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Tokyopop Enters Publishing Partnership with Mattel to Release Hot Wheels, Barbie Graphic Novels
posted on by Adriana Hazra
Tokyopop announced in May a multi-year sales and distribution agreement with Penguin Random House Publisher Services (PRHPS), a division of Penguin Random House, to distribute the entire Tokyopop frontlist and backlist across all sales channels worldwide, starting on January 1, 2025.
The company appointed Lena Atanassova as its new Editor in Chief last September.
Stu Levy founded Tokyopop, originally called Mixx, in 1997 and published manga in serial form in its Mixxzine magazine. Tokyopop later pioneered the publication of "unflipped" manga (shown in its original right-to-left reading format) for all of its titles in 2002 and launched divisions in the United Kingdom and Germany, as well as an imprint devoted to boys-love manga called Blu, between 2003 and 2005.
Tokyopop shut down its North American publishing operations in May 2011 but collaborated with other companies to release manga and world manga after the closure. Tokyopop announced at its Anime Expo panel in 2015 that it was planning to begin publishing manga again in 2016, and announced its first new manga licenses in 2018.
Mattel was founded in 1945 and the company's other notable IPs (intellectual property) include Fisher-Price, Masters of the Universe, Monster High, and Polly Pocket.
Source: Press release
