Forum - View topicThe Viz Signature Line Now and the Future
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HellKorn
Posts: 1669 Location: Columbus, OH |
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... You've only read one chapter and are already thinking of SELLING Solanin?! Anyway, I can't see it gaining much money.
The volumes are larger, the pages are better stock, the printing is better, you're receiving color pages... So what's the problem? |
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Agoston
 Posts: 225 |
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Wait wait wait, color pages? Is it just the first few pages of each volume or the entire thing? I'm guessing it's the former but if it was the entire thing holy crap I'd be so excited! Also, is this the same for both 20th Century Boys and Pluto? |
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HellKorn
Posts: 1669 Location: Columbus, OH |
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Possibly whatever was in color for the Japanese magazine release. I know that that's the case for Real, and Viz also gave the same treatment for Tekkon Kinkreet (though I think the Japanese omnibus release of that also included all of the color pages). Solanin also has color pages, though I don't know which ones. I can't see with 100% certaintity, but it's quite likely that there will be color pages in Viz's releases of 20th Century Boys and Pluto. |
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bahamut623
 Posts: 1463 |
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So are the oversize volumes becoming the default for Viz seinen titles? I think Black Lagoon and Solanin are the same size height-wise (although, I don't know if Black Lagoon is considered part of the Signature Line or not), and judging from their prices, 20th Century Boys, Pluto, and Dogs will also be the same size.
I hope they also include color pages. A slightly higher price is no problem at all as long as the quality is good. |
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Agoston
Posts: 225 |
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Hellkorn: Ah, okay thanks. I guess we'll have to wait and see?
Bahamut: Ughh, I'd like it better if Pluto and 20th Century Boys was the same size as the usual Viz titles. It'd be nice if they were the same height as Monster, those three would look nice next to each other  . Color pages are nice without a doubt, but when it's just the first ten or so pages I'd rather save a few dollars off each volume.
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driverstart
 Posts: 214 Location: America |
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HellKorn, I said I might sell it when I'm finished with and only if I didn't like it overall. If like the manga, I'll keep it. As for the larger books, here is the thing. Printing quality never matters to me as long as I can read everything. I don't like larger books in my collection, they just stand out too much (Doesn't mean I hate them or dislike the series any less). As for color pages, I like to point out that some of the smaller mangas have had color pages in them. One entire chapter of Eyeshield 21 from volume 19 was in complete color and the opening pages for Uzumaki Vol. 1 were also in color as well. I just don't get it.
That's what I'm talking about and I agree with you a hundred precent. I want Pluto and 20th Century Boys the same height as Monster as well, they would so look nice to each other. |
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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I understand the desire to save money but I really don't get the idea that it's better to have everything mediocre but uniform than good but diverse. I want the work to look its best. Isn't that more important than having perfectly level book heights on your shelves? It's not as though novels, non-fiction or non-Japanese comics are all a standard size anyway, so how neat can your bookshelves be? Hell, if we have to have everything looking the same, wouldn't it be better to have the bigger size / better paper that were the standard from Viz and Dark Horse back in the '90s and early '00s rather than have every publisher adhere to Tokyopop's lowest common denominator standards? [Not picking on you in particular, Agonston - your post just seemed indicitive of a recent trend amongst manga readers on these boards and, for shame, at least one ANN reviewer.] |
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Highway Star
 Posts: 227 Location: Ireland |
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I have to agree with Hellkorn and Moomintroll. I'd kill someone if manga like Akira, No. 5, Yoshihiro Tatsumi's collections and Vertical's Tezuka manga were printed in the exact same style of Tokyopop's volumes.
Good art deserves bigger pages to appreciate it (much like galleries), but say something like Planetes, while it does have nice art, it's still fairly basic so I'm okay with it being a normal Tokyopop size volume. And in some cases, manga deserves a hardback/slipcase/oversized printing if it's vintage, or an old classic, e.g. Red Colored Elegy, Adolf, Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossom. The people who read Naruto (I'm using that as a representative of currently popular manga) aren't at all worried about how it's printed, all they care about is how fast it's released by Viz. They probably couldn't care less if Viz edited the cover to their liking (the way TP often does with many of their series...) But people who prefer Seinen/Josei, or alternative/underground/vintage manga expect the volumes to get an honourable treatment. Fanfare are a great example; it's a pretty small company itself (mostly led by one man), and their catalog is fairly niche, but they print manga in really classy paper, slipcases, oversized editions because the manga deserves it or they wish to respect the author. |
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HellKorn
Posts: 1669 Location: Columbus, OH |
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I don't have the Solanin release yet, but I would guess it's more of a similar size to Sexy Voice and Robo and Tekkon Kinkreet. I'd appreciate it if anyone who has it can confirm either way.
The Signature Line is more or less reserved for manga titles that are atypical in subject matter and execution, and for more mature readers. Black Lagoon, regardless of one's opinion on it, doesn't fill either criteria (having adult content is not the same as maturity).
Excepting a couple of Vagabond volumes, the recent trend seems to be ALL of the color pages originally published, like I said. It wouldn't just be a few pages at the start of a volume.
That type of apathetic attitude is exactly why Tokyopop has gotten away with sub-par products, both in presentation and in adaption. When you had Studio Proteus and pre-Shonen Jump Viz, there was constant attention to not only making the manga look as great as possible, there was also focus on making the translation flow well. Effort was put into dialogue, and sound effects and lettering were given individual voices. The paper stock was good, and the printing was never muddied and blurred, with few exceptions. Tokyopop came along and essentially established a thought that it's okay if the presentation is half-assed as long as it's a few dollars cheaper.
Honest question here: do you collect any novels or non-Japanese comics?
But they don't have consistent color pages for longer series, and Uzumaki was essentially a re-release, and far shorter than most of the other series talked about.
The Akira release is also oversized in Japan, as well. Can you even imagine trying to read that in a smaller release? You'd need to get a [expletive] magnifying glass to see the details that Otomo packs in the series.
Shame the printing for Planetes is a miss. |
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bahamut623
Posts: 1463 |
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I thought it would get the Tekkon Kinkreet treatment too...but at least according to Amazon, it's actually slightly smaller than Black Lagoon. Solanin is 8.1 inches while BL is 8.3. |
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driverstart
Posts: 214 Location: America |
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Novels? Yeah, I get my hands on Stephen King and Michael Crichton's novels if that's what you mean. As for non-Japanese comics, I only have Bone the Complete Series in my hands. I want to get some more comics, particularly Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on A Serious Earth and Marvel's Civil War, as well, but I just haven't found many that I want and the ones I do want I just can't find in stores in my area! |
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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I don't get the problem really. If you dislike non-DVD size because of esthetics you can always put those volumes on different shelves.
I have many manga of different sizes and different sizes. Whatever doesn't fit next their standard size cousins is put on the other-shelves, which happen to be the most interesting shelves in my entire collection. On those shelves you'll find everything from Azumanga Daioh to Ode to Kirihito to With the Light. And then there is Five Star Stories with books so large I can only put them on top of my bookcase... Now, I could put my Dutch editions of Monster and 20th Century Boys next to eachother, but I don't, because I prefer sorting my manga by title 
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Moomintroll
Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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It's smaller than Sexy Voice and Tekkon Kinkreet - about the same size as Me And The Devil Blues (but with better paper and binding quality plus colour pages and French flaps).
True. But, curiously, they did use much better paper stock than usual. |
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driverstart
Posts: 214 Location: America |
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You maybe wondering, why I haven't said anything this month. Well, there hasn't been anything new for the Viz Signature line this month, so why bother talking? Anyhow, I was just checking out SimonSays and they mention some new titles that I never seen before so there could be a possbility that they may end up being part of the Signature line. I hope so, we need some new titles.
Here's everything I found, maybe you guys can figure out where they belong: Ôoku: The Inner Chamber (Comes out in August) Children of the Sea (Comes out in June and this title was made by Daisuke Igarashi and is also called The Sea Monster's Children I think) Detroit Metal City (Comes out in June) Dogs (Comes out in April. I think it might be for the regular line, but I'm not sure) All of these titles, besides Children of the Sea which is $14.99, are $12.99. I mention these titles besides recently the Signature series is starting to release volumes at $12.99 or higher so I thought they could possibily be for Signature Line. As I said before, what do you guys think? |
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Buster Blader 126
 Posts: 1207 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
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Children of the Sea definitely looks to be a Signature title, and I can see Ōoku: The Inner Chamber being one too. DMC and Dogs seem more like regular titles in my eyes.
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