December 7-9, 2007, marks the first annual New York Anime Festival, and Vertical will be there. Held at the Jacob Javits Center, the show is a celebration of classic and cutting-edge anime, manga, and Japanese culture. Vertical will be featuring some of its most popular titles at incredible NY Anime Festival discounts, including advance copies of The Guin Saga, Book 1 paperback, The Guin Saga Manga, Volume 1, and Andromeda Stories, Volume 2. Be one of the first to hear about Vertical’s 2008 publishing plans at the Vertical, Inc. panel on Sunday morning from 11:00 am-12:00 pm, and don’t miss J-Horror scribe David Kalat’s J-Horror panel on Saturday evening from 5-6 pm. There will also be free giveaways, like Aranzi Aronzo posters and the much-ballyhooed Guin masks (see previous “What’s New” item). But most importantly, we look forward to sharing some face time with our fans and hearing all your comments and suggestions. Hope to see you there!
“Cute” Invades Texas
Friday, October 26th, 2007
The cute quadrupeds of Aranzi Aronzo took Texas by storm this past weekend at the Third Annual Maker Faire. To help celebrate the fair that celebrates America’s creative soul, Vertical had exclusive Aranzi Aronzo merchandise shipped in from Japan. Sewing kits, mascot kits, and stationary emblazoned with the “so-cute-they-should-be-illegal” creatures were snapped up by eager attendees, who also grabbed advance copies of Fun Dolls and Cute Dolls. Not much remained after the two-day festival, just some bits of thread, a swatch of felt, and a couple of locals muttering, “Who were those crafty critters?”
A “Shock”-ing Appearance
Friday, October 26th, 2007
Lucky fan Brittany Moran
Vertical’s promotional posse made a horrific appearance in Worcester, Massachusetts, October 13-14 . . . but in a good way. Marketing Manager Stephen Vrattos visited the Rock & Shock convention to scare up some fans with free hardcover editions of Japanese horrormeister Koji Suzuki’s Dark Water with an exclusive Vertical J-Horror bookmark included in each copy. Four lucky fans also won autographed copies of Suzuki’s Spiral. Though the air was laced with suspense, and though he was in the company of horror movie luminaries, Stephen was never more terrified than when he saw the looks on people’s faces after telling them he had run out of books.
Cute Dolls/Fun Dolls to Debut at Maker Faire
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
Aranzi Aronzo fans rejoice! Fun Dolls and Cute Dolls will soon be here. Both books will be available on November 20, 2007, but a handful of each book will be available at the Austin Maker Faire, October 20-21, 2007. That’s right, a month ahead of schedule—30 days before your friends can get their own copies—you can snag one and have the entire pantheon of new, large-size Aranzi characters and mega-size versions of Aranzi favorites created before your drooling fans can even crack the spine on their copies of the books. Oh, but it gets better. EXCLUSIVE Aranzi Aronzo merchandise—sewing kits, mascots kits, and stationary sets, flown directly from the crafty environs of the sisters themselves in Japan—will also be available at the Vertical booth at the Maker Faire. The Maker Faire is a yearly celebration of creators; from inventors to crafters, robot builders to jewelry designers. So plan to be there and start practicing your “Nyah-nyahs” for when you see your friends after getting your hands on early editions of Fun Dolls and Cute Dolls, and exclusive Aranzi stuff .
Monster Appearance Wows Fans
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
Vertical was back on the road last weekend scaring up excitement at MonsterMania in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Horror-fied fans screamed with delight at the free copies of J-Horror mastermind Koji Suzuki’s Dark Water that marketing manager Stephen Vrattos was handing out, each book containing an exclusive and terrifying Vertical J-Horror bookmark. Stephen also had autographed copies of Ring that fans were eager to take a stab at winning. Stephen’s verdict on the three-day event: “We killed ’em!”
Vertical Makes Big Splash at Renegade Craft Fair
Monday, June 25th, 2007
The Renegade Craft Fair held its 4th Annual event June 16-17 at McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn. Actually it took place in the pool. Originally opened in 1936, the public facility covers three Olympic-size swimming pools. Today, it no longer serves as a pool, but rather as a unique place at which events are held. Given the humidity and soaring temperatures of the two-day event, there were many at the Fair who wished the pool were filled, including Vertical Marketing Manager Stephen Vrattos, who showcased the Aranzi Aronzo craft/humor line and Higher Sudoku and O’Ekaki puzzle books. No surprise, the books were a hit, and many a happy customer walked away with their hands full of goodies, including To Terra… bookmarks, Aranzi Aronzo mini-posters, O’Ekaki samplers, and exclusive Vertical canvas bags and mechanical pencils.
BEA returns to NYC and Vertical is there
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
Things really heated up at Book Expo America this year. And even when the Javits Center’s air-conditioning finally started working, it remained hot at the Vertical booth. Thousands of librarians and sellers attended the annual four-day event, many stopping by to discuss Vertical’s impressive line of books, including the popular Aranzi Aronzo series. Some picked up a free preliminary printing of renowned film auteur and Quentin Tarentino god Takeshi Kitano’s short story collection Boy. Other lucky visitors scored a copy of Shinjuku Shark, a new crime novel by leading Japanese hardboiled detective novelist Arimasa Osawa; while still others walked away, happily clutching a copy of an exclusive sampler of Vertical’s upcoming manga titles. Good thing the show comes around only once a year; it’ll take the Vertical crew that long to recuperate. Whew!
Vertical at NYCC: The Future of Manga
Friday, February 9th, 2007With six new manga properties slated for release throughout 2007, and potentially more in the coming years, Vertical is poised to be a serious player in the manga translating game. What does this mean for a company whose reputation has been built on releasing manga “classics”? As the manga market matures, will Vertical clear a place in the future of manga with more deluxe editions or redefine the mass market format?
Vertical at The NY Comic-Con, Sunday February 25, 3-4pm.
We’re Going to the Harvey Awards, September 9
Wednesday, August 30th, 2006The Harvey Awards are given out annually to celebrate the best in comics, and Vertical’s been nominated for a second year in a row for its Buddha series. This year’s Harvey Awards take place at the Baltimore Comic-Con on September 9, so if you’re attending, don’t forget to look for us walking around with our award on September 10.
Vertical at BEA and more!
Thursday, May 25th, 2006
After a year of being absent, Vertical was happy to come back with a bang to the publishing event of the year – Book Expo America. We came to Washington, D.C. with Koji Suzuki and Team Sudoku (Mr. Tetsuya Nishio, Mr. Kenji Onishi and Ms. Meishuku Ishimura), along with our two new Vertical-Tokyo officers, Mr. Satoshi Suzuki and Mr. Shuji Iwamoto. We left with high hopes, a million new friends, and tons of photos.
After BEA, Vertical Inc. came back to New York City a little tired but very excited, and Team Sudoku gave a standing-room only presentation at Borders in the Time-Warner Center. The whole weekend was capped off with a killer party at Vertical Art Director Chip Kidd’s notoriously perfect apartment. Those pictures are here.