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Cobra, Jesus, Umezu Manga Released in English (Updated)

The Japan-based mobile comics company NTT Solmare has announced four new titles for Apple's iTunes App Store in English:

• Cobra: On the Battlefield by Buichi Terasawa (Goku - Midnight Eye) - Chapters 1-4
• Joan by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin) - Chapters 1-12
• Jesus by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko - Chapters 1-12
• Police Rocker Bofura by Yasuichi Oshima (Batsu & Teri) - Chapters 1-3

Each of these chapters costs US$2.99. ComicsOne had previously licensed Yasuhiko's acclaimed Joan and Jesus historical manga for North America, but they had limited retail availability, especially Jesus.

The company also announced five new manga titles for phone manufacturer Nokia's Ovi store:

• Cat Eyed Girl (Nekome no Shōjo) by Kazuo Umezu (Cat Eyed Boy, Drifting Classroom) - Chapters 1-7
• Combination by Leeza Sei (formerly of CLAMP) - Chapters 1-20
• Gold by Ryūichirō Yamamoto - Chapters 1-7
• Kirin by Shohei Harumoto - Chapters 1-5
• Stop! Hibari-kun by Hisashi Eguchi (Eiji, Roujin Z anime designer) - Chapters 1-15

These titles have not been available in North America in a published English-language book. Chapters 8-20 of Shirow Masamune's Appleseed and chapters 8-22 of Shōtarō Ishinomori's Cyborg 009 are also now available. All chapters are priced at one Euro (about US$1.36).

NTT Solmare announced its intent to expand digital manga this past February, after having already released several titles in the summer of 2009.

Update: Each book on Apple's App Store cost US$2.99, not each chapter. Thanks, trandraskell.