DC buys way into manga publishing in Japan

June 16, 2007 in Manga Minutiae, Potpourri | 10 comments

PWCW reported yesterday that DC has invested in a Japanese manga publishing venture called Flex, which plans to produce manga in print form as well as for mobile phones and the internet.  This is the first time an American company has so heavily invested in a Japanese manga producer.  Whether DC will have some editorial input at Flex is unknown, but they will very likely want a hands-on approach.

Frankly, I’ve been wondering why DC, or any of the major publishers with big multimedia parents and access to their deep pocketbooks, hasn’t done this sooner.  And while this story is getting some token coverage everywhere, I’m surprised there hasn’t been much commentary yet.  Possibly because no one has fully fathomed the possibilities (neither can I), but this news combines manga, one of the biggest stories in the past ten years of comics, with alternative digital distribution, which may be the biggest news for the next ten.  This will, at the very least, give DC valuable experience in both key areas as they develop a future online strategy for their own domestic output.

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Speaking of online distribution, ComiPress spots Yaoi Press’ digital offerings on Netcomics, and has the full press release to boot.

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Awesome: In an upcoming Japanese Doraemon episode, Johnny Depp will voice a character created specifically for him.

Pretty cool: Johnny Depp is apparently a fan of the show, which is televised in France.

Not nearly so awesome: His character is a pirate.

Kind of lame: His character looks like Keanu Reeves on a cocktail of morphine, vicodin, and a botox treatment.

10 comments

  1. gynocrat on June 16, 2007 at 9:07 am

    I imagine that DC’s letterhead is on the check to finance, but other than that– I bet that’s where the actual DC involvement stops. No offense, but I can see them having some serious culture shock there– Diamond may distribute over here…but we all know who distributes mooks in Japan…and it ain’t the boy scouts. 0_o

  2. Simon on June 16, 2007 at 9:40 am

    I think DC would want at least minimal input. They’d want to make sure most of their investment isn’t going into books they can’t license. For example…

    Flex: Hey, we got an amazing submission yesterday. It’s about a precocious youngster who sexually harrasses her teacher, and…

    DC: Hold it riiiight there, buddy.

  3. gynocrat on June 16, 2007 at 12:29 pm

    XD Poor Cap’n Nemo, he’s never going to live down Nymphetgate 2007. Though DC is never one to sit on the high horse when it comes to objectification; I imagine that if a 16 year old girl wearing a tentacle-bra sells books in Japan, then they’re all for it, and will chalk it up to a proper editorial decision based on the current cultural market trends. LOL! Yeah, that’s it!

    I was speaking about the differences in comics distribution…you know, those men in Japan who get the books from the publisher to the stores on the street…I wonder if the well dressed, tattoo’d beauts, have the same sort of customer relations policy as Diamond in the US does. ^_^v

  4. yaoipress on June 16, 2007 at 12:34 pm

    “Speaking of online distribution, ComiPress spots Yaoi Press€™ digital offerings on Netcomics, and has the full press release to boot.”

    It’s all good, baby!

  6. gynocrat on June 16, 2007 at 5:23 pm

    I have to ask this…how many owners is this now for Flex? D.C. is like what, the fifth to own this publisher? And like…what about BroBooks? How will this effect them?

  9. Simon on June 18, 2007 at 11:20 am

    gynocrat–>
    That… is a very good question. @_@;;

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