Del Rey to Release OEL Manga Featuring Avril Lavigne

DEL REY MANGA ACQUIRES ITS FIRST AMERICAN MANGA IN COLLABORATION WITH POP SUPERSTAR

AVRIL LAVIGNE

NEW YORK, NY – January 30, 2007 – Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Random House Inc. and one of the premiere publishers of manga in the U.S., announced today the acquisition of MAKE 5 WISHES, created in collaboration with platinum-selling and Grammy Award-nominated recording artist Avril Lavigne.

Del Rey Manga will publish the first volume of MAKE 5 WISHES on April 10, 2007. Avril Lavigne's new album The Best Damn Thing will release shortly after on April 17, 2007 from RCA Records. In volume one of MAKE 5 WISHES, introverted teenager Hana stumbles upon a website that will change her life forever. After a demon grants her a series of wishes that go bad, Hana meets her hero Avril Lavigne, who helps her find the courage to conquer her own personal demons once and for all. The concluding volume of MAKE 5 WISHES will release in July 2007. Both volumes will appear in full-color.

More than simply lending her talents to the creative process, multiple award-winning singer, songwriter, model, and actress Avril Lavigne also appears as a character in the manga. When asked what inspired her to be a part of this project, Avril Lavigne had this to say, “I know that many of my fans read manga, and I'm really excited to be involved in creating stories that I know they will enjoy.”

Acquiring editor Betsy Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey Books, said this about the enthusiasm surrounding MAKE 5 WISHES, “In the past few years, manga [the Japanese art form] has grown exponentially in the United States. For our very first original English-language manga, we're very excited to be working with a person as versatile in her talent as Avril Lavigne.”

Del Rey Manga purchased world rights for the books in a deal brokered by Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Management.

ABOUT AVRIL LAVIGNE

Avril Lavigne was born in the small town of Napanee, Ontario, Canada, and stood out from the crowd at an early age. Her musical talents were noticeable by the age of two, and by the time she was in her early teens she was already writing songs and playing guitar. Singing in the church choir and local festivals allowed Lavigne to get her voice heard.

On a trip to New York at age 16, Lavigne was signed to Arista Records when she caught the attention of Antonio "LA" Reid. With her major label deal signed, Lavigne moved to New York City, but not long after moved on to Los Angeles to work on her record. By early 2002, her debut CD Let Go was released. With 15 million albums sold, 8 Grammy nominates and three #1 singles—"Sk8ter Boi," "Complicated," and "I'm With You"— Lavigne gave young women a defiant voice.

In 2004, Lavigne returned with Under My Skin. This time the Canadian chanteuse took charge of her creative direction and reflected a more introspective Avril. The album debuted at #1 on charts worldwide and delivered her fourth #1 single, "My Happy Ending."

Twenty-six million albums later, and following numerous awards, multiple world tours, and myriad magazine covers and TV appearances, Lavigne is now finding time to concentrate on her other loves, acting and fashion.

THE CREATIVE TEAM

CAMILLA D'ERRICO: ARTIST

Camilla d'Errico is an artist whose first love is the manga form. Her work will be featured by the underwear and lingerie company Ginch Gonch in their AIDS Awareness promotion scheduled for Fall 2007. In addition to the Make 5 Wishes series, she will have three comics published in 2007: Burn, a traditional manga series published by Arcana Studios in Canada; Zevon-7, a four-part mini-series published by AngelGate Press; and Nightmares and Fairytales, by Slave Labour Graphics.

JOSHUA DYSART: WRITER

Joshua Dysart co-created and wrote the cult hit comic book series Violent Messiahs for Image Comics. The first eight issues are collected in the graphic novel, Violent Messiahs Vol. I: Book of Job.

He also wrote the comic book adaptation of the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for Art Asylum. More recently, he authored the Dark Horse one-shot Van Helsing: Beneath the Rue Morgue (an original story featuring the character from the Universal film) and Penny Farthing Press' hit mini-series Captain Gravity & the Power of the Vril. He's the monthly writer of DC Comics/Vertigo's legendary title, Swamp Thing.

Joshua has produced/directed and edited short documentary films on music, was commissioned to write the screenplay version of Brian Pulido's ultimate zombie bad boy, Evil Ernie, and has published a plethora of poetry.

ABOUT DEL REY MANGA

Del Rey (http://www.delreybooks.com) was founded in 1977 as a division of Ballantine Books under the guidance of the renowned Judy-Lynn del Rey and her husband, Lester del Rey. Del Rey publishes the best of modern fantasy, science fiction, alternate history and manga. Ballantine Books is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, which is a publishing group of Random House, Inc, the U.S. publishing company of Random House, the trade book publishing division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's leading international media companies. In the summer of 2003, Random House joined together with Kodansha in a creative partnership to bring some of Kodansha's top properties to the United States, making Random House the first major trade book publisher in the United States to do so.

ABOUT RCA MUSIC GROUP

The RCA Music Group includes J Records, Arista Records and RCA Records. The J Records roster is home to platinum superstars Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart, Pearl Jam, Annie Lennox, Luther Vandross, Jamie Foxx, Maroon5, Mario, Gavin DeGraw, Fantasia and Monica among others. The Arista Records family includes all-time superstars Sarah McLachlan, Santana, Dido, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Carrie Underwood, Barry Manilow and Kenny G. RCA Records is home to superstar artists Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Velvet Revolver, Avril Lavigne, Daughtry, Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, Heather Headley and more. RCA Music Group is part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment.