It's partly with these fans in mind that Dark Horse Comics teamed up with Studio Proteus and Radio Comix to bring an all-new, super-affordable manga anthology to comics shops on a monthly basis. Anthologies are a great way for fans -- and potential fans -- to sample lots of stories at once, and they're generally far more affordable than the equivalent amount of single issues.
In March, Dark Horse is introducing Super Manga Blast! into the monthly publishing schedule, providing 128 pages of high-quality manga--five serials per issue--for only $4.95. For dedicated manga fans, Super Manga Blast! will be a fun and easy way to enjoy Oh My Goddess!, What's Michael?, 3x3 Eyes, Shadow Star (known in Japan as Narutaru) and Seraphic Feather for one low price every month. And for everyone else, the anthology will provide a great way to see, in one fell swoop, exactly what all this fuss over manga is about.
We spoke with Pat Duke of Radio Comix in Texas about his role in bringing Super Manga Blast! to life, his life as a manga packager and publisher, and the joys of turning people on to manga.
Shawna Ervin-Gore: How did Radio Comix come to be associated with Studio Proteus?
Pat Duke: Adam Warren, who writes and draws the American Dirty Pair series, and I worked together on a short story for Dark Horse Presents called "Start the Violence." I had worked up a pretty neat way to emulate the traditional zip-a-tone effect on the computer. Zip-a-tone is a generic term (from a now defunct product) for the small dots printed on clear sheets which are applied to black-and-white artwork to shade it. It's used a lot in manga.
Toren Smith saw the story and was impressed that it was done digitally. In the past, when manga pages were scanned in, those small dots distorted and created what printers called a moire pattern. It's very unsightly and has been the big stumbling block for digital touchup. Toren and I talked a bit, I sent him some copies of Mechanical Man Blues, a manga I had touched up using a similar technique, and the rest is history.
SE-G: What is your role in the production of Super Manga Blast!?
PD: We're essentially responsible for arranging the translations, lettering the stories, and handling all the touchup.
SE-G: What other comics do you guys produce?
PD: Radio Comix publishes between four and six comics a month. We're a small publisher catering to specific markets. We publish lots of funny-animal comics as well as manga and adult titles. We're pretty eclectic. Our flagship title, Furrlough, is currently on issue #84, and is the longest-running anthology title (in the American market) second only to Dark Horse Presents. We've also been fortunate to publish a number of highly-respected creator-owned titles. In fact, the very first comic Radio ever published was Stan Sakai's Art of Usagi Yojimbo.
SE-G: What is your role at Radio Comix?
PD: I co-founded Radio Comix with my partner Elin Winkler about two years ago. Both Elin and I have been fans of some pretty obscure genres for years and saw an opportunity to serve the market as other publishers narrowed their focus.
SE-G: Can you describe the basic setup of Radio Comix? How many employees do you have, and what sorts of manga packaging do you guys do?
PD: Radio Comix is only three, very overworked, people. Elin Winkler is our editor-in-chief, handling most of the scheduling, contracts, and accounting. Matthew High is our retailer liaison, handling our advertising, press releases and solicitation/distribution. I deal with all the production: the lettering, the coloring, layout and design, and the printers. Our responsibilities aren't quite as defined as that might sound ... with so few people putting out that many books, there's always some overlapping of duties. Recently, we've added some part-time employees to help with Super Manga Blast! Manga packaging at Radio Comix is pretty simple. In the past we've selected work we thought was worthy of publishing, secured the rights and then handled everything in-house. Most of the material we've handled were short stories and covers -- material which was easy to schedule in an anthology format. Only recently had we decided to tackle larger series.
SE-G: Do you have a background in manga, either professional or as a fan?
PD: I spent a considerable amount of time as a child in Japan. I grew up with manga so I think it's only natural that I had a desire to draw and share it. My first comic work was published back in 1989, and with a lot of sweat I worked my way up to producing and publishing. During this time I think I was driven to show people that manga was a lot more than "big eyes and speed lines." There were a lot of innovative drawing and storytelling techniques at work that were being ignored because American readers couldn't get past the style. These days, resistance to manga has eroded considerably; most readers are casually acquainted with the style and are much more interested in manga because of its diverse and unusual stories.
SE-G: Speaking of diverse and unusual, were you familiar with the titles we're featuring before you became involved in Super Manga Blast!? What do you think of Oh My Goddess!, What's Michael? and the other series we'll be running?
PD: Oh, yeah. I was familiar with all the work except for Narutaru (renamed Shadow Star for the U.S.) and had collected both American and Japanese versions of the work. Toren has done a fantastic job of selecting high-quality titles for Super Manga Blast! All he had to do to sell me on the project was to list the talent. I could tell it was going to be a hit just by the names. Each of these stories could easily be a hit on its own -- as Oh My Goddess! and What's Michael? have already proven -- but when packaged together under one title for such a cheap price, this is literally going to be the most ground-breaking development in the US manga market for years to come.
SE-G: So you think we'll find an audience?
PD: The concept of an American manga anthology is very viable. They've existed, in one form or another, for the past ten years. But never has anyone tried it on this scale or with this much attention to quality. With such a solid line-up of quality stories, it's bound to dominate the existing market and will most probably convert a lot of new readers.
Keep your big eyes out for Dark Horse's new monthly manga anthology, Super Manga Blast!, debuting at your local comics shop March 29. Great manga! 128 pages! $4.95! More manga for your money! More comics for your cash! More, more, more! Get it?