From Papo de Budega comes an interview with Queenie Chan, creator of Tokyopop's The Dreaming, which is also being released in Brazil by Lumus.

Companies to collaborate on a wide variety of publishing and trans-media projects

San Diego, CA, July 24th, 2008 – Global manga giants TOKYOPOP and GENTOSHA COMICS have entered into a worldwide partnership to advance the cause of the manga revolution. Under the terms of the alliance, TOKYOPOP will provide sublicensing agency services (outside of Asia, France, and Italy) for GENTOSHA COMICS’s world-class library of manga hits, including titles like Gravitation, Lament of the Lamb, and Arm of Kannon. The companies will also pursue a wealth of co-development opportunities in the digital, film, and merchandising spaces.

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Originally known as Mixx, the well-known Tokypop is a company that licenses, publishes and distributes translated Japanese anime and manga as well as Korean mahn-wa and global manga. Stuart Levy, who still maintains position as owner to this day, originally founded the company in 1997. Tokyopop has since released hundreds of manga graphic novels in both English and German, including global manga and 'cine-manga' (manga styled graphic novels using images from animated shows).

A co-publishing agreement with HarperCollins Publishers in 2006 handed over the distribution rights for a portion of Tokyopop's inventory. Along with this came permission for Tokyopop to begin creation of global mangas based on HarperCollins Publishers' books. It was the largest corporate news heard from the manga-publishing giant until June 2008, when Tokyopop announced a restructuring of the company.

On June 3rd, 2008, Tokyopop representatives issued a press release stating that Tokyopop would be split into two separate companies. While one side will continues its lead focus on the publishing aspect of the company, the other, titled Tokyopop Media, will deal with the company's recent endeavours with its digital releases and comics-to-film division.

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From Manly Manga and More... comes three manga-related news from Germany:

1. Tokyopop Germany has licensed four new manga (2 shounen and 2 shoujo): Love Trouble by Saki Hasemi & Kentaro Yabuki and Claymore by Norihiro Yagi, and Hell Girl by Miyuki Etoo and Nagatachou Strawberry by Mayu Sakai.

2. The result of Comic of the Year Award 2007, an award hosted by Comixene, Comics Info and comic.de, has been announced.

3. Heyne Manga has raised the price of several of their manga (such as Air Gear, Mamotte! Lollipop and Samurai Deeper Kyo), and that the publication of Gacha Gacha, Yagyu Ninpo Cho and Life has been put on hiatus indefinitely.

A round-up of various new reports on the this year's NYCC (updated constantly):

General:

• Thoughts (vicariously) from NYCC [ Shuchaku East ]
• NYCC08: License/Announcement Roundup [ Giapet.net ]
• New York Comic-Con Wrap Up [ UGO ]
• New York Comic Con 2008: Hits and Misses [ Premiere ]
• When Fan Worlds Collide: Scene @ NY Comic Con [ Galleycat ]
• Interview with Lance Fensterman [ ICv2 ]
• NYCC Rocks! [ ICv2 ]
• NY Comic Con: Videogames at New York Comic Con 2008 [ Destructoid ]
• NYCC Round up [ Comics2Film ]
• Comics Go Wide at New York Comic-Con; Gordon Lee Charges Dismissed [ PWCW ]
• Report From New York Comic Con [ NarniaWeb ]
• Thousands Of Comic Book Fans, Creators Meet In NY [ wnbc ]
• East Meets West x 2: Stan Lee's Manga and Del Rey's Marvel Projects [ Firefox News ]
• 2008 New York Comic Con - Day Two [ PinkRaygun ]
• 2008 New York Comic Con - Day One [ PinkRaygun ]
• Manga Recon @ NYCC 2008: Day Two [ PopCultureShock ]
• New York Comic Con ‘08 Report [ Ex-fansubber ]
• NYCC: Sales crunch, Stan Lee, Viz to do global manga [ MangaBlog ]
• New York Comic Con 2008: Complete On-Site Coverage [ Toon Zone ]
• NY Comic-Con: Friday's Manga /Anime Highlights [ Newsarama ]
• NY Comic-Con: Friday's Manga /Anime Highlights [ About.com:Manga ]
• The Anime and Manga Lover's Guide to NYCC 2008 [ PopCultureShock ]
• IGN NYCC Updates [ IGN ]
• CBR's Exclusive Coverage of New York Comic Con [ CBR ]
• Geek gods united at N.Y. Comic Con [ NY Daily News ]
• ANN: New York Comic Con [ ANN ]
• New York Comic Con Central [ Wizard ]
• NY Comic Con '08: First Impressions [ The Quarter Bin ]

Photos:

• New York Comic-Con 2008 Photo Gallery, Highlights [ About.com:Manga ]
• NYCC: Photo Gallery - Day One-ish [ ComicMix ]
• In photos: 'New York Comic Con 2008 - Hellboy II: The Golden Army Preview' [ Monsters & Critics ]
• Pulp Secret
• NYCC: Photo Gallery - Day One-ish [ ComicM!x ]
• New York Comic Con Photos [ Comic Related ]
• 3 Photos from The New York Comic Con [ comics212 ]
• Photo Mania NYCC 2008 [ PWCW ]
• New York Comic-Con 2008 [ ComingSoon ]
• NYCC 2008 [ Flickr ]
• New York Comic-Con 2008 [ Figures.com ]

Videos:

• Fear.net
• NYCC on Fox National News!
• Episode 420 - Day 1 of the NYCC [ Comic Geek Speak ]
• ComicMix Radio at NYCC: Familiar Faces and Plans for '09 [ ComicMix ]
• A Different Take on New York Comic Con [ Major Spoilers ]
• New York Comic Con 2008 Day 1: Stan Lee and Viz "Ultimo" Press Debut [ MeFeedia ]

ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference:

• Graphic Novels Hit $375 Million [ ICv2 ]
• ICv2 Confab Reports 2007 Graphic Novel Sales Rise 12% [ PWCW ]
• Initial Commentary On The ICV2 Graphic Novel Conference In NYC 04-17-08 [ The Comics Reporter ]

Publisher-Specific:

• The Wachowski's Sequels Galore - Speed Racer and Ninja Assassin [ FirstShowing ]
• NYCC: Minx Panel [ CBR ]
• Hiroyuki Takei And Stan Lee Presents Ultimo [ AnimeNewsI ]
• Tokyopop Expands GoComics Relationship [ ICv2 ]
• NYCC08: CMX [ Giapet.net ]
• Del Rey announces Wolverine Team [ MangaBlog ]
• Manga Giant Extends Publishing Portfolio with Launch of Colorful New Line of International Books [ Newsarama ]
• NYCC08: VIZ Press-Only Event! [ Giapet.net ]
• TOKYOPOP and Spacedog Entertainment Join Forces to Develop Manga Entertainment [ MangaCast ]
• TOKYOPOP and Blizzard Entertainment® Announce Three-Year Publishing Plan [ MangaCast ]
• Yen Press Licenses Haruhi [ MangaBlog ]
• NYCC08, Oh Yeah, Yen Also Has Soul Eater [ Giapet.net ]
• Liveblogging New York Comic Con! [ Del Rey Blog ]
• MAC STORE [ comics212 ]

From Okazu comes an interview with Tokyopop Editor Hope Donovan.

In the latest issue of PWCW, MangaBlog's Brigid Alverson talks to DramaQueen in "DramaQueen Relaunches."

Finally, Post-Gazette talks to Undertown writer Jim Pascoe.

Via: MangaBlog

According to ICv2, Tokyopop has licensed a new seinen manga from GTO mangaka Tohru Fujisawa titled Tokko. The first volume of Tokko will be released in July.

Comics Worth Reading is reporting that Tokyopop is giving anyone who participates in its Tokyopop Dreaming prose competition a free copy of Tarot Cafe and a piece of key art from The Dreaming.

Also, Tiamat's Anime and Manga Reviews has some news on Seven Seas' relationship with distributors, and problems they're facing by switching from Diamond to Tor/Macmillan:

We agreed to end our distribution through Diamond at the end of December 31, 2007, and as of January 1st, 2008, Tor/Macmillan became our "Vendor of Record" as it's called in the industry. [...] However, Diamond informed us they would not release most of our back stock to Tor until the end of February, since they were still accepting returns until then, and didn't want to make two separate and substantial shipments to Tor's warehouse.

Via: MangaBlog

From Manga Recon comes an interview with Christy Lijewski, artist of Tokyopop's RE:Play, and Tokyopop editor Tim Beedle:

PCS: How do you respond to fans who feel the term "manga" should only be applied to Japanese comics? Where do you see RE:Play fitting into the current comic market?

Christy: I think they're over thinking things to be honest. I mean, so many manga magazines and publishing labels in Japan are called "Comics" and no one there seems to go, "This isn't a comic!" I don't see why we see the word "manga" here and have to go, "This isn't manga!"

Tokyopop has launched a "I-Manga Music Video Mash Up Contest," which asks its participant to remix scenes from two of Tokyopop's more popular manga into music videos.

The winning video will receive an Apple Video iPod packed with Tokyopop music and all of the i-manga webisodes, as well as being featured on the TOKYOPOP TV YouTube page. The contest ends March 23rd, rules can be found here.