There are a lot of views out there on the topics of anime and manga piracy these days, and just as with what I guess would be called “domestic” piracy there are are extremely polarized viewpoints on both sides. I like to think of myself as a middle ground type person. I kinda see the points of both sides, but the extreme viewpoints sometimes just leave me with nothing more than a nasty headache.

So I feel a lot of mixed emotion right now about certain events that caught my attention, and want to add my two cents into the mix. Unfortunately my long-winded-ness won’t allow this to fit into a 140 character Twitter post or even a dozen of them. The beginning of this article for me started with a post on Twitter which got my attention. Someone ratting out a manga scanlation site about having licensed material up. As I researched into the causes of the event I found some things which kind of knotted me up inside, but I decided to hold my tongue and go on with my life pretending to be blissfully unaware of the ridiculousness of what I saw. The second event was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back” for me, and has spawned my own entry into this foolish behavior, and yes I am aware of how foolish it all sounds to the average person. This second event is something that is still on going, and will be my first point of discussion.

Many may or may not be aware that several days ago Roger Ebert wrote an article reviewing The Miyazaki film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Included in his article was embedded the entire film streamed from Google Video. Now several sites immediately began to carry this story, and several advertised it as “Free and legal”. There were some however on Twitter who question the validity of that. I myself question whether it’s something Google actually has permission to stream or simply something they missed when cleaning up after they stopped allowing users to upload videos. The fact that the film as well as several other Miyazaki works were uploaded 2 to 3 years ago seems to support my second theory. Just something Google missed, and could easily be remedied by someone reporting the video to Google. They would probably have it down within the hour, but the way of the world is that people decided that they would rather grandstand and bring attention to themselves by sending out messages on Twitter about it (the one that got my attention has wasted a couple days posting on the subject now).

Now some may say… Well… Why don’t you report the video yourself instead of writing about it. I could even be accused of grandstanding myself. But the truth is… I am not going to report it because I simply don’t want to. I don’t have a problem with the video being there. Personally I watched Spirited Away for the first time on Youtube, and it only made me want to go out the next morning as soon as the video store opened to purchase the DVD and a few other Miyazaki DVDs as well. Aside from the fact that it’s blown way too out of proportion by now to matter much. One of the funnier aspects of the story is that Anime News Network contacted Walt Disney Pictures to confirm whether the stream was legal, and basically got a response from Disney saying it was none of their concern and ANN is now contacting Studio Ghibli (rather than simply diffusing the entire situation by contacting Google about it).

All this leads up to one of the points I’m trying desperately to make… The current state of fan subbing and anime piracy in the U.S. If you go back a few years you would find a point in time where fan subbing was not all that controversial, and was actually sort of a noble thing to participate in. The reason for this was simple… Most fansubbers were only subbing unlicensed material thus bringing works to the U.S. that would otherwise be unattainable by legal means (not to mention a fluent knowledge of the Japanese language). Even licensors have mentioned on occasion that they “used to” like fan subs. It didn’t interfere with their business and they sometimes used it as a gauge to figure out which shows were popular among fans thus giving them a means to research which titles would be worth seeking licenses for. Now I can’t say what the feelings of the original creators of these shows in Japan thought about all of this… To be honest it seems many were unaware that piracy was even occurring until very recently, and even then it’s a rather difficult process for  persons in one country to seek a lawsuit against persons in another country which is why most issues of anime piracy have stayed for the most part in the domain of licensed shows with the license companies policing the industry pretty much on their own.

These days things have changed… Now that licensing companies are streaming simulcast episodes of new shows themselves the fan sub community is looking more like a thorn in their side. Especially since the newer breed of fansubber doesn’t seem to care whether a show has been licensed in the U.S. or not. One thing that has obviously changed is the disappearance of the fansubber’s “code” At the beginning of episodes there was always a message that asked that the episode or series stop being distributed once it became licensed. Whether it actually happened or not at least they seemed to care back then.

Another thing that has changed recently is the birth of the “rippers” as they are called. These people pass themselves off as fan sub groups, but they don’t actually sub anything. They rip the streamed subbed video directly from websites such as Hulu, Funimation, The Anime Network, Crunchyroll, etc. Once they have the video they either upload it directly to the internet, or they will time the subs to a high quality Japanese broadcast rip of the episode and upload that. So in essence these days anyone with a little software knowledge can become a “fan sub” group without even the slightest knowledge of the Japanese language.

Now there are still quite a few real fan sub groups out there, but even they seem to have been poisoned by the attitudes of the piracy/anti-piracy groups and their viewpoints, and seemingly sub things just for the sake of annoying one group or the other. Some these days don’t even seem to care about the shows they are subbing as much as who will get upset that they are subbing a show in the first place.  Which is a rather amusing concept in itself that someone would put forth the effort of subbing a show just to spite others.

And now more on the first event which spawned this diatribe. (you didn’t actually think I was finally done rambling did you?) So I’m checking posts in Twitter and come across a post about a manga site that is uploading licensed manga to their site. At first I think well… Just another nosy person who can’t mind their own business. Out of curiosity I visited the site in question and found out this person was also trolling the site’s forum basically telling the site owner what can and can’t be on their site as if they had some ownership over the content. So while perusing the forum reading through this (rather annoying) busybody’s posts I found something that concerned me even more. Now I’ve never bothered with manga scanlations myself… I don’t have the time for that. Any manga I’ve read I purchase as something to read when I’m bored, so I’ve never had the desire to bother with scanlations.

What I started noticing was that these scanlators actually “demand” that a site gets their permission before they can upload a scanlation on a particular site. This strikes me as both audacious and plain and simple stupidity. These people are actually making demands about a product that they reproduced, translated, and distributed illegally. And they actually demand (or send their minions in their place) that sites take down works which they translated. I’m sorry, but I think it takes more balls than you’d find in a gay bath house to actually put limitations on something you did illegally in the first place.

Once I started seeing these things going on in the scanlation sites I start to understand why manga creators are lashing out at piracy, and even kind of understand why (one in particular) would wish cancer on those who pirate their works. It’s one thing to pirate material and distribute it, but it’s an entirely different matter when you start to treat another’s work as your own. I find that terribly insulting to the original artists.

So to sum up… You have the anti-piracy people being attention whores ratting out everyone on the internet… To other people on the internet rather than reporting it to the people who might actually do something about whatever they are whining about. Which frankly pisses me off a bit… This is exactly what is wrong with this country. You have a lot of people talking, but nobody actually putting forth an effort to do something even if it’s as simple as sending a message to the person who has your panties in a bunch. Instead of being pro-active I’ll just tell all my internet buddies about it so they will make a big stink that I can take all the credit for when someone actually does get around to fixing the problem. It reminds me of that commercial a few years back where a group of people stand around a piece of litter complaining about it rather than just picking it up and putting it in the trash.

On the other side you have the piracy folks who are getting sick of the anti-piracy people’s grandstanding… Their answer is to simply pirate more stuff and shove into the anti-piracy people’s faces… Even going to the extreme of pirating things that don’t even need to be pirated in the first place. Which is leading to more and more people on that side doing stupid things like showboating their activities, and basically downright insulting the original artists.

And then you have the creators and licensors trying to figure out exactly what the hell is going on, and the typical reaction to confusion is to lash out at the first opportunity that arises. It makes me think of someone being told to clean up a house that is filled with trash from floor to ceiling and that person standing there trying to figure out where to start cleaning.

I’m getting a feeling lately that things are coming to a boiling point rapidly, and that something interesting is bound to come from all of this. At any rate the meltdowns on all sides should at least be fun to watch. Someone pass the popcorn.

Kashimashi is Yuri.  If you are unfamiliar with the term yuri, it is Japanese jargon for girl on girl romance or love in manga, anime, or Japanese media.  The 5 volume series tells the story of a young boy, Hazumu, who is inadvertently transformed into a girl by aliens and then continues to live and carry on teenage drama at school and with friends in her new body.  There is a love triangle throughout the series between Hazumu, her childhood best friend, Tomari, and the girl she liked before her transformation, Yasuna.  The idea of gender transformation is certainly not new to manga as it has been put to good use in many titles.  But, if you are looking for serious or deep reflection regarding gender issues this is not the series for you.  It touches on gender issues but maintains a light-hearted feel and humor throughout most of the series.    

The story starts off with Hazumu, a boy that has always had more feminine features and interests, running off to sulk about being rejected by a Yasuna.  He is soft-spoken, loves botany, and I generally a “cry-baby” of sorts.  Whilst sulking in the mountains, the sci-fi-you-have-to-make-a-leap-with-your-mind-because-otherwise-it-doesn’t-make-sense element takes place.  An alien spaceship crashes into Hazumu destroying him and the aliens evidently mistakenly repair him as a female. 

Hazumu returns to his family as a female and the most unrealistic thing happens, they are excited to have the daughter they never had.  I supposed if you can follow the aliens rebuilding him as a girl, you could also see his parents being happy about their son’s sex reassignment.   It’s not like it’s uncommon to have to suspend reality to enjoy a manga series as many seem to make no logical sense. 

Back to the story, so Hazumu is welcomed with open arms from his parents but now he has to play out the role of a girl in school and with his friends.   He finds the role as a female somewhat confusing but it is of course a perfect fit with his feminine features and interests.  There are all sorts of humorous moments that involve bra shopping and gallivanting with the girls of the love triangle, Tomari and Yasuna. 

Tomari is Hazumu’s childhood best friend.  She is a tough girl that sticks up for Hazumu when he was being the said cry baby.  The triangle spins out of control as Hazumu’s new body and the idea of being with another girl is both confusing and a no-no.

Yasuna is the girl Hazumu liked and was rejected by before being rebuilt into a girl.  Afterwards, she begins to show interest in Hazumu and we discover another suspend-reality-and-just-go-with-it moment.  It seems that Yasuna can only see women’s faces clearly (in my opinion making her the true Lezzy in the book) and that is why she wasn’t interested in Hazumu before. 

In volume 4 there is a twist that turns the series from an airy love story to a more intense dramatic story-line surrounding mortality.  The triangle is forced to deal with more important issue than who gets the girl (although that issue stays around until the end).  I thoroughly enjoy this manga series for what it is.  Let’s just say that if you can suspend reality and you enjoy gender issues and love stories you will love Kashimashi.

This Manga Review was written by Mandi Titus, author of @Vermont.

Just wanted to make a note that the second book in the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series will be released in English on October 7th 2009 (one week from now for those who can’t be bothered with calendars.) And yes… Little Brown gave this one a weird cover as well. At least this time I was able to locate a picture of it before it’s release so folks will know what to look for… It’s easy though… Go to the teen fiction section and look for something that resembles the color of mustard and you should have it.

Wouldn’t it have been easier to just use the original cover art??? Not to mention I liked the original art better. I suspect they are doing this to avoid confusion with the manga which has very similar cover art to the original light novels. Speaking of which… The 4th volume of the manga is due out on October 31, but it does have a cool cover:

As for the third novel: The Boredom Of Haruhi Suzumiya… I have seen no information posted anywhere yet, but assuming they stick with the 6 month release schedule I’d expect it to be out in April 2010 or so.

So I guess everyone saw this coming for the last 5  years or so, but it has finally happened. As of Sept 1st ADV has posted a notice of being split up and acquired in place of their website. http://www.advfilms.com/ Not really a big shock at all, and as much as I hate the idea of an anime company going away there are some possible upsides to this. Apparently all the transactions have gone smoothly so hopefully it means a lot of good people won’t lose their jobs, and could find themselves in a better situation perhaps than holding onto a company that has been on the verge of bankruptcy for years. I hope this is the case and wish all the ADV employees good luck.

There was one part of the release which peaked my interest. It seems that Valkyrie Media LLC has acquired 100% holdings of The Anime Network. This is the thing that I am most curious to see. What will happen to to AN??? As far as the Anime and Manga I don’t really have any real concerns as I’m sure plenty of companies are waiting to take some titles from this.

On a personal note hopefully this means we’ll finally get a dubbed release of CLANNAD and Princess Resurrection depending on who winds up with those licenses.

It also means I’m gonna have to watch out for DVD sales of the shops looking to unload ADV merchandise.

Update: So after some searching around it turns out that all the companies that bought ADVs assets turn out to have the same Houston, TX address, and were all established this year. So it’s looking more and more like ADV did not actually shut down, but instead sold off the company to themselves. Seems like it was a way to get out of the Sojitz deal. Since Sojitz owns 20% of ADV’s stocks they now own 20% of pretty much nothing.

Essentially ADV will likely just be forming under a new name now. So it’s not really a shutdown at all. The only thing ADV will be losing are the rights to shows that were acquired during the year that they were actively partnering with Sojitz (I believe that would be 2007), but that’s not much of an issue since they were already unable to release any of those titles at the time anyway.

Update 2: (This from Anime News Network)

SXION 23, Valkyrie Media Partners, and Seraphim Studio are filed under Griffin D. Vance IV’s name. Griffin Vance was A.D. Vision’s former Senior Vice-President of Business and Legal Affairs, but he now operates his own law practice. Vance’s law firm shares the same postal address as SXION 23, Valkyrie Media Partners, and Seraphim Studio.

So now it appears even clearer that this was simply a reorganization rather than a shut down/buy out. A rather well thought out one too if everything goes smoothly.

A post made on the English AkibaBlog site on August 28 announced that the site will be suspended at the end of August. No reason for the shutdown was given, and it was not made clear as to whether the site will ever return.

Quoted from AkibaBlog English site:

Since we established AkibaBlog English Ver. in 2008, we have sent Akiba’s hot news to the whole world. But sadly, AkibaBlog English Ver. will be suspended by the end of August.
We are very sorry for you who have been looking forward to reading our blog.

Japanese version of AkibaBlog continues to report what’s going on in Akiba; we are more than happy if you continue to check Japanese version up.

English version of AkibaBlog will be suspended, but please, keep in touch with Akiba and Japan!

Thank you everybody.
We do appreciate your support!

Hope to see you guys somewhere, someday!!

With Love
AkibaBlog Staff

It’s a shame… It was a wonderful place to find out just what kinds of things were hot in Akihabara. Everything from doujinshi, anime figures and merchandise, games, DVDs, and even technology are covered there. Of course we still have the original Japanese AkibaBlog site, but that means I’ll need to learn to read Japanese… I’m having enough trouble just trying to learn how to speak and listen to it.

So, without much fanfare April 1st came and went along with the US release of The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya. For those of us who downloaded the fan translations the book won’t hold many surprises (other than the extremely odd cover for the paperback edition). The main difference being that they did kind of dumb it down a bit by replacing some of the Japanese cultural references with more westernized terms.

Overall the story was fairly well translated, and quite readable. Personally though I think between this and the fan translation I’ve read the story 4 times now, so I’m much more interested in the future releases at this point as I’ve only read those once. And onto that point… For those waiting on the edge of their seats… The Sigh Of Haruhi Suzumiya is set to release here on October 7th 2009. Six months may seem like an eternity for the second book, but honestly I’m kind of thankful as I was suspecting a worst case scenario in which the books would be released in a yearly time frame.

Now… For those that have scoured their local bookstore, and come away distraught… That red book with the lightning bolt logo really is the correct book. I haven’t been able to locate the hard cover in any store, so you may possibly have to order that one online if you must have the proper cover. For me I was just happy enough to finally get my hands on it in print to worry too much about the cover. And from a marketing standpoint I kind of understand… That blood red color definitely stands out in the book aisle, and is more likely to catch the attention of people who might not be familiar with the series a bit more than the original cover. I just hope it sells well enough to ensure we get the rest of the books over here.

Okay… So this isn’t something new, but I wanted to talk about it seeing as how Anime Network OnDemand has begun running FMP: Fumoffu. For anyone who has seen this anime and has not read the Full Metal Panic: OVERLOAD! manga that it was based on really needs to check it out, and if you haven’t yet seen the anime… Good God what’s your problem??? Watch!!! It’s pure comedy gold.

The manga is not exactly like the anime, so it’s even more craziness for those who didn’t get enough of Fumoffu. More to say there are elements and scenes that were pulled from the manga to create the anime though for the most part the episodes are different. It’s quite fun to spot the bits that they used though. Several differences exist from the anime that one might wish to be aware of though… It has an abundance of chibi style characters rather than the more serious rendering of the anime, and the characters are a bit different. Souske and Kaname are the same, but the others… Well… Kyoko rather than being merely a sidekick becomes something like Wylie Coyote in that she takes the physical brunt of Souske’s mishaps, Kurz Weber is portrayed as Souske’s rival for Kaname’s affections and pops into the story at random, I think Mao only shows up once, and Tessa just pops into random frames throughout the stories as kind of an “extra”.

There are also several characters that never made it into the anime, but are pretty hilarious and maybe should have been included. Not to mention the adventures of Souske Dog (can’t believe that didn’t make the anime although they do make a quick reference to it in episode one). As I mentioned the chapters (or Bombs as they are called) are not the same as Fumoffu. They are for the most part different stories that they simply pulled out the bits they wanted for the anime, so don’t expect an episode for episode match with Fumoffu. If anything Overload is like Fumoffu squared… You’ll quickly realize that they really did hold back on the foolishness in the anime as amazing as that seems.

Here’s one thing to look out for… For anyone else who’s a fan of Kyoto Animation you know they love to pepper their anime with references. There is a reference to something in one of the volumes of Overload in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Episode 00 The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina) which you would never get or even realize was a reference unless you read Overload… I’ll give you a hint… “Mi-Mi-Mikuru Beeeeam.”

At any rate… Any Full Metal Panic fan should give these books a once over (or even 2 or 3 times). Now you might not find these at your local Books A Million as they are 7-8 years old, but you can get them at Amazon (at $10 a pop new… Kind of pricey but I’ll provide the link anyway). The best bet is to get them used if possible. I found them in a local used book store and paid $25 for the whole set, or you can most likely find them on ebay as well. The set is 5 volumes so it’s not going to take forever and a ton of debt to get the whole series, and to date the series is finished so new volumes are not very likely. So check it out and enjoy (if you liked the anime then I can’t see anyone not liking this).

So the first volume of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Manga arrived in stores last week, and of course I scoured the town looking for a copy (Don’t know how others may fare but the only local stores here carrying the book are Books A Million, and they only received 2 copies per store.) At any rate I secured my own copy and read it tonight while tossing candy at trick or treaters. Read my impressions after the jump.

I was a bit hesitant to even purchase this as I’ve read how much of a failure this manga was, but being an addict I can’t resist something new and shiny. About 1/4 of the way into the book I decided I wasn’t liking it, BUT… I found my self warming up to it at the end. For anyone that has misgivings about the manga I suggest you at least give it a try.

Now… Here’s why I think people are quick to judge. This is the same story as the novels and anime, but there are lots of changes. At first it may seem like there was a lot left out, but upon closer inspection the manga is simply taking a different path to get from point A to point B. Which makes sense… Between the novels and anime we already have a textual and visual representation of the story, so to print a manga with exactly the same story would be a bit pointless. So while the manga still gets to the same place in the end it tends to take a few detours and a few events are mixed up in the time line (not a big surprise with Nagaru Tanigawa who’s trademark seems to be writing things out of chronological order).

The artwork will probably send people who have become accustomed to the cuteness of the anime versions of these characters for a bit of a loop. They are drawn a bit different in the manga… I find they tend to look a bit dark and sinister (some of the expressions are even a bit creepy looking). There is also an abundance of chi bi-fied drawings (possibly an over abundance) that takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s another characteristic that gives the manga a different flavor than the anime.

A perfect example is Nagato… In the novels there was an ongoing plotline about Asahina being scared of Nagato. Of course knowing what Nagato is capable of we know she has a good reason to be scared, but how can anyone be scared of the cute Nagato from the novels and anime??? In the manga this fear is quite understandable as Nagato looks rather intimidating. A bit of a shock at first, but it has some potential to see the character in a different way than we are used to. It’s much easier to believe that Nagato is more than your average bookworm in this version of the story.

Asahina’s expression is understandable
given the way Yuki is drawn in the manga

Yuki Nagato definitely seems more intimidating

So while it’s a different experience I wouldn’t say the manga is “bad”, but rather that instead of simply adapting the same story to a third format the author has changed things up a bit. There are moments you will scream “That’s not how that happened!!!” as well as a few bits that seemed they should have been included in the original story from the beginning (like the bits of detail revealing Suzumiya’s manipulative nature that are openly portrayed rather than implied). I can honestly say that I am now anxiously awaiting the 2nd volume to see what else is different… Unfortunately the 2nd volume won’t be out until March 2009 *sigh*.

Another treat is in the back of the book… A 14 page preview of the translated volume 1 novel. All I can say is… I’m liking it. While I think the person (or persons) who took time out of their lives to do the unofficial translated versions that are floating around the net deserve massive props for the effort I was extremely pleased by seeing a bit of the official book. While it was nice to read the whole story I find that nothing substitutes the physical book being in one’s hands. I can’t wait till april comes so I can grab a copy.

If you’d like to purchase a copy of the manga online or can’t find it locally Amazon has it available here:

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Well… Since Tuesday was an extremely slow news day I decided to write an article about someone who’s work I admire.

Mark Crilley is an artist/author who has a style very much in the tradition of Japanese manga and anime artists. I discovered his work by accident about 6 months ago when I landed onto one of his Youtube drawing tutorials, and have been impressed if not amazed by everything I’ve seen of his work.

I can honestly say that before finding his videos I always assumed anime and manga were porn (basing my assumptions like many on the numerous web ads for anime/manga with somewhat “questionable” content). I would have never even given it a chance without a little insight gained by learning about Mark Crilley and his work. He has also inspired me to pick up a pencil and get back into drawing, so I can honestly thank him for leading me to many things that have made my life a lot more interesting.

Mark is currently doing several contracted projects while he gets his next major undertaking off the ground. His most current work is the four book series Miki Falls which is a rather clever romance story with some amazing artwork. While the story is probably more to the taste of teenagers (nothing wrong with that as it’s probably the most fanatic market one could land in) it is still a good read no matter who you are (This 37 year old man enjoyed it). Even if the story is not necessarily to your taste the books are worth it for the art alone. The amount of detail Mark puts into every panel is rather incredible. In a world where most people would simply draw the important things he goes a bit further by placing tons of background detail. Some of the images almost seem like you could step right into them.

I can honestly say that if you are the least bit interested in drawing, anime, or manga you should take a look at Mark Crilley’s work. Just watch his Youtube videos and you’ll see what I mean. He’s also a really cool guy who truly appreciates his fans. Very few people would go to the lengths he does to show his fans how much he cares. A great person and amazing talent all in one package… Who could ask for more.

Mark’s earlier work can be seen in the Akiko comics and books as well as the Billy Klikk book series (which I have not read so I won’t comment on them at this time).

Mark’s Website: http://www.markcrilley.com/

Mark’s Youtube Page: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=markcrilley

Mark’s DeviantArt Page: http://markcrilley.deviantart.com/

Finally those of us on this side of the world will get to read the novels that The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was based on. The first light novel is set to release in the U.S. April, 2009. I suspect the other  novels will release one by one in set intervals (probably one every 4 months).

The first light novel basically covers most of what was in the anime series. Although Several episodes (The Adventures of Mikaru Asahina, Live Alive, The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, Remote Island Syndrome, The Day Of Saggtarius, and Someday in the Rain) are all taken from other novels in the series. Basically The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya Parts 1-6 are covered in the first novel.

For those hoping for something they didn’t get out of the anime you’ll have to wait for the second novel which really answers a lot of questions as it tells the story of how The Adventures Of Mikaru Asahina was made. Really is quite interesting to get the “behind the scenes” view of what went on. A lot of things folks have puzzled over from the anime are explained as well (Like why Nagato suddenly attacked Asahina).

If you liked the anime then these books are a must read. Even if you aren’t usually a reader these are worth it just to get the rest of the story.

Still not much on the net about the much rumored second season of Haruhi. It has according to several sources been confirmed in Newtype magazine that it is definitely in the works, and will be based for the most part on Volume 4 of the light novel series “The Dissapearance Of Haruhi Suzumiya”, but nothing official that I’ve found about when it will air in Japan. Hopefully we won’t have to wait 2 years after it airs to get a US DVD release. Aside from the few hints here and there and Newtype’s confirmation (Which I have not personally seen) the second season of Haruhi seems to be the best kept secret in Japan right now.

To pre-order the first volume of the manga from Amazon.com click here

Update: Looks like I’m the one who jumped the gun on this one… Vol 1 of the Manga released on Oct 28. The light novel will not be coming until April, 2009. Whoops.

Update 2: According to Little Brown Books website the first volume is scheduled to release July 5, 2009 now rather than the originally expected april date.