DEL REY & KODANSHA ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP

[MattBrady]

Press Release

Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, announced today that it will launch a line of manga titles in conjunction with Kodansha, Japan’s leading publisher of manga. This creative partnership is a direct result of the recent alliance between Random House, Inc. and Kodansha Ltd., Publishers, which was announced in January.

Del Rey will launch with the simultaneous release of four titles in Spring 2004. Each will be the first volume of an individual series—all top Kodansha properties; these will be followed up by eight additional volumes over the next twelve months. The titles will be released as trade paperbacks printed in the traditional Japanese format, reading right to left. The target audience for the program will be readers 13 and older.

“We’re terrifically excited about working with Kodansha, and about the potential for expanding the audience for manga,” said Betsy Mitchell, VP/Editor-in-Chief for Del Rey. “Our program will mark the first time a major U.S. trade publisher has entered the manga arena. Random House’s powerful sales, publicity, and promotional resources will bring manga to greater prominence in several markets that have not yet benefited from its current popularity.”

Dallas Middaugh, former sales and marketing director for Viz, has been named as Director of Manga for Del Rey, reporting to Betsy Mitchell. He will oversee acquisitions as well as sales, marketing, and promotional strategies for the program. Widely respected as an expert in selling and marketing manga, Middaugh saw net revenue from manga publishing more than triple during his tenure at Viz.

Cited as the fastest growing category in bookstores today, the graphic novel market has doubled each year for the past two years, leading to an estimated $100 million market today. The vast majority of the growth in the market has been due to the increased popularity of Japanese comics, known as manga.

“We thank Kodansha for working with us to create this new program,” said Mitchell. “It’s exciting to be able to trade ideas and concepts.”

[Franklin Harris]

I look forward to the manga-is-just-a-fad crowd trying to explain away this.

[amaraswen]

Originally posted by Franklin Harris
I look forward to the manga-is-just-a-fad crowd trying to explain away this.

Amen, bro. I'm waiting too for the "S.O.S., manga glut! Danger, danger!" neysayers to give us their ill omens over again.

[drifter13x]

More Manga is always good. Manga's just a fad? Man whose been toting that? Well whatever, I'm more than happy to to throw my cash down for some serious Japanese influence, BRING IT ON!

[Jason Seaver]

The titles will be released as trade paperbacks printed in the traditional Japanese format, reading right to left.

When you think about it, the success of manga printed this way is mind-boggling. You look at the apparent difficulty comics publishers are having finding new readers, and here companies are selling titles that you have to read backwards hand over fist...

[blankpoint]

All you happy manga-readers out there, good for you! I remember back in the late 80s... and again a few years ago, when a lot of these "traditional" publishers started up shiny new graphic novel publishing lines.

This is different of course -- the material is clearly intended for kids/teens. The good thing about stuff for kids is that it can actually be insanely crappy, and still do well. Take the Power Rangers, or your pick of the cardgame-based anime shows. The producers realized that kids either don't know the difference between moronic plots and relatively smart ones, and don't care about good special effects.

In addition, the books are reprints, so they cost the publishers much less to do... does anyone know how writers/artists in Japan are compensated for overseas reprints?

The only problem I have with manga in general is the same one that I have with Crossgen - I've sampled the merchandise, repeatedly, and haven't found anything I've liked (exception -- Lone Wolf)

[drifter13x]

I can see how having to swim through the current glut of kids trading inspired Manga could turn off a mature reader, but I think you just need to sift a bit more. A lot of the Manga comin in is actually not aimed at just teens and kids, and definatley has a very adult audience in mind. Is thier crappy Manga? Of course, in any market your going to find stuff that just makes you bored, but Manga is such a broad field that I truley believe thier is something for everyone. If I can make a small recommendation for you, If you liked Lone Wolf, I think you should check out viz's Vagabond or the also Dark Horse produced Blade of the Immortal. Both are samurai action/drama's that deal with subjet matter very similarly to Lone Wolf. The good stuff is out there man, don't give up yet!

[Jim Kosmicki]

I'm a bit chagrined that there's no mention of what titles this deal will bring into print. That will affect how much I care.

Most of the current shojo stuff just doesn't float my boat. I can see the basic charm of something like Love Hina for its intended audience, but I'm not that audience.

Having said that, I've found that Parasyte and Chobits hit my SF sweet spot.

Battle Royale is a good story, if you can handle the strong violence.

The surprise to me is how much I like Iron Wok Jan. I made fun of "cooking manga" when I first heard of it, but I read the sample at the ComicsOne website, was intrigued, and haven't looked back yet. THIS is the manga series that I purchase and read first (then Chobits and Battle Royale).

Unlike Crossgen, which still stays within standard SF/Fantasy story types, it really is true that the variety in manga is so wide that if you keep looking, something will come along that interests you.