ADV interviewed on manga imprint; TP on its Manga Pilot contract

Ain’t It Cool News’ Scott Green interviews ADV’s Chris Oarr on the health of their manga licenses.  The general gist is that the manga division is still alive, ADV still owns the rights to Yotsubato and Gunslinger Girls, and the missed dates are temporary delays as they’ve had to refocus efforts on their anime business.

…okay, none of that actually differs from the assumption most people have had about ADV Manga.  Yotsubato volume 6 will come out when it comes out.

+++

The Comics Reporter interviews Tony Shenton, an independent sales agent who had represented Fantagraphics to numerous comic and adult specialty stores until the publisher went exclusive to Diamond.

+++

MangaCast’s Ed Chavez will be attending the Book Expo America in Los Angeles, and has procured Viz’s pre-show press release.

+++

Via this thread on Anime On DVD, The Register writes that the British government has NEW proposals to make possession of completely fictitious depictions of child abuse even MORE illegal, and its proponents are specifically targeting manga.

This has been discussed at length, but it seems that everywhere I turn, there’s a brand new piece of UK legislation targeting virtual porn, or outlawing public photography, or installing big brother surveillance cameras on every street corner.  Is the entire island completely gripped by fear?

+++

Lastly, Tokyopop has now responded to the Manga Pilot contract-versy.  ANN has the full press release from Paul Morrissey and Hope Donovan, who I assume hold editorial positions in the program.  The PR insists that all rights will revert to the artist after the exclusivty period ends, and that they do not have the right to modify the material beyond format-related alterations.

This seems contradictory to the “after the exclusive period of this pact ends” paragraph on the bottom of page 9 of the contract, which stipulates that Tokyopop retains the right to continue to publish the original Manga Pilot, and all past and likely future adaptations and spinoffs from the property.

In all honesty, when broken down, the individual parts of the contract aren’t out of the ordinary, or even bad for the various media they cover (even the “publisher indemnity against infringement claims” clause is unfortunately industry standard).  It’s the all-inclusiveness of this pact, the pre-emptive condensing of dozens of secondary uses/subsidiary rights to one single entity, that’s raising everyone’s alarms.  If they would just take these things on as they come, there probably wouldn’t be a single objection to this program.