Carlsen: Kodansha books unaffected | CLAMP fanbook project

In my previous post, I offered the supposition that the status of other German manga publishers could give context to the expiration of TP Germany’s licensing agreements with Kodansha.  If other publishers report similar issues, then it may be a sign that Kodansha is planning to enter the German market; if not, then Kodansha may simply be realigning themselves with other publishers, or the lines of communication between the Japanese publishing giant and Tokyopop central may have suffered a breakdown.

Today, Carlsen editorial director Kai-Steffen Schwarz posted the following in the comments section which should comfort many German readers:

Dear Simon,

since you bring up the question regarding “potential announcements” from other publishers of Kodansha titles, I can confirm that the news above is not related to Kodansha titles published or announced by Carlsen Manga.

Kind regards

Kai-Steffen Schwarz
Editorial Director Manga
Carlsen Verlag GmbH
Germany

So it appears Carlsen is not affected.

The original TP forum thread which reproduced the newsletter announcement has been locked, so we probably won’t hear any additional details from Tokyopop Germany directly (although I must commend them for releasing the information to their readers in the first place.  Losing books mid-run is quite an unpleasant topic, to say the least, but TP.de was  refreshingly honest and prompt.  Certain pubs should learn from that…)

So there you have it.  Tweak your theories where appropriate.

Edit: ICv2 was able to get a response from TP Germany managing director Joachim Kaps, but he seems as curious as anyone about where Kodansha plans to take the recalled properties (however, Kaps does provide a clearer overall picture of the German manga market and its players).

TP USA associate publisher Marco Pavia was also quoted saying he had no information (or perhaps, no information to give).  If TP central was truly caught off-guard as well, then Kodansha is playing this one very close to its vest…

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Comics212 makes some boldly specific predictions for the manga market in 2009, and encourages a re-evaluation of the relevance of manga to the DM, and vice versa.  At least two more publisher collapses?  Can the industry take all that drama?  Maybe we need a bailout…

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Panelosophy has a handy outline to all the industry-shaking manga news of 2008.  Unfortunately, it does not provide links to those stories…

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I don’t rememeber on which forum, but recently I lambasted the lack of initiative on the part of Western ero manga fans to develop a more creative relationship with manga, beyond the current stasis of pure, and often illicit, consumption.  So the following is pretty cool, and should serve as another source of humiliation for ero otaku-dom:

There is a fan project in the works to celebrate the 20th anniversary of CLAMP, the manga “maestro-ettes” behind Card Captor Sakura, Chobits, and (the much under-appreciated) RG Veda.  The LJ group CLAMPNow is planning the fanbook, and has posted submission guidelines online.  I know what some of you are thinking, but this is a project the organizers plan to send to CLAMP, so no pr0n.  But go check it out anyway, if you may be able to contribute in some way.  (Found via Kuriosity)

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Continuing the theme, the LA Weekly highlights some do-it-yourselfers who create costumes for the anime convention circuit.

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ALC publisher Erica Friedman dispenses some valuable wisdom for would-be manga publishers, particularly those looking to specialize in slightly more esoteric genres.

If I could expand on one point… since manga publishing usually involves licensing, it’s not enough to temper your own sales expectations, but those of the Japanese publisher as well.  And that requires a very deft touch.