A healthy helping of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: At The Manga Curmudgeon, David Welsh writes "So you’re among the legion of people who are grateful to Fantagraphics for their recently announced manga initiative, to be curated by Matt Thorn. Who isn’t? I know I am. And you may want to express that gratitude by buying something that Fantagraphics has published. If your comics interests rest primarily in titles from Japan, you may not have sampled other works published by Fantagraphics, so here are some books for your consideration."

• Review: "Amazingly, I was sucked in by the whole enterprise, laughing and groaning and shaking my head. ... It’s scarcely what I would call 'elegant in its simplicity' but with subject matter like this photo-realistic art and emotional weight aren’t called for. These are ugly characters in a gross situation, and Prison Pit treats them with all the indulgence and nastiness needed." – Mark Hale, The Bureau Chiefs

• Review: "Taken as a whole, Newave presents a portrait of an era that might otherwise be overlooked as a vital link between, say, Zap and Eightball. ... [T]he book is a veritable treasure trove of material that would otherwise have been lost to the ages. And, perhaps most importantly, it’s a hell of fun read." – Brian Heater, The Daily Cross Hatch

• Pre-review: At Trouble with Comics, Alan David Doane takes a look at our preview sampler galley of the forthcoming Stephen Dixon story collection: "What Is All This, based on my reading of this short and enticing preview, looks to be one of the most exciting and intriguing fiction releases of the decade. That I’ve only had a chance to read less than a quarter of its 450 pages is maddening, and thrilling. I can’t wait to read the rest of what Dixon has in store."

• Profile: Jordan Hurder writes an appreciation of Jacques Tardi titled "Tardi is Really, Really, Really, Really Rad"

• Interiew: The Comics Journal website presents part 2 of Matt Thorn's interview with Moto Hagio reprinted from TCJ #269

• Opinion: At The Comics Journal, Shaenon Garrity's reaction to our manga publishing news and appreciation of Moto Hagio is a must-read: "Is there an animated gif of a unicorn with the head of Jason Shiga devouring the universe and exploding? Because that might just about express the awesomeness of this development."

• Staff: Selections from the forthcoming anthology The Last Vispo, co-edited by our own Nico Vassilakis, will be on exhibit at the Common Ground Art Gallery in Windsor, Ontario, opening this Saturday, March 13 — more info from Crg Hill or on the Facebook event invitation (above example by Dirk Krecker)

In light of our publishing announcement yesterday, the editors of The Comics Journal website have wisely chosen today to present the first in a four-part online serialization of Matt Thorn's feature interview with manga-ka Moto Hagio from TCJ #269.

Response to the news about our new manga line has been overwhelming.

Series editor/curator/translator Matt Thorn speaks out on his blog, providing a bit of background and a few more details about the two inaugural releases, Moto Hagio's A Drunken Dream and Other Stories and Shimura Takako's Wandering Son Vol. 1. Be sure to bookmark Thorn's blog for ongoing updates on the project. Meanwhile, The Comics Journal's Dirk Deppey, who was instrumental in bringing the project to fruition, uses his ¡Journalista! pulpit to reveal much more information and background about the line. Both links are must-reads for anyone interested in this project.

We'd be remiss if we didn't point out that the Deppey-edited "Shōjo Issue" of The Comics Journal, #269, with Thorn's feature interview with Moto Hagio, is still available and is indispensible to fans and newcomers to the genre alike.

We also want to point out that the cover images that we've posted and sent out, as lovely as they are, are still works in progress by Fantagraphics art director Adam Grano and will likely be revised before the final releases.

Various other blogospheric reaction and commentary:

• Anime News Network shares our press release and comments on Moto Hagio's appearance at Comic-Con International this summer

• Anime Vice's Gia Manry, who had the original scoop, offers her commentary

• AnimeNation has a brief item

• The Beat's Heidi MacDonald posts news and links and comments "to see Fantagraphics get involved [in manga] is a very promising development."

• Bleeding Cool's Rich Johnston comments with a typical firm left hand

• Kai-Ming Cha, manga editor for Publishers Weekly, has commentary and links at her personal Boiled Egg blog

• Comic Book Bin posts the news

• Comics212's Chris Butcher offers extensive commentary and concludes "Great day to be a manga fan."

• CraveOnline's Joey Esposito reports

• Sean Gaffney also comments and similarly concludes "All in all, a terrific day for manga fans yesterday."

• Hypergeek re-posts our press release

• I Reads You's Leroy Douresseaux posts the news

• Icarus Publishing honcho Simon Jones has some great commentary, including: "Fantagraphics’ taste for artistic, compelling, quality comics, and the expertise of Thorn makes for an inspiring combination; Fantagraphics is a risk taker, with faith in art and willingness to see difficult projects through, while Thorn has the knowledge necessary to comb through and make sense of Shogakukan’s immense catalog."

• ICv2 reports

• Japanator's Brad Rice reports the news and comments "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go die from happiness real quick now..."

• Manga Bookshelf's Melinda Beasi reacts to the breaking news with the headline "Fantagraphics Makes Dreams Come True" and follows up with more details and reaction

• The Manga Curmudgeon's David Welsh reacts and provides his own link roundup

• MangaBlog has links and commentary

• Robot 6 has a concise news item

• Zona Fandom has the news en Español

UPDATE: Adding more links as they are found:

• Forbidden Planet International blogs "We know Fanta as champions of quality comics work from around the world, so if they are putting their name to a new line then I’m interested..."

• Newsarama takes note in a headline roundup

• Otaku Champloo comments excitedly: "I’ve read some of Hagio-sensei’s works and Wandering Son in Japanese and I am infinitely happy how these mangas are finally having an English voice."

• Shoujo Café has the news in Portuguese

• Dave Carter of Yet Another Comic Blog is "giddy" with the news

After years of development, Fantagraphics is unveiling a new line of manga. Kicking things off in September 2010 is a collection of short stories from the mother of shōjo (young girl) manga, Moto Hagio. Next, is a multi-volume series from the GLBT manga-ka Shimura Takako. Each book will be released in hardcover form, keeping the original "right to left" manga style for a deluxe, yet authentic reading experience.

The first book, entitled A Drunken Dream, is a collection of literary short stories by Hagio falling into multiple genres, created between 1971-2007. This tome travels through several of Hagio's most revolutionary and poignant tales that span over the years of her lush career.

In December 2010 comes one of the defining transgendered-centric manga, Wandering Son. Shimura Takako's ongoing series follows two young friends, Shuichi and Yoshino. These 5th graders struggle not only with puberty, but also severe identity issues; Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy. The two find solace in their mutual confusion and help each other cope with their gender frustration while embarking on the complicated journey of growing up.

To celebrate the launch of the new Fantagraphics manga, Moto Hagio is making her first ever visit to The United States to attend Comic-Con International 2010 as a special guest. More details on a speaking event and panel at the con will be available soon.

Moto Hagio spearheaded the rebellious shōjo movement in the 1970s. She, along with a few other women, formed an artist collective called the "Magnificent 24." Influenced by radical youth culture of the '60s, American and British rock ‘n' roll, and European cinema, these women pioneered the shōjo genre and helped develop the artistic style that so many manga-ka emulate today. Winner of the Shogakukan Manga Award, Seiun Award, Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, Nihon SF Taisho Award and many others, Hagio has earned respect as a Japanese artist superstar and won the hearts of manga fans for the last 40 years.

Shimura Takako is a female manga creator living in Tokyo. Her focus on LGBT issues places her work in a space that's rocked out by The Gossip and on par with Alison Bechdel. Several of Takako's books have been honored with recommendations from the prestigious Japan Media Arts Festival.

...the story that Anime News Network broke and is spreading like wildfire is true.

We'll have a full announcement and press release as soon as tomorrow. Stay tuned, manga-lovers.