(no subject)

[reenka]

Ahh, so apparently Blu licensed one of my favorite yaoi mangas, Tarako Kotobuki's 'Sex Pistols', which is now called 'Love Pistols' :/ Haha, I could be annoyed by the name-change (even though I do get why, blahblahblah-whatever), but I'm more sort of... just disappointed that it's licensed in my usual way. 'Cause you know, I've already read 3-4 volumes scanlated and it's really gonna be awhile before they're up to where the scanlations left off, and... okay, there's the usual grumpy feeling whenever any manga I like a lot & am following is licensed.


See, okay, I don't care if this makes me anti-community or anti-industry or an anarchist selfish bitch or whatever... or maybe I'm just tired of hearing how I 'should' support 'the industry' the way I 'should' save the whales (though that's a bad example 'cause I would give money, were I to actually have some-- which I don't, btw-- to save the whales... though this may be beside the point).

    I was just thinking that manga/comics are one of the only (if not -the- only) artistic medium where the only way to read/view/experience it is if you buy it new, officially. And it only grows more expensive & difficult to find with age, not more. With music, there's cable television and radio and also there's just a huge culture of sharing (actual CDs) between friends & mixtapes (not to mention some libraries and clubs). With movies & even anime, there's TV/cable and a much-reduced rental option in chain stores which are literally everywhere (not to mention some libraries, campus & other movie + anime clubs and a much more hardcore piracy culture). With books-- the libraries are the obvious 'duh' option (since I can literally can get any book in the world through Interlibrary Loan only a week or two after publication now), but you can also get them uber-cheap in used book places and in bookclubs (thanks, SciFi Bookclub!) Meh. Even art gets the 'book' resource option when/if it's published in that form (and though libraries are -starting- to buy up manga/comics, it's really nowhere near a good/serious sample), and well, if I only have $2.95 to spare, I can get a comic for that much money instead of waiting for the bloody graphic novel (but not a manga). :/ Hell, I can and do read single issues IN THE STORE if I'm casually browsing but don't have money that week. :/

Basically, at this point, it's fully understandable-blah-blah-blah, but especially yaoi mangas are a small niche market, not mass-marketed and made convenient in this country (yet). A bunch of your basic local comics stores are cutting back on normal comics titles and/or going out of business, forget carrying yaoi. Yes, chain bookstores carry the graphic novels more & more-- but a) expensive & sometimes marked up; b) shorter shelf-life than comics stores with their back-issue departments; c) to me these aren't conducive to browsing unless I want to spend a ton of money I don't have that day. So I spend even more time after the release waiting for them to show up used & half-price online :/

I refuse to feel like a grinch because a manga getting licensed currently means it's much less available to me (outside of hunting it at half.com). Would I buy it for $10 anyway when volume 5 or whatever comes out? Fine, yeah, but having to, not to mention waiting at least a year till then? That really annoys me, mostly when I see fangirls squee about it. It really makes me want to anti-squee. At the very least, it's extremely inconvenient, after already waiting for new Sex Pistols for ages after its hiatus since their magazine went bankrupt. :/ :/ :/

So: BOOOO, SEX PISTOLS GOT LICENSED! :P *rattles empty pockets*

Comments

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Haha, what's EVEN SADDER is how worried I am all the licensing-is-awesome fangirls will JUMP DOWN MY THROAT if I make this public :)) *snorts*