Q: Who else is helping you to put together this "mook"?
Jenna: Michelle and I are the primary parties working on the mook right now. She relocated from Japan to lend a hand. The idea to make the mook in America was hers originally, so it’s so great that she’s on board now that the ship has sailed!
Michelle handles all the acquisitions work for the Bible (interacting with PR agents and company reps), as well as conducting interviews, writing articles, and organizing materials that are coming in from many different sources. She’s my right-hand gal, and an expert in her own right!
We have some editors on staff who help out here and there, but most of the other content is coming from other Lolitas involved in the community, who are contributing everything from write-ups of events they’ve attended to photos of themselves in Lolita and ideas for future articles. Our art director, Al-Insan Lashley, has put together a super design and production team, but most of that also is happening on a freelance basis.
What are your favorite features of this first issue? Do you have any memorable or fun behind the scenes stories behind getting this first issue together?
Michelle: One of my favorite features is the interview with musician and Lolita model Nana Kitade. I remember being a bit nervous when going to meet her out in Tokyo—but then, when I finally met her, I was immediately comforted by both her kindness and her frankness.
Another fun article to do was the Japanese Lolita staff interviews. These were pretty hard to gain access to, actually, as brands in Japan really want to protect their image, so I had to go through a bit of red tape to even so much as talk to the girls. But once I met them, I found that they were really friendly and excited about the mook, and they couldn’t believe that Western readers would want to know anything about them. It was really a fun experience, and I hope I get to go back to Japan soon and see those girls again!
Q: What are your plans for upcoming issues of Gothic & Lolita Bible? Will TokyoPop be promoting more Gothic & Lolita events in 2008?
Michelle: We’re really working hard on covering Lolita events all over the world, since we really want to make our publication accessible to anybody who has a passion for Gothic and Lolita fashion. For that, we’ve been relying heavily on information passed onto use from fans about upcoming events and store openings, for which we are extremely grateful.
In the future, we will be helping to promote not only the Japanese brands for Gothic and Lolita, but also the Western designers, both those with established business and those just starting out. To help increase awareness of some of the American Lolita designers, we’re organizing a small fashion show event at New York Comic-Con this coming April.
We’ll also have a presence at some of the upcoming anime events, as well as San Diego Comic-Con this July, with events to be announced closer to those dates. And we hope to host many more fashion events with our partners from both the Western markets and Japan in the future.
===================
- See a preview gallery of pages and photos from Gothic & Lolita Bible Volume 1
- Visit TokyoPop's page for Gothic & Lolita Bible
- Compare prices for Gothic & Lolita Bible Volume 1
