News
Dark Horse CEO Mike Richardson Interviewed
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The ICv2 retail news resource posted an interview with Mike Richardson, CEO of Dark Horse Comics, on Monday. In the two-part interview, Richardson discussed how 2009 was a "tough year," with a lot of returns from bookstores. However, the second half of the year showed signs that things are slowly recovering. Richardson mentioned that there will be more titles available for download next year, but did not specify whether these titles would be American comics or manga.
Richardson said that Dark Horse usually focuses more on specific creators instead of specific genres when it comes to manga, and he said by not publishing a lot of shōjo titles specifically, that Dark Horse has been "probably less affected by the trends in the book market that the bookstores created." Richardson added that he thinks "that the market for shōjo has obviously peaked."
Richardson, however, added that in the coming year Dark Horse will "probably be more in that area [shōjo] than we've ever been because we've made a deal with CLAMP," adding that Dark Horse is printing omnibus editions of CLAMP's work as well as "some surprises coming in."
Richardson also commented on the live-action adaptations of MPD-Psycho and The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service that Dark Horse announced at Comic-Con International this year, which will be developed with Universal Studios. Richardson confirmed that Dark Horse will be producing the adaptation of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.
