News

Following yesterday's announcement that the Del Rey Manga imprint was folding into a distribution arm for Kodansha Comics, a US branch of the Japanese publisher, American manga watchers were NOT jumping for joy. Chris Butcher came right out and said it:

ICv2 continues its sit down with Marvel publisher Dan Buckley, who says many things, but also points out one of the great dichotomies of comics -- everyone says they want done-in-one jumping on point comics -- but when publishers put them out, the sales don't pick up at all:

And our second press release about a comics retailer getting another job in as many minutes, Alex Cox, formerly of the much-missed comics shop Rocketship in Brooklyn, has joined the CBLDF as Development Manager. Just to tie up all the loose ends, Shy Allott, who formerly held the position, has joined Dr. Sketchy's as Sponsorship Coordinator. Congrats to everyone who is now employed!

Retailer Atom! Freeman, recently hired as Direct Market Liaison at Top Cow, has already been promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing. Congrats to Freeman!

As rumored for months, Kodansha, the Japanese publishing giant, is shifting its relationship with Random House. Del Rey Manga is shutting down, but Kodansha Comics will remain, to be distributed by Random House. Del Rey Manga's associate publisher, Dallas Middaugh, will move over to Random House Publisher Services to act as the liaison for Kodansha.

Nothing really, business as usual. Seriously, there is a lot of change going on -- although DC Comics is staying in New York, a lot of people are either leaving their jobs or being faced with a move to another coast. We're not going to run all 80 -- or however many it is -- names, but some departments are newsworthy enough to be reported on.

ICv2 presents their annual chat with Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley and he just sort of lays it out:

You know Disney and WB have comic book companies, and Fox and Paramount have dabbled with their own comics in the past, but what about Universal? They're putting out at least one comics-y type thing, even if it's coming out from their Universal Studios branch as part of Halloween hoopla. Vampyre: Castle of the Undead (Blood Secrets of the Iron Guard), is not only the longest title ever but also the first graphic novella to be based on a Halloween theme park maze, we're told. Patrick Ian Moore is listed as artist.

How many Dabel brothers are there? While Les and Ernst are familiar from their various imprints at publishers around town, there's also Pascal and David Dabel, and they have launched their own publishing house called Sea Lion Press, which is set to publish YA books by well-known authors including Paulo Coelho, Richelle Mead and Richard A. Knaak. They'll be at New York Comic-Con to promote a new series of comics based on Mead's bestselling Dark Swan series, starting with STORM BORN, the story of freelance shaman Eugenie Markham, who fights strange creatures from a place called the Otherworld. Mead is also the author of the bestselling Vampire Academy books, for those without access to a teen-age reader.

As part of DC's ongoing reorganization, three editorial personnel have been laid off from the Vertigo imprint: Pornsak Pichetshote, Jonathan Vankin, and Joan Hilty, The Beat has learned. All three are Vertigo veterans. Pichetshote was responsible for the recent hit THE UNWRITTEN, while Hilty and Vankin had mostly worked in acquiring graphic novels, including fall releases, CUBA and HOW TO UNDERSTAND ISRAEL IN 60 DAYS OR LESS.

Former Marvel E-i-C Bob Harras has just been named DC Editor-in-Chief. Harras will be in charge of all DC imprints, including DC Comics, Vertigo and MAD. Since leaving Marvel in 2000, Harras held a variety of consulting positions and and joined DC's collected editions department several years ago as Group Editor. The announcement is a little bit of a surprise as Harras had kept a low profile at DC...perhaps all the more reason to be given a promotion. At any rate, it's sort of a no-brainer since he already has experience running a giant comics publishing company and knows DC's operations inside out.

A lot of think pieces are beginning to come out about the DC upheaval -- it's beginning to be clear that the initial feelings of relief after the first press release were about as accurate as the "We dodged that one!" feelings right after Katrina passed through. As expected, Tom Spurgeon lays out Twelve Initial Questions I Have About DC's Publishing Moves Announcements and it's very thorough. Tom writes from the distinct perspective of someone who isn't immersed in day-to-day DC Kremlinology and yet comes to many of the same conclusions.