Comicopia

464 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
(617) 266-4266

www.comicopia.com/

Just a short walk from the Hynes Convention center is a manga lover’s paradise: Comicopia. This small storefront has a selection that would shame your local Kinokuniya, with titles popular—Fruits Basket, Bleach—and obscure—Junko Mizuno’s Princess Mermaid—and a friendly, knowledgeable staff that wear their otaku credentials proudly. Although Comicopia doesn’t offer the same attractive discounts as its competitors, it does run promotions on staff favorites; on a recent visit, the first volumes of Dragon Head and Eden: It’s An Endless World were 30% off the cover price. If you’ve only purchased your manga at Borders or Barnes and Noble, Comicopia is a great place to lose your comic store virginity—its neatly organized shelves and pleasant atmosphere are the perfect antidote to the attitude, clutter, and “no girls allowed!” vibe that can make a visit to your LCS such a drag.

You Can Get There From Here: Take the GREEN LINE to Kenmore. When you exit the station, take a right on Commonwealth Avenue. Comicopia will be on your right in the last block before Storrow Drive.

–Katherine Dacey

Harvard Book Store

1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
(617) 661-1515

www.harvard.com/index.html

An academic, independent bookstore with seriously great taste in manga; if independent manga publishers and intelligent titles are your tune, then this is the place for you. (Think Ode to Kirihito, Abandon the Old in Tokyo.) Upstairs is the new stuff, while downstairs is a funky used books floor that’s essentially a free-for-all in terms of selection, with everything from retro 80’s and 90’s editions of titles to read-once new stuff likely to appear. It’s undeniable that manga is the minority here, but the staff is more than happy to assist, and manga can be seen cropping up on the featured titles shelf. The store also packs a Frequent Buyers discount worth applying for and, above all, a great atmosphere.

You Can Get There From Here: Take the RED LINE to HARVARD SQUARE. As you exit the station, reverse your direction and walk east along Mass. Ave. in front of the Cambridge Savings Bank. Cross Dunster Street and proceed along Massachusetts Avenue for three more blocks. You will pass Au Bon Pain, Toscanini’s, and the Adidas Store. Harvard Book Store is located at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Plympton Street.

–Chloe Ferguson

Hub Comics

19 Bow Street, Somerville
(617) 718-0987

www.hubcomics.com

Billed as “the comic shop for NPR listeners,” this Somerville newcomer is a pleasant place to spend a few hours browsing. The manga section is small—just one rack at the moment—but well stocked with CMX’s best offerings; on my first visit, I counted all nine volumes of Moon Child and full runs of Chikayu Misaki and Swan among the books for sale. Mixed in with the new arrivals are used titles and older editions of Viz manga (i.e. Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2), as well as some fine examples of manga history: the first three issues of Amerimanga magazine, where folks like Amy Kim Ganter cut their teeth before landing book deals with Tokyopop. The rest of the store is organized thematically, with special sections for spandex fanatics, younger readers, and indie press enthusiasts. You can even bring Fido—the staff keeps a jar of dog biscuits behind the register for four-footed visitors. The only drawback to Hub Comics is its location; you’d be hard-pressed to get there without a car. Still, if someone in your entourage has wheels, it’s worth a visit, especially if you follow it up with a nosh at nearby Bloc 11.

You Can Get There From Here: Take the GREEN LINE (any train) to LECHMERE. At Lechmere, hop on the #87 bus (Clarendon Hills) to Union Square.

–Katherine Dacey

The New England Mobile Book Fair

82-84 Needham Street, Newton Highlands
(617) 964-7440

www.nebookfair.com/

You won’t find a Starbucks at this no-frills Boston institution (and when I say “no frills,” I mean it—the Book Fair is housed in a large, dark warehouse), but you will find great deals on manga, cookbooks, academic tomes, bestsellers, coffee table books, classics, mysteries, Choose Your Own Adventures—in short, any book in print as well as many obscure and out-of-print titles. Although the Book Fair carries titles by smaller publishers—Broccoli Books, Vertical, Inc.—its real strength is its selection of Viz and Tokyopop titles. You’ll find a robust selection of older and newer series, from the latest volume of NANA to out-of-print series like The Big O. All books are discounted between 20 and 40%; snag a reward card, and you’ll be on your way to earning a $20 gift certificate. If your comic habit extends to American creators such as Adrian Tomine, Alison Bechdel, or good ol’ Charles Schulz, you’ll find a small but well-stocked graphic novel section in the same section of the store.

You Can Get There From Here: Take the GREEN LINE (D Train/Riverside) to NEWTON HIGHLANDS. At the Newton Highlands stop, exit and walk to Walnut Street. Take a left onto Walnut and cross over the tracks. At Centre Street, take a right. Cross under Route 9. Centre Street becomes Winchester Street. Take Winchester Street to Needham Street. The New England Mobile Book Fair will be on your left. (Note: distance from T stop is approximately one mile.)

–Katherine Dacey

Tokyo Kid

36 JFK Street, Cambridge
(617) 661-9277

www.tokyokid.com/

If it’s Japanese subculture, it’s probably here; Tokyo Kid’s manages to fit an extensive selection of all things Japan pop in a relatively small store, although the dizzying arrays and tight shelves may not be exactly crowd friendly. Still, whether your passion runs towards anime, manga or both, Tokyo Kid has something to offer across all spectrums of fandom and age. To top it off, the store in genuinely invested in the community it serves, occasionally running events and contests to bring local fans out to mix. Though Tokyo Kid’s anime rental and sales seem to take the forefront, the store does devote an entire wall to manga alone, making it worth the trip in any search for elusive volumes—and with its unmistakable blue signage and prime corner location upstairs at the Garage mall, it’s hard to get lost along the way.

You Can Get There From Here: Take the RED LINE to HARVARD SQUARE. Exit up the main stairs/escalators onto JFK Street. Turn left up JFK Street to the end of the block and the Garage Mall (there’s a large arrow sign.)

–Chloe Ferguson

At the event Viz announced several Inoue-related releases:

• Inoue’s gritty wheelchair basketball manga Real
• An omnibus edition of Vagabond
• The reprinting of Slam Dunk, including a one chapter preview in December’s Shonen Jump magazine
• Two very lovely Inoue artbooks, called SUMI and WATER

  At the cocktail reception the press was treated to wine, cookies, and a sampling of Cafe Zaiya’s delicious foods. You can read interviews and coverage of the event at ANN, Comics 212, about.com, the MangaCast, Sporadic Sequential, and Publisher’s Weekly.

  As excited as I am about an omnibus of version of Vagabond (I can catch up at half the price!), I spent the weekend focused on the new Kinokuniya location, and how it changed my manga shopping map of NYC. Out-of-towners flying in for NYAF this week might want to take a look at my updated manga map:

  

  Download a printable pdf here. I have also put it on google maps here. If you want to send a smaller link to your friends, use this: http://tinyurl.com/yw9gtu.

  The greater Bryant Park area was already a great manga destination in the city. One could, on one’s lunch break, hit both Book Off and neighboring Cafe Zaiya on 41st street, rounding off an afternoon with $1 manga (in Japanese) and cream puffs from Beard Papas and then eat in the park next to the library. Given more time, the manga shopping circuit would not be complete without a trip to Asahiya on 45th and then hiking up to (the old) Kinokuniya on 49th street near Rockefeller Center.

  The new Kinokuniya places itself firmly between Book Off and Midtown Comics, and it has a Cafe Zaiya right inside the store as if to tell you that you don’t need those cream puffs! Just stay right here and read while you watch the ice skaters in the park!

  The weekend before the big Takehiko Inoue event, I hung out with Ed Chavez of the MangaCast and Kai-Ming Cha of Publisher’s Weekly. We went to Book Off, where I was surprised to find the English used manga moved upstairs along the back wall in a very expanded section! Previously Book Off’s used English manga selection was fairly weak, but now it is a formidable collection, unrivaled even at the Strand! It might be the best place to shop for used English manga anywhere… possibly in the entire country.

  We also went to the Atom Manga Cafe, New York’s only manga kissa. I had not previously been to the cafe, deterred by rumors that the manga collection is mostly in Japanese. This didn’t bother me, as I was able to flip through Atom’s impressive collection of classic titles like Ashita No Joe, Aim for the Ace, and a large selection of Tezuka’s works. I didn’t even get to the selection of current manga magazines (which are shrink wrapped at Kinokuniya), or fashion magazines. The Atom Manga Cafe offers a small menu of food, although they claimed to be out of ramen at 8 PM on a Saturday, and when Ed ordered an onigiri they had to cook the rice, which took a while.

  Getting back to the new Kinokuniya, Cafe Zaiya’s onigiri are excellent. I recommend the 4-kinds [sic] sandwiches, which feature one fourth of a ham sandwich, a tuna sandwich, a potato salad sandwich, and a tomato sandwich packaged together. According to Ed, the 4-kinds sandwich competes with the 3-kind sandwich available from Lawson’s convenience stores in Japan. It is the lunch of choice for indecisive people!

  In the interest of full disclosure, popcultureshock.com has a relationship with Midtown Comics. I’m not clear on the nature of that relationship, but I do know my friends at Midtown are concerned about the new Kinokuniya. Midtown has an excellent selection of translated manga, but it might have a hard time competing with Kinokuniya. Kinokuniya carries a nice selection of samurai movies on DVD and Japanese import CDs (at Japanese prices). However, Kinokuniya shrink-wraps all of its books. Midtown allows customers to browse indefinitely, but lacks any kind of seating like you might find at a Barnes and Noble. To Midtown’s credit, they have sales, and usually have a better selection than most Barnes and Noble stores. One could buy one’s comics at Midtown Comics at a competitive price, then read them at the Cafe Zaiya in the Kinokuniya two blocks away while eating 4-kinds sandwiches.