US Edition of Cosmode to Debut at Anime Expo

Besides promoting their new and upcoming manga releases at FanimeCon 2008, Broccoli Books shared more updates on the first issue of the U.S. print edition of Cosmode magazine, which now scheduled to hit stores in July 2008.

Cosmode is *the* cosplay magazine in Japan, and it regularly features elaborately staged photo shoots as well as cosplay snapshots from various events in Japan. It also features lots of "how-to's" from the pros about costuming, posing and practical convention survival tips because wearing a hot, uncomfortable or skimpy costume at a con ain't for wimps.

Broccoli's US edition will be presented as a hardcover "mook" (magazine + book hybrid). The first edition will be 200 pages thick, and will include up to 20% American content in addition to photos and translations of articles from the Japanese edition. New hardcopy editions of Cosmode will be released every 3-4 months. While it's not due to hit bookstores until end of July, Broccoli rep Jonathan Kung mentioned that they are air-freighting in a special shipment just so it can make its early debut at Anime Expo 2008 in Los Angeles.

In the meantime, the online edition of Cosmode Online is available and ready for your reading enjoyment, either as a free preview of issue #000 or issue #001, which is available at $4.95 for single issues, or $29.99 for 12 online issues. Check it out -- for all its bells and whistles and generally busy layout, the interface is surprisingly easy to navigate and browse.

If you're planning on dressing up for an upcoming con, get some inspiration for your next adventures in cosplay with a peek at last year's Anime Expo photo gallery, and the pics I shot at Fanime 2008.

Image credit: © OverDrive Inc.