Arina Tanemura is doing a new one-shot manga—in color; Naoki Urasawa talks about Pineapple Army and digital comics; and JManga celebrates its birthday with a variety of promotions and a new website. Here's a roundup of the latest manga news from the U.S. and Japan.
Urasawa Speaks: You don't see too many interviews with Naoki Urasawa, the creator of Monster, Pluto, and 20th Century Boys, but Rebecca Silverman managed to sit down with him for a few minutes. Urasawa seemed genuinely perplexed by the commonly held notion that he wouldn't let Viz publish 20th Century Boys until Monster was complete, and he talked about why he brought back Master Keaton in Japan—because after last year's earthquake and tsunami, so many people told him how much they loved the character. The biggest bit of news to come out of the interview, though, is Urasawa's distaste for digital comics—"None of my works are [legally] available digitally. I prefer physical books," he said, causing legions of iPad owners to roll their eyes and sigh. Read More...
