Manga Galore at the Great Graphic Novels Noms (Especially VIZ)

The Young Adult Library Services Association has posted its 2009 Great Graphic Novels for Teens nominations, from which ten books will eventually be selected as the best, and manga hit it big this year: 33 manga titles (as in series, not including each individual book) were nominated, compared to last year's 14.  And the books really ranged a lot in terms of what companies were represented: VIZ had the most noms, of course, with twelve titles listed. Tpop trails behind at eight, mostly OEL titles but also licensed books like Pet Shop of Horrors and Gakuen Alice.

Meanwhile, CMX had four nominations-- Shirley, Venus in Love, Two Flowers for the Dragon, and Keys to the Kingdom --while Yen had three, Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, Kieli, and Zombie-Loan. Vertical's Tezuka titles are popular, with Black Jack and Dororo both nominated. For Del Rey, only Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail got the nod. DrMaster and Aurora also had one nomination each; Metro Survive and Flock of Angels, respectively.

The discerning reader might be wondering, "what about Dark Horse?" Well, if I'm counting OEL titles, then Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo: Tomoe's Story is their only manga nomination. I guess most of their other popular manga are a bit too gruesome-- Hellsing, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, MPD Psycho...even Blood+ is pretty, well, bloody. I am mildly surprised that Oh My Goddess remains unloved like last year.

And there are a couple of other titles I'm surprised not to see, like Code Geass-- maybe the soap opera style was too over the top, even if the personal and geopolitical drama is fairly sophisticated at times. And perhaps more strikingly-- the first volume of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya isn't on here. Regardless of whether you feel the manga merits it, it doesn't seem like a good sign for Haruhi's plans to cross over into the mainstream.

I'll give you a heads up when the top ten list gets posted!