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Viz announces new manga series for 2000
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In their monthly press releases, Viz had a number of announcements to make, including several new comic series. Ongoing ones included the third series of Dragon Ball Z, second series of Pokémon Adventures, graphic novels for Tenchi Muyo!: Tenchi in Love and Strain #3, and Ranma 1/2 TV series releases "Martial Mayhem: Tea for Three" and the subtitled version of "Outta Control: Room With A Zoo".
But the biggest news was the announcement of a new comic series to begin in February. Eagle, which is by the same manga artist as The Silent Service, and chronicles the exploits of a Japanese-American Democratic Presidential candidate and a Japanese native's coverage of the campaign. Viz will be attempting the new "serial graphic novel" format for the series, and at 14 issues of over 100 pages each, the price of $6.95 US makes this one the lowest-priced manga release from the San-francisco based publisher to date. Viz's press release describes Eagle as "a rare example of the kind of manga that are the real backbone of an industry that has made comics as big as TV in Japan‹the truly radical concept of comics that succeed not through gimmicks or anime, video game and merchandise tie-ins, but contemporary stories and relevant characters that appeal to a mass readership." Timed to conicide with the American presidential elections (with the last issue in time for the inauguration) Viz appears to be shooting for a new audience with this latest release.
