Justin's Japan: Manga! Manga! at New York Comic Con

By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Shukan NY Seikatsu. Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here.New York Comic Con returned to the Jacob Javits Center October 5-8, selling a record-breaking 200,000 tickets (an 11% increase from last year) and featuring appearances from some of the contemporary manga world’s most renowned creators, including guest artists Akira Himekawa (The Legend of Zelda) and Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail).“New York Comic Con is always a great place to meet fans in person and talk about what titles they enjoy most,” said Tomo Tran, marketing director for New York-based Vertical, Inc., which publishes Japanese comics and novels in English. “We aim to bring titles that are not just mainstream in Japan, but that we feel can be impactful here in the U.S.”Some of Vertical’s new fare was unveiled at a special panel, introducing the series Pop Team Epic, a comic-strip style parody of manga and pop culture, and the slapstick comedy The Delinquent Housewife!, both coming next year. In addition, Kodansha Comics celebrated its storied sci-fi library with a Q&A of the creators of a forthcoming Ghost in the Shell graphic novel, a new deluxe reissue of Battle Angel Alita, and a 35th anniversary boxed set of the classic “Akira,” which began life in print years before its release as a massively influential anime film.As for memorable moments? “A female fan approached me and asked about volume seven of a backlisted title, Twin Spica, that we no longer printed,” Tran said. “I told her I would follow up about it, and fortunately we had a few copies at the office. When I gave her the copy at the con the next day, she was so happy with tears in her eyes, since this was one of her favorite series.”Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment since 2005. For more of his stories, visit http://jetaany.org/magazine.