Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...right?

There's been quite a hubbub in the Bleach fan community today over Incarnate, a comic book created by Nick Simmons (Gene Simmons' son). There's more than a striking resemblance between his comic and Bleach. There are some similarities to other manga, but Bleach seems to be the biggest victim. Here's a sample:

And there's much much more.
I remember seeing a preview of Incarnate several months ago, and while it wasn't that good, there was a definite Bleach and Hellsing influence. But at that point it stopped at "influence." Things have changed since then, it seems. While the story originated at the Gamefaqs forum, the epicenter seems to be at the LJ community, Bleachness, where comparison images kept coming in throughout the day. Also, for anyone following the Viz release, be warned there are spoilers for volumes that have yet to be released.

Viz has been notified, and apparently Kubo himself tweeted about all the American fans that were telling him about a "manga imitating Bleach." From the translated tweets I read, he seems less outraged, and more bemused.

It's a pretty messed up thing to do on many levels, but it's also plain ridiculous how it's SO obvious. If you're gonna do it, try a bit harder to cover your tracks or something! Murmurs of "he only has a comic book because of his dad" were bound to happen (like I said, his art wasn't that great), and now those murmurs have become shouts. A lot of fans are also mad because their are so many aspiring artists out there, and to them this is just a slap in the face. Why do something like this with a comic? I would think coming up with the shots and poses would be the fun of getting to do comics. What the heck?

Ultimo vs. Jumbor

Has a mangaka ever used the exact same story in two different series at the same time? If not, Hiroyuki Takei, you may be the first! Well, maybe not exactly. I'm exaggerating a bit, but it does seem that way with Ultimo and the reboot of Jumbor.

First a brief history lesson on Jumbor Barutronica, Juuki Ningen Jumbor, or just Jumbor, pronounced "yoombor": In 2007, a while after Shaman King was canceled, Takei started Jumbor in Weekly Jump, a series about a construction warrior (or something, I dunno) who died and was resurrected in a childlike robot body with mechanical hands and feet. There were construction robots, and everything down to their names followed that motif. It lasted 10 chapters, only filling out one volume. That's a really quick cancellation (even for Weekly Jump, who is notorious when it comes to cancellations), but not entirely shocking, since it's not uncommon for Jump mangaka to have a flop after a successful series (Watsuki with Gun Blaze West comes to mind). Anyway, that happened, and a few a years later they started releasing the Kanzenban edition of Shaman King, which would have a new ending with the final volume. Then Ultimo started in Jump SQ, and about 2 months ago, Takei did a Jumbor one shot for Ultra Jump which takes place 300ish years after the last chapter. And it was recently announced that Jumbor would start serialization in the next issue of Ultra Jump.

I never read the series, but as I've been really into Ultimo lately (I'm enjoying it much more than I originally thought I would), and with the news of Jumbor returning, I was curious and decided to take a look at the one shot. It was fun, but that's not what I wanted to bring up. What really struck me was the similarity to Ultimo. Not the series itself, but the character.
Ultimo is a robot boy with transforming hands, rocket legs, and shades attached to his head. All the "doji" in the series are. In Jumbor, the main character is a robot boy with transforming hands, rocket legs, and shades attached to his head.
Actually, he looks a bit more like Vice (from Ultimo) with the dark hair and bigger shades (even the shades follow the construction theme!). He looks rad. That's the most appropriate word, I think. Rad!

Need to see how similar they are? Here's the both of them attacking.
Jumbor:
Ultimo:
(I flipped the images. Both were originally facing downward.) It's almost the same panel! Even the same arm is doing the punching. The biggest difference is that Jumbor's transformations have a more nuts and bolts mechanical look, whereas Ultimo's transformations are more sleek. And of course, Jumbor has the construction motif going on, while everything in Ultimo has a kabuki touch to it.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with this, it's just interesting and really stood out to me. Like I said, Ultimo has been very enjoyable, and the one shot of Jumbor was cool enough that I'd read it if were to come out here.
As to why they have this similarity, I think after the original Jumbor was canceled Takei was still really into this idea, so when his next project came along (Ultimo), he still wanted to use some of the ideas he had for Jumbor, so he just ran with Stan Lee's concept and inserted some Jumbor into it. I guess either the free time he got from doing a monthly series, or the success of Ultimo (I don't know how successful it's been, actually), or both, allowed him to do another series, so he decided to go back to Jumbor. It would be funny if Ultimo made a cameo in Jumbor, or vice versa.

Gottsuu-iiyan at The Eastern Edge has been talking about monthly schedules vs. weekly schedules lately (in favor of monthly) and mentioned how Takei was pleased with the monthly format and how it allowed him to put more effort into every panel. I think Jumbor coming back is a sign of how beneficial the extra time of a monthly schedule can be. I think it's great that he's been able to pursue a pet project that he obviously cares about. There's been something of a small trend lately of old series returning, with Jumbor, Yami no Matsuei (Descendants of Darkness), and Togari, all of which seemed unlikely to return. It's a nice bit of hope for manga that were cut short too soon.

Radical Astro Boy/Tezuka music video!

I stumbled upon a neat music video full of Tezuka characters raving, and Astro Boy undergoing some sort of transformation at the hands of Black Jack! It's done in the style of the 2003 Astro Boy series. It's pretty cool. A bit old (2008), but pretty cool.

The song is from a group, or "supergroup," if you will, called Ravex.

"Spearheaded by Shinichi Osawa (Mondo Grosso), Tomoyuki Tanaka (Fantastic Plastic Machine), and Taku Takahashi (m-flo), ravex is a special crossover project group formed in 2008 to celebrate music label avex's 20th anniversary and manga legend Osamu Tezuka's 80th anniversary. The electronic trio collaborate with various avex artists for their music, and Tezuka Productions contributes character artwork and animation to the project."