Central Park Media Announces New York Comic-Con Guests
Leading North American anime publisher Central Park Media will be attending the February 24-26, 2006 New York Comic-Con, pop culture event on the East Coast. In addition to hosting numerous panels, offering show specials, screenings and premieres, CPM is bringing four guests to the convention whose works are representative of the diverse catalog of anime, graphic novel and live action releases that make up the world of Central Park Media. The guests include:
Youka Nitta: Ms. Nitta is one of the most acclaimed yoai manga authors in the world. Yaoi is a genre of romance written by women, for women featuring deeply emotional relationships between impossibly beautiful men. While such stories are only now entering the North American consciousness through pioneering works like Brokeback Mountain, yaoi has taken over Japan. Ms. Nitta started drawing manga in the 1980’s and hasn’t stopped. Her most prolific work, Embracing Love (Haru wo Datieita), put her on top of the yaoi world both in Japan as well as overseas. Her stunningly dramatic vision, calculated and elaborate tales, and sublimely gorgeous renderings of the human body all build to create a romantic tension throughout her works that is devoured by fans. Ms. Nitta is one of Be Beautiful’s ī ŗ Central Park Media’s yaoi manga imprint ī ŗ headlining authors. Be Beautiful currently publishes Ms. Nitta’s Embracing Love series and will release the third volume in late February. In addition, her Sound of My Voice (Boku No Koe) is slated for release later in 2006.
Sook Kim: Emotional, elaborate comics and animation written for young women are called shoujo in Japan and soonjung in Korea. Sook Kim has been a soonjung manhwa-ga (Korean comic author) since 1980 when her Red Drizzle debuted. While stories for girls make up the vast body of her work, she’s never afraid to experiment and has also penned educational comics and produced traditional brush paintings that have won critical acclaim in both Korea and Japan. A member of the Korean Manhwa Artists Association and Vice President of the Korean Educational Manhwa Promotion Agency, Ms. Kim is most famous for her Premonition of Love, Westside Girls’ High School, Strawberry Salon, and Tag - You’re It! (Zzim!). Central Park Media is publishing her first graphic novel in English, Tag - You’re It!, later this month.
Tim Eldred: It’s every fan’s dream to turn pro and Tim Eldred is living that dream every day. Discovering anime in 1980, he got his chance to turn his hobby into a career in 1989. Mr. Eldred has worked on comic adaptations of M.D. Geist, Captain Harlock, Robotech, Star Blazers, and Armored Trooper VOTOMS and created the storyboards for numerous animated programs including Men in Black, Godzilla, Heavy Gear, Spider-Man, Teen Titans, and Xiaolin Showdown. In addition, he has worked extensively on the Space Battleship Yamato DVD line and has written and produced a documentary entitled Space Battleship Yamato: The Making of An Anime Legend. Mr. Eldred is attending New York Comic-Con to promote Central Park Media’s upcoming DVD release of the sci-fi anime classic Armored Trooper VOTOMS, for which he is penning the ultimate VOTOMS guide book.
Eric Bresler: Eric Bresler is the director and producer of Otaku Unite!, the world’s first feature-length documentary dedicated to Japanese animation fandom in North America. Otaku Unite! traces the history and imagines the future of the anime movement through in-depth interviews with casual anime watchers, diehard fans, and industry insiders. This film has been screened at over 40 anime conventions and film festivals across North America and is on Central Park Media’s slate for release on DVD this March. Mr. Bresler also hosts Let Me Crazy!, a weekly underground Japanese music show on WKDU 91.7 FM in his native Philadelphia.
For the latest information concerning the scheduling of panels, screenings and autograph signings, fans should visit www.CentralParkMedia.com and www.NewYorkComicCon.com in the upcoming weeks.