sdcc: Yen Press
Starting late but here we go!
I’m going to start by noting that I am a Kurt Hassler fangirl. Just fyi.
Now, on to real panel-y goodness. We’re starting with YEN PLUS YAY! Special unannounced titles in the left-to-right section include Sarasah by Ryang Ruy, a manhwa with lots of bishounen, and One Fine Day by Sirial.
New license: the Kieli novel by Yukako Kabei, due out April 2009.
Next, a Chinese man hua: Step, by Yanshu Yu, a full-color title.
More manga: Oninagi by Akira Ishida and GA Geijutsu Art Design Class, by Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro creator Satoko Kiyuduki; this one is a 4koma, as is the nex license: Ichiroh! by Mikage. All due April 09 for first volumes.
Next up, Cat Paradise by Yuji Iwahara, coming out July 09.
Here’s a European comic strip: Toxic Planet, by David Ratte. It’s going to run as a webcomic on Yen’s website as well as in print.
Aaaaaand…Cirque du Frea by Darren Shan, a Shogakukan title with art by Takahiro Arai– sister company Little; Brown (future publisher of the Haruhi novels) publishes the prose version of the series. A major movie is also being made.
That’s it for news, now q&a!
To build up steam for Atsushi Ohkubo and Soul Eater (v1 out in October 09, with Yen+ in the meantime), they’re going to release Ohkubo’s B-1 as well.
Yen+ should generally be in the magazine section of stores but may sometimes be in young adult sections.
Is licensing Japanese stuff different frm European? Very, western pubs talk about an advances and that’s mostly it, but it’s more in-depth and complex.
Special extras with the Yen+ magazine? They’re working on stuff like trading cards and things so yes. Special covers, dust jackets, etc– it’s all possible.
Will the magazine always be double-sided (i.e left-to-right section AND right-to-left section)? Yes, a la Korean manga/manhwa anthologies. There’s a stop page in the middle to help people with it.
There is a feedback page in the magazine, and if you send stuff in you’ll get entered in a drawing for a free subscription.
There will be other content like articles and interviews in the future, next month Svetlana Chmakova gets interviewed.
The end!
July 26th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I saw Yen+ at Border’s last night and flipped that baby open to check out Night School. It was all right. That was the only one I read, so I can’t judge the rest of the magazine. But it was mighty thick with lots of pages.
July 26th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Whoa…Cirque de Freak! I didn’t even know it was made into a manga. I’ve read the first 5 or 6 books. It’s pretty good.
July 26th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I loved the first volume of the Kieli manga so I’m happy to hear the novel’s been licensed as well!
July 26th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I’ve started reading the manga side of Yen+, and so far, I’m liking it. I didn’t know if I’d be interested in the titles, since Yen’s library so far hasn’t thrilled me. But I think this might be worth the sub. It’s twice as big as SJ/SB, and only $10 more! And I’m all about stretching that dollar!
I’m really impressed that it came out right when they said it would. Last year Kurt said it would be available around SDCC, and there is was Friday!
July 27th, 2008 at 6:13 am
[...] manga, which are published by Shogakukan but based on YA novels by the Irish writer Darren Shan. Gia and ANN have more [...]
July 27th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
I found Yen+ in the manga/comics section of my local Hastings, with the magazine section on the completely other side of the store. It looked nice, but I didn’t have time to read much of it. I hope it does well. I’d love to see more monthly anthology series.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Wait, why is Soul Eater Oct. 09? What’s taking them so long? Maybe it’s because they’re not as big as Viz and whatnot, but still… that’s a long time. At least I’ll have the anime to keep me busy…
July 28th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Slick Icarus, it’s because they want people to buy it in Yen+, so they’re waiting for the tankobon’s worth of chapters to run there before collecting it. Kinda like Japan, except they COULD put the tankobon out much much earlier. ;) The only real downside to Yen+ that I see, honestly.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Hahaha, I picked up the second volume at Lucky the other day and fell in love with One Fine Day by Sirial, in the manhwa section. It’s like a sledgehammer of cuteness to the face - you just don’t see pointless, cute work like this out there anymore! Maximum Ride and Nabari no Ou were also good, and I squaled when I saw Higurashi - I’m a huge fan of the aniem series and didn’t even know it was a manga! xD -shot- Only thing that bothers me is ‘Sumomo, Momomo!’…it just….erks me D:
Butbutbut, I submitted fanart to them a while ago and they accepted it xD So I’m happy~ C: