“In Odd We Trust” serves as a prequel to the first Odd Thomas novel. The ghost of a young boy appears to Odd, and he embarks on a quest to bring justice to the boy’s killer so that his ghost can move on. Odd’s friend, the Chief of Police Wyatt Porter, share some details of the case, and informs him that the boy’s babysitter is the one that discovered the body. The babysitter turns out to be Sherry Sheldon, a childhood friend of Odd’s girlfriend and soulmate, Stormy Llewellyn. Sherry relates that a stalker has been leaving her disturbing notes for several months, and believes this stalker may be the murderer. Odd and Stormy resolve to catch the stalker before he kills again.

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Can you Moe reports that on the 30th of August the final chapter of Hirano Kouta’s Hellsing will be published in Young King OURs magazine. Since its serialization back in 1997, almost 11 years ago it has become one of the most popular manga titles in the west. And has spawned a TV series and a currently running OVA franchise.

Manga giant Tokyopop announced on the 3rd of June that it will be splitting into 2 separate entities. Creating Tokyopop Media LLC for its comics-to-film and digital units, and that its Manga publishing operations will remain in Tokyopop. There Publishing production will be reduced by roughly 50% for the rest of 2008, cutting Tokyopop’s Manga output to roughly 200-225 titles per year for a planned total of over 500 titles. Tokyopop CEO and Chief Creative Officer of the Tokyopop Group, Stuart Levy, explained the reasons for the reduction in output:

“The time is now for us to focus our publishing business to overcome current market challenges. Few releases will allow for less cannibalization at retail.”

The company is also cutting down on its workforce by 39 positions, in line with the changes.

“We must adjust our overhead to properly execute this new business plan,” Levy said. “We are doing it with a heavy heart,” he continued. “It involves saying goodbye to 39 of the most talented, creative and compassionate people I’ve ever known.”

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It’s been a while but Judgment Day is back with a look at two new titles from TokyoPop, the leader in Manga!

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Talented designer Takashi Murakami, who is possibly best know as the current fabo creative-head for Louis Vuitton’s ultra popular handbags, is quite the Pop Art/Anime artist. Perhaps one of his most eye-popping pieces might have to be entitled, “My Lonesome Cowboy,” which features a very manga-ish looking character squirting, well, having quite an…uh…explosion of joy.  

Despite its pretty erotic nature, or maybe because of it, this Lonesome Cowboy is for sale at famed Sotheby’s Auction House, with a current asking price being a mere 4 million dollars. So run out and pick it up today!

Check out an image of the happy fella (beware, so not NSFW) here:

http://www.artificialgallery.co.uk/artwork.php?form_load_id=3466759468

 And bid on the piece (and see some other goodies by Murakami) here: 

http://browse.sothebys.com/?q=%20Takashi%20Murakami 

Click the Newsarama banner for direct access to complete and continuous coverage of the New York Comic Con! We’ll try to post some links to top stories over the weekend, and perhaps offer some “Con Job” analysis. Newsarama already has video interviews with Dan Didio covering James Robinson on Justice League, Legion of 3 Worlds, Final Crisis, Batman: R.I.P., and more.

My latest piece for WIRED Magazine is now on the site; you can check it out here, if you’re so inclined.

It remains to be seen if I shall receive near-immediate hate mail as I did with the Sidekicks piece. Remember, gentle readers, it’s all in good humor. Enjoy!

So it looks like fallen pop star Britney Spears is still too busy trying to get her shiz-nit together (thank goodness!) that she couldn’t make time to film her new music video.  What’s an enterprising - and probably desperate - record label to do when its “star” is unable to gyrate and shake for the cameras?  

Simple, just whip up an Anime version of Britney on your MAC and boom, you’re done! “Break the Ice” features a very Manga-y Britney battling lots of bad dudes a la her live action “Toxic” video – but with really odd, weirdy, slow motion-y movements for all the fighting and action featured in the clip.

I for one think this is a great idea, despite the fact that I don’t totally love the end result. Having something kinda-sorta creative being attempted to salvage the poor girl’s career can only be good, right? I don’t think this will take Ms. Spears anywhere near the tippy top-top of her former glory and fame, but at least this Sue Storm-like cartoon version of Britney Spears reminds people that she was once a pop star, and not just a horrendous celebrity-train-wreck.

Catch the video here to see the slow-mo, Manga inspired, spy-ish clip for yourself:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfmfuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=30156320 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve curled up with my favorite copy of the King James, hoping to launch into a cover-to-cover reading of my most holy scripture, only to be stopped at the relentless droning of Leviticus. I wish there was an action-packed, kicking ass and taking names kind of Bible that I could really dig my nails into.

Oh, wait! It’s here!

Introducing the graphic novel version of God’s divine word: The Manga Bible: From Genesis to Revelation. Take the Christian scriptures and give it an adrenaline shot. Maybe a splash of ninja. You know, throw out the boring stuff and beef up the action (including but not limited to Abraham riding the shit out of a horse, narrowly escaping an explosion, so he can save Lot). Instead of awkwardly translated, clunky redundancies that are no longer spoken in the English language, we have this here (according to the NY Daily News):

“Sounds interesting,” the unsuspecting Abel replies. “What is it?”
“Your death, you smug %@#$!”

Maybe we can get Chow Yun-Fat to play Jesus in the movie version.

God only knows how excited I was last Wednesday when I booked from work to head to my favorite Manhattan shop, Forbidden Planet, for the fourth iteration in the spectacular adventures of ex-boyfriend fighting hipster, Scott Pilgrim. For those who have followed this kinetic  soap opera, the annual Scott Pilgrim digests follow the adventures of a 23-year-old slacker who must battle his girlfriend’s seven evil exes in order to stay with her. The amazing thing about Bryan Lee O’Malley’s serials is how they analogize the drama and strife of 20-something dating through over-the-top kung fu fights and playful pop-culture commentary. Who hasn’t ever felt like dragon-punching your significant other’s pretentious vegan ex-boyfriend before head-butting him into oblivion (I’m literally pausing right now to fantasize)? Fortunately, the ridiculous fights are balanced with superb characterization and real affection for these characters, whose quirks are easily found in some of your real-life friends and flames.

Unfortunately, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together doesn’t live up to the standards of the previous three volumes. The ex he fights in this edition isn’t as memorable as the ex-professional skateboarder or aforementioned telekinetic vegan bass player from volumes past. Likewise, the hilarious parallels between Scott and video-gaming nostalgia are flimsy at best (a digital thirst meter?). My biggest complaint, though, is the characterization behind gay roommate Wallace and the rest of his friends. The characters stray from idiosyncratic lovability into some pretty strange directions that I won’t spoil. Suffice to say, Pilgrim always thrived in its balance between realism and fantasy, but this realism is strained into some tired territory that would fit more into exploitive teenage melodrama than everyone’s favorite Canadian Manga.

That said, I wouldn’t discourage anyone from picking this series up. A lackluster Scott Pilgrim shines brighter than 90% of anything else from the big two. Apparently I’m not alone in my praise for this series, as the stock at Forbidden Planet was clean sold out in hours and I had to travel to St. Mark’s where a lone copy thankfully remained.

For those of you who live in the Chicago area, you should attend the Shots in the Dark Launch Party tomorrow, April 28th! For more details on the location and what’s happening when, click here!

Chicago, IL (April 17, 2007) - The April 28th episode of Shots in the Dark will be recorded at the Shots in the Dark Launch Party at Hero Headquarters! The episode will include the usual geek news, as well as interviews with Tim Demeter, Mike Norton, and Skottie Young. You can participate in this week’s show just by attending the party and saying hi! The party will be from 10am - 9pm on Saturday, April 28th at Hero Headquarters, 1530 W. Lake Cook Rd. in Wheeling, IL.

Other activities at the launch party include gaming of many different kinds including Heroclix, raffles and auctions of signed goods from Brian K. Vaughan, Robert Richardson, Sean McKeever, Eric Wight, and Geoff Johns, as well as original sketches and pages by creators such as Phil Hester and Ande Parks. Half of the proceeds from the auctions and raffles, as well as 100% of the proceeds from any sketches done at the event will be donated to the Hero Initiative ( www.heroinitiative.org). The Shots in the Dark launch party also kicks off the Grand Re-Opening Week of Hero Headquarters which will culminate in their own celebration on May 5th!

Don’t forget there are now THREE great Shots in the Dark episodes available for download on the Shots in the Dark website, including the gang’s interview with comics legend Jeph Loeb!

It’s that time again! A brand spankin new episode of Shots in the Dark is up and ready for your consumption! Find the answers to those burning questions*:
1) What is the meaning of life?

2) How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

3) Why ask why?

Get these answers, plus all the geek news, comic and manga reviews, and even a tech Geek Out! from yours truly, RIGHT HERE!

Plus, check out The Viceroy’s second installment of his Game Developer Diary! He gives us some great insight into the process of actually making a video game from start to finish!

See that HERE!

Then head to the forums and tell us what you think, and what YOU want to hear on upcoming shows! Stay tuned to the SitD Blog for a 4 part series covering the burgeoning field of Nerdcore Hip-hop throughout this week, as well!

*None of these questions are actually answered on the show. The last one is just Drink Bud Dry, though. So there ya go. 1 outta 3 ain’t bad. 

Our own Kevin Huxford delivers an oustanding piece on Captain America coverage.

Your Manga Minute (by Troy) features part 2 of its series on Naruto.

Please check them out!

The Shotgun/Best Shots team is all over Newsarama these days. In addition to various convention-related articles from Michael C. Lorah, Kevin Huxford, and Steven Eks, you’ll find an interview with David Mack by our own Koben Kelly. As for me, the new Your Manga Minute is up, beginning a look at Naruto. On Wednesday, I’ll have two special reviews: Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #2 and Captain America #25 (that book will be huge). Later in the week, I return to Naruto. So, if you please, stop over at Newsarama and support our boys.