Mike Richardson and Stu Levy on manga

40630ICv2 has an interview up with Dark Horse CEO Mike Richardson, and part two is where he talks about manga. His take: Shoujo brought in a lot of new readers, but that market seems to have peaked. Dark Horse appeals to a different audience:

Dark Horse has been in sort of a different area of manga, focusing on specific creators and titles, probably more likely to be science fiction, fantasy, or horror and not so much shojo although we have had some and continue to have some. We’re probably less affected by the trends in the book market that the bookstores created.

It’s true that Dark Horse manga appeal to the traditional comics-shop market rather than the bookstore-centered shoujo titles; Richardson says their best-selling series is Lone Wolf & Cub, which got its start in comics stores rather than bookstores.

51ag7nYgCULThe New York Times best-seller list is up, and it’s heavy on the Viz this week.

The Comics Village team make their recommendations from the past week’s new releases.

Lori Henderson presents her handy digest of the week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu.

For those who missed it, Deb Aoki summarizes and provides transcripts of Tokyopop’s recent webcast in which CEO Stu Levy talked about fan translations, making movies, and global manga.

Erica Friedman focuses on some new yuri manga to look forward to in her weekly yuri roundup at Okazu.

At Mania.com, Chris Beveridge comments on the recent trend toward omnibuses, especially at Del Rey.

01MTV has some preview pages of the upcoming Gossip Girl manga. (Via Comics Worth Reading.)

Gia Manry lists some anime and manga released this year that… er… exceeded expectations at Anime Vice.

Y! Gallery is looking for some new staffers. (Via Kuriousity.)

News from Japan: Boys Over Flowers manga-ka Yoko Kamio has a new manga in the works for Bessatsu Margaret magazine, and Beck creator Harold Sakuishi has a manga about Shakespeare in the works. Meanwhile, Tooko Mizuno is bringing Haruka-Beyond the Stream of Time to an end. The last volume of Bokurano, vol. 11, will include a previously unpublished spinoff.

manga AKIRA KODANSHA ED GN VOL 01Reviews

John Thomas on vol. 1 of Akira (Comics Village)
Connie on vol. 1 of Baby & Me (Slightly Biased Manga)
Andre on vol. 2 of Bamboo Blade (Kuriousity)
Cynthia on Black-Winged Love (Boys Next Door)
Andre on Crimson Shell (Kuriousity)
Derik Badman on A Drifting Life (Madinkbeard)
Megan M. on vol. 1 of Dystopia (Manga Bookshelf)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 10 of Emma (Comics Worth Reading)
Connie on vols. 28 and 29 of Eyeshield 21 (Slightly Biased Manga)
Joy Kim on vols. 20 and 21 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Joy Kim)
Ken Haley on .hack//Legend of the Twilight: The Complete Collection (Manga Recon)
Bill Sherman on .hack//Legend of the Twilight: The Complete Collection (BlogCritics)
Susan S. on vol. 1 of Happy Boys (Manga Jouhou)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of Happy Boys (Mania.com)
Michelle Smith on vols. 6-8 of Kaze Hikaru (Soliloquy in Blue)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 1 of Lizard Prince (MangaCast)
Cynthia on Love Skit (Boys Next Door)
Connie on vol. 1 of Madness (Manga Recon)
Lorena Nava Ruggero on vol. 3 of The Name of the Flower (i heart manga)
Connie on vol. 20 of Nana (Slightly Biased Manga)
Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Octave (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 28 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 2 of Ooku (Comics Should Be Good)
Julie on vol. 8 of Parasyte (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Laura on vol. 3 of Pig Bride (Heart of Manga)
Clive Owen on vol. 8 of Rosario + Vampire (Animanga Nation)
Julie on The Sheikh’s Reluctant Bride (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Cynthia on vol. 3 of Tea for Two (Boys Next Door)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Tsubasa Album de Reproductions (Comics Worth Reading)
Julie on vol. 7 of The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls: Revenge of the Hori Clan (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Lori Henderson on the December issue of Yen Plus (Manga Xanadu)
Sarah Boslaugh on vol. 2 of Yokaiden (PLAYBACK:stl)

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Comments

  1. That link to my site above is to a review of A Drifting Life, not A Distant Neighborhood. Not only are the titles similar, but I have reviewed both in the past week.

  2. Danielle Leigh says

    I think that the market for shojo has obviously peaked.

    Brigid, you make a good point about the bookstore market versus the comic book store market, but this statement by Mike Richardson bugs. I might be a little defensive (I’m very fond of shojo, I wouldn’t be in manga at all today if I hadn’t come across shojo almost five years ago), but I don’t think Viz would be expanding its shojo line so aggressively (even if shojo beat folded) if the shojo market had peaked.

    What about all those shojo NYTimes best-sellers? (Fruits Basket, Vampire Knight, Black Bird, Skip-Beat, etc?) Dark Horse just didn’t have shojo that appealed to as wide an audience (although I certainly think they have titles with real quality).