Yuuko cosplayer; note Mello and Near in the background
Panelists
Michael Gombos, Director of Asian Licensing, Dark Horse Comics
Kurt Hassler, Co-Publishing Director of Yen Press
Ali Kokmen, Del Rey Manga Marketing Manager
Chris MacDonald, Anime News Network Editor and Chief – moderator
A sad, empty fourth microphone marks Tokyopop’s absence.
I arrive late to the panel, but I assume from my notes moderator Chris MacDonald has asked about the future of manga.
Kurt Hassler sees growth in the future.
Dark Horse did better with their manga last year than any year prior year, according to Michael Gombos. 2007 was “kind of a boon year fore us” Gombos says.
The moderator asks about the connection between manga and anime. How do the recent troubles with the anime DVD market affect the manga industry?
Kurt Hassler asks for “A moment of silence for Toonami” – and then laughs. “You don’t see links to the anime industry right now affecting the publishing industry,” Hassler says.
Ali Kokmen says, “Manga and anime have been so different for so long… I think the connection is irrelevant in many ways.”
The moderator asks the inevitable question about digital distribution.
Reborn Cosplayers
Gombos replies, “Everyone take your Kindles and wave them in the air.” When no one does, he says, “We’re a little backwards in Oregon, riding our carts and horses to work… I still have never seen a Kindle.” (I myself have a couple of moderately wealthy geek friends with Kindles, but I’ve only seen commuters on the subway using them once or twice to date.)
Chris MacDonald, the moderator, asks about scanslations.
Hassler responds, “You can’t look at them and say it takes away X number of book sales… there are good things that it does and bad things that it does. I can’t see a future where it would be totally eliminated.”
Gombos responds, “A series like Berserk (or Gantz) would not be as popular if it hadn’t been scanslated… When you love something that much, people really put their hearts into the work.”
The moderator asks about the future of anthology magazines.
Gombos doesn’t think they can be profitable. “It’s an advertising expense… in Dark Horse’s experience,” he says, referring to Dark Horse’s deceased anthology Super Manga Blast.
Hassler says, “What’s an anthology? It’s a marketing vehicle. That’s all that it is.” Anthologies raise awareness of titles, Hassler says, alluding to Yen Press’s new anthology magazine Yen Plus. “How do you make your titles stand out to the consumer? An anthology is a great way to do that. We’ve been extraordinarily happy with [the success of] Yen Plus since we’ve launched it… The fan response has been beyond expectations and we’re thrilled at how it’s performing.”
MacDonald brings up decline of the Japanese manga market and asks for panelists’ responses.
Gombos sets into a long tyraid. “What we do here affects what is happening in Japan.” Gombos claims that the Japanese, seeing that manga is popular in America have started to produce manga that they think will do well in America. Such titles don’t do well in Japan, and it subsequently don’t do well in America because that isn’t what we (Americans) liked about manga (or anime) to begin with.
In semantic terms, Gombos believes anything created for the Japanese audience is manga – even if it’s created by Koreans, as long as it’s for a Japanese audience.
A member of the audience asks about strategic alliances with Japanese companies and the future.
Hassler responds, “It’s a changing landscape all the time. We like to work with a broad variety of different publishers.” He mentions this includes Korea’s biggest publisher.
Kokmen says, “The wonderful thing about publishing is that it’s not terribly difficult to get involved in.” He believes a small publisher could totally get into the market, even now.
Gombos says Dark Horse doesn’t have a strategic relationship with a Japanese publisher, but they are celebrating their 20th year publishing manga.
Corporate affiliation is not the same as licensing affiliations, I guess (based on Kurt’s comments).
On the topic of shojo, Hassler says girls read more manga compared to American comics because girls don’t read American comics. The split of actual manga readers is like 45% boys, 55% girls. In American comics “It’s more like… over 70% boys.”
Gombos makes a sarcastic mention of “OEL novels written in English,” and he seems particularly upset about “manga” on a semantic level.
Nothing particularly Earth shattering is said on the panel. MacDonald and myself leave early to attend the State of the Anime Industry panel immediately following.
Read the rest of Erin’s New York Anime Festival 2008 coverage:
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