Manga News and Information
BusinessLos Angeles, Thursday, July 2, 2009 Bishoujo game localization company JAST USA today announced a new licensing partnership with Japanese multimedia entertainment producer, Nitroplus Co., Ltd., to produce English localized versions of Nitroplus game software. JAST USA President Peter Payne announced the deal at the 2009 Anime Expo bishoujo games industry content panel along with details of the first of several Nitroplus games to be released in English, Zanma Taisei Demonbane (release title pending). SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Comic book publishing company eigoMANGA (http://www.eigomanga.com), today announced a magazine subscription partnership with EBSCO. The agreement makes comic book subscription of their titles 'Rumble Pak' (http://www.rumblepak.com) and 'Sakura Pakk' (http://www.sakurapakk.com) accessible worldwide to public schools, universities, hospitals, and military institutions. "We're very pleased to be involved with EBSCO" says eigoMANGA Publisher and CEO Austin Osueke. "EBSCO is the perfect opportunity to supply our publications to the world stage and cultivate readership to levels that I've never dreamed of." Torrance, CA, March 16, 2009 ‹ AURORA PUBLISHING, INC., the innovative manga publishing company that debuted its first releases in 2007, announced a BORDERS EXCLUSIVE for the release of CHIKA SHIOMI'S QUEEN OF RAGTONIA, a chilling and provocative shojo horror/fantasy series currently running in Japan. Filled with suspense, adventure, drama and the emotional rollercoaster a young princess must undergo when faced with a tragic past and an uncertain destiny, QUEEN OF RAGTONIA makes its highly anticipated debut in the United States. After a string of top-selling hit titles both in Japan and in the U.S. (San Francisco, CA) -- eigoMANGA LLC and Visionary Comics Studio proudly announce the forthcoming publication of "The Frog Princess" (Diamond Order Code JAN094212), an original hardcover graphic novel from writer Jeff Loew (finalist in the "Be a Visionary" contest co-sponsored by VCS and AAM/Markosia) and artist Rie Ikaza (aka "Fitri," one of Indonesia's hottest manga artists). An article titled "Men Under Pressure: Representations of the 'Salaryman' and his Organization in Japanese Manga" was published in the journal Organization last year. Although the article is not readily available to the general public (you need to be a subscriber), the article's authors would like to hear comments and feedbacks, and are willing to send a PDF of the article to those who contacts them directly. Those who are interested in a copy of the article but can't access it can contact the author at: p.matanle(at)sheffield(dot)ac(dot)uk (be polite!).
A Summary of France's Comic Book Market Abstract: France's comic book market is one of the most important comic book markets in the world, with 4,313 different comic book titles (including reprints) and around 77 magazines dealing specifically with comic books published in 2007. Last year also saw comic book sales of over 40 million there, totalling around 400 million Euros. Of 2007's 3,313 new works published in France, 253 were Chinese comic books. If China were to try to expand their portion of France's comic book market they would meet with a few cultural barriers; crucially because the work of Chinese artists differs greatly from the three mainstream comic books styles of Europe, Japan, and the US, and it is hard for many vendors to categorise them. Although all readers approve of the high-quality artwork and originality of Chinese comics, many feel that the storylines are inferior to their Japanese or European counterparts.
Articles like this can be found all over the Internet; this is what I thought at first, and was excited with the idea that this year any comic could sell over a hundred million copies, but it turned out after getting a translator to have a look around on Japanese websites, I felt I had blown things out of proportion a bit, so here I have opted to write a more accurate account of these awards. Japan, as everyone knows, is the world's biggest producer and exporter of comics. If you add together the overall annual tax and the sales volume of each big-name comic book magazine and all the separate volumes, the figures could only be described as "astronomical". As a result, comics in Japan have become more than a mere cultural phenomenon, constituting now a whole industry with financial goals. Some of the comics in this industry have become highly successful best-selling works that have sold over 100 million copies. In view of this, we pulled together some information from the Japanese Wikipedia about Japan's twelve best-selling manga. About.com:Manga has talked with representatives from Digital Manga Publishing and got the official story about recent layoffs and restructuring at the Gardena, California-based
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Comic book publishing studio eigoMANGA (http://www.eigomanga.com), today announced a magazine distribution agreement with Ingram Periodicals Inc., a leading provider of direct magazine distribution. The agreement places eigoMANGA's line of comic books such as their flagship title 'Rumble Pak' (http://www.rumblepak.com) in independent and mass-market bookstores nation-wide. 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. |
Manga Zombie
Finale: Panelosophy
An ongoing conversation about the philosophy behind manga both in the U.S. and abroad. Manga Ranking
Monthly charts of comparative manga rankings based on aggregate online sales listings from Matt Blind. |
From the Chinese Anime and Comics portal 
Few manga have broken the coveted "100 Million" sales mark, an honor reserved only for the most popular and influential works. Below is a translation of 
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
