Major Publishers hop on the manga bandwagon

[Bacon McShig]

Del Rey books, the sci-fi/fantasy label of Random House/ Ballantine, has just launched the initial offerings of its manga line in stores in the past few weeks (Tsubasa, xxxHolic, Gundam Seed, and Negima), and hot on the heels of this comes an interesting announcement from Viz; Simon & Schuster is now their distributor.

Viz/ Simon & Schuster announcement
Del Rey Manga

Looks like the manga freight train won't be slowing anytime soon.

Now maybe some of you will finally be able to find and read Vagabond.

[Dolemite]

Are these idiots going to publish the books "backwards" too?

If so, I guess I'll live. Through necessity, I'm getting used to it.

[George]

I never really had a problem reading manga backwards. Just like chopsticks. Once or twice being exposed to it, and I was fine.

[mollipen]

You'll read them backwards and you'll like it!

While more companies releasing manga is all well and go, STILL we go without Nana. Seeing as how Tokyopop releases ParaKiss, I expected them to algo bring us Nana, but still I don't see it on a store shelf.

And where the f**k is issue #2 of Gunslinger Girl?!?

[kabuki]

Is the weekly manga output a lot greater than the manga buying public's size? I mean ADV just announced like 30 new titles, and they are only one of the many groups putting out manga. It seems... excessive for the US audience.

But what do I know. Maybe there are 4 million avid manga readers in the US. Or maybe its like 4000 people that buy a copy of everything that is published.

[Bacon McShig]

Are these idiots going to publish the books "backwards" too?

I'm surprised at you. As an artist, I would expect you to be sympathetic to artists getting their work "flopped" the opposite way they intended it when they drew it... It's probably a big reason so much manga is coming through so freely now, considering that some manga got stopped at our gates because the artists prevented or placed restictions on the flopping of their artwork (For example, Dark Horse has been forced to cut and paste the order of panels to left to right on Blade of the Immortal, so that Manji's scars are correct). Frankly, I don't blame them. I've flopped some of my work just for shits and giggles and the flaws are sometimes much more pronounced to me that way, somehow (Once again using Dark Horse as an example, Kenichi Sonoda's rendering of people correctly driving on the right lane/ right side of the car in the America-based Gunsmith Cats was all for naught once it was flipped).

Is the weekly manga output a lot greater than the manga buying public's size? I mean ADV just announced like 30 new titles, and they are only one of the many groups putting out manga. It seems... excessive for the US audience.

Yes, but regular books don't sell, no one reads anymore. Manga, on the other hand, has been quite popular and profitable, so I don't blame the big guys for wanting in on the action. I know what you're getting at, too much of a good thing, how much manga can the market support and all... but I think it's still got a way to go before it gets crazily oversaturated. I'd reckon that even at that point, some of the slowest-selling manga won't sell worse than a given low-tier novel, and it wouldn't cost much more (if not the same) to produce. Anyway, the market will only grow for the forseeable future.

[Damian79]

I read so much manga, I actually find it hard to read things left to right.

[AaronChance]

There's so much manga released now... and the only one I buy is Azumanga. I've flipped through all the rest and they either seem so Shoujo I can't even begin to get past the art style, or they're some violent action thing with the generic action storyline, or they're Love Hina (and clones of such).

Viz, please start translating UY and Patlabor again. Come on, you know you want to.

[Ashen Victor]

i think they're going to oversaturate the market. companies are going to run out of big name titles soon enough and start shilling out bullshit manga that no one in their right mind would/should read (i'm looking at you Excel Saga). while i'm all for more manga, i just think they need to do this in moderation. not everyone can keep up with every single title they release.

[Dolemite]

And where the f**k is issue #2 of Gunslinger Girl?!?

How is that book? The art looks beautiful.

And while we're at it, where the fuck is issue #3 of Cannon God Exaxxion?!?

I'm surprised at you. As an artist, I would expect you to be sympathetic to artists getting their work "flopped" the opposite way they intended it when they drew it.

Like I said, I'm getting used to it, and I really don't mind it as much as I once did. In some ways it's actually a cool novelty. However, I don't see the stuff getting "flopped" as such a big deal, it's not like it changes the story or anything. I wouldn't care if I drew something and it got "flopped" in Japan...