Comments on: Tokyopop layoff update

By: Animelist News » Blog Archive » Tokyopop Confirms Its Kodansha Manga Licenses Will End

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:07 +0000

[...] THE BEAT » Blog Archive » Tokyopop layoff update [...]

By: Post Media Age » Blog Archive » Deconstruction Of Tokyopop’s eruption/erosion/implosion

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:15:09 +0000

[...] Ooohweee! Tokyopop is burning up the blogosphere, swheeet!! Watch my feet, wa watch my feet! Even though I’m about a week late, and a virtual nobody in the big scheme of things (my real name isn’t even on my latest work) let’s start by linking to this, this, and now this. According to that last link, some of the SCHM-OEL titles will survive the aftermath, or the afterbirth or whatever.. here’s an excerpt: Contrary to what all the manga and anime news sites are reporting not EVERY OEL from TokyoPop is canceled/direct to web. I’m happy to say that RE: Play made the cut and that the 3rd volume will be coming out in print, on schedule, as planned! [...]

By: Shea Standefer

Shea Standefer — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:24:02 +0000

Hearing about TokyoPop letting go of some of their most talented editors is extremely saddening. Hope Donovan was the only reason I was still interested in working with TPop even after the contract for the Pilot Program was released; she was incredibly helpful in helping develop my story idea, and I wasn’t even contractually bound to TPop. Luis Reyes has been working for TPop for as long as I’ve been attending their portfolio reviews, which has been several years. If there’s anyway to get into contact with Hope or Luis, I’ll be the first person to send them my apologies.

By: Nimnams

Nimnams — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:45:49 +0000

This doesn’t surprise me at all. Tokyopop’s CFO has always been a buffoon, and Stuart Levy, aka DJ Milky, has always paid a few friends really well and cut loose the hardworking heart and soul members of his company whenever J.P.’s financial projections are wrong. (Which is YEARLY.) I got out of that sinking ship a little over a year ago, but my favorite part of the annual layoffs were the year that not a week after cutting several integral members of production, Levy was crass enough to post a newspaper article in the company breakroom hailing him as one of the “hot new entrepreneurs” who were millionaires under forty.

No class. My condolences to those who had the rug pulled out from under them…but I really feel for the ones that are still there, waiting for the inevitable. The beast is dead, but the body’s still thrashing around…

By: Aaron Sparrow

Aaron Sparrow — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:22:52 +0000

It seems to me that Tokyopop has never seemed to be able to get it’s finances straight and budget properly. While I was employed in the offices there a few years back, the threat of layoff hung like the Sword of Damocles over the staff, and we all basically knew we could be canned at any moment (And many of us were.) A year later it happened again. The only surprise in this is that T-Pop went so long between the previous waves of layoffs and this one.

It’s a shame that so many good people and excellent employees lost their jobs. I’d like to think it’s the effect of the sluggish economy and not bad financial planning, but either way it makes little difference to those affected. I’ve known Tim for years, even before Tokyopop, and he was always quite enthusiastic about working on manga (even the bad ones) and really, and I mean REALLY, enjoyed being in contact with the fans. Paul Morrissey is a great friend, a great editor, and a guy I’d take a bullet for. Luis is one of the most energetic guys on the planet, full of ideas, and a boon to whoever picks him up now that he’s a free agent. I only worked with Hope while she was an intern, but she is a great friend and everyone I know speaks highly of her work. Rob Tokar is probably the guy I learned the most from…he is a great teacher, a humble, easy-going guy and probably my favorite boss ever.

I honestly don’t know how Tokyopop will function without these talented individuals. Hopefully their loss will be someone else’s gain, because more stable companies like Boom Studios or IDW could really put these guys awesome abilities to use.

By: MangaBlog » Blog Archive » The aftermath begins

MangaBlog » Blog Archive » The aftermath begins — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:02:53 +0000

[...] And is Kodansha really going to set up an American arm and cut out its U.S. licensees? Despite a flurry of speculation and inquiry yesterday, no definitive answer emerged, although Cthulhu, the anonymous commenter who started the whole thing, clarified that the news came not in a public announcement but in an overheard conversation. I checked in with a couple of people, as did numerous other bloggers, but so far there is nothing to report. [...]

By: Leigh Dragoon

Leigh Dragoon — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:10:22 +0000

Hey all – I’ve worked as a writer with Tim as my editor — he is very professional and easy to work with. I am really depressed to hear he has been cut. I sincerely hope he is snapped up by another company — he is a great, great editor.

By: Hank

Hank — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:20:37 +0000

MochiAzn, I actually know all the original TP people that you brought up. I was an intern turned employee through out their incubator days. A little correction for you, though: We were UCLA students. But the company was based in USC.

By: ReallyAnonymous

ReallyAnonymous — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:20:14 +0000

“My contact has now clarified, saying the information was overheard during a discussion with a distributor and was not a formal announcement, as I had mistakenly assumed.”

Now that’s convenient!

By: Cthulhu

Cthulhu — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:46:38 +0000

Final comment. My contact has now clarified, saying the information was overheard during a discussion with a distributor and was not a formal announcement, as I had mistakenly assumed. However, since it merely gave me a reason to publicly comment on what I already knew, that’s a minor point.

By: a geek by any other name » Blog Archive » Rumor Alert: Kodansha to Start Own US Manga Pub?

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:04:14 +0000

[...] Is it true? There’s plenty of snarky arguing between “Cthulhu” and Matt Blind in the comments; Blind clearly doesn’t buy it. Ryan from Same Hat! says he vaguely recalls hearing a similar rumor, while Cthulhu claims it was announced at Book Expo America with no one noticing (…really?). There’s a continuation of Cthulhu and Blind’s debating over at the PW Beat. [...]

By: Blog@Newsarama » Blog Archive » Still more on Tokyopop

Blog@Newsarama » Blog Archive » Still more on Tokyopop — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:05:18 +0000

[...] Heidi MacDonald: We’re hearing that editorial cuts at Tokyopop include Rob Tokar, Luis Reyes, Paul Morrissey, Hope Donovan and Tim Beedle. Which means the two editors in charge of the Manga PIlot Program. who were defending it just last week are now gone. Oops. [...]

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » June 5, 2008: The grass isn’t greener

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:01:47 +0000

[...] [Publishing] More on Tokyopop’s recent announcement of layoffs and restructuring: Tom Spurgeon has some brief commentary; Heidi MacDonald has a short list of alleged editorial staff cuts; Steady Beat creator Rivkah Greulich vows to bring the final volume of her Tokyopop series to the masses by any means necessary (Link via Johanna Draper Carlson); and Simon Jones has a bunch more links. [...]

By: Thomas Gerhardt

Thomas Gerhardt — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:53:27 +0000

Well, there should be an easy way to confirm or deny that whole Kodansha thing. Somebody from Publisher’s Weekly, from Newsarama, from whereever, call em up and ask. Somebody call those other publishers up and let them deny or confirm that licenses are not renewed and/or lost. And if Kodansha is renting space in LA, somebody somewhere must know. Names must be on a lease. Companies must become incorporated.

It’s called investigative journalism. You know, the thing that most American journos seemingly can only do if it involves a vagina or a penis in conjunction with a Hollywood celebrity or a politican.

By: MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Rumors on the internets

MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Rumors on the internets — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:13:00 +0000

[...] “Cthulhu” further claims that this was announced at BEA but no one noticed, and that the company will open its doors in September in LA, “sharing space and staff with a multimedia division.” Keep reading that thread, and check out this one at The Beat, for some discussion. An interestingly wide range of people have heard nothing about this, although some are not surprised. Anyone who can shed light on this is welcome to post in the comments or e-mail me directly at the address on the upper right. (Cover of Pocyomkin, just cuz I liked it, from the Kodanclub website.) [...]