I was a bit surprised to open my mailbox today and have the December issue of Yen Plus fall out, seeing as how the November issue had come only a little over a week earlier. Not that I’m complaining or anything, but… well, if you’re a subscriber too, you know how it goes.

Unfortunately, JuYuon tells us in her letter that, “due to NaRae’s health,” Maximum Ride is on hiatus again this issue. Rats. But without health we have nothing, so please get well soon, NaRae.

(By the way, JuYuon, it’s come to my attention that I’ve misspelled your name as “JuYoun” at various times and places on this site. Sorry. I’ve purged every occurrence I could find and will try harder not to make the mistake in the future. You know, on the off chance you’re reading this and care and stuff.)

But in Max’s place, this issue brings plenty of special secular, gender-neutral, non-racial and entirely politically correct winter holiday presents to tide us over. Raiders finishes its two-issue preview run, and we also get a section of 13th Boy, which, from skimming through it, bears a very strong visual resemblance to Sarasah. And then there’s something else which has caused more than a little fuss for Yen Press recently…

Yen Press hasn’t announced it yet, but this early review (linked via MangaBlog) of the November issue speaks of a one-shot comic called Prom Night by one George Alexopoulos, and his web site confirms this work is appearing (though he may not consider it his finest work). Alexopoulos has previously released a one-volume comic with TokyoPop entitled Go with Grace.

I look forward to reading it. Once my November issue arrives in mid-January, I’ll let you know more.

In honor of halloween, I’ve updated the Higurashi When They Cry page. Of the current Yen Plus alumni, Higurashi is the one I’ve been following the closest. Its psychologically spooky tales of gristly murder and demonic abductions make it a natural candidate for some spooky fun on halloween - be sure to read it with the lights off.

Well, I guess that wouldn’t work very well, but you get what I’m trying to say…

Yen Plus’s subscription distributor continues to have some problems with punctuality. I hope Yen Press is of mind to switch to another company once the current contract is up (if that’s how these things work).

UPDATE: Oops, almost forgot to tell you all to check out this interview with Yen Press’s Kurt Hassler. Not too many surprises, but there’s some discussion on the current trend of digital manga on cell phones and portable video game systems and such. I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll stick with the dead tree variety for at least a little while longer - as great as the iPhone may be, the thought of squinting at its screen to read comics and streaking one’s finger across it to “turn pages” doesn’t appeal to me.

This post isn’t going to be about how great Yotsuba&! is. For that, you can go here, or here, or here, or here, or even read my own gushing about it back when Yen Press announced they were rescuing the title here. Instead, this post is going to be a brief, quasi-scholarly comparison, with scans for your own perusal, of the treatment that ADV and Yen Press have given the same material; namely, the first volume of Yotsuba&!. Keep reading on for the goods.