While a quick peek at the ‘academic’ releases each week have always been a part of my used-to-be-weekly watchlists, usually they would merit at best their own subheading, and often nothing more than a footnote.

Let things pile up for a month or two though and hey, actually there is a lot of this sort of stuff being released on a quarterly basis. (Yes I’ve been keeping track — Never mistake a lack of posts on this blog for a lack of work. I live for this stuff; just wait until I start posting online sales rankings again)

I’m not going to post all the manga titles that were released in Jan-Feb, because honestly you can find release lists all over the place (like say here, or here, here, and here, and Comipress compiles those weekly for you btw) but I think I should dig up all the old printouts and post the oddball and scholarly stuff that comes up on other, non-manga keyword searches.

Roughly speaking, these are releases from 1 Jan to …um, yesterday; similar titles from 16 March on will be included on the weekly watchlist. My thought is to post the watchlist on Mondays, but of course (in keeping with my New Year’s non-resolution) I Promise Nothing. Nothing.

Pick of the ‘Week’

American Nerd: The Story of My People
Benjamin Nugent, Scribner, Hardcover, 240 pgs. $20

While my dream of an academically rigorous work that attempts a Linnaean classification of the entirety of fandom into its appropriate geek, nerd, and dork phyla remains tragically unfulfilled (somebody set up a wiki for that, would you) in Nugent’s book we see perhaps the early fieldwork that will aid later loserologist in developing the basic theories of the field.

From the publisher’s description and early reviews, Nerd is focused on the ‘classic’ nerd stereotype (smart-awkward-pocketprotector- -bowtiebadhairandglasses) as exemplified in the ‘84 Kanew film, and hits on other aspects of ‘being the other’ only in passing and as they relate to Nugent’s own experience. So no otaku. But even with that failing, it looks to be a good show. Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist Starred Reviews; originally slated for a March release (which is why it’s on this list) but it looks like Scribner has pushed the street date out to 13 May. [link: author’s web site]

Also Noted

- Asterix. ’nuff said.

- You may not be as familiar with Michael Spradlin’s Spy Goddess series of teen novels as you are with say, the works of Meg Cabot or Erin Hunter. Mostly, I think, because the ’series’ is just two books and those came out two years ago. As part of the HC/T’pop deal, though, Spy Goddess gets the manga treatment and Spradlin gets a second shot at registering with his target audience. Oh wait, he’s not writing this one, he just gets a Creator credit: Script by Rachel Manija Brown, art by [I’m not making this up] Rainbow Buddy.

(above: excerpt totally ganked from some sales site’s ’search inside’ function. Copyright 2008 HarperCollins, Tokyopop, prolly M. Spradlin and maybe Rainbow Buddy also)

- The Japan Weekly Mail: A Political, Commercial, and Literary Journal, 1870-1917. Taylor & Francis, hardcover, $2806.00

- a whole slate of drool-worthy titles from Cocoro Books, including Anime Figurines, Takarazuka, Dekotora, Visual Kei, Wartime Political Cartoons, and let us not forget Neo Shunga: An Introduction to Japanese Pop Erotica. Unlike the Japan Weekly Mail Archive, these are only $15 each. Score! [link: Cocoro Books website]

…and a whole lot of other good stuff, hence the list.

One thing I should say: Often I find a listing for a book with a stated publication date, and then the actual ship date ends up being weeks or months later. (for example: American Nerd, the pick this week.) With smaller presses and the whole mess this past year with distributors (PGW, Client, Perseus, et al.) I’m not surprised. Take this as a good-faith effort to list books that should be available now, or soon, and don’t get too tied up with actual release dates. Besides, where else are you going to see a listing for Pars Japonica?

full list after the jump.
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A Short, by no means comprehensive, selection of Graphic Novels (and other cartoon objects) included because they Caught My Eye

• St. Trinian’s: The Entire Appalling Business :: Searle, Penguin : $24.95 hc
• Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go! vols. 1-2 :: DMP : $39.95 hc
• Ants Have Sex in Your Beer :: Shrigley, Chronicle Books : $14.95 pb
• Asterix Omnibus :: Goscinny, Uderzo, Orion Publ. : $19.95 pb, $27.95 hc. These are reprints of the Orion UK volumes by US publisher Sterling. (Sterling is a wholly owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, so I can’t speak to wide availability but you should be able to pick these up from your local B&N or off of their website). Each Omnibus includes 3 previously published volumes, about 144 pages.
• Book of Moms :: New Yorker Magazine Staff, Andrews McMeel : $12.99 pb
• Dude Ranch O’ Death: Hardy Boys Graphic Novel #12 :: Papercutz : $7.95 pb, $12.95 hc
• Prize Winning Political Cartoons: 2008 :: Pelican Publ. : $15.95 pb
• Spy Goddess :: HarperCollins/Tokyopop : $9.99 pb
• Wild Pilgrimage: A Novel in Woodcuts :: Ward, Dover Publ. : $9.95 pb

Art

• Color Woodcut International: Japan, Britain and America in the Early 20th Century :: Chazen Museum of Art, U. of Wisconsin Press : $34.95 pb
• Illuminated Manuscripts :: Unicorn Press : $295 hc
• Illustrators: The British Art of Illustration 1786-2003 :: Wooton, Chris Beetles Ltd. : $35 pb
• Japanese Decorative Arts of the Meiji Period: 1868-1912 :: Impey, Seaman, Ashmolean Museum : $22.95 hc
• Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan :: Impey, Watanabe, Ashmolean Museum : $9.95 pb
• Netsuke: Four Centuries of Masterpieces :: Arnoldshe Art Publ. : $135 hc
• Shigaraki: Potters’ Valley :: Cort, Orchid Press : $60 hc
• Wonders of Imperial Japan: Meiji Art from the Khalili Collection :: Schiermeier, Forrer, Waanders BV : $30 pb
• Introduction to Japanese Kanji Calligraphy :: Takesaki, Godin, Tuttle : $27.95 pb
• Japanese Prints: Catalogue of the Van Gogh Museum Collection :: Waanders BV : $95 hc
• Japanese Sashiko Inspirations :: Briscoe, F&W Publ. : $24.99 pb
• Hiroshige: 100 Years of Edo :: Trede, Bichler, Taschen : $150 pb
• Black Robe, White Mist: The Art of the Japanese Buddhist Nun Rengetsu :: Eastburn, National Gallery of Australia : $40 pb
• Japanese Packaging Design from the Interwar Years :: Cocoro Books : $15 pb
• Cover Art By: New Music Graphics :: Shaughnessy, Laurence King Publ. : $40 pb
• Peel: The Art of the Sticker :: Combs & Combs, Mark Batty Publ. : $27.95 hc

Film

• Nightmare Japan: Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema :: McRoy, Rodopi : $67 pb
• Readings in Contemporary Chinese Cinema: A Textbook of Advanced Modern Chinese :: Chou, Chiang, Wang, Princeton University Press : $39.5 pb
• The Cult Film Reader :: Mathijs, Mendick, SRA/Mcgraw Hill : $43.95 pb
• Ideas for the Animated Short: Finding and Building Stories (w/ DVD) :: Elsevier Science & Technology Books : $29.95 pb
• Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business (reprint) :: Mamet, Knopf : $13.95 pb
• Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts :: Phillips, Taylor & Francis : $125 hc
• Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics :: Furniss, Libbey, John & Co. : $24.95 pb

Art: How to

• How to Draw Manga vol. 3 :: Dunn, Antarctic Press : $12.95 pb
• 50 Manga Babes to Draw and Paint: Create Cutting Edge Manga Figures for Comic Books, Computer Games, and Graphic Novels :: Li, : $21.99 pb
• Draw Comics Like a Pro: Techniques for Creating Dynamic Characters, Scenes, and Stories :: Bigley, Watson-Guptill : $19.95 pb
• Drawing Hands :: Cheek, Dover Publ. : $5.95 pb
• How to Color for Comics :: Antarctic Press : $29.95 pb

Otaku Travel

• Michelin Restaurants and Hotels Guide Tokyo 2008 :: Michelin Travel Publ. : $16.95 pb
• Year in Japan: 30 Postcards :: Williamson, Chronicle Books : $9.95 hc
• Eyewitness Travel Guide: Tokyo :: Dorling Kindersley : $20 pb
• Frommer’s Japanese PhraseFinder & Dictionary :: Wiley : $7.99 pb
• Wallpaper City Guide: Kyoto :: Phaidon : $8.95 pb

For Scholarly Otaku: Learning the Language

• Grammar Keys: A Guide for Japanese Students (3rd edition) :: Top Shelf Publishing : $16 pb
• Japanese Berlitz Concise Dictionary :: Berlitz : $15.95 pb
• Japanese in 10 Minutes a Day with CD-ROM :: Kershul, Bilingual Books : $24.95 pb
• Teach Yourself Business Japanese (w/ 3 CDs) :: Carroll, McGraw-Hill : $39.95 pb
• Tuttle Japanese Business Dictionary :: de Mente, Tuttle : $18.95 pb

For Scholarly Otaku: Culture

• Art of the Japanese Sword: As Taught by the Experts :: Kawachi, Comee (translator), Ribun Shuppan Co. : $29.95 pb
• Handbook of Japanese Mythology :: Ahskenazi, Oxford University Press : $24.95 pb
• Seasons of Sacred Celebration :: Heinrich, Floating World Editions : $19.95 pb
• The Quest for Kibi and the True Origins of Japan :: Gorman, Nakamura, Orchid Press : $35 pb
• Traditional Theater of Japan :: Inoura, Floating World Editions : $50 pb
• East Asian Pop Culture: Analysing the Korean Wave :: Huat, Hong Kong University Press : $27.95 pb
• Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhism: Myoshinji, a Living Religion :: Borup, Brill Academic Publ. : $174 hc
• Ryokan: A Japanese Tradition :: Fahr, Langenscheidt : $19.95 hc
• Language and Education in Japan: Unequal Access to Bilingualism :: Kanno, Palgrave McMillan : $74.95 hc
• Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan :: Feiler, HarperCollins : $13.95 pb
• Scribbling for Victory: Japan’s War Through its Anti-Western Cartoons :: Cocoro Books : $15 pb
• Perspectives on Japan: Towards the Twenty-First Century :: Japan Library : $69.95 hc
• Small House Tokyo: How the Japanese Live Well in Small Spaces :: Cocoro Books : $15 pb
• Japanese Cooking: Without an Oriental Store in the Neighborhood :: Naumann, Quixote Press : $9.95 spiral bound
• Oriental Vegetables: The Complete Guide for the Gardening Cook :: Oxford University Press : $19.95 hc
• Festive Foods: Japan :: Facts on File : $28 hc
• Fresh Japanese :: (cookbook.) Fukuoka, B&N Books : $7.98 hc
• Japanese Election Posters: The Public Face of Tokyo Politics :: Cocoro Books : $15 pb
• Serene Gardens: Creating Japanese Design and Detail in the Western Garden :: Kawaguchi, New Holland Publ. : $17.95 pb
• Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes :: Mark Batty Publ. : $12.95 hc
• Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900 :: Shirane, Columbia University Press : $32.5 pb
• Korean-Japanese Relations :: Jung-Hoon Lee, Palgrave McMillan : $69.95 hc
• Multiculturalism in Japan :: Murphy-Shigematsu, Routledge : $149.95 hc
• Odd Markets in Japanese History: Law and Economic Growth :: Ramseyer, Cambridge University Press : $37.99 pb
• Primary School in Japan: Self, Individuality, and Learning in Elementary Education :: Cave, Taylor & Francis : $150 hc
• U.S. Cultural Propaganda in Cold War Japan: Promoting Democracy 1948-1960 :: Saeki, Edwin Mellen Press : $ hc
• Another Japan is Possible: New Social Movements and Global Citizenship Education :: Chan, Stanford University Press : $27.95 pb
• Modanizumu: Modernist Fiction from Japan, 1913-1938 :: Tyler, U. of Hawaii Press : $ hc

For Scholarly Otaku: History

• Black Glasses Like Clark Kent: A GI’s Secret from Postwar Japan :: Svoboda, Graywolf Press : $14 pb
• Famous Japanese Swordsmen of the Warring States Period :: de Lange, Floating World Editions : $24.95 pb
• Korean Gakuhei: My Life in the Japanese Army :: John Young Sohn, River’s Bend Press : $17.95 pb
• Letters from the 442nd: The World War II Correspondences of a Japanese American Medic :: Masuda, Bridgman (ed.), U. of Washington Press : $22.5 pb
• Pars Japonica: How a seafaring raid on the coast of South America met with disaster and how, against all odds, one ship was eventually brought to the shores of Japan by the English pilot Will Adams, the Hero of Shogun :: de Lange, Floating World Editions : $35 hc
• Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of the Japanese American Internment :: Lange, WW Norton : $18.95 pb
• Overcoming Modernity: Cultural Identity in Wartime Japan :: Calichman, Columbia University Press : $45 hc

Dear Santa: I still need a dead-tree OED (the 20 volume set +DVD pls-) but I would also like this. kthxbye.

• The Japan Weekly Mail: A Political, Commercial, and Literary Journal, 1870-1917 :: Taylor & Francis : $2806.00 hc

Oh… baby…

• Anime Figurines: Tokyo’s Top 50 Anime Figures :: Cocoro Books : $15 pb
• Gender Gymnastics: Performing and Consuming Japan’s Takarasuka Revue :: Stickland, Trans Pacific Press : $34.95 pb
• The Art Trucks of Japan :: Cocoro Books : $15 pb
• Tokyo Rock Catwalk: Visual Kei Bands Big in Japan :: Cocoro Books : $15 pb
• Neo Shunga: An Introduction to Japanese Pop Erotica :: Cocoro Books : $15 pb
• Japan Graffiti :: Camerota, Mark Batty Publ. : $27.95 hc

Titles I’ll be sure to reference in the next year because I think it will make me look like an academic, though in fact it will only make me look like a pretentious git.

• Superman vs. Hollyood: How Fiendish Producers, Devious Directors, and Warring Writers Grounded an American Icon :: Rossen, Chicago Review Press : $16.95 pb
• The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture :: Finkelstein, IB Tauris & Co. : $85 hc
• V for Vendetta as Cultural Pastiche: A Critical Study of the Graphic Novel and Film :: Keller, McFarland & Co. : $35 pb
• Brit-Myth: Who do the British Think They Are? :: Rojek, Reaktion Books : $19.95 pb
• Holy Superheroes! Exploring the Sacred in Comics, Graphic Novels, and Film (revised and expanded ed.) :: Garrett, Westminster John Knox Press : $16.95 pb
• Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights :: Ivey, U. of California Press : $24.95 hc
• Spectacle Pedagogy: Art, Politics, and Visual Culture :: Garoian, Gaudelius, State University of New York Press : $59.5 hc
• American Nerd: The Story of My People :: Nugent, Simon & Schuster : $20 hc
• Shifting Definitions of Genre: Essays on Labeling Films, Television Shows, and Media :: Geraghty & Jancovich, eds., McFarland & Co. : $35 pb
• Influence of Imagination: Essays on Science Fiction and Fantasy as Agents of Social Change :: Easton (ed.), McFarland & Co. : $35 pb
• Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime :: ME Sharpe, Inc : $76.95 hc

You know, I don’t have $77 bucks just sort of lying around right now (and if I did that’d be 4 six packs and 5 volumes of manga right quick) but I think I might really really need that last one.

This week’s manga in the post to follow. –M.