The News Blog of Comics Culture
Tweet Viz has just released info on some of its spring manga license, including at least one pick-up from the now defnuct CMX line, TENJO TENGE, the very controversial manga by Oh! Great, which will now be printed in a “100% faithful” edition with 16 pages of full-color art. Other licenses include the very popular [...]
Tweet Ever since the cutbacks at Viz on Monday, the online chatter has been surprisingly quiet. People close to the situation have mainly been in shock, and while the idea that Viz is “too big to fail” has been foremost among American manga commenters, we’re sure we’re not the only ones whose thoughts — after [...]
As word of the layoffs at Viz spread yesterday — 60 people laid off and the entire New York branch closed – the reaction around the industry, at least as expressed by Twitter and Facebook status updates — was complete and utter shell shock. Viz personnel we contacted for confirmation were devastated. While the exact cause of the downsizing and the effects it will have on Viz’s publishing plans are just emerging, a few manga reporters were commenting:
PW is reporting that there has been massive layoffs at Viz Media — up to 60 people or 40% of the workforce have been laid off. … We are of course saddened by these departures and sincerely appreciate the hard work, passion and dedication of those that have moved on, but we feel confident that with these changes, VIZ Media will be more streamlined and able to withstand the climate of the economy at this time. With the American manga market already in flux, this has to be seen as a body blow to the category as Viz was consistently the best selling American comics publisher, dominating the best seller charts with such mega-hits as Naruto and One Piece. … Sources tell PW that as many as 55 people were laid off at Viz’s San Francisco headquarters and it appears its small New York office, which had about 5 staffers, has been closed.
TweetAnother intriguing looking Viz Signature manga is coming via their partnership with IKKI Magazine, Hisae Iwaoka’s SATURN APARTMENTS. According to the blurb: Far in the future, humankind has evacuated Earth in order to preserve it. Humans now reside in a gigantic structure that forms a ring around the earth, 35,000 kilometers up in the sky. [...]
Tweet Viz is talking up another one of their intriguing, indie-style manga, this time not simple [sic] by Natsume On. It’s a done-in-one manga that will be previewed at SigIKKI.com starting in January. not simple follows Ian, a young man with a fractured family history, as he travels from Australia to England and on to [...]
Tweet As usual when we take a day off from blogging, All Hell Broke Loose®, including a flash flood in San Francisco that closed the Viz offices for a day. One staffer
TweetLast week, Viz made a low key announcement that they were now accepting submissions for original comics. The OG program has long been in place, but slowed down when the editor who was spearheading the effort, Marc Weidenbaum, left the company. Now Senior Editor Eric Searleman is leading the charge, and Deb Aoki interviews him [...]
TweetULTIMO’s Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei, and IKKI editor Hideki Egami topline manga giant Viz’s presence. VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced an exciting lineup of personal appearances, events and activities for 2009 Comic-Con International taking place July 22-26 at [...]
TweetFREE cool things! FREE! VIZ Media is offering the popular anime HONEY AND CLOVER on iTunes and until August 31, 2009 it’s a free download. Plus, every purchase of the complete first season of HONEY AND CLOVER will include a free, bonus episode download. Based on the popular manga series created by Chica Umino (with [...]
TweetLeading manga publisher Viz has announced a new imprint — Shonen Sunday, named after and running content from the Japanese magazine of the same name. The line kicks off with Rumiko Takahishi’s RIN-NE; further titles will be announced in San Diego. PR below: VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative [...]
Tweet Hm, what were we just saying about the print/online shift? Even as they cancelled SHOJO BEAT, Viz has announced the launch of a new online seinen (young men’s) manga anthology, Ikki, which you can read right here. Kai-Ming Cha gets the scoop.: In the wake of the cancellation of its print Shojo Beat manga [...]
TweetPredictably, the demise of SHOJO BEAT, Viz’s girl-focused magazine of serialized manga, is being discussed far and wide: Alexander Hoffman: The strange thing is though, that manga as a whole, is a comic sold to women (at least in your major book retailers). Shojo Beat is the heart of the girl’s comics movement, a collection [...]
TweetEvelyn Dubocq at Viz is sending out the following statement regarding SHOJO BEAT, confirming that it is ending with the July 2009 issue. Yes, the final issue of Shojo Beat magazine will be the July 2009 issue which is on newsstands June 16th. We are very proud of the past issues of Shojo Beat magazine [...]
Tweet Xavier Guilbert makes the chart you all wanted , showing the original Tezuka characters from ASTRO BOY side-by-side with the Urasawa remakes from PLUTO. It’s mind-boggling the degree to which Urasawa has imbued Tezuka’s chipper, cartoony characters with a sense of sinister doom and unease, but you know, that’s why they call them great. [...]
Tweet§ The Beat has obtained more information on recent layoffs at Viz. The two editors laid off were long-time vet Ian Robertson and Carol Fox, who also worked at Tokyopop in the past. Several other people from production were hit, including designer Carolina Ugalde. Despite the unrelated departure of editor Marc Weidenbaum a few weeks [...]
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