Five minutes are spent talking about Ali Kokmen’s bow tie, which is untied. The panelists are wearing official Del Rey corporate shirts.
Dallas is absent, but we are assured he his well. He his on his honeymoon. Liveblogger Gia seems disappointed, but Ali points out she had her shot at dating Dallas.
The First slide is: Cartoon Network + Del Rey = Bakugan and Ben Ten Alien Force
Bakugan and Ben Ten will both get full color “American” comics based directly off their TV series, and original stories in black and white “manga” format to follow later.
Ben Ten Alien Force is the second season of Ben Ten, where the characters are slightly older, and the series is aimed at a slightly older demographic than the original series.
Ben Ten Alien Force will get a full color comic in April 2009. The black and white manga debuts in fall 2009.
Bakugan is a trading card game and cross media franchise.
The trailer features battling beasts, cards falling from the sky (around the world), “online friends”, and monsters battling in a parallel universe. It’s got dragons, and I swear to god the same guy who does all the 4Kids theme songs in English also sang and composed the Bakugan theme. Ali kind of head bangs through the theme song.
Although during the body of the panel it sounded like all of the Bakugan and Ben Ten stories were original, the panelist clarified later that only the manga were original stories.
I during the Q&A why Del Rey is releasing both American comics and manga editions of Bakugan. Is it because there’s not a cross-over audience or because it’s maximizing the audience or what?
Ali said that, “Foreign as it may seem to the people in this room… some kids don’t identify themselves as manga readers. He adds: “They’re young but they’ll learn.” Acquisitions director Mutsumi adds that the color comics are more like film comics of the stories from the TV show, whereas the manga will be original stories based on those universes.
New Acquisition from Kodansha:
Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture
- Ebola from Moyasimon
- Fall 2009
- YAY!!!!!
- “It’s technically educational,” one of the panelists explains.
- Bloggers row cheers heavily for this, although I’m sure Bakugan is a much more lucrative deal for Del Rey.
Tsubasa Character Guide Book 2
Summer 2009
- Covers volumes 8-14 with full color artwork and character sketches.
- Contains information on the Tsubasa series
Amefurashi
July 2009
- Released on a quarterly schedule
- by Atsushi Suzumi creator of Haridama: and Venus Versus Virus
- Title means “rain goddess”
- Gimi’s (?) fortune is determined by the whims of a cute rain goddess
Maid War Chronicles 
May 2009
- By the Mao-chan illustrator RAN
- “The title tells you everything you need to know” maids battleing for kindgdoms.
Afterward the panel covered what’s in stores now:
Pheonix Wright Casebookfiles
- Out (last) week
- More of an anthology of comedic short stories than about solving cases.
- The slide is of a ramen eating competition, “vital to courtroom procedure”.
Gankutsuo manga, based on the anime
Mao-Chan
Oct. 28, 08
- by Ken Akumatsu (Negima)
- illustrated by RAN, who did artwork for the NYAF 2008 badges.
Papillon
- by Peach Girl creator Miwa Uedo
- About twins
- Features an “absurdly hot guidance counselor”.
Yokaiden
- First manga from Canadian Nina Matsumoto, internet sensation of the “Simpsons manga-fied” fanart.
- It’s about “wacky” yokai and “crazy adentures”.
- I happened to read a review copy of this and it was truly fantastic. It’s the best OEL manga since Dramacon. It’s better than Dramacon. (Although not quite as awesome as Scott Pilgrim.)
xxxholic, Another Holic
Novel
Oct. 28, 2008
- by the author of Death Note: Another Note.
- An original story set in the world of CLAMP.
- Beautiful metallic shiny hardcover edition.
- I believe an excerpt from this was included in the Faust Anthology. It sucked.
Q&A
Q. Will there be a Faust Vol. 2?
A. Yes, next summer.
The panel derails into a strange infomerial parody for the Del Rey newsletter several times.
Q: How about those novels?
A: The novel line continues…. Case of the Dragon Slayer comes out this spring.
Q: What about Kodansha’s own plans for the North American market? (From Torsten Adair)
A: “Questions about it are beyond my [Ali's] paygrade.”
It’s almost the 5 year anniversary of Del Rey – they have plans, but aren’t revealing details yet.
Q. Won’t you please buy the Yotsuba license?
A: “Uh… uh… I’ll try?” says Ali. ADV has been flooded out by the hurricane, he explains.
Q. Why is Del Rey manga so gosh darn successful?
A: Ali: “Diet and exercise.”
Trisha: “I thought it was because of you.”
Ali: “We have to give Dallas credit.”
Trisha: “Dallas has nothing to do with it.”
Ali: “That’s a very interesting joke, Trisha. Mutsumi picks the titles, so I think a lot of credit goes to her.”
Mutsumi: “We really care about the product [and spend the extra time and money for higher quality].”
Q. Do you have plans for other Capcom stuff like Megaman?
A. Ali: It’s possible. Matsuma: We’ve been considering it.
Q. When is the Garden of Sinners novel release?
A. 2009
Q. Torsten Adair: Do you have plans to work with any other Warner Brothers properties besides Cartoon Network? Like Pushing Daisies?
A: No plans as yet.
Q: What about more Cartoon Network properties? Samurai Jack?
A: Nothing to say.
Q. Deb Aoki (from about.com) asks if Del Rey has any plans to pick up Chi’s Sweet Home.
A: It’s something we’re thinking about?
Q: Do you have plans for doing stuff with more Marvel Characters?
A: There’s always possibilities, but they have no further announcements.
Q: Who’s reading the Dean Koontz manga?
A: “Everybody’s reading that book. Everybody who has a command of the English language has read that book.” (According to Ali.) Dean’s fans, Queenie’s fans, cross-over…
Q: (I asked) Toonami ended and now you have a TV deal, is that a coincidence?
A: Yes. Ali says, “What Cartoon Network does with their scheduling is so far from what Del Rey does… there’s no correlation or causation there.”
Read the rest of Erin’s New York Anime Festival 2008 coverage:
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