Forum - View topicNEWS: Manga Mavericks Announces Publishing Division with 3 Manga Licenses
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mdo7
 Posts: 7215 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Whew, about time manga done by indie creators are being picked up in the US. Also I never heard of Manga Mavericks until the bottom of the article mentioned that they started out as a podcast, and yes, I just went on Spotify and just subscribe/follow them now as of this post.
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Nemu Asahi
 Posts: 27 Location: Iwate |
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Yes, there are very interesting indies manga out there and nobody knows about them... They sell at COMITIA or on the net for some of them. Their manga don't "fit" the Japanese manga industry standards (so, they call that "oeuvres d'auteurs" in France) and that's why they're ignored by Japanese publishers... |
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mdo7
Posts: 7215 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Beside Manga Mavericks, have any other indie/alternative comic books/graphic novels publisher in the US have ever picked up indie manga for the US market? If they didn't, I wonder why given that manga are outselling comic/graphic novels in the US, it would've made sense for indie publishers like Ablaze Publishing, Oni Press, Fantagraphics, etc... to pick up these indie manga if big name one like Viz, Kodansha USA, Seven Sea Entertainment, Tokyopop, etc... aren't going to pick these up, that's why the news of indie manga getting pick up in the US surprised me and probably other people out there. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2793 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Glacier Bay Books is very much all about indie manga, and Star Fruit Books does a mix of indie manga & simply smaller titles from cult-favorite mangaka. That's what they're known for, and that's what's managed to keep them going. The main thing is that, despite the growth of manga's popularity in English, much of the manga-reading public over here tend to stick with the major names, i.e. Shonen Jump titles & stuff that have anime adaptations. Manga that are published in English that aren't either of those still remain a much tougher sell, outside of specific niches, so tackling manga that don't come from the "traditional" publishers in Japan becomes even more risky for the bigger outlets, or even the more niche-focused publishers like Ablaze, Oni, or Fantagraphics. The same is kind of true with anime, too, as outside of the major players who do physical releases (Crunchyroll, Sentai, & maybe we can soon add GKids now that Toho owns it) you have companies that focus more on specific niches in Discotek, AnimEigo, & Media Blasters, and below them are companies like Ascendant Animation & now SkySet Entertainment that are delivering on even more specific niches within niches, but in smaller ways. Anyway, congrats on the Manga Mavericks crew for taking the leap into publishing, and all the best for them in the future. |
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TsukasaElkKite
 Posts: 4066 |
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I’m very excited to see several yuri artists that I recognize.
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mdo7
Posts: 7215 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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I never heard of these 2 publishers until just now, thank you for this information. I wish we had more indie publishers that do indie comic books/graphic novels titles to maybe dip into translating and publishing indie manga titles for the US market too.
Oh yeah, I agree if indie comics are well not mainstream or so niche that your regular average joe comic/graphic novel reader don't know or are aware of this, it's the same thing (and you also applied this) with indie manga titles too. As I said, that's why I want indie comic/graphic novel publishers to also dip into translating and publishing indie manga titles. I would also like to see well medium-tier/borderline-mainstream non-DC/non-Marvel publishers to also handle both indie and also well-known but not mainstream and not niche manga titles like we already have Dark Horse Comic, Titan Comic publishing manga in the US. I would like to see IDW Publishing (IDW at one time did licensed and published one manga back in 2007, they never did it since then), Boom! Studio, Image Comic to also open up a manga publishing division. They don't have to do indie manga titles, but if they can pick up well manga titles that used to be mainstream, or manga titles that are well-known in Japan, and outside of Japan/US but not known in the US. Like for example, I would love if IDW Publishing (the current licensor of Sonic the Hedgehog comic) to also pick up any Sonic the Hedgehog manga for the US market given that they are the current publisher of Sonic the Hedgehog. There are also Godzilla manga that hasn't gotten an official English translation and release in the US (except for that one Godzilla manga from 1985 that Dark Horse published back in 1988/1989), and given that IDW Publishing has the current license to publish official Godzilla comics. If they open up a manga publishing division branch, they can pick up Godzilla manga for license, translate, and publish for the US market. Another way for that obscure or lesser well-known manga to get a wider audiences in the US, if the anime adaptation is well-known or became a big hit in the US via Netflix, or Crunchyroll then that increases the chance that the manga can get license and picked up in the US.
We're living in the era of streaming, so it can be a big hit or a miss. If you put that niche anime title on Netflix, it could become a sleeper hit, I mean you never know. I mean there are anime title that I didn't think would become a hit in Japan and in the US like for example: The Apothecary Diaries (I didn't think the anime could become a big hit amongst the fandom and also in Japan that it was given an exhibit in Ginza recently. Something that that particular title don't get unless it's a big hit). So yeah, it's possible for a niche or obscure anime to become a sleeper hit overnight if the title was lucky enough or gained enough audiences on streaming site like Netflix. |
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ChibiGoku
Posts: 695 |
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[quote="mdo7"]
Some of the independent queer doujin/manga has been picked up for distribution here in the US (many of them 18+) to some degree, though obviously not all of it. One of the ones I wish would have his works picked up is SUV's, since he does some cool stuff (also a bit of an activist for HIV/AIDs and STI awareness in Japan), though I think only one of his one shots got picked up under the Massive collection. Outside of that, I can't really say which ones are picked up. |
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