With a beautiful Labor Day weekend finishing up in New York City, it’s time to take a look back at the summer, don’t you think?
June kicked off with me tabling at my first comics/book convention at the Filipino-American Comics and Book Festival. It saw the debut of not one, not two, but three print collections of my work. For those keeping score, those titles are:
Four Worlds: An Illustrated Collection. A collection of my 2017 Inktober project “Four Worlds.” The story follows a hobby artist (yours truly) who finds himself traveling across the fantasy worlds he created in his youth. It was the most ambitious of my projects to date, with each roughly 6” x 6” drawing taking about three to four hours to complete.
Valentine’s Day. The complete collection of the webcomic featured here on glenisip.com from 2019 to 2020. It tells the story of four knights who defect from their kingdom, only to find a deadly final opponent near the end of their journey.
Kelly Ranger. An updated version of my Inktober 2021 project. It stars Kelly, a middle-schooler who wants to become a crime-fighting superhero, but her wish gets a little twisted in the process. This book features redrawn images for about half of the book, so while you can still read a similar version of the story on Instagram, you’ll only see the new artwork and text in the print edition!
For those of you who couldn’t pick up copies at the show, I’m happy to announce that you’ll soon be able to purchase each of them online through an upcoming shop. Expect more on that later in the month.
July and August saw me completing my first non-comics artwork in a while, which I’m calling “Lady in the Forest.” This was inspired by a vacation to the woods I took in June, though the execution took far longer than I expected. For the time being I will not be revealing the full artwork, the reasons for which I’m hoping to detail in a future blog entry on a subject that I’ve been meaning to address for a while. In the meanwhile, enjoy a few details:
In late August, Anime NYC 2025 saw me tabling again, this time at the Denpa booth. We debuted new books (March Comes In Like a Lion, vol. 4, as well as the first Under Ninja box set); were nominated for American Manga Awards (Short Game and They Were 11!, both in the running for “Best New Edition of a Classic Manga”); and hosted our mangaka Kengo Hanazawa (Under Ninja) for an autograph session at the booth. I even managed to hold my own again at the Denpa panel on Saturday night. I’m grateful to all the fans who showed up to the booth and expressed their support, and especially grateful to Hanazawa-sensei who roughed out a busy four days of panels, signings, and awards.
Here are a few shots of the Under Ninja box I designed to house the first 6 volumes of Hanazawa’s action comedy thriller:
So, what’s next on the horizon? Well, now that I’ve finally gotten everything else in order, I’m continuing on to the production phase of my next story, an as-yet-untitled medical drama set in the same world as Valentine’s Day. I’m also working on resetting a public domain book, offering a fresh layout for an older text. I hope to unveil that before the end of the year.
That wraps it up for now; with any luck there will be more news in the coming months!
Cool news: Denpa has two nominations in AnimeNYC’s second annual American Manga Awards! Moto Hagio’s They Were 11! and Mitsuru Adachi’s Short Game were both nominated for “Best New Edition of a Classic Manga.” Short Game will be my choice — and yes, that’s completely because I was the production artist on that one.
Adachi’s storytelling appears effortless, but every element in his baseball-themed anthology book Short Game demonstrates over 35 years of cartooning experience. It’s a privilege to work on a veteran artist’s material, and I did my best to recreate Adachi’s visual style for Denpa’s English translation. That includes not just font selection for the main dialogue, but hand-drawing select special effects and logos.
Industry professionals can register to vote through July 21, and voting continues until July 24.
It’s August 27th, two days since AnimeNYC 2024 finished up last weekend at the Javits Center. It’s always a weird pleasure, because it’s while it’s still work, it’s working while interacting directly with fans. I have to admit, I might be happier attending as an exhibitor rather than as an attendee, because the crowds are super-dense, especially on Saturdays. It’s nice being behind a table with a seat of your own and a place for your bags.
Friday opened up with good news and bad news. The good: Denpa and Kuma’s booth was located very close to the entrance off the north lobby. The bad: the booth was directly next to the Hololive performance area, where mini-concerts and broadcasts from one of the biggest-budgeted Vtuber networks took place. This meant that we were directly adjacent to a massive crowd of people at least twice a day, but also meant that we had to hear every performance, whether it was karaoke, a video game tournament, or a cooking show. I guess it could’ve been a lot worse for “bad news” but it was still a bit distracting.
Saturday brought a visit from my contact at Azuki, where I designed some of the logos for their digital releases. He informed me that Azuki will be publishing two of their titles through Scholastic’s Graphix imprint, which would be their first foray into print media! Not only is one of those series Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms, but Graphix itself is a big deal: they publish some of the heaviest hitters in children’s graphic novels, including Dav Pilkey (Captain Underpants, Dog Man) and Raina Telgemeier (Smile, Sister, Guts). It’s exciting news for Azuki.
I had originally planned to man the booth while my coworkers led our panel on Saturday evening; however, about a half hour before the event I realized that our panel started just as the main exhibitor’s hall closed down. “You going to attend the panel?” my boss asked.
“Sure,” I said, noting that I hadn’t actually worked out the timing until that moment. “Great,” he replied, “we can even get you a seat on stage if you like.”
I panicked. The last time I gave a public talk was during college. I’d written a paper and my professor had asked me to present it at a conference. At that time I’d assumed I could just forgo my notes and wing it; but of course I couldn’t, and ended up concluding my presentation poorly, with more than half my time remaining.
Now, I would be representing my company as well as myself. I wasn’t planning to even attend the panel five minutes ago, let alone be a part of it. My coworkers assured me that it’d be fine and that I wouldn’t really have to speak if I didn’t want to, so twenty minutes later I found myself onstage in Panel Room 3, wondering what exactly was going to happen. Thankfully, it turned out to be extremely easy to speak off the cuff about work I enjoy doing, and I managed to answer a couple of questions without too much trouble.
On Sunday I attended a roundtable discussion about manga lettering. These are the same people who do the same kind of work I do — see WTF is Manga Production?! for more on that — and it was terribly refreshing to meet even more people in the field, small as it is.
I also managed to cruise around Artists’ Alley long enough to pick up some comics from two indie outfits: Moon Lair Studios and Space Between Entertainment. I didn’t see many other comics, but then again I didn’t spend too much time on the floor. (I completely missed the video game hall and all the exhibitors on the lower level.) Still, I’m looking forward to reading what I did pick up.
All in all, working a convention is tiring, but it’s lots of fun connecting with people with the same interests. It’s getting me more excited for SPX in less than a month, though I still haven’t decided whether I’ll be attending that or not.
AnimeNYC’s 2023 show ended back on November 20. While I spent most of the time working the Denpa booth selling some new books, I did manage to take a nice stroll through Artists’ Alley and was pleased to find a number of indie comics creators, whose presence I felt was severely lacking in the con’s previous year. So now, here are the micro-reviews!
I Reincarnated as Myself Like Always! by Jane Mai (self-published). What starts out as a parody of the standard isekai premise turns into a reflective look at a man who’s wasting his life. With solid art and writing, this book starts off funny. But going into the final act, the tone abruptly changes. Not to say that it’s failed comedy, it’s just quite a different turn than what you might expect from such a silly title. It’s a bit like the Guns N’ Roses song “Sweet Child O’Mine”: a catchy first 2/3rds, then a major mood shift in the final act. Neither of the two sections are bad; they just feel like two good parts of two tonally different stories, and they don’t quite jell for me. On a production level, it’s neat that this book was riso-printed and hand-bound.
Half in the Shadows, Half Burned in Flames by Ico (self-published). An artbook by Washington-based artist Ico and designed by Kan. It features beautiful drawings and paintings of characters from The Legend of Zelda. A satisfying balance of painterly techniques and abstract layouts, these illustrations are simply made to be enjoyed. The comments are about 95% in Chinese, so if you want to understand what the artist’s comments are you’ll have to get it translated. Bafflingly, the author’s bio alone is coupled with an English translation, but that’s a small criticism on a fine piece. The quality of the final book design is exceptional, and it’s almost hard to believe it’s self-published.
Kisha: Demon Eater #1 by Newton Lilavois, Gian Carlo Bernal, and ClonerH! (Dream Fury Comics). Most people don’t actively search for demons, especially in a world where demons are proven to exist. But that’s what happens to the titular Kisha, who can not only sense demons, but becomes possessed by one who happens to share her name and appearance. The demon Kisha also happens to literally eat other demons, so to say that things get complicated by the end of the book is an understatement. Things move quickly in this book, but possibly at the expense of characterization. The story is strong enough to stoke curiosity in the second issue, and beautiful artwork makes picking up issue #2 seem inevitable. Excellent production values on the book itself, though some of the art and text flirt with the safety margins.
Salvation #1 by Terence Young, Dwayne Robinson, Jr., and John Cruz (Animation, Comics, and Entertainment, LLC). Vahn is a young warrior cursed with a demon mark, so he seeks the wizard Solomon to remove it for him. However, humans and demons alike want Vahn dead, which means every journey and destination is bound to bring misadventure. I give good marks to the story, setting, and artwork. Unfortunately, the readability is hampered by the panel layout, lettering, and dialogue. It’s sometimes hard to figure out the correct order to read the panels and word balloons. The dialogue has yet to find itself, as it wavers between typical medieval fantasy formality (“Why am I the only one who must shoulder this burden?”) and contemporary casual slang (“Say what?”). Punctuation is also wanting. Still, the well-choreographed action scenes warrant a look at issue #2. Book quality doesn’t differ too much from more mainstream floppies, and seems durable enough.
Ophiuchus by Ali Leriger de la Plante and Natasha Tara Petrović (Image Comics). A visual standout at this convention, this is a story about warrior robots going on a fantasy adventure to save the universe. Very little not to recommend about this book, as the pacing is even, the characters are distinctive and likeable, and the story is easy to follow despite the numerous names and concepts that show up. As previously mentioned, the art stands out as a signature feature of the book. Authors Petrović and de la Plante use a limited palette and minimal linework to create a world reminiscent of the moody, semi-abstract background art from the Pink Panther cartoons. The characters themselves feature strong silhouettes, enough so that when twelve new characters appear in a single panel, it’s possible to keep track of the action. It’s a fun book that can be read and re-read within an hour, and you might spend even more time appreciating the artwork. Good book quality, though there are a few issues with safety margins and the flat black blending with the dark blue.
Neotera #1 by Randy Toroni (self-published by Studio Toroshi). In the distant future, humanity has left the Earth in search of a new home. Traveler Nox finally arrives on their new home planet Neotera, except he is centuries late and awakens in a body that isn’t entirely his. Moreover, the planet seems to possess few humans and far too many cyborg dinosaurs. Neotera has all the trappings of a mainstream shonen manga, complete with action, mystery, and sex appeal. Author Toroni’s biggest setbacks are in the script, lettering, and the quality of the final art, all of which feel rushed. Toroni’s concept art at the end of the book is solid, which seems to confirm that the book might have been produced at some speed. Still, the story ends on enough of a cliffhanger to justify a look at the second issue. Another solid print job, though I do get nervous that I’m going to break the spine.
Vonn Sketchbook IV: 2019-2020 by Timothy von Rueden (self-published). Another artbook, this is a collection of sketches by Wisconsin artist/designer Vonn. Vonn’s drawings are a mix of photorealism and fantasy, which look great rendered in pencil. The inker in me wishes that Vonn would take the plunge and rebalance the grays into black, but that’s a minor nit. I mainly picked this up because it contains the artwork from Vonn’s illustrated playing card deck, an idea I also have been tackling on and off for the past year. The book judiciously uses gold leaf on the cover and along all the edges, giving a highly polished feel consistent with von Rueden’s brand.
Overall, I think I made off rather well this year. Of the new series that I’ve picked up, I’m interested to see how the next issues will turn out, and anyway it’s next to impossible to judge an entire series by its first issue. It also makes me want to pick up the pace on my next comics project, which is already shaping up to be quite a bit longer than Valentine’s Day, and seeing how long that project took… well, comicking isn’t easy. See you again!
I was catching up with an old friend over dinner when he admitted something: he really didn’t know what I did for a living. (No bad blood; I admitted I didn’t really know what he did for a living, either.) This led me to a long-winded explanation about what I mean when I talk about being a “production manager,” since the job description varies wildly between industries.
Basically, I make books. However, I’m not the author, editor, translator, or even the person who physically assembles the covers to the printed pages. I’m a designer, comic book letterer, sometimes illustrator, sometimes art director, and sometimes print production manager. See how confusing that can be?
That’s what prompted me to create WTF is Manga Production?!, a four-page comic about the basics of translating foreign comic books for the North American market. It covers three big facets of book production — art, design, and printing — and explains why sometimes a vague description like “production manager” is about the most accurate summation one can make.
AnimeNYC ran from November 18-20, 2022, and as my first “full” convention (working all three days) I have to say it went pretty well! A lot of diverse vendors, displays, and cosplayers made for a good time. With a reduced number of admissions, there were a lot of people who missed out on attending, but the trade-off was an easily-navigable showroom floor that only got choked up in a few sections of the hall. That made the overall experience much more manageable for vendors.
On Saturday the 19th, Azuki announced the next title on its manga subscription platform: Natsume & Natsume. I was fortunate enough to design the logo and covers for this series, which is my second title associated with author Shunsuke Sorato (空翔 俊介). The first would be The Girl with the Sanpaku Eyes, on which I’m the main production artist and letterer. While I do handle most of the lettering duties for Sanpaku, I didn’t design the logo; amusingly, I don’t handle any of the lettering duties for Natsume, but I did design the logo. Funny how that turned out.
Anyway, both series feature a protagonist struggling to be understood despite their outward appearance. In Sanpaku Eyes, it’s Amane Mizuno, whose intimidating stare makes her so self-conscious that she can’t talk to her high school crush. In Natsume, it’s Natsume Shiranui who has a plain ol’ scary face. I can’t say too much about how Natsume & Natsume will turn out (seeing as I only handle the covers and not the actual comic) but if’s anything like The Girl with the Sanpaku Eyes, it’ll manage to be inexplicably charming despite the apparently simple slice-of-life premise.
