DC ANNOUNCES CMX

DC Comics has officially confirmed its forthcoming manga line, CMX, which will launch in October. Launch titles for the imprint will include the initial volumes of Madara , art by Tajima Sho-u (who created the character designs for the anime sequences in Kill Bill: Volume 1 ) and written by Otsuka Eiji from Kadokawa; Mekakushi no Kuni , illustrated and written by Tsukuba Sakura from Hakusensha; and Eroika Yori Ai Wo , illustrated and written by Aoike Yasuko from Akita Shoten.

"There's tremendous enthusiasm for manga in the States," said DC Publisher and President Paul Levitz in a press release. "New readers, particularly girls and women, have rushed to embrace new talent from abroad, which we're excited to bring to American audiences as part of DC Comics' commitment to publishing diverse and exciting works from around the world. "

Upcoming CMX titles will include Fujii Mihona' s Gals (the inspiration for the anime series SuperGals! from Shueisha), Tenjo Tange , by Oh! Great from Shueisha; 9 Banme no Musashi , by Takahashi Miyuki from Akita Shoten; Swan , by Ariyoshi Kyoko from Akita Shoten; Monster Collection by Sei Ito from Kadokawa Shoten; Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne , by Tanemura Arina from Shueisha; and Akuma De Soro by Takanashi Mitsuba from Shueisha.

According to DC, each of the CMX titles are Japanese manga, which are being released for the first time in the United States, and will be published in the traditional manga format - sized at 5 x 7 3/8 ", with black and white interiors. Subsequent volumes of each series will be released on a quarterly schedule.

"We believe that manga readership is going to continue its rapid growth and also evolve in the US," said John Nee, Vice President of Business Development at DC Comics in the same release. "CMX is committed to publishing all genre of manga including horror, fantasy, science fiction and adventure titles and the line will be as diverse, and as author friendly, as that of DC Comics, Vertigo, and WildStorm."

Nee also announced today that DC Comics has hired Jake Tarbox as the Group Editor of the CMX imprint. Tarbox has spent the last 14 years living in Tokyo, Japan where he worked at Coamix, Inc. as the International Affairs Manager and Vice-Editor-Chief of Raijin Comics, administered the creation of the American subsidiary company Gutsoon! Entertainment, and edited the manga magazine, RAIJIN COMICS. Tarbox will handle the editorial responsibilities for the CMX imprint including overseeing the translation and printing of manga titles into English.

From DC's release :

ABOUT THE LEAD TITLES AND TALENT:

MADARA Volume 1 (originally serialized in MARUKATSU FAMICOM magazine) represents the first work done together by the creators of the hit series MPD Psycho, artist Tajima Sho-u (who created the character designs for the anime sequences in the movie " Kill Bill " ) and writer Otsuka Eiji. When his village is attacked by demons, Madara, a blacksmith ' s apprentice, discovers that he possesses fantastic powers.

Artist Tajima Sho-u debuted as a manga artist in 1987 with the publication of Madara. He has worked on illustration and character design for computer games (including Galerians) and animation. He has illustrated MPD Psycho, Brothers Baby Baby, Madara Colors, and his current hit series Gorilla Kick.

In addition to his work with manga, writer Otsuka Eiji is a critic, essayist, and author of several successful non-fiction books on Japanese popular and " otaku " sub-cultures. In the 80s, Otsuka was editor-in-chief of MANGA BURIKKO, a leading women ' s manga magazine where he pioneered research on the " otaku " sub-culture in modern Japan.

Mekakushi no Kuni Volume 1 was originally serialized in LaLa DX magazine from 1998 to 2004. In this nine volume series, creator Tsukuba Sakura tells the story of Otsuka Kanade, a high school girl who can see visions of the future. Should she act to change their fate, or sit back and wait for events to unfold?

A rising young author in the shojo manga world, Tsukuba Sakura decided to become a manga artist in high school. As she was about to graduate college, she furiously distributed her work to publishers. Her first published work was A Bright Spring Day, in LaLa magazine. She has also written and drawn Invisible World: a Dog ' s Story (published in LaLa magazine) and Past Day Present (published in LaLa magazine).

Eroika yori Ai wo Komete Volume 1 was originally serialized in PRINCESS magazine from 1977 to the present. Eroika yori Ai wo Komete follows the adventures of a British aristocrat and international art thief who taunts his nemesis, Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach, by leaving notes behind at the scene of his crimes, signed " From Eroica with Love. "

Aoike Yasuko ' s first manga, Sayonara Nanette, was published in RIBBON magazine when she was fifteen years old. Afterwards, she garnered attention by publishing several hit stories in rapid succession, including Shojo Blend, When Roses Cry, Oh Carol, " I love you, Tetsu-sensei, " and " Hey, Young Guy. " In 1976 her sci-fi comedy Sons of Eve in PRINCESS magazine, represented a switch from pure shojo stories to a new kind of storytelling.

Debuting in 1977, Eroika yori Ai wo Komete became a huge best seller, and its sequel series is still being serialized today. The series is built on a great deal of research about European art history, and has helped to popularize many European painters in Japan as well as Japanese tours of European art museums.

Aoike Yasuko has continued a long and productive career in the pages of PRINCESS, a highly popular girl ' s manga anthology magazine. But her work is so popular that she is at present concurrently publishing stories in several magazines. She is the creator of Miriam Blue's Lake, Sons of Eve, Seven Seas, Seven Skies, The Castle, Ivy Navy, Trafalgar, Z, Der Freischutz, Alcasar, The Tale of a Priest and a Doctor, The Day of Saladin, Richard, the Lion-Hearted, Brother Falco, The Temptation of Scarlet, The Carthaginian Fantasy, The Melancholy of Her Majesty, The Knight of Drachen, and Plus Ultra.

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Del Rey Announces New Kodansha Acquisitions

(New York, June 15, 2004)-Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, announced two new major Kodansha manga acquisitions today, both geared for release in October of 2004. The Wallflower and Othello are among the most popular titles published by Kodansha in Japan. Both are shojo (geared toward girls) manga, although they will appeal equally to females and males in the U.S.

The Wallflower (Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge) by Tomoko Hayakawa tells the story of four handsome boys who have been given the chance to get free rent, but only on one condition: They must transform the landlady's niece into a proper lady! Enter Sunako Nakahara, the agoraphobic, horror-movie-loving, pockmark-faced, frizzy-haired, fashion-illiterate hermit who has a tendency to break into explosive nose bleeds whenever she sees anything attractive. This project is going to take far more than our four heroes ever expected; it needs a miracle!

Othello, by Kodansha Manga of the Year award winner Satomi Ikezawa, stars Yaya, the nicest girl in high school-and everyone's favorite doormat. No one treats her well, but Yaya is just too shy and trusting to believe the worst of her friends. When it all gets to be too much, Yaya goes away... and a new personality, Nana, emerges! Nana is ready to show Yaya's false friends for the slime they are, and to kick some serious butt in the process. But can Yaya understand what's happening to her mind?

"Othello and The Wallflower represent a great next step from our manga launch in May," said Del Rey's Director of Manga Dallas Middaugh. "Readers have praised our translation work and extra materials, and we intend to bring the same level of quality to these works. Both represent some of the finest shojo coming out of Japan today, and I hope everyone enjoys reading them as much as I have!"

These new titles round out the recently launched Del Rey manga program, which includes Tsubasa, xxxHOLiC, Gundam Seed and Negima! The titles launched in May 2004 and scored the top two and four out of the top twelve slots on the Nielsen Bookscan graphic novel bestseller list for the week of their debut.

About Del Rey Books:
Del Rey Books (http://www.delreybooks.com) was founded in 1977 as a division of Ballantine Books under the guidance of the renowned Judy-Lynn del Rey and her husband, Lester del Rey. Del Rey publishes the best of modern fantasy, science fiction and alternate history in hardcover, paperback, and now e-book formats. The Random House Publishing Group is a publishing group of Random House, Inc, the U.S. publishing company of Random House, the trade book publishing division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's leading
international media companies.

About Kodansha Ltd., Publishers:
Kodansha is the largest trade book publisher in Japan. Founded in 1909, the company by virtue of its long history, the quality of its publishing, and its established network of sales and marketing is regarded as the trade book market leader in the publishing business in Japan. Moreover, Kodansha has been recognized as the leading publisher with a mission to introduce Japan through its publishing business.