Gunsmith Cats Burst

[bsu legato]

From Anime on DVD:

Dark Horse Acquires Gunsmith Cats BURST  (11:42 AM EDT): In response to a reader question about the title, it's been revealed that we should look for Gunsmith Cats BURST (the 2004 re-start of the series by Kenichi Sonada) in the first half of 2007 from Dark Horse Comics together with the re-release in unflopped format of the original Gunsmith Cats. The four-volume re-release will contain 80 pages of additional material not previously available in English.

First off, let my say that I am NOT re-buying the entirety of the original GSC series, even if it is in unflopped and unedited format. But that short tirade aside, I'm thrilled that Sonada has finally finished/given up on Exaxxion and gone back to his best works. Now if we could only somehow convince Shirow to give up the hardcore man/horse pron and churn out some more Appleseed.

[Sumdumgai]

Crap and here I was hoping this was a review of GSC Burst. I almost picked up a volume in Japan to look at the purty pictures, but saved room in my luggage for stuff that I wouldn't be able to find easily out of Japan (cels, doujinshi, the latest toys, old toys, stuff, Hijikata Toshizo Beer).

[Hoptimus]

Well this is good for me. I havent picked up the Manga yet so now I can get it all proper.

[Mowe]

Great news for me too!!!! I loved the animation but was put off by Darkhorse's crapy format. Now I am ready to purchase. Woo!!! Hoo!!!

Just wish Dark horse would let go of 3x3 as well.

[yellowlightman]

Whats wrong with Dark Horse?

I've never understood people who care about whether or not it reads from right to left or left to right.

[Shmitty]

I've never understood people who care about whether or not it reads from right to left or left to right.

405120[/snapback]

Because even though story is important, it's a graphic novel, the art is equally, if not more important than the dialogue. When it gets switched to the left to right format they have to flip the image, which results in any text being flipped, and much of the art can look odd when its reversed. Also, it makes all of the characters use the opposite hand, which is just annoying. Especially in a manga where they use guns a lot.

[Sumdumgai]

A lot of mangaka can only draw their characters facing in one direction, so they have to flip over their drawing and trace the character facing the other direction. And I don't care if you don't believe me because it doesn't make it any less true.

So for those mangaka that can draw the characters facing either way, they're bound to draw them facing in one direction better than the other. So if you flip the format of the page, the less-well-drawn character may look lopsided or weird.

[yellowlightman]

Those are bad reasons.

Might as well just learn Japanese then, to read it exactly as the artist originally intended.

I have most of the individual GSC issues, although I think I stopped collecting comics somewhere around the middle of the last series.

Edited June 4, 2006 by yellowlightman

[Mowe]

Um...Left to right isn't the only Dark Horse formatting issue, here are a few more (but they really applies to the old Dark Horse Manga only):

1. Dark Horse used to do terrible covers, why not just use the original covers as intended by the original artist? Less works and a saver bet;

2. I hate Dark Horse's "white paper", they just don't feel like manga, they feel like my own office photo copy (however, I have noted that they have recently made this change, eg. Hellsing)

3. Dark Horse always enlarge the manga and they can cost twice as much as manga from other publisher (personall, I think it is a waste of effort and money, and I prefer the original manga size)

Edit

4. Dark Horse also has the bad habit of rearranging number of chapters within volums, that is, Dark Horse Vol 1 might have different chapter numbers when compare to the original. Bloody annoying because what was meant to be the climax in the original Japanese print, it is re located to the middle of a Dark Horse volume.

Those are bad reasons.

Might as well just learn Japanese then, to read it exactly as the artist originally intended.

I have most of the individual GSC issues, although I think I stopped collecting comics somewhere around the middle of the last series.

405163[/snapback]

Edited June 4, 2006 by Mowe

[sketchley]

Some answers that have been overlooked:

English is read left to right, top to bottom. The average English speaker who picks up a comic that is right to left, top to bottom, will immediately put it down.

In other words, leaving manga as it is, is like subtitling anime. Anime subs sell FAR less in English speaking countries (despite higher quality, IMHO) than dubbed anime. The same is true for flipped and unflipped manga.

Truth be known, there are NO manga covers for individual chapters. Sure there may be posters or the covers on the collections, but the average chapter is crammed in the middle of a single monthly (or biweekly or weekly) telephone size manga book with many, many other manga.

Yes, there are title pages, but they are 99% of the time black and white. Black and white generally doesn't make for a good selling point in a comic shop. (Believe me, I worked in a comic shop.)

Dark Horse's white paper are a step above the original Japanese print run on recylced newsprint (more often then not.) It is only the Japanese collections that have slightly higher quality paper (not be much of a margin.) It is also only the higher quality (or 'master grade' compilations) that have paper similar to Dark Horse's, without the gloss

The manga are not enlarged in any way. They are the same size as the original Japanese print run, which is FYI, also shrunk from the size that the original artist drew the manga (this is common for all comics and manga the world over.)

The Japanese publishers shrink the original print size even smaller for the compilation releases. The main reason for that is that pocket book sized publications sell a lot better in Japan. It also maximizes what limited storage space Japanese have for their manga collections.

[sketchley]

The ガンダムエース monthly manga book is 25.7 x 18 cm and 3.2 cm thick.

The アップルシード 1 compilation is 14.8 x21.2 cm and 1.7 cm thick. It is larger than normal.

The Gundam Side Story 1 compilation is 12.8 x 18. 6 cm and 1.7 cm thick. THIS is the standard size.

The パトレイãƒãƒ¼ 1 compilation is 11.3 x 17.7 cm, and is 1.4 cm thick. This is smaller than normal.

The reference item is a 15.2 cm/6 in long steel ruler.

[Mowe]

Thanks sketchley for the info, I can never work out why there are so many different size for the same comic in Japan (As far as I am aware of, there are at least 5 different format for Maison Ikkoku, just madness for collectors)

One thing that is debatable though is the preference of flipped and unflipped manga. I think it is a myth that flipped manga are more popular in English prints.

I only say that because if you look at the current English translated Manga market, publishers are moving away from the flipped format and revert back to the original un-flipped format.

Look at the later releases from Viz, TokyoPop, Comic One & ADV, all in original format. Only Dark Horse is sticking with their flipped format. Obviousely, the market is demanding prints that are close to the original format. This is what I think anyway.

In other words, leaving manga as it is, is like subtitling anime.  Anime subs sell FAR less in English speaking countries (despite higher quality, IMHO) than dubbed anime.  The same is true for flipped and unflipped manga.

405201[/snapback]

Edited June 4, 2006 by Mowe

[EXO]

Whats wrong with Dark Horse?

I've never understood people who care about whether or not it reads from right to left or left to right.

405120[/snapback]

There's nothing wrong with Dark Horse. It's the distributors that demand this type of stuff. They didn't use to do the smaller book size format until some chains demanded that they switched so that they can put their books with the rest of the smaller manga books. Now they're just trying to keep up with the demands of the newer market. I've been collecting Blade Of the Immortal for a long time and it looks like they might not finish the line that I was buying because they have to start over with a newer "unfliiped" version.

[Mowe]

Actually, format changing mid way through a series is a problem too. I pay through my roof for two different lines of incompleted Dark Horse 3x3 Eyes. I believe there is talk of a third one that would stick to Japanese volumn number and size.

I've already given up hopes on Dark Horse 3x3 and actually brought the Japanese set with helps of fan translation. So I am literally one step away from learning Japanese because of Dark Horse.

Having said all that about Dark Horse, I must say they have done a brilliant job with Hellsing in keeping the format as close to original as possible (though this was at the request of the Japanese author, thank god for that).

I've been collecting Blade Of the Immortal for a long time and it looks like they might not finish the line that I was buying because they have to start over with a newer "unfliiped" version.

405248[/snapback]

[sketchley]

It's been about 7 years since I last purchased any English comics/manga - so I may have forgotten some specifics and I definitely do not know the current situation.

What I do remember vividly, is that Dark Horse Comics, in general, perfers the mini-series format.

I also remember, in the case of Ah! My goddess! That they only did a few of the very, very original manga chapters, and jumped ahead a few years to stories that matched the original OVA that was released at about the same time. Thereafter, they published from that 'fast forwarded' position and didn't go back and print more from the start of the series.

I'm not sure if they are continuing this practice, or have rectified it since I left to live in non-English speaking countries.

Re: cost... there are a number of factors involved with it. There's always fluctuations in currency markets to blame for royalties that need to be paid to the original creator and publisher (in Japan, invariably rights to the material are split between the two.)

In addition, there is the cost per unit - manga has a much lower print run then, say Spiderman. The cost per unit on a lower print run is much greater.

Lastly, the last I heard and checked, almost all comics produced for the US are printed in Canada. Canada's currency has skyrocketed vs. the US currency in the past 2 years - especially the past few months. I am not sure if this is effecting pricing yet, or it already has - as publisher scramble to find 'cheaper' printers that, invariably, are more expensive then the Canadian printers before the CAD went up.

Nevertheless, EXO is extremely correct. From, I think, 1996 or 1997 there has been only one major comics destributor in North America (Previews.) This distributor is, how shall I put it, the one that (at the time) was not-so-nice to small businesses selling niche market items. They have been the dominant force in making or breaking a lot of comic series, creators, and ideas different from whatever passes for the norm in the comics world.

[EXO]

Nevertheless, EXO is extremely correct.  From, I think, 1996 or 1997 there has been only one major comics destributor in North America (Previews.)  This distributor is, how shall I put it, the one that (at the time) was not-so-nice to small businesses selling niche market items.  They have been the dominant force in making or breaking a lot of comic series, creators, and ideas different from whatever passes for the norm in the comics world.

405268[/snapback]

I wasn't talking about Previews I was talking about bookstores with manga sections. Comic bookstores can't compete with that market so they have no say on how the books are released, but when Barnes and Nobles, etc. start to complain and threatens not to carry books because of space issues, then companies like Dark Horse will bend to their will so that they can be part of that dispaly shelf.

I can't wait to see this series though. Gunsmith Cats is one of the best mangas out there, especially if you like muscle cars, guns and geeky chicks with cars and guns...

Edited June 4, 2006 by >EXO<

[Nightbat]

Now if we could only somehow convince Shirow to give up the hardcore man/horse pron and churn out some more Appleseed.

405081[/snapback]

You had to make me remember, didn't you,...

*Goes to cry in the corner, clutching his Appleseed books