 2011) [US] Out of print
[NB: I checked their US distributor catalogue and found the retail price was US$12.99]

Juste au coin de la rue! - Toko Kawai (June 2009) [FR] EUR 8,50 [US$11.26]
Just Around The Corner – Toko Kawai (Sept. 2008) [US] $12.44 [Euro 9.38]

Cafe Latte Rhapsody – Toko Kawai (April 2009) [FR]  EUR 8,50
Cafe Latte Rhapsody – Toko Kawai (Sept 2010) [US] Out of stock

I checked some more titles of various genres and found that most US editions are out of print/stock (niche pubs seem to limit a title to just one 500 print-run) while the French counterparts are still in print.

I didn’t discover until yesterday that Blood Honey, Sakyou Yozakura’s crappy BL vampire romance under Tokyopop’s BLU manga in 2010, was priced at $14.99 US / $18.99  Canada. What the bleeding hell?

Incidentally, I was surprised to see yesterday that Tomoki Hori’s fabulous Staining the White Pine with Crimson Frosted Snow is available in English under Tokyopop/BLU Manga’s shortened title, Crimson Snow. I’d heard that Gentosha was a bit iffy about licensing anything to Tokyopop because of the circulating rumours that Tokyopop was financially in trouble, verging on being bankrupt, so I really had no idea it was available in English.

Unfortunately, even though it was published only in March 2011, it’s already out of print. Not surprising as Tokyopop had shut down all their US operations and relocated to France where there is a stronger market across Europe for comic publishers. Such a shame.

Here’s a scan of the Japanese edition of Hori’s book to show why it’s fabulous. (I intended to use this page as part of A Rough Guide to to Visual Codes in Japanese Comics, hence those numbers. )

[click here for the full scan]

The story itself is a bit weak, but Hori’s handling of layout, screen tones, mood and all is amazing. It’s clear that Hori’s heavily influenced by gangster films. Specifically, A Bittersweet Life (South Korean), Tokyo Drifter (Japanese) and Le Samourai (French). But I digress.

I’m not sure what to do about lists now. Almost all I can recommend are out of print with used copies available at ridiculous prices.

I thought of checking what is available and recommend from there, but I’m a bit iffy about this because I haven’t seen the actual copies, so how could I recommend when I don’t know the quality of production, translation and such of the English edition?

I mean, I really liked the first three volumes of Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto’s wine gourmet / mystery drama series, God’s Teardrops, but never read the English edition (published as The Drops of God) so I have no idea how it is.  Would you still buy it when you know I haven’t read the US edition?

I can recommend Wann’s fantastic josei / romance comic Talking About… as I’d read the English edition at netcomics.com, but it’s South Korean. Where else can I offer Japanese titles legitimately? Most are out of print or just not available under any English publishers.

Example: I can’t recommend Fuyumi Souryo’s insanely awesome European historical fiction series Cesare: The Creator of Destruction – which charts the life and powers of Cesare Borgia, a member of the infamous Borgia family, told through the eyes of an innocent and naive young student named Angelo da Canossa, who attends the same university as Cesare does  in Pisa – because there’s still no English edition (it’s available in Italian edition, though, under CESARE Il Creatore che ha distrutto).

Just to show you why I think Cesare is insanely fantastic:

[Click here for the full image]

[click here for the full image]

[Click here for the full image]

[Click here for the full image]

Not only the art is sublime, the story is honestly labyrinthine. I struggled to keep up with it sometimes because it really does demand us readers to know European history, particularly where politics, historic events and Renaissance-era Italy are concerned.

It drove me up a wall sometimes because it felt as if Cesare creator Fuyumi Souryo was really torturing herself. I mean, you can sense she wants to push the story along, but her deep respect for history stops her, so she forces herself to follow the history’s pacing while abusing all her art skills to give her best. The series started in 2006 and now at eighth volume in 2012, it’s still ongoing.

I should point out that this is the one who did Mars, one of most popular (and, IMO, awful) melodramatic romance comics. Surprisingly, Tokyopop published the entire Mars series. All 15 volumes. It’s been licensed to approximately 14 publishers as well, which still shocks me. I mean, I read the first seven volumes and I couldn’t stand it. (If you’re into soap operas with a good dose of angst and romance, this is for you.) So yeah, Cesare came as a pleasant surprise.

Hm, what I was saying in the first place?

Oh, yes. Shall I go ahead with the recommended lists even though I may haven’t read the English edition of some titles and when they aren’t in stock any more?