| FanimeCon - Day One - Studio Ironcat |
 This man wants
you to buy these graphic novels, and promises that more are on the way.
Art director Steve Bennett of Studio Ironcat pointed out the collections
of Crusher Joe, Vampire Miyu, Dragon Wing and Futaba-Kun Change, noting
that most of them have remastered art and new translations, improvements
from the original books. Coming next are collections of Hyper Dolls and
Ogenki Clinic. Those graphic novels will be easier to find or order from
mainstream book stores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble, Ironcat
said on Thursday. |
 Mark Hoffman
(left) and Kevin Bennett (right) of Ironcat added that when the Vampire
Miyu series ends, Ironcat will pick up the companion Vampire Yui series
(about another Vampire who's both a sister and a daughter to Miyu, of sorts).
Shinpei Itoh, Hyper Dolls artist, and Senno Knife, the artist of the Valkyr
series from Ironcat, plan to attend Project: A-Kon in June, the two said.
That visit might coincide with the publication of a new horror title from
Knife, but Bennett isn't sure Americans are ready for it. "We're not sure
if we're willing to push the envelope that much. His stuff runs the gamut,"
Bennett said. Americans probably are ready for Sepia, an erotic fantasy
from Knife, which is already out of the Sexy Fruit label from Ironcat. |
 Remember the
Gun Crisis police series from Masaomi Kanzaki that Ironcat once published?
Steve Bennett said the company plans to bring that title back, and from
the beginning this time. The Gun Crisis series that got into print a couple
of years ago was taken from the middle of a much larger story line. "It
was meant to be an ongoing series about people in that group. It's not
supposed to be about one person," Bennett said. He warned that the opening
story of Gun Crisis is more violent than the books that Ironcat already
printed, but he also noted that Japanese audiences seem to like that kind
of thing. |
 After replacing
its top management last year, Ironcat has been trying to restart some projects.
Hoffman and Kevin Bennett said there's a possibility that some major
Japanese companies could be getting involved with the small Virginia company,
but they're not yet ready to announce anything. |
Day One |
Day Two |
Day Four |
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