San Diego Comic-Con International 2009

Del Rey

Panelists: Dallas Middaugh, Tricia Narwani, Mutsumi Miyazaki, Ali Kokmen

The Comic-Con 2009 panel for Del Rey Manga and Del Rey Comics began with the introduction of upcoming titles, including the first volume of X-Men Misfits by Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman and Anzu, a shoujo manga-styled retake on Marvel's X-Men franchise. Also debuting soon are action-comedy Ninja Girls by Hosana Tanaka, critically acclaimed Moyashimon by Masayuki Ishikawa, and shoujo romance Four-Eyed Prince by Wataru Mizukami. Shaenon Garrity's historical retrospective on CLAMP, titled CLAMP in America, also comes out in February 2010 (and was delayed due to a revised page count of 384 pages to fit in all the artwork).

Fans of parody can also look forward to a new original manga series, King of RPGs, created by Jason Thompson (author of The Complete Guide to Manga). This title is due out in January 2010. Also in Del Rey's line of original series is Yōkaiden by Eisner-winning artist Nina Matsumoto; Volume 2 of Yōkaiden comes out in November 2009.

Other titles for Del Rey include the continuing publication of Samurai Deeper Kyo by Akamine Kamijyo (previously published by Tokyopop); in addition, Kamijyo's latest series Code:Breaker was also announced as a new license. Code:Breaker's first volume debuts in summer 2010.

Also in Del Rey's lineup of new original manga are TV-based titles Ben 10: Alien Force (story by Peter David and art by Dan Hipp), Bakugan Battle Brawlers (story by Nunzio Defilippis and Christina Weir and art by Kris Sison), and an adaptation of The Secret Saturdays.

Meanwhile, other upcoming titles include psychic action series Night Head Genesis by George Iida and You Higuri and shoujo romance Wild @ Heart by Natsumi Ando (artist of Kitchen Princess). Fans of Kitchen Princess can also look forward to a spinoff novel, Kitchen Princess: The Search for the Angel Cake. A couple of other new acquisitions include paranormal-themed Panic x Panic by Mika Kawamura (author of Daa! Daa! Daa!), and romantic comedy Pink Innocent by Kotori Momoyuki.

Going back to the original manga field, the company is also developing an adaptation of M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, the movie based on Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender. The adaptation will be written Dave Roman and drawn by Joon Choi, while a prequel to this will be authored by Nina Matsumoto. A rousing cheer from the audience also went up for the announcement of a graphic novel adaptation of literary parody Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (due out in March 2010).

After these announcements, the panel shifted to the Del Rey Comics division, covering the release of titles such as The Stuff of Legend, The Magic of Penny Arcade: the 11½ Anniversary Edition, Goats, the sixth volume of the Flight anthology, and The Dresden Files graphic novels. Also debuting under the Del Rey Comics imprint in monthly format is the adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman.

The panel was then opened up to an entertaining question and answer session.