Comments on: Hachette acquires French manga publisher PIKA

By: François

François — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:42:26 +0000

I meant, in France, where Dragon Ball and Saint Seiya were already extremely popular as early as 1986, preceded by Captain Harlock and Grendizer (known in those shores as “Albator” and “Goldorak” respectively).

By: Pedro Bouça

Pedro Bouça — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:19:25 +0000

An important thing the guys reporting it in english seem to have overlooked it that Pika was the very last big independent manga publisher in France. On the last couple of years, the bigger french publishers (some desperately needing to create and/or improve their own manga lines) entered on a buying frenzy that resulted on at least three manga publishers being bought out (entirely or partially) by big publishers (Tonkam by Delcourt, SEEBD and Asuka by Soleil).

Pika was the third largest french manga publisher (the other two being Kana, a subsidiary of giant comics publisher Dargaud, and the manga division of Glénat), one of the few that still publish manga from the Big Three japanese publishers (Kodansha, Shueisha and Shogakukan, all currently very demanding on its international partners) and so a coveted prize.

All this is a bit like if Tokyopop and Viz were being bought out by Marvel and DC. Worrying, to say the least.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

By: Torsten Adair

Torsten Adair — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 05:17:04 +0000

Not to be argumentative, but anime and manga did not become widely popular until the SciFi Channel started showing movies AND Pokemon was translated. Before that, it was just a subculture of science fiction and comics. Great stuff, but it was hard to find.
WOW. Will we finally see French comics in America? Or will that remain a subculture?

By: Francois

Francois — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 23:14:16 +0000

Not to be a party pooper, but manga and anime have been “hot” since the mid 1980s.

By: AntonioSugizo

AntonioSugizo — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:06:56 +0000

Huh? Hachette Livre is acquiring PIKA for the american market? Well, it’s not that surprising, really, seeing how PIKA has been a part of a Hachette Livre France, since, like, forever… Plus, all their biggest titles (GTO, Love Hina and some CLAMP stuff like Sakura and Tsubasa) have all been published in the US already…

By: Rivkah

Rivkah — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:58:56 +0000

IMHO, Hachette in manga is going to be something to really be reckoned with. They have great product and some truly amazing people working for them.

Or maybe it’s just that I’m biased and am something of a Francophile. ;)