Monday, March 27, 2006

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Tokyopop + HarperCollins = ??

Not really savvy about the bookstore market, so I don't know how big of an announcement this is, but Newsarama is reporting that manga publisher Tokyopop has teamed with publishing giant HarperCollins.

Details HERE

With TPop adapting some of HC's teen-centric content to manga, and HC taking on the distribution of TPop to the bookstore market.

I suspect this is potentially big, and further solidifies TPop's hold on the growing manga/mainstream market. (And perhaps gives their OEL initiative more opportunity by default - which would be a good thing).

Anyone know?

2 comments:

Javier Hernandez said...

Hey Jason, I just read the Newsarama bit and bolted to your blog to get your sage wisdom on said news.....

I'm not an expert in the book trade either, but this is a very big step. When a major pub. like Harper Collins reaches out to the Tokyo Pop for parternship, this really puts manga further on the map.

That is very good. Because as you and I discussed, 'kids' are now reading comics again (which will mean they'll grow up and, the thinking goes, will continue reading comics/manga). These new readers may not be buying the continuity-heavy mainstream books that Marvel/DC perpetuate, but for me, the medium of comics is way more important than the latest line-up of who's in the Avengers.

It's really awesome to say that after all these years, comics have, I believe, developed a respect across every other medium. It's not just the movies and cartoons that see the creativity in comics, but the literary/book publishing world as well. And I really think that, in the long term, the book world is the most important step for comics.

Uh, but movie adaptations are still cool! :)

Jason Martin said...

Hey Jav,

"These new readers may not be buying the continuity-heavy mainstream books that Marvel/DC perpetuate, but for me, the medium of comics is way more important than the latest line-up of who's in the Avengers."

Couldn't have said it better myself. The medium deserves more attention.

"It's not just the movies and cartoons that see the creativity in comics, but the literary/book publishing world as well. And I really think that, in the long term, the book world is the most important step for comics."

I sort of agree. Like we discussed, I think there are other opportunities for PRINT comics, but that's debatable.
I do think DIGITAL comics are waiting in the wings, and could usurp the bookstore movement. Because as beneficial as it is to get the medium in front of people via bookchains, there's no comparison to what cheap, accessible, content could do for it.