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UPDATE via Manga Blog: This blogger says how to make manga mavan Christopher Hart is also doing an OEL/OGM/americmanga for Del Rey.

Christopher Hart is drawing/writing The Reformed. http://www.artstudiollc.com/  here’s his site, wherein he hints at this project here http://www.artstudiollc.com/whatsnew/whatsnew.html


At his website, Hart says:

Not allowed to talk about the specifics yet, but I just sold a seriously cool manga graphic novel to Del Rey Manga (a division of Random House). It’s a very exciting story – more on this later – I promise.

They say Avril Lavigne is a young punker, and sure enough she’s following in Courtney Love’s footsteps by launching an original manga. What’s different is the publisher — Del Rey. This marks the line’s debut into original manga content…a huge story in and of itself. THe book — MAKE 5 WISHES — will tie in to Lavigne’s upcoming album release and tour, making it one big media synergy.

Here’s the PR:

Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Random House Inc. and one of the premiere publishers of manga in the U.S., announced today the acquisition of MAKE 5 WISHES, created in collaboration with platinum-selling and Grammy Award-nominated recording artist Avril Lavigne.

200701301204Del Rey Manga will publish the first volume of MAKE 5 WISHES on April 10, 2007. Avril Lavigne’s new album The Best Damn Thing will release shortly after on April 17, 2007 from RCA Records. In volume one of MAKE 5 WISHES, introverted teenager Hana stumbles upon a website that will change her life forever. After a demon grants her a series of wishes that go bad, Hana meets her hero Avril Lavigne, who helps her find the courage to conquer her own personal demons once and for all. The concluding volume of MAKE 5 WISHES will release in July 2007. Both volumes will appear in full-color.

More than simply lending her talents to the creative process, multiple award-winning singer, songwriter, model, and actress Avril Lavigne also appears as a character in the manga. When asked what inspired her to be a part of this project, Avril Lavigne had this to say, “I know that many of my fans read manga, and I’m really excited to be involved in creating stories that I know they will enjoy.”

Acquiring editor Betsy Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey Books, said this about the enthusiasm surrounding MAKE 5 WISHES, “In the past few years, manga [the Japanese art form] has grown exponentially in the United States. For our very first original English-language manga, we’re very excited to be working with a person as versatile in her talent as Avril Lavigne.”

Del Rey Manga purchased world rights for the books in a deal brokered by Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Management.


ABOUT AVRIL LAVIGNE

Avril Lavigne was born in the small town of Napanee, Ontario, Canada, and stood out from the crowd at an early age. Her musical talents were noticeable by the age of two, and by the time she was in her early teens she was already writing songs and playing guitar. Singing in the church choir and local festivals allowed Lavigne to get her voice heard.

On a trip to New York at age 16, Lavigne was signed to Arista Records when she caught the attention of Antonio “LA” Reid. With her major label deal signed, Lavigne moved to New York City, but not long after moved on to Los Angeles to work on her record. By early 2002, her debut CD Let Go was released. With 15 million albums sold, 8 Grammy nominates and three #1 singles—”Sk8ter Boi,” “Complicated,” and “I’m With You”— Lavigne gave young women a defiant voice.

In 2004, Lavigne returned with Under My Skin. This time the Canadian chanteuse took charge of her creative direction and reflected a more introspective Avril. The album debuted at #1 on charts worldwide and delivered her fourth #1 single, “My Happy Ending.”

Twenty-six million albums later, and following numerous awards, multiple world tours, and myriad magazine covers and TV appearances, Lavigne is now finding time to concentrate on her other loves, acting and fashion.

25 COMMENTS

  1. “They say Avril Lavigne is a young punker”

    Bwa ha ha ha ha! Thanks a lot Heidi, I almost spewed coffee all over my computer screen. Brody Dalle she ain’t

  5. This news seems vaguely disgraceful to both manga and Avril Lavigne. Which is interesting because I wasn’t sure either was possible.

  6. I know, I know. That candy colored cover is weak. And yeah, that copy, “Avril Lavigne’s Make 5 Wishes staring Avril Lavigne” is epically inexcusable. But if you want to know the straight dope on the interior look and story, which is completely misrepresented by this image, go to this link…

    http://www.joshuadysart.com/journal/archives/001327.html

    PS: There’s now talk that we can get the cover re-colored to better fit the tone of the piece, which is actually a young adult horror tale.

    And for the cat who said that “Anime purists are gonna love this news”, let me just say that the rights were sold in Japan (where it will be downloaded onto cell phones and then printed in hardcopy) before they were ever sold here in the States. The North American rights are secondary.

    But the derision is understandable. Those few non-Avril fans that give the story a shot will be pleasantly surprised by the depth and darkness of the work.

    Peace.

  7. I live 20 minutes away from Napanee, where Avril grew up. Even the people that live there call it “the armpit of Ontario.”

    There is a Good Year plant that pays very well, but treats their workers very badly. The rest of the works is retail/service jobs for those people, with the exception of the government offices. There is a lot of unemployment there. As they say, it’s a very small town and I don’t think they have any post secondary education there.

    So I don’t have anything bad to say about her. She used her talents and did what it took to get out of there and into a better life. Good for her.

  8. Am I to understand from the cover (“Starring Avril Lavigne, created by Camilla d’Errico and Joshua Dysart) that the girl who mauled music won’t even be giving the actual effort to hurt manga the same way?

    I just can’t get behind a story published as press for a new album, I know her fans will probably eat it up though.

    -SH.

  9. Thanks for the link Heidi :) And wow Joshua, the celphone manga in Japan orgins are pretty interesting to hear. So this wasn’t an original Del Rey production? Still neat to see they’re interested in domestic creations.

  10. The cell phone downloads were the reason I got involved in the project in the first place. I’m very interested in doing my part to make sure that the medium I love doesn’t become vaudeville, if you know what I mean. So keeping up with tech innovation is important to me. I’m also concerned with what comics transposed to digital media will look like. Once motion and sound is an option, is it still a comic? So by taking this gig I am in a unique position to influence the look and feel of this massive comics-to-cell phone project (one of the largest undertaken to date).

    I do get what Sean says above. I don’t begrudge him that opinion in the slightest. But for us to push ahead and make the innovated leaps in tech necessary to download an entire 220-page graphic novel onto a cell phone we had to align ourselves with a media juggernaught who would capture the attention of an audience larger than just the early adopters. Unfortunately this is the paradigm we must play in if we’re to make change.

    One of the reasons why this will not be downloaded onto N. American phones is that the tech-level of the phones here cannot support our ambitions, unlike the more advanced phones in Asia.

    So, the fact is that I wrote the best story I could (Avril isn’t an actual character in the piece, she’s the imaginary friend of an obsessive 15 year old Japanese girl), and I’m proud of it. Just between you and me and the rest of this board, I agree that corporate association compromises the artistic integrity of any art. I wrestled with saying yes to this project for a long time. But in the end, I think the work we’re doing in Asia will be viewed as a seminal step in moving comics into a digital realm, and I wanted to be a part of that.

    This whole Del Rey thing, it’s just the corporate machine at work. Del Rey had nothing to do with the production of this book. I’ve never even talked to anybody at Del Rey, and I’ve been a part of this project from day one. It was put together by the visionaries at House of Parlance. Thanks for reading.

  11. If there was ever a manga bandwagon jumper-onner, it’s Hart.

    Chris Hart’s art is dreadful, and his “manga” even worse. His art instruction books are dreadful. The only good art in them is drawn by other people.

    I’d be very surprised if DelRey has taken on a Hart book with art by Hart.

    Think I’m being mean? See Hart’s own work at:

    http://www.artstudiollc.com/manga_tutorials/manga_cat_girl.html
    It’s pretty grim. You can read any of them and realize Hart hasn’t even the most tenuous grasp of “manga style,” nor does the instruction (getting my Toth on here) teach a damn thing about structure or good drawing–just how to ape Hart’s wretched work.

    Blech.

  13. I feel that the phrase “This news makes me want to vomit out all of my organs” would be too harsh…

    Too bad it’s true.

  15. I was actualy quite surprized by this book. I only read it for a joke but when I started reading it I found it was actualy much better then the cover/ name stated. So far it actualy has a very good plot and the art is original and interesting.

    I too before i read it would have thought the same thing as Patrick. But I was wrong I would actualy recomend it to you guys but I am sure once you have made your mind up you will/ won’t like it ether way. I still do not get why it says staring avril lavgine… She isn’t really the star of this whole manga. xD

  18. When I fist discovered Avril Lavigne was staring in a manga I was beside my self with joy. She has helped me through tough times with her music.

    I had to order the manga from over sea’s becaue it won’t be released in Australia.

    I’m not saying that her latest album isn’t as good as her last ones, but compring her to Paris Hilton, now really, is that necessary?

    The story is fantastic and there is a lot of depth behind it, everyone should read it before they judge it, and if you don’t want to read it because you think it’s “gay” then what’s the point in even leaving a comment?

    I’m a huge manga and anime fan, so I know when work is good. I even plan to one day become a manga artist myself and am well on the way of learning japanese.

    So don’t diss unless you really know your manga and anime well.

  19. Having that horrible wench’s name on a manga makes me want to kick my dog in the face and set my whole manga collection on fire.

  20. hi..omg..when i seed that manga and i was like omg i wanna by it so im gonna do so because i love avril lavigne now for 4 year and she is so fucking cool that im going crazy and her voice is so damn best i hvae ever hert…and one time when avril lavigne was in finland i was in helsinki in airplan and then i was like “Fuck,i can’t go to avril’s consert” i was really so sad and im still..i wish just that if avril lavigne will come to finland again..i love you Avril Ramona Whibley Lavigne

  21. in response to michigoth~” I’m a huge manga and anime fan, so I know when work is good. I even plan to one day become a manga artist myself and am well on the way of learning japanese. ”

    i’ve seen the book. the colouring was probably done in like 5 minutes–that sort of colouring standard is the standard when someone just uses one colour for the hair, then switches to screen brush mode and quickly colours out the highlights. the pictures are of a standard of a NOVICE manga artist. i dont know how anyone with that standard DARES to put out such rubbish into the market.

    i’ll tell you what manga is good. pick up REAL manga from japan and you’ll see whats good.

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