I like the Aria series, but I no longer preorder manga from any retailer. I want to be able to browse, and usually manga, since they’re in book format, are pretty easy to find. That wasn’t the case here. Aria volume 4 came out at the beginning of December. I had some credit with a mail-order retailer, so I asked them to send it to me, along with several other graphic novels, at the beginning of January. I just got […]

Heidi has a list of announced Tokyopop cancellations. The two I’m most concerned with are Kat & Mouse 4 and the next Kindaichi Case Files: The Burial Francs. One of the commenters points out that Kindaichi is a Kodansha title, so with their US branch opening, maybe there’s hope yet to see more translated into English. Kat & Mouse, though, we’ve probably seen the last of, even though book 3 ended with a cliffhanger and I don’t recall if the […]

ADV Insists It’s Not an Ex-Publisher At the end of May, there was some discussion as to whether ADV Manga still existed. Now, Brigid talks to Chris Oarr (link no longer available), and the answer comes back “we’re still selling books, but we’re not doing anything new (including the much-in-demand Yotsuba&! 6) and we’re not reprinting.” Does that really count as still alive? That’s just selling off the backstock. Of course, they have to say “no, no, we’re a going […]

Steven Grant has a must-read column looking at the status of publishers who’ve recently suffered public problems. He makes excellent points, based on his long experience in the business, but I’m most interested in talking about what he says about Tokyopop. He starts by noting: Borders has pulled Tokyopop titles from their shelves due to slipping sales. It would seem something else went on behind the scenes there, as usually booksellers only pull titles that don’t sell, not a publisher’s […]

Tokyopop is splitting into two companies: one for the traditional publishing, and a new company, “Tokyopop Media”, for film and digital production. Tokyopop’s been interested in the latter for a while now, talking about trying to get comics on cellphones and creating online media to promote titles. The general impression is that they have to be more creative — most of the prominent Japanese manga titles are now tied up by competitors Viz and Del Rey. That also explains their […]

Good comment on the Manga Pilots Tokyopop contract uproar: Brad Fox compares the Tokyopop and Zuda contracts (with a cute graphic of the two logos). He concludes that the Tokyopop one is preferable because it allows you to walk away with your rights if you want to after the contract is over. By his reading, Zuda, on the other hand, takes “*all* adaptation rights … Print. Merch. Movies. Television. Spin-offs. The whole ball of yarn.” Brad also thought the Manga […]

I sent a query to Tokyopop’s PR contact asking “Does Tokyopop have a response [to the Manga Pilots uproar]? Are any changes in the contract planned?” In return, I got this back, described as the official TP statement from the Pilot Program team, Paul Morrissey and Hope Donovan: The Pilot Program represents an exciting new stage in the development of original manga for TOKYOPOP, and one of the things we’re most excited about is having a brief, accessible contract–and being […]

More on the latest Tokyopop contract problem: Lea is enjoying getting to say I told you so — she had concerns about the OEL manga contracts years ago, but she was told she didn’t know what she was talking about (not likely, given her long-ranging experience in the business) and that she was too old. Brigid, a former book editor, takes a look at the contract. While she agrees the moral rights issues are problematic, she finds some of the […]