Response to the news about our new manga line has been overwhelming.
Series editor/curator/translator Matt Thorn speaks out on his blog, providing a bit of background and a few more details about the two inaugural releases, Moto Hagio's A Drunken Dream and Other Stories and Shimura Takako's Wandering Son Vol. 1. Be sure to bookmark Thorn's blog for ongoing updates on the project. Meanwhile, The Comics Journal's Dirk Deppey, who was instrumental in bringing the project to fruition, uses his ¡Journalista! pulpit to reveal much more information and background about the line. Both links are must-reads for anyone interested in this project.
We'd be remiss if we didn't point out that the Deppey-edited "Shōjo Issue" of The Comics Journal, #269, with Thorn's feature interview with Moto Hagio, is still available and is indispensible to fans and newcomers to the genre alike.
We also want to point out that the cover images that we've posted and sent out, as lovely as they are, are still works in progress by Fantagraphics art director Adam Grano and will likely be revised before the final releases.
Various other blogospheric reaction and commentary:
• Anime News Network shares our press release and comments on Moto Hagio's appearance at Comic-Con International this summer
• Anime Vice's Gia Manry, who had the original scoop, offers her commentary
• AnimeNation has a brief item
• The Beat's Heidi MacDonald posts news and links and comments "to see Fantagraphics get involved [in manga] is a very promising development."
• Bleeding Cool's Rich Johnston comments with a typical firm left hand
• Kai-Ming Cha, manga editor for Publishers Weekly, has commentary and links at her personal Boiled Egg blog
• Comic Book Bin posts the news
• Comics212's Chris Butcher offers extensive commentary and concludes "Great day to be a manga fan."
• CraveOnline's Joey Esposito reports
• Sean Gaffney also comments and similarly concludes "All in all, a terrific day for manga fans yesterday."
• Hypergeek re-posts our press release
• I Reads You's Leroy Douresseaux posts the news
• Icarus Publishing honcho Simon Jones has some great commentary, including: "Fantagraphics’ taste for artistic, compelling, quality comics, and the expertise of Thorn makes for an inspiring combination; Fantagraphics is a risk taker, with faith in art and willingness to see difficult projects through, while Thorn has the knowledge necessary to comb through and make sense of Shogakukan’s immense catalog."
• ICv2 reports
• Japanator's Brad Rice reports the news and comments "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go die from happiness real quick now…"
• Manga Bookshelf's Melinda Beasi reacts to the breaking news with the headline "Fantagraphics Makes Dreams Come True" and follows up with more details and reaction
• The Manga Curmudgeon's David Welsh reacts and provides his own link roundup
• MangaBlog has links and commentary
• Robot 6 has a concise news item
• Zona Fandom has the news en Español
UPDATE: Adding more links as they are found:
• Forbidden Planet International blogs "We know Fanta as champions of quality comics work from around the world, so if they are putting their name to a new line then I’m interested…"
• Newsarama takes note in a headline roundup
• Otaku Champloo comments excitedly: "I’ve read some of Hagio-sensei’s works and Wandering Son in Japanese and I am infinitely happy how these mangas are finally having an English voice."
• Shoujo Café has the news in Portuguese
• Dave Carter of Yet Another Comic Blog is "giddy" with the news