qshoe1989 ([info]qshoe1989) wrote in [info]authenticmango,
@ 2007-09-16 22:24:00
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Entry tags:report

VERY belated news from Tezuka Panel at the Asian Art Museum
This is way overdue, I know, but this is the info that I've confirmed with industry representatives.

Dark Horse:

1. New Tezuka in works beyond Kimba
2. Club 9 dead for good.
3. What's Michael? omnibus very possible.
4. Astro Boy Vols. 1 and 2 reprinted
5. Astro Boy omnibi possible
6. Dark Horse is beginning to look into Crime and Punishment by Osamu
Tezuka.
7. Carl Horn, though doubting cancellation, could not promise the
complete printing of Eden. He REALLY wants us to read it.

Vertical:

1. No Moto Hagio. Ever. They can't acquire the rights.
2. No sound of wind in the trees through 2010 (or any other longer
Takemiya work for that matter).
3. Adaptions of Tezuka's works are highly unlikely due to high
resistance from Tezuka Productions (Kimba anyone?).
4. They of course have more Tezuka plans.
5. Expect new creators beyond Takemiya and Tezuka (and the Guin Saga
mangaka) in the near future.
6. Website overhaul in October.
7. Vertical to get a seperate manga imprint.
8. Tezuka titles to remain flipped.

Viz:

1. They are considering more Tezuka (Princess Knight received good fan
response in shoujo beat)
2. No. 5 is NEVER coming back. It is Viz's worst selling manga of all
time. Blue Spring also sold extremely poorly.
3. Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga is a favorite of theirs, though a
reprint is unlikely in the near future.
4. Black Jack is something they'd love to print if they were sure
they'd profit off of it.
5. Reprints of the original Adolf series or Black Jack run are
impossible as their original runs pre-dated digitization.
6. Adolf very likely to be reprinted in a new format at some point in
the future.
7. Entire Phoenix series reprinted including volumes 1, 3, and 7.
8. Kekkaishi not actually as big a loss for Viz as some have thought.
It's still highly overlooked however.
9. Phoenix still is a financial loss for Viz. This does not encourage
them to reprint Black Jack.
10. Viz is printing Firefigher! Daigo of the Company M! at a loss and
refused to disclose why they even licensed it in the first place, but
said they had a very good reason that THEY COULD NOT DISCLOSE. Eh?
Firefighter is now top secret? Is someone paying Viz to publish it? The
Firefighter Illuminati? Strange.

Non-panel related news:

1. Blast to continue publishing Barefoot Gen in the near future.
2. Off*Beat, a wonderful OEL series by Jen Lee Quick, has had it's third volume postponed untill August 2008.
3. Udon Entertainment is picking up Range Murata's Robot where DMP left off. Volume 4 is slated for December. For 5$ more. Oh well, still a score!


That's it for news! My old reviews will be posted soon! Then new ones!



(Post a new comment)

Matt Thorn here
(Anonymous)
2007-09-17 09:32 am UTC (link)
Amazing what you can get industry reps to say at these sorts of gatherings, isn't? You'd think someone had loosened their tongues with a few drinks beforehand. I think whoever said No. 5 "is Viz's worst selling manga of all time" was being hyperbolic, or is unfamiliar with Viz history. What counts as a disaster by Viz standards today would have been considered a bestseller back when I was translating for Viz in the early 1990s. We did some weird titles in leaflet format back then that probably sold less than a thousand copies. Needless to say, they were never collected into paperbacks. Even the best-selling Viz titles of the pre-Pokémon era (such as Ranma 1/2) probably sold fewer copies at the time than Viz's worst-selling paperbacks today.
Don't give up hope just because one publisher says they can't or won't do this or that title or artist. It's always possible that another publisher may succeed (or persevere) where another failed, or that the situation may otherwise change.
Looking at your list, I see one example of which I have concrete, first-hand knowledge.
But I can't tell you which one. :)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: Matt Thorn here
[info]qshoe1989
2007-09-17 11:40 pm UTC (link)
I'm betting it's about firefighter. Crazy pyros... "You've got guts kid!". Haha.

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Re: Matt Thorn here
[info]qshoe1989
2007-09-17 11:47 pm UTC (link)
You are referring to a Viz title, yes? I bet in reality it's about Princess Knight. Which could be even MORE exciting than shady Firefighter! illuminati.

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Re: Matt Thorn here
[info]naniwa
2007-09-18 04:44 am UTC (link)
Amazing what you can get industry reps to say at these sorts of gatherings, isn't? You'd think someone had loosened their tongues with a few drinks beforehand.

Tell me about it. I am usually told to keep most of what I am told under lock & key. I guess I shouldn't have gone to Comiket after all. I missed out on some good dish.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: Matt Thorn here
[info]qshoe1989
2007-09-20 07:07 am UTC (link)
They were too. I'm just sneaky =). The only pieces of info I gleaned from the panel that were perhaps "secret" though were the possibility of a What's Michael omnibus and DH's consideration of Crime and Punishment. The other bits are not something the companies have any reason to hide from us.

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Re: Matt Thorn here
(Anonymous)
2007-09-20 05:19 am UTC (link)
I'm really hoping Matt's referring to Moto Hagio myself... I'd love to read Otherworld Barbara, The Poe Clan, The Heart of Thomas, Marginal... Who am I kidding? I'd love to read ALL her work, though A Savage God Reigns may be too intense for me. I still can't believe more of her work hasn't been published here, considering that she is one of if not the most important artist in shoujo manga history period. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have English copies of A,A', Four Shoujo Stories, and Hanshin. Thank you so much Matt! :)

But it's a shame not more people are reading Firefighter. It's a great read, and all the friends I've introduced the title to love it. And there's only one volume left! So I gotta thank Viz for throwing us that particular bone, in addition to Phoenix of course.

And I was very disappointed that I couldn't have attended the Tezuka panel; I got to San Fran the day AFTER it took place... why'd they hold the panel on Thursday of all days?! :p

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: Matt Thorn here
[info]qshoe1989
2007-09-20 07:02 am UTC (link)
I managed to get Four Shojo Stories via a miracle, but how'd you get Hanshin?!?! Gahhh!!!! I want ALL of her work too. Unfortunately, Matt is not going to announce that Vertical can do her work. They CAN'T. And sadly, I seriously don't forsee Viz moving into old shojo manga anytime soon. Sigh... I want my Hagio!!!!

Firefighter can be summed up by it's most often repeated line: "Youve got guts kid!". =). No offense. It's art is gorgeous. And its plot, is, well, cheese. But not bad cheese. But cheese nevertheless. Yet it still is SOME kind of weird secret at Viz. I swear. I don't hold it against them for licensing it, they're just hiding something about the series...

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: Matt Thorn here
[info]qshoe1989
2007-09-20 07:04 am UTC (link)
Ohhh. Hanshin is from the Comics Journal. Kapisch. By the way, brilliant article/interview on/with Hagio Matt.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


(Anonymous)
2007-09-21 12:20 am UTC (link)
If Viz isn't making money on Phoenix does that mean Vertical isn't making money either on Tezuka and maybe including To Terra also? Unless they have some secret method of success Viz doesn't know it seems gloomy for the future classic manga releases. And why is Phoenix considered a failure if they're reprinting volumes...

Crossing my fingers for Dororo in 2008 so I can see if there really is a missing link between Hiroaki Samura and Tezuka.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]qshoe1989
2007-09-21 04:18 am UTC (link)
Vertical IS making money. They're a boutique publisher, and selectively targeting and seductively packaging their titles. They're marketing, sales and distribution are structured differently from Viz's. They're not making a whole lot though. They really want more sales. Dororo is coming. Never fear.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Matt Thorn again
(Anonymous)
2007-09-21 04:19 am UTC (link)
Sorry I can't elaborate on what I said about concrete possibilities, but a "Reliable Source Who Shall Remain Nameless" corrected my other comment:
I don't remember the actual numbers, but actually, it's highly possible that No. 5 was indeed Viz's worst-selling manga of all time, even by late '80s/early '90s standards. Yes, manga gets good bookstore distribution now; but No. 5 came out in the inbetween time around 2002 before Viz had really sewn up the bookstore distribution, AND when comic shops had already started lowering their manga orders down to nearly nothing, "just because," or because it's so widely available in bookstores.
Not No. 5, however. Speaking as an anonymous source, I'm pretty sure that it sold less than 1000 copies. Weird format, plus art that doesn't look like Naruto... a disaster. Those bookstore buyers, despite their much-lauded love of manga, are still totally ruthless about not carrying manga that looks like it won't sell. Firefighter, the other manga mentioned on the panel, sells less than 500 copies per volume. It might actually be less than 100 after returns... I don't remember... :/
My R.S.W.S.R.N. went on to say:
As for the reason why Viz continues to publish such horribly low-selling titles as "Firefighter," it's because they're forced to by Shogakukan and Shueisha, naturally...

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: Matt Thorn again
[info]qshoe1989
2007-09-21 11:22 pm UTC (link)
I totally believe you. But the rep's PARTICULAR response about Firefighter was a little strange... I'm probably making it up =).

And actually, most of the reps responses are things I asked personally asked afterwars. That's why the other bloggers, who actually COVERED the event well (I didn't even try, mad kudos to them), didn't report this info.

Thanks again for filling us in Matt!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: Matt Thorn again
[info]qshoe1989
2007-09-21 11:28 pm UTC (link)
I'm just surprised that the release rate for Firefighter isn't something abysmally low like twice per year. Maybe they're trying to maintain the interest of the few readers they have...

And why would Shogakukan/Sheisha want them to continue? Viz is a child company, why would they force it to print at such a loss? Something like Phoenix, perhaps the most important manga ever, I can understand, but a niche shounen manga? I don't. Not that I want them to ever drop series! Bad idea! ::covets copies of NANA, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and Kekkaishi::.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]gregmce
2007-09-24 01:02 am UTC (link)
Saw this link via Chris Butcher's blog -- it's good (but sad) to finally hear somewhere even semi-officially that Club 9 is, indeed, dead as a doornail. I'm assuming the same is also true for my late, lamented Shadow Star as well, which makes me very sad. *sigh*

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]qshoe1989
2007-09-25 05:17 am UTC (link)
I cry so many tears for it =(. Though maybe if they release a What's Michael omnibus, and it does REALLY well, they'll do a Club 9 omnibus. But from the sound of it, that's a HUGE stretch. A What's Michael? omnibus is still a vague possibility, and Club 9 did far worse than those flimsy editions of What's Michael?. Sighhhhh... I love Makoto Kobayashi.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


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