Retailer Summit notes

October 13, 2009 By

Limited posting this morning as we wrap up at the Diamond Retailer Summit. The show has been surprisingly focused on the positive aspects of a business that has proven unexpectedly buoyant in the face of a serious recession, although anxieties on all sides over some of the looming mysteries (what will Disney/Marvel look like? Who will take over running DC’s publishing day to day? When will Diamond’s warehouse woes subside?) have been shared after hours. We’ll wrap up some of the best intel we’ve gathered later, but in the meantime, a quick recap of last night’s publisher presentations:

Image talked up new first issues for both JACK STAFF and INVINCIBLE (who’s going back to his original costume) and reported that the first issue of COWBOY NINJA VIKING has been ordered at Chew-like levels.

Marvel made a few major announcements, aside from showing a new trailer for SIEGE, which is already up at YouTube (Thanks Robot6) for the time being. David Gabriel announced that Marvel would be focusing less on giant nine- or 10-month line-wide events and more on “mini-events” that lasted a few months and spanned a few titles.

The most interesting Marvel announcement from where we sit was a year focusing on “Marvel Women,” which will include a superheroine-focused event, and a “Young Guns” artist promotion and a writer search with only female participants. The program seems well-timed, both for the growing number of “girl nerd” customers, and with future owner Disney’s strong track record in the female space.

DC announced an 11×17 hardcover collection for WEDNESDAY COMICS in May, and a new line of pulp-hero ongoings spearheaded by Brian Azzarello. Perhaps the biggest announcement was the largest experiment in street dates yet — a promotion called “Green Christmas” which will see BLACKEST NIGHT #6 ship to retailers with the December 23rd books, to be held for sale on December 30th, when Diamond is making no shipments.

This morning’s Diamond/publisher Q&A session was relatively low-key, with questions on package damage, invoice timing and the possibility of simultaneous hardcover/softcover releases. We’ll wrap up the issues covered shortly, but despite some chatter over the possibility of removing their reorder penalties, Diamond announced no changes in trade term policies. Although Diamond had a profitable year, according to VP Bill Schanes, margins were still tight, and pulling revenue from one column meant that it must be made up for in another. However, he expects more announcements along these lines in a few months.

Filed Under: Business News

Behind the BOOM!/Haven 2nd printing deal

October 8, 2009 By

Mickeymousefriends 296 Cvr 2NdprintEarlier this week it was announced that BOOM! Studios had signed a deal with Haven Distributors to distribute BOOM!’s second printing comics. BOOM! is the LA-based publisher of both original and licensed comics, and they have recently had several critical and sales success, including books based on Pixar, Disney, Fox, and literary sources, such as the much-praised Roger Langridge Muppet comic.

BOOM! has also been making many distribution deals in rent months — with Kable Distribution for newsstand distribution and Simon and Schuster for books.

Haven Distributors is one of the few alternative distributors for periodical comics, mostly working with smaller companies such as Ape, Markosia and Zenescope who aren’t exclusive with Diamond.

Although Diamond’s tighter policies this year have had a lot of publishers and retailers looking at alternative distribution, this deal for second printings still left a lot of people scratching their heads. We hadn’t heard of anything quite like it before. So we asked BOOM! publisher Ross Richie to explain, and he did. His answers are a little inside baseball, but hopefully shine the light on the many, many factors involved in publishing comics and graphic novels these days.

Q: You’ve recently been expanding your distribution partners on all channels, with a bunch of new deals. How does this one fit in?

Ross Richie: Working with Haven to distribute our 2nd prints is simply a supplemental direct market deal designed to help direct market retailers get more product quicker to the fans that want to buy it. 

Diamond is a great partner, but we saw potential in Haven to be able to grow our existing Direct Market business.  What’s really great here especially, is that for retailers who want to go with Haven we can offer a better discount on our 2nd prints.  We have asked Diamond twice to put us in a better discount category and they have decided it is not something they want to do.  Diamond’s in business to make money and needs to make decisions that make sense for what their best interests are.  We’re in business to make money and need to make decisions on our end that make sense for our own interests.  Sometimes those things line up, sometimes they don’t.  In this instance, Diamond decided giving us a better discount to retailers didn’t make sense.  So for retailers who would like an alternative, at least on the 2nd prints, we’ve got one.  Haven thinks it can sell more BOOM! product with a better discount.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Boom Studios, Business News, Retailing & Marketing

Huge news: Kodansha arrives!

October 5, 2009 By

The wait is over as Calvin Reid  finally confirms Kodansha’s entry into the US Market:

After years of speculation about its plans, Kodansha, the largest publisher in Japan and a prolific manga licensor to U.S. publishers, is establishing an office in New York City to publish and sell manga directly in the U.S. market beginning this month. The new line of manga will be called Kodansha Comics, which will be published under Kodansha USA Publishing and distributed by Random House.

Kodansha USA Publishing is headed by Yoshio Irie, v-p and board member at Kodansha, and general manager Tomoko Suga, a familiar figure in the U.S. manga market and U.S. comics conventions through Kodansha’s relationship with Random House. Kodansha Comics will launch with two classic manga titles, the postapocalyptic sci-fi epic Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo and the metaphysical sci-fi police thriller Ghost in the Shell by Shirow Masamune. The two series have been published in the U.S. by Dark Horse Books, and both offer an extended array of multimedia franchises that include animated films, video games, prose novels, merchandising and more.

According to the piece, Kodansha will continue to work with a number of its licensed publishers.

Kodansha is Japan’s largest publisher, and their huge line of manga had been variously licensed to Dark Horse, TokyoPop and Del Rey.The confirmation of the move — which has been evident for over a year, since the Tokyopop and Dark Horse licenses were ended then — marks the beginning of what could be a major player in the American GN scene.

The full transcript of the interview with Irie will appear in tomorrow’s PW Comics Week.

Filed Under: Business News, Manga

Two very odd articles

October 5, 2009 By

A few months ago Comic Book Bin’s Hervé St-Louis declared that copyrights were for wussies and part of an evil cabal called The Cult of The Creator, something he promised to expose more fully in the future.

Now, bear in mind, if there is a Cult of the Creator, then we have signed on for Guyana, bought new Nikes and got $5.75 in our pocket. Here at Stately Beat Manor, we feel Creators Are Very Important People, and giant corporations clearly recognize this fact because they are always finding ways to make sure creators create for them, while taking as much of the profits from it as they can. So we’re not very likely to be persuaded by his arguments, and the first part anyway, lives up to our expectations:

In response to my last articles on copyrights and comic book creators, where I explained the concept of the cult of the creator, a smart commenter responded to my article and saying, essentially, that because he owned his comic book, which I suppose is a Web comics, that it would not be stale but a fresh alternative to material owned by large corporations like DC and Marvel Comics. His comment is typical cult of the creator attitude where it’s assumed that ownership leads to better comic books. Of course, this writer thinks that this is bullshit.


To bolster his argument that creator owned=crap comics, St-Louis points to early Image Comics. Okay, so Todd McFarlane is no Art Spiegelman or Chris Ware or Will Eisner. We’d still call that stacking the deck. St-Louis will be back in part two to explain why Spiegelman, et al. owning the copyrights to their work still doesn’t make for better comics, so let’s just wait and see.

The phrase “Cult of the Creator” is obviously used to raise the ire of folks such as myself, but the argument that corporate ownership makes for better comics works only if you think Marvel and DC comics are the best there is. (We’re aware that up until the ’80s or so, most comics were corporate owned, including the work of Barks and Stanley — but, to choose just one example, in the Masters of American Comics exhibit, only one of the artists, Jack Kirby, worked mostly in work for hire. While that show was flawed, as a benchmark percentage of creator owned to WFH, it’s about right.)

§ Another oddball (to us) article is this Reuters piece exploring how comics could go mass market, now that Disney is going to send Marvel Comics all over the globe. Experts such as a Bob Layton and Scott Mitchell Rosenberg lay out the need for such outreach:

“A large number of comic shops in America are dingy, poorly managed venues, akin to porn shops,” Layton said. “The comic industry needs easily accessible venues where young people can casually find and purchase comics, either through subsidies or discount incentives.”

Comic book publishers such as Marvel and DC Comics, owned by Time Warner, cater to niche customers, usually teenage boys and older males, through specialty stores that only dedicated fans would visit.

“There is a core group of people that are comic book fans,” Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne, Agee & Leach, said. “But to expand that and make it more mass market probably is the biggest challenge.”


While distribution and awareness are surely part of the reason comics sell less (on aggregate) than they used to, we’re not entirely sure that Disney, which has been shutting down its magazines over the last few years, would be interested in getting back into newsstands in a serious way.

Also, is ANYONE really into the newsstand in a serious way? If putting things out on the newsstands guaranteed profits, then Condé Nast wouldn’t have folded four magazines today.

That said, obviously the Marvel/Disney juggernaut presents tremendous potential for getting comics out there in larger numbers and more significant ways, but this article seems to take a pretty simplistic look at the potential. Also, branding specialist Kelly O’Keefe’s suggestion that “The risk that a comic publisher runs in going mass market, O’Keefe said, is that some of the hard-core audience might drift away to look for alternative comics,” seems to suggest that Marvel Comics turning into Disney pablum might send readers flocking to COLD HEAT, a charming but unlikely proposition.

Filed Under: Business News

Amazon: Cartoonists aren’t authors

September 23, 2009 By

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Via the ACT-I-VATE blog, George O’Connor, artist on BALL-PEEN HAMMER, a recent GN from First Second, reveals a dispute with Amazon whereby they refused to list the book he had illustrated onhis author page, but also removed some books he had already put there.

Recently, I had written to Amazon to have a series of books where I was listed as illustrator added to my page. Upon review, they decided not only were these (totally unrelated) books not worthy of being added but, in addition, they removed my new graphic novel Ball-Peen Hammer and two other books that were already up on my page. The criteria for deletion they listed to me were: my name must be featured on cover (my name was on the cover of all the books in question) and I must have contributed a significant portion to the final book. Essentially, Amazon has decided, that as a cartoonist, I merely contribute a few pictures to the final work. We’re only illustrators, it’s the author who gets all the credit. I wrote them a very polite, yet angry letter (copied below), and also told the good folks at Roaring Brook and First Second. Let’s see where this goes. A terrible precedent for graphic novelists.


“Author Central and Author Pages only support contributors who have authored or co-authored a major portion of a work and whose name is also featured on the title’s cover”

My name is featured on the cover of all the titles that you have flagged for rejection/deletion on my Amazon Author page, and I am surprised that you would endeavor to make assumptions about the level to which I contributed to the works in question without an individual examination of the creative process behind each book.

On the graphic novel Ball-Peen Hammer, currently featured on my page but now flagged for deletion (in response to my unrelated inquiry), I find it borderline offensive to be under-credited in this way. Comics are a synthesis of word and pictures, both sides working together equally to tell a story. If this is currently Amazon’s standard practice to judge graphic novels by, I recommend a reexamination of those practices.

I hope to hear back soon. I’ve also contacted my publishers on the matter.


It should be noted that the Amazon BALL-PEEN HAMMER page currently lists O’Connor as an author, but this is not the only instance of this kind we’ve heard about. Amazon really needs to get with the times on this.

Filed Under: Business News

News bits: DrMaster, McSweeney’s, Avatar

September 18, 2009 By

ironwokjan• Katherine Dacey wonder what’s happening at DrMaster, and the evidence is not encouraging:

Over at the ANN forums, site user Facesforce speculates that DrMaster is on the verge of shutting down. He notes that several vendors have been unable to reach the company about overdue shipments, and points out that DrMaster has not released any new books or made any announcements since May, when the company ceased posting updates on Twitter. He adds that the company’s customer service number has been disconnected — not a good sign. While I haven’t read much from the DrMaster catalog — just Iron Wok Jan and Metro Survive — I’m always disappointed to learn that a publisher has folded. More publishers means a greater variety of titles, and a greater number of niche audiences served. Let’s hope the rumor is just that: a rumor.


We’d noted that we hadn’t gotten a review package from DrMAster in months and months, and with so much of the manga/anime market in flux, one is right to worry. At least they finished IRON WOK JAN!
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• McSweeney’s is planning its own newspaper-style supplement— call it “Sundays” —and it will include comics by the usual geniuses:

Issue 33 of McSweeney’s Quarterly will be a one-time-only, Sunday-edition sized newspaper—the San Francisco Panorama. It’ll have news (actual news, tied to the day it comes out) and sports and arts coverage, and comics (sixteen pages of glorious, full-color comics, from Chris Ware and Dan Clowes and Art Spiegelman and many others besides) and a magazine and a weekend guide, and will basically be an attempt to demonstrate all the great things print journalism can (still) do, with as much first-rate writing and reportage and design (and posters and games and on-location Antarctic travelogues) as we can get in there.

• In all the hoopla, you may have missed the news that Rich Johnston is now Avatar’s Foreign Rights Manager. He reports that FREAK ANGELS is hot property:
As Avatar’s new Foreign Rights Manager (no, seriously), it’s also one of the most in-demand titles at Avatar, and I helped conduct a bidding war over the French rights last week, the winner committing to the first five volumes, even though only the first two have been published (the third any day now). This week, Italy. So what’s all the fuss about?

Filed Under: Business News, Manga

10 Days that Shook Comics: Updates

September 11, 2009 By


As we head into the first weekend of the Third Age of Comics, much is still being written and pondered. Let’s check out the Google earth view, shall we?

* First, a succinct Tweet from Rob Liefeld:

Huge reason that DC got restructured is simple math, Marvel has had 10 years, 15 films, 11 hits, compared to 6 films and 2 hits @DC

* Diane Nelson is back with a new interview with Rick Marshall that covers some new territory, including the fact that she’s interested in Vertigo, and that people are already trying to “school” her — anonymously!

MTV: So, what’s the next step in getting acclimated for you? Are you taking boxes of comics out of the DC library? Reading through a few volumes of “Who’s Who in the DC Universe”?

NELSON: That’s funny, because right before I picked up the phone an anonymous package containing a book called “Comic Wars” arrived on my desk with no note. I believe it’s a nonfiction account of the history of Marvel—but yes, I’m reading everything I can get my hands on, and just trying to immerse myself and be respectful of how much I have to learn.

But the real work—not work, fun—will occur when I go to New York and get to know the people there and figure out where we go from here.


You can say THAT again!

* Today’s MOST popular parlor game: who will be DC’s next publisher? Names being mentioned: Jim Lee, Hank Kanalz, John Nee, Bill Jemas, Jimmy Palmiotti .

* Looking back, while most people chose the occasion of Paul Levitz’s departure to say nice things, a few took the other tack. (There were several ex-DC employees doing the happy dance on Wednesday, we can assure you.) Dirk Deppey delivered a classic Glasgow Kiss, although we’re not sure he should be THAT happy over the arrival of Nelson. It’s not like she’s going to put Ai Yazawa on TEEN TITANS and Charles Burns on JLA. Although that would be cool.

* Valerie D’Orazio did another kind of happy dance:

You can only place my reaction in context of the massive amount of misogyny I’ve witnessed or heard reported about in selected sectors of DC Comics during the time I’ve worked there. During those four years, I had seen strong women again and again be censured, criticized, grumbled about, and disparaged. I’ve watched my department be emptied out of females one-by-one. I was warned on literally the first day I worked there by two different people to watch my back because I was a woman and not to make any waves. I was told by one boss that females just didn’t have the natural aptitude to edit comic books.

I am absolutely thrilled that the buck now stops with a woman at DC Comics. I am overjoyed – nay, almost orgasmic – that certain men will now have to regard Diane Nelson as their boss. It is karma working on the most basic level. Let these men explain to Nelson, who has worked with one of the most famous female fantasy writers in the entire world, how women don’t have the natural aptitude to edit and create comic books. Let these men explain to her the employment and dismissal history of female editors in the DCU over the last ten years. Let these men explain to her the plot of Final Crisis – I dare them.


Although there are quite a few females in Editorial even in the DCU these days, we know exactly who delivered some of the putdowns D’Orazio mentions because we heard ‘em too, so, yes, that is gonna be fun

* Finally, here’s one interesting take on the whole thing from an anonymous blogger named Whiskey who is alarmed by the dangerous tidal wave of entertainment aimed at females and thinks DC may be our only hope for a world where men rule, or something:

DC Entertainment has the ability to develop such new talent, without much risk, and test drive new characters, storylines, situations, and plots that appeal to young men and boys. Currently, there seems to be very few writers and producers who know this audience, as Hollywood has become more oriented towards the female audience (in Television) and the adult art-film audience (as Oscar bait in movies). The few producers, directors, and writers who had the knack, seem to have lost it forever, as anyone who sat through “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” can attest. Michael Bay can reliably generate a large younger male audience (“plus” women, girls, and of course older audiences) but relies on big effects and/or built-in 80′s nostalgia (“Transformers.”) Comics because of their low risk allows DC Entertainment the ability to “try out” many new writers, and develop ones it finds compelling. Since this makes complete sense, however, I expect DC Entertainment to ignore the possibilities and focus on the same aging, shallow pool of comic book writers as Marvel does. With about the same results: a buying pool of comic book readers well shy of half a million, and creative stagnation.


In a post on the Disney/Marvel deal there’s even evidence of the dreamed feminist-homosexualist axis at play:

Disney’s Rich Ross is listed as one of the more powerful openly gay men in Hollywood by After Elton. It is questionable how well he and other execs operating in the very gay friendly and female-oriented Disney empire understand and relate to boys concerns, let alone straight male concerns and desires in entertainment. Disney has been successful in creating girl-friendly series and movies, featuring Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. But neither Lovato nor Gomez have been able to break out to the degree that Miley Cyrus has, hampered by a down economy and the miscues of Disney expecting a large Hispanic contingent of fans. A critical error given that Hispanics consume Spanish Language media, most of it from Mexico (Telemundo and Univision).


It’s hard not to roll one’s eyes at someone who seems to think that “any” equals “too much” where entertainment for girls is concerned, but if you can squint between the blinds on the compound windows, there is some cogent analysis here.

Filed Under: Business News, End of the World, Marvel

Dragon*Con — a nagging question

September 10, 2009 By

Power Girl Represents 2
Letters, we get letters. Chris T. asks us:

Hello Heidi, I was wondering if you might address this in your blog.  I have seen all of the pictures of the cosplay at DragonCon and the stars at the panels, but I never hear anything about the Dealers.  How were sales for things at Dragon Con.  At the other cons, there are always articles about how the exhibitors did, whether sales were up or down, but with DragonCon, I have seen nothing.  Why is that?


Well, Chris, to be honest, when there are half naked chicks with giant hooters walking around, who cares about sales? First things first.

But maybe someone stopped contemplating how to apply handcuffs to a giant pikachu long enough to look at the dealers tables. Buehler? Anyone?

Photo by S. Bunche

Filed Under: Business News

EVERYTHING you need to know about Marvel/Disney and DC Entertainment

September 9, 2009 By

Check out this list of the top 20 grossing films of the last decade.

Discuss. We’ll be back here tomorrow for a wrap-up of the 10 Days That Shook The Multiverse.

[Thanks to KW for the link.]

Filed Under: Business News, DC, End of the World, Marvel

More statements: DiDio, Berger, Nelson

September 9, 2009 By

We’ll be updating this post as more announcements are made on this historic day.

• Dan DiDio has announced that Paul Levitz will be taking over as the writer of ADVENTURE COMICS.

• Vertigo’s Karen Berger has made a statement:
Paul has been my friend and mentor ever since he hired me straight out of Brooklyn College 30 years ago. Not being a comics fan, I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting myself into, but I was immediately taken by the medium, and I had an excellent teacher. With his razor-sharp intelligence, innate business and creative talent and stellar integrity, Paul’s influence on me, both personally and professionally has been huge. His life-long passion for comics and his great respect for the writers and artists who produce them has been infectious and unfailing, and his support for new creative visions and the unlimited storytelling potential of the form has helped transform this medium.

• And now, Diane Nelson’s statement:

Dear DC Colleagues and Friends,

As hopefully each of you now know, this morning Warner Bros. announced the formation of DC Entertainment, and I’ve been entrusted with the honor of heading up this exciting new venture, reporting to Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group.

DC Entertainment’s mission is to deeply integrate the DC brand and characters into all of Warner Bros.’ creative production and distribution businesses, while maintaining the integrity of the properties and DC’s longstanding commitment to and respect for writers, creators and artists. The founding of DC Entertainment is about Warner Bros. taking DC to the next level and giving DC an even greater degree of focus and prioritization in all the businesses in which we operate—films, television, home entertainment, digital, consumer products and videogames.

You are all an integral part of the success DC has achieved to date and your expertise and support will be essential moving forward – as we raise this brand and collection of characters to even greater heights. Together we can make the next 75 years even more successful and productive than DC’s illustrious 75-year history.

Jeff and I will be in the DC offices next week and will say hello personally at that time. Until then, thank you in advance for your support and continued contributions to DC Comics and the new DC Entertainment.


• My own statement: Paul is one of the smartest, kindest people I’ve ever worked with. He changed comics for the better in such vast ways that it’s hard to imagine where the industry would be without his stewardship. I wish him all the best.

Filed Under: Announcements, Business News, DC

DC makes changes official: Levitz gone, Nelson in, DC now DC Entertainment

September 9, 2009 By

Newdcuniverse-1
Via PR:

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI) has created DC Entertainment Inc., a new company founded to fully realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms, to be run by Diane Nelson, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, and Alan Horn, President & COO, Warner Bros.

DC Entertainment, a separate division of WBEI, will be charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses. DC Entertainment, which will work with each of the Warner Bros. divisions, will also tap into the tremendous expertise the Studio has in building and sustaining franchises and prioritize DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the Studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics publishing business will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment, releasing approximately 90 comic books through its various imprints and 30 graphic novels a month and continuing to build on its creative leadership in the comic book industry.

In her new role, Nelson will report to Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, in order to best capitalize on DC Entertainment’s theatrical development and production activities and their importance to drive its overall business with each of the divisions of Warner Bros.

Nelson will bring her expertise and more than 20 years’ experience in creative brand management, strategic marketing and content development and production to ensuring DC Entertainment’s dual mission of marshalling Warner Bros.’ resources to maximize the potential of the DC brand while remaining respectful of and collaborative with creators, talent, fans and source material. Additionally, Nelson will continue to oversee the franchise management of the Harry Potter property, which she has done since 2000, and also continue to represent the Studio’s interests with the author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling. Nelson will segue from her post as President, Warner Premiere but maintain oversight responsibilities of that division. (An executive succession plan for Warner Premiere will be announced shortly.)

Paul Levitz, who has served as President & Publisher of DC Comics since 2002, will segue from that role to return to his roots as a writer for DC and become a contributing editor and overall consultant to DCE. This transition will take place as expeditiously as possible without disrupting DC’s business operations.

In his new role, Levitz will be called upon for his deep knowledge and more than three-decade history with DC Comics, both as a comic creator and an executive. Besides serving as a writer on a number of DC Comics titles, he will be a contributing editor and consultant to DC Entertainment on projects in various media. Additionally, he will consult as needed on the transition and integration of the DC Comics organization into DC Entertainment and will utilize his unique experience, knowledge and relationships with the comics industry’s creative community to help achieve DC Entertainment’s goal of maximizing the value of DC properties. Further, Levitz will advise DC Entertainment on creative and rights-holder relationships, in particular regarding the legacy relationships that have been a part of DC Comics for decades.

Widely recognized and respected for his support of writers, artists and creators in the comics industry, Levitz is best known creatively for his work with DC Comics, having written most of the classic DC characters, including Batman, Wonder Woman and the Superman newspaper strip. At Comicon International in 2008, Levitz was awarded the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award as part of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the only industry executive ever so honored.

“DC Comics and its super hero characters are truly touchstones of popular culture, and the formation of DC Entertainment is a major step in our company’s efforts to realize the full potential of this incredible wellspring of creative properties,” said Meyer. “Diane knows our studio as a creative executive, a marketer and a senior manager, and this varied background will help her effectively and creatively integrate the DC brand and properties across all our businesses. We’re also thrilled that Paul will remain involved with DC and we’ll be able to tap his expertise to help us reach our goals for this new business.”

“It’s no secret that DC has myriad rich and untapped possibilities from its deep library of iconic and lesser-known characters,” said Horn. “While we’ve had great success in films and television, the formation of DC Entertainment will help us to bring more DC properties across additional platforms to fans around the world, while maintaining brand integrity and authenticity. Diane is a terrific choice to lead DC Entertainment, and with Paul in his new role as a valued consultant and contributing editor, both our company and comic fans win.”

“Based on the great success we’ve had working with DC Comics to create some of the most popular and successful super hero films of all time, I’ve long believed that there was much more we could do across all of Warner Bros.’ businesses with this great body of characters and stories,” said Robinov. “The prioritization of DC and the creation of DC Entertainment is a great opportunity that reaches far beyond the film group. There are endless creative possibilities to build upon the many significant successes already achieved by my colleagues Kevin Tsujihara and the Home Entertainment Group in the videogame, home video and direct-to-platform arenas and Bruce Rosenblum and the Television Group in live-action, animated and digital series. Collectively, we have the ability to grow a body of properties highlighting the iconic characters and the diversity of the creative output of DC Comics.”

“The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort,” said Nelson. “DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC’s unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life.”

“After so many roles at DC, it’s exciting to look forward to focusing on my writing and being able to remain a part of the company I love as it grows into its next stage,” said Levitz.  “It’s a new golden age for comics and DC’s great characters, and I hope my new position will allow me to contribute to that magic time.”

DC Comics will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2010 (NEW FUN COMICS #1, the first DC comic, began publishing in 1935), at which time more explicit details regarding DC Entertainment’s corporate and management structure, film and content release slate, creative roster and business objectives will be unveiled at a multi-faceted anniversary celebration and press conference in the first quarter of the year.

Current DC properties in development and/or production at Warner Bros. Entertainment include:
– “Human Target” is being produced by Warner Bros. Television for a mid-season debut on Fox.

– “Midnight Mass” is in series development at Warner Bros. Television for consideration for the 2010-11 season.

– “Jonah Hex,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ supernatural Western starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich, recently wrapped production in Louisiana.

– “The Losers,” Dark Castle/Warner Bros. Pictures’ action-adventure drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, began principal photography mid-July in Puerto Rico.

– “The Green Lantern,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ next big superhero tentpole release, recently cast Ryan Reynolds as the titular character.  The film has a projected second quarter 2011 release date.

– “Lobo,” based on the DC Comics anti-hero, has Guy Ritchie attached as a director; Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona are producing for Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.

– Warner Premiere’s direct-to-platform DVD animated release of “Green Lantern: First Flight” debuted July 28.

– Warner Bros. Animation currently produces “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” which airs on Cartoon Network.

– Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released “Batman: Arkham Asylum” on August 25, a dark, action packed videogame adventure for Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows.

Prior to being named President, DC Entertainment, Nelson most recently served as President, Warner Premiere since its founding in 2006. Warner Premiere is a Studio-based production company which develops and produces high-quality, direct-to-DVD and short-form digital content, including the highly successful line of DC Universe animated DVD titles, and also pioneered the development of the motion comics category. Under Nelson’s leadership, Warner Premiere functions as a full-service production entity with its own resources and release schedule, furthering the Studio’s mandate of being a destination for both established and up-and-coming talent to create stand-alone properties as well as experiment in new media.

Before that, Nelson served as Executive Vice President, Global Brand Management, Warner Bros. Entertainment, with the primary responsibility of working cross-divisionally and throughout Time Warner to maximize and optimize all the various windows and outlets available to the Studio’s signature franchises, brands and event properties on a global basis. In this post, Nelson’s primary focus was the management of the Harry Potter brand, which she has overseen since the brand’s launch at the Studio in 1999. These efforts have helped drive the success of the brand to become the most successful film franchise of all time, as well as a respected consumer property that has generated billions of dollars for the Studio.

At Global Brand Management, Nelson and her team of more than 15 employees worked in all media and platforms to support a number of other key franchise properties, including “The Matrix Reloaded,” “The Matrix Revolutions,” “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” “Happy Feet,” “Polar Express” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” among others.

Prior to overseeing Global Brand Management, Nelson had served as Executive Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures. Nelson rose quickly through the ranks, having also served as Senior Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures and prior to that, Senior Vice President, Family Entertainment, Warner Bros. Corporate Worldwide Marketing and Planning. She was also Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Promotions, a post to which she was promoted in March 1998, after joining the Studio in September 1996 as Director of Worldwide Corporate Promotions.

Nelson came to the Studio from Walt Disney Records, where she served as Director of National Promotions. She is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications.

Filed Under: Business News, DC

Ch-changes at DC: Robinov-Nelson team taking over; Levitz expected to step down

September 9, 2009 By

jeff robinov
UPDATE UPDATE: Everything we’re hearing confirms that if DC President and CEO Paul Levitz isn’t leaving, he is, at least, moving into a new position. An announcement of some kind is expected later today, and it is not going to be about a variant cover. VP Dan DiDio left the West Coast early to be back in NYC for whatever is happening.

UPDATE: And now Rich Johnston is reporting that Paul Levitz is going to step down any day now. We’re hearing conflicting reports on this, as some are predicting some kind of announcement today, but some people at DC haven’t heard anything of the sort. So….developing.

In what Nikki Finke describes as both “exclusive’ and “breaking news”, more executive changes at DC are taking place, with the comics division going under control of WB Pictures head Jeff Robinov, and Diane Nelson being put in charge of running DC Comics. According to the piece, Paul Levitz isn’t going anywhere, but The Robinov/Nelson team is doing more to get DC movies made, including ending a lot of long-standing production deals, such as Joel Silver developing Wonder Woman.

I’m told that Robinov went to management as soon as he took over as president of Warner Bros Pictures Group in January 2007 with a proposal to take over DC Comics. It’s taken this long to get it done. Paul Levitz, DC Comics president and publisher, will stay with the company. But in charge and reporting directly to Robinov will be Nelson, the brilliant marketer who beginning in 2000 oversaw the management of the Harry Potter franchise across all platforms and represented the studio’s interests with author JK Rowling. The plan is to have her do the same with DC Comics biz.


The moves are mostly aimed at shoring up Warner’s movie slate (although long in the works, increased pressure from the Disney-Marvel deal will make it even more of a priority.) Where will comics fit? Probably (our own guess) as a smaller and smaller part of the empire.

Addendum: And what might happen to that Wonder Woman movie? Some of you will recall that Robinov is notorious for his “no movies with female leads” edict, which led to the Kate Beckinsale led WHITEOUT being kept on ice for two years.

Filed Under: Business News, DC

The coming end of the Direct Market

September 8, 2009 By

200909081412Retailer Chris Butcher has this Tuesday’s must-read post on how Diamond’s new 2009 policies have left the DM less flexible and less relevant…

…things seem “stable” but really, that’s just a convenient lie that we’ve all bought into. Things aren’t stable, behind the scenes (and sometimes spilling onto message boards and websites) people are very worried. Fans, Retailers, Publishers. Distributors. But the thing that to me is the most disconcerting and heralds the biggest change? Diamond Comics Distributors drastically raising their order minimums. They did this a few months back. This action has shaken a lot of publishers out of the industry, and it’s meant some pretty bad things for a lot of people. But really, and realistically, The Previews catalogue is not any better or of higher quality than it was a year ago. I am reminded of this the last Tuesday of every month, when I race through that thing at break-neck speed, It’s just as tough a slog with most of the same bright spots as before. Hell, 100 pages each of Marvel and DC is more than enough to depress you on its own. But what the increased order minimums have really done is make my job as a retailer much more difficult. Why? Because of the things have been taken out of the catalogue that I have to go hunting for.


Butcher uses the example of a Yen Press manga that isn’t listed in Diamond as the gateway to his discovery that Yen Press’s complete output is not carried by Diamond any more. This, in turn, leads Butcher to use an alternative distributor source through which he can order the entire Yen output.

I can do my job as a Direct Market Comic Book Specialty Store by going outside of the Distributor of the Direct Market of Comic Book Stores. You gotta admit, that’s pretty fucked-up.


We’d quibble with that a little– doing business with multiple distributors is something most retail outlets have to deal with, so for those retailers willing to put on their big boy pants, it’s perfectly fine. But as a symbol of the impending revolution of multiple distribution channels, some not even print based, the rest of Butcher’s essay presents a nice summation of these unsettled times.

Filed Under: Business News, Retailing & Marketing

A.D.V. broken up, emerges as several new companies

September 2, 2009 By

200909021231The Biggest News Week Ever in Comics ® continues with news that ADV, a leading provider of anime films and, for a while, manga, has been broken up and reassembled as four new companies, three set up by Griffin D. Vance, ADV’s former SVP Business & Legal Affairs, and one of them run by former ADV marketing director Mike Bailiff. (Former ADV staffer Chris Oarr has moved to the new company.)

The story is a hard one to track, as it unfolded yesterday over several anime news sites. ICv2 has the most concise accounting:

Longtime anime producer A.D. Vision, Inc., announced today that it had sold key assets to four companies, which will continue in inter-related businesses. Film library assets and other intellectual property were sold to AEsir Holdings; account servicing and distribution operations were sold to SXION 23 (aka Section 23); Anime Network to Valkyrie Media Partners; and Amusement Park Media (ADV’s production unit) to Seraphim Studios. It appears that all of these new entities were created to house ADV assets and did not exist before the transaction.


ANN has a further breakdown that was updated as new info became available. Among the developments, that the Anime Network, which makes anime available as a streaming internet channel, will continue business as usual.

cromartiehighschoolRobert at Anime Corner talks to Bailiff:

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with Mike Baliff, formerly of ADV Films who is now heading up Sales and Marketing at the new company Section 23 Films. Section 23 has acquired all of ADV’s former licenses and most of the staff (including Chris Oarr, Destiny, Michelle, everyone formerly at ADV that mattered), and is picking up distribution of all former ADV titles, so the DVD’s will remain available and our orders will just be processed and filled by the new company. That means the changeover will be pretty much transparent to you guys. This includes pre-order items in the pipeline but not yet released. They will still be coming out, and the schedule will not change. We’ll be updating our catalog over the next few days to reflect Section 23 as the new distributor of ADV’s (former) titles. I also think it’s worth mentioning that John Ledford is not part of the new company.


And what does ALL this mean? ANN’s Christopher Macdonald has an editorial that basically explains it all. it’s a bit too complicated to paraphrase — much of it goes back to ADV’s deal with the Japanese company Sojitz, a deal which went sour and left ADV without a lot of the films it had licensed and financially hobbled.

The REALLY REALLY short version is that ADV has been broken up, Tim Geithner-style, into a “bad anime distribution company” and several “good anime distribution companies”. The old ADV carries the debts and obligations while the four new companies contain all the good assets and can go forward.

ADV was for a while a fairly large manga publisher, with such lauded and popular titles as Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days, ARIA, Cromartie High School, Apocalypse Meow, Yotsuba&! and Gunslinger Girl. They had stopped publishing in recent years, and a few of the best licenses were picked up by other publishers, including Yotsuba&! at Yen press.

The move leaves yet another of the founding pioneers of anime in America, John Ledford, in limbo and his original company in the history books and not a thriving business. It’s in many ways similar to Central Park Media and John O’Donnell, which got caught up in the general decline of the DVD business in general and the anime business in particular, especially the 2006 bankruptcy of the Musicland chain.

The official announcement is under the cut.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Anime, Business News, Manga

Dis-Marney-vel updates

September 1, 2009 By

200909011454
Some links to keep you company with that afternoon cappuccino. The transcript of yesterday’s investor call with Bob Iger is now online.

Staci D Kramer at Paid Content has a good overall look at the deal with some informed speculation:

—Does Marvel have autonomy? Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter will report to Iger. How much after that is written into the fine print could be in the merger agreement, which hasn’t been filed with the SEC yet, but people at both companies familiar with the thinking say a lot is riding on trust—as in “it would be crazy” (a phrase I heard often) for Iger and Disney to do anything that would muck up the creative integrity of a company they’re paying $4 billion to get. The broader deal was still being worked out overnight as Disney and Marvel prepared for Monday’s early announcement, and they have three or four months to work out the fine points. During the pitch to analysts, CFO Tom Staggs said: “We believe in the creative team at Marvel and don’t see any reason to upset the apple cart. They have done a good job, and I think they have got a good pipeline in place, and we expect that they will continue to do a good job operating as they have.”


Hollywood pundits are giving an idea of the picture across town, and if they are to be believed, other studios are wishing they’d thought of it first. Sharon Waxman takes the time to laud Bob Iger and his canny deal making:

Around Hollywood on Monday, Iger’s colleagues were openly envious at his stealth move in buying Marvel, a company that provides exactly the kind of content that a 21st century media conglomerate craves.

Characters and stories – thousands of them, with fan bases to match.

Jeff Bewkes over at Time Warner must be kicking his desk.


Nikki Finke has comprehensive coverage, starting with yesterday’s updates which look at Marvel’s other deals, lawsuits, and so on.

With the whole deal worth $4 billion in cash and stock, a little math shows that Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter, who owns 37% of his public company, stands to reap $1.5 billion in cash and stock. With so much to lose, and the SEC casting a watchful eye, Perlmutter had every reason to keep this negotiation secret from everyone, even intimates who described themselves to me as “completely blindsided”. But they tell me that this sell-out has been the strategy all along of this no-nonsense Israeli. “Ike is the real story here. He’s really operated like the Great Oz behind the scenes, not accessible to the public but always mindful of shareholders. This was always an acquisition play for Ike,” one insider explains to me. “The bottom line is he turned the whole thing around after he fought tooth and nail with Ron Perelman for the company. Today he runs a nifty company that’s tidy on expenses and has no cash flow issues. This deal with Disney just ups his game and creates shareholder value and lets him walk away a billionaire.”


A later post scrutinizes Marvel’s deal’s with Universal, which is going to fight to keep as much as they can to keep the House of Ideas in their theme parks:

I’m told that this is because the Universal-Marvel licensing contract is extremely narrow: Universal has to follow it to the letter, or they risk losing the characters altogether. Universal’s parks group structures contracts so that there’s a master licensing agreement for the Marvel name, and then individual sections for the properties. It’s not a catch-all, you-have-a-blanket-license-to-use-any-Marvel-character-as-you-see-fit-in-your-parks, because Marvel’s not stupid. And because Marvel owns high-profile characters (it’s like this for most non-owned properties), Universal must get approval for any additional/future use of Marvel’s characters so Universal doesn’t use the characters in a way Marvel doesn’t like. For that reason alone, Marvel has a big ol’ out in their contract with regards to future use.


According to Finke’s sources, it’s unlikely that the Marvel Island of Adventures rides will be changed, however. This does look to be an area of continued conflict — kinda like the Skrulls — for some time.

[Thanks to LF for links.]

Filed Under: 10 Days That Shook The World, Business News

More on Marvel/Disney as reactions unfold

August 31, 2009 By

Obviously, this is going to be a big story for, like, well…forever. Although Marvel has been acquired and batted around many times in its 70-year history, Disney is…the final redoubt. Once you enter the House of Mouse, you stay there, especially when they flew you out for $4 billion. The acquisition/merger is even being seen as a kick start for the entire economy — it’s certainly the biggest deal of the post Great Recession world. CNN writes:

But if Monday’s mergers are the start of a trend, that might be an even stronger signal from Corporate America that the worst could be over. “It has been a slow period for mergers and it’s not that different from other recessions. But we’re cautiously optimistic about the deal pipeline. Hopefully, Monday’s deals portend good things to come,” said Mike Shannon, co-manager with the Merger Fund, a mutual fund that invests in stocks involved in takeover situations.

Yet, it’s with a bit of sadness that we contemplate the end of Marvel the rebel, Marvel the renegade. Marvel, whose public stock offerings and financials were readily available at a moments notice. The Marvel that hired Michael Kupperman and Jason and Johnny Ryan. That Marvel may stay around for a while, but it is far less likely to be a priority under the guidance of the biggest IP corporation on Earth.

We’re still collating reactions and speculations, but here’s a little cheat sheet:

  • Movies: The NY Times has details. Current deals will stay in place, thus Marvel’s remaining five picture distro deal with Paramount — but Disney will want its piece of that pie.

Over the long haul, Paramount has the most to lose, as Disney works Marvel into its system. Only last September, Paramount, a unit of Viacom, announced an agreement to distribute five Marvel films, including two “Iron Man” sequels, over several years.

Disney said it would honor Marvel’s studio contracts, but the goal was clearly to bring “Iron Man” and others in-house over time.

“We believe Viacom is unlikely to retain distribution rights to Marvel films after the agreement,” Michael C. Morris, a UBS analyst, wrote in a research note.

In addition, the piece points out how Marvel was having some difficulty financing its own films — obviously a deal with Disney will clear that problem right up.

  • TV: Here things look golden, as

Disney XD, a new cable channel aimed at boys, already licenses 20 hours of programming a week from Marvel. As Disney seeks to expand that channel, particularly overseas, Marvel will play an even greater role.

Disney was hoping to snag more boys with Disney XD, but until Marvel came along wasn’t doing too hot. Marvel has lots of TV deals but they are more short term and Disney’s existing TV animation infrastructure will be a boon here.

  • Theme parks: Universal’s Adventure Island may be on shaky ground here. Perhaps when existing licensing deals run out, the Hulk ride can be rebranded as the Jolly Green Giant? Obviously, Disney will want to get the Marvel characters into its domestic parks (internationally, Marvel does not have deals in place) but it could take a long time.

On the other hand….can you imagine what Disney’s Imagineering could do with Galactus and the Silver Surfer? WOW.

  • Publishing: Well, that’s a good question. We’ll have more on that tomorrow.

For a more informed take on all the above, check out Marv Wolfman’s blog. Wolfman is a former Marvel E-i-C and is the founding comics editor for Disney Adventures, so he has a good take on the bigger picture:

Publishing. Well, that’s the big one, isn’t it? At least for us. Actually, only for us. The big ones in reality are movies, TV and video games. One major video game hit can make more money than 95% of all movies. But let’s talk comics. What division will that fall under? Publishing? Movies? Consumer Products? Something else? What happens to Marvel Comics will depend on which Disney company it falls under and as of 1:30PM, I don’t know the answer to that.

On Wall St. reaction has been surprisingly mixed. Some people think Disney paid way too much for Marvel. The Motley Fool, however shares our sadness, and Tom Beyer, a long time Marvel stock enthusiast, is downright mournful, titling his post Mickey Mouse Robs Spidey

I’m going to make a lot of money today, and I’m happy about that. But as it so often happens with the very best businesses, this one is being taken out too soon, at too cheap a price.


Another poster on this financial message board rivals a Newsarama poster for outrage:

This is like disgusting in many levels……..

Disney has always been in their entire existence to buy out the competition or aquire it and then ruin the foundations it was based on. Although it may be a “sweet deal” to everyone who has stock Marvel will forever be a Disney product and I will not buy anything from Marvel again. 4 Billion is “chump change” to Disney, Marvel will “lose” out again in making more money on their own!!!!!!

I think this is a “bad” idea for Marvel to “sell out” to Disney I mean the reason Marvel is doing well is because of us “kids” who are now in to their 40′s and 50′s who still appreciate the characters we grew up with and totally support all of the merchandise involved with Marvel heroes.


Also, although Disney is the world beater in terms of licensing IP might, as this story on Disney’s handling of the Muppets, from the NY Times shows sometimes, licenses fall out of fashion despite the best efforts of all involved.

Ms. Breier said recent focus groups indicated that some children could not even identify Kermit and Miss Piggy, much less ancillary characters like Fozzie Bear and Gonzo the Great. The wisecracking, irreverent Muppets (a combination of puppets and marionettes) also don’t fit that neatly in the Disney culture, as they differ from most of the company’s bedrock characters in two big ways: Kermit and coterie were primarily created to entertain adults, and they live in the real world. Henson was so insistent that they stand apart from his “Sesame Street” creations in personality and tone that he (misleadingly) titled the 1975 pilot that would boost their careers “The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence.”

The linkage on this story will soon over take the world, but here’s a few more to keep you going:

Brian Heater looks at how Marvel might profit from Disney’s online might

Both companies would do well to invest themselves more fully in the digital space, as print media continues to decline. While most diehard Marvel fans are no doubt frightened at the concept interference that might result at the hands of a company like Disney (the term “Disneyfication” was not coined in a vacuum), Marvel could work such an acquisition in its favor.

After all, Disney no doubt wants a return on the estimated $4 billion it’s shelling out to buy the comics publisher; it’s certainly in the company’s best interest to see Marvel succeed. What Disney brings to the table in such a deal are tremendous resources in a number of areas, not the least of which is the digital space. From ESPN.com to Club Penguin, The Disney Interactive Media Group is a tremendous undertaking with the knowledge of what it takes to succeed in the online space.

Two from the indispensable John Jackson Miller,
A Marvel Comics Timeline

And a concise, educational history of the history of Marvel’s attempts to become their own studio. A must read to get more historical context.

To think this day started out with Future Mr. Beat shaking me and saying, “Heidi, you’ve got to get up! Disney bought Marvel!”

Filed Under: Business News, Disney, Marvel

Disney buys Marvel — Analysis

August 31, 2009 By

Spideymouse SmQuick thoughts off the top of my head:

§ Disney has always wanted strong boys properties. They rule the pink world with their princesses, but have had a historic weakness with older boys that they’ve tried to bridge. This is obviously a slam dunk for that.

§ Marvel has been rumored to be for sales for years and years, and Disney was a frequently mentioned potential buyer for the reason cited above. With Marvel making a ton of money and successfully launching their movie studio — and September the usual time for stock plunges, and the market still uncertain, there was never a better time than now.

§ After some tentative starts, Disney had become more enamored of the comics/graphic novel medium of late, including not only their licensing deals with Boom! for kids comics, and Ahmet Zappa’s Kingdom Comics line, but their own in-house comics division. However, the real gem at Marvel was the licensing.

§ Pure speculation: Although Disney has become a lot looser in recent time, launching non-character branded businesses like Hyperion and ESPN, their handling of licensed characters is still pretty traditional — and hugely hugely successful. Although Marvel had risen quickly to become the fourth largest brand worldwide, with $5.7 billion, they are dwarfed by the #1 Company, Disney, which logged $30 billion in licensing revenues.

§ UPDATE: Johanna Draper Calrson offers thoughts on the conference call.

We’ll keep updating this post with reactions as the biggest comics story of, well, the century ripples across the industry.

Filed Under: Business News, Disney, Marvel

Shogakukan and Shueisha acquire Euro Japanime companies

August 28, 2009 By

Via PR:

The Japanese manga and animation powerhouses Shogakukan Inc., Shueisha Inc. and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions Co., Ltd. (Shogakukan & Shueisha Group) announced today their joint acquisition of Kaze S.A.S. (Kaze) and Anime Virtual S.A. (Anime Virtual), two of Europe’s leading distributors and licensees of Japanese animation.  With this acquisition, the group positions itself as a major multi-media force throughout Europe for manga-based Japanese animation and entertainment. Paris-based subsidiary VIZ Media Europe (VME, President, John P. Easum) will helm the group’s Europe activities, with Kaze and Anime Virtual now part of its stable. 

Prior to acquiring Kaze and Anime Virtual, Shogakukan & Shueisha Group managed VME’s European operations through its U.S. based subsidiary VIZ Media, LLC (VMC, President, Hidemi Fukuhara).  

Since the launch of VIZ Media Europe in 2007, Shogakukan & Shueisha Group, in cooperation with VMC and VME has continued to study the European market for opportunities to grow the fan base and to offer a greater range of Japan’s highest quality manga and anime content. Kaze and Anime Virtual were chosen to be the key drivers of this pan-European strategy and the timing is perfect as a rising demand for manga-based animation meets the growth of multi-platform distribution channels.
 
Kaze (President, Cedric Littardi) mainly operates in French speaking territories and Anime Virtual (President, Nicolas Weber-Krebs) operates primarily in German speaking territories.  Their combined core businesses include TV sales, DVD and music distribution, film distribution, consumer products, and new digital distribution and broadcast platforms, as well as manga publishing in French speaking territories.  
This acquisition provides Shogakukan & Shueisha Group with several critical tools:
• Direct DVD publishing and distribution in France and Germany.
• TV broadcast and distribution through various new platforms and technologies.
• Development and licensing of consumer products.
• Direct manga publishing and distribution ability throughout French speaking Europe.
• Innovative brand building across a full spectrum of media, including manga publishing, animation licensing, animation broadcasting, consumer product licensing and new digital platforms. 
 
The new company, which will be wholly owned by Shogakukan & Shueisha Group, will integrate VME, Kaze, Anime Virtual and their subsidiary companies under a unified infrastructure and administration. John P. Easum, has been named President/Gérant of the new company and will head up the group’s European operations. The head office will remain in Paris. Cedric Littardi and Nicolas Weber-Krebs have been appointed managing directors. 

Explains Mr. Easum, “This is a very exciting development for all parties involved in this venture. Kaze and Anime Virtual are proven pioneers and leaders in the distribution of Japanese content. This acquisition benefits Shogakukan & Shueisha Group with Kaze and Anime Virtual’s proven local market expertise, marketing innovation and experienced management.  We will now be in a much better position to support our many partners, while proactively developing the market by bringing a greater variety of content to our fans in a much more effective and timely manner.” 

Mr. Masahiro Oga, President of Shogakukan Inc. adds: “Through this venture, the new company will be able to dedicate itself to serving a growing market for Japanese manga and animation.  By building a closer bridge between Japan and our partners and markets in Europe, we are confident the new company will succeed in delivering more excitement for our fans while growing new markets for Japanese content.” 

Filed Under: Anime, Business News

Pundits examine iPhone comics stampede

August 28, 2009 By

200908281257There were a couple more iPhone comics announcement in our inbox this morning, bringing the approximate number of iPhone related comics announcements this week to 5,684 or so. Rather than run them all we’ll refer you to ICv2′s brief overview of the field which notes that the number of companies offering comics on iPhones has more than doubled in the past two months. And

It’s been 60 days since we updated our directory of mobile comics content (primarily for the iPhone, see “Mobile Comics Directory—Update #4”), and the number of titles available (most of which include multiple issues) has gone from 105 to 207 in that time. 

Manga writer/editor/NYTimes best selling author Jake Forbes looks at the rush but takes a more critical eye with Four Challenges for Digital Comics to Overcome:

Digital comics, in their present state, are require too much compromise. The market is fragmented, with some being device specific (iPhone and a few Kindle titles) or locked to the publisher’s site (like all of VIZ or Marvel’s offerings). Offerings are still slim, with poor representation of the classics (Sandman, Maus, Bone, Blankets, anything Tezuka, and too many others to list). And as for offering an alternative to buying print comics, digital isn’t even close. At this point, it’s hard to even fathom today’s digital offerings making up a proper “collection.”


Among Forbes’ other observations — webcomics and manga are thus far very underserved on the iPhone.

Filed Under: Business News, Mobile Comics

Is Diane Nelson the new overlord at DC?

August 26, 2009 By

Diane Nelson Bw07 2006Rich Johnston reports the rumor that has been swirling around for the last few weeks from multiple sources: a new boss for DC, namely Diane Nelson currently president of Warners’ direct-to-DVD branch Warner Premiere. DC honcho Paul Levitz had been reporting to Time-Warner president and COO Alan Horn, after a period several years ago where he reported to Nelson’s boss, Kevin Tsujihara, currently president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group but then at a different, lower level position.

Nelson was responsible for handling relations between J.K. Rowling and Warners during the Harry Potter production process, a tricky task which won her many plaudits. Last year she was behind the WATCHMEN motion comics move, talking it up in this interview at Newsarama, so she’s clearly interested in the characters.

Time Warner typically has a very complicated corporate structure, and like does not necessarily go with like, as DC Comics’ distance from the publishing arm (Time, which Time-Warner is desperately trying to unload) and absorption into the movie studio arm shows. DC has usually come under minimal corporate supervision (Alan Horn seems to have bigger fish to fry) but an exception was Tsujihara, who implemented a number of key hires and initiatives at DC. Speculation is that Nelson, who was hired by Tsujihara, would be much more hands on as well.

The success of DC’s movie characters has put them back on the corporate map, but the studio surely is concerned about bringing those characters into greater play, especially with the tremendous success Marvel has had leveraging their characters, becoming the darlings of Wall Street in the process. Marvel’s revenue of $719 million is less than two percent of Time-Warner’s nearly $46 billion annual sales. Yet Wall Street values Marvel at approximately $3 billion and Time-Warner at $34 billion or nearly nine percent of the home of Batman. With the value of Time-Warner stock lagging for several years, it stands to reason that corporate would be anxious to unlock the value of DC Comics as effectively as the House of Ideas has their own IP.

Developing, as they say.

Filed Under: Business News, DC
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