Read This Way: HarperPOP

I like big monster battles as much as the next person, but, gosh darn it, the softy in me loves it when they give each other big monster hugs instead! Such is the case with TOKYOPOP and HarperCollins Publishers recently announcing their copublishing deal. This is big news. When one of the leading book publishers collaborates with one of the leading manga publishers you’ve got one big book smorgasbord!

Now I’m probably a little biased. (Okay, a lot.) This news makes me happy. One, because I really like TOKYOPOP (they gave me my start in this business, after all), but I also really like HarperCollins. In fact, my fiancé is a design manager who designs book covers at Harper. (He also brings me home lots of free Harper books.)

But perhaps the reason I’m most biased is because my fiancé and I are currently editing and producing a book called Mangaka America which will be published through HarperCollins’ Collins Design imprint. But I’ll get to that in a minute.

Now, where were we? Ah yes, HarperPOP. (I figured we should come up with a snazzy contraction, don’t you agree? I thought of some other variations, but CollinsPOP sounds too much like a medical mishap.)

All joking aside, I am looking forward to seeing what this collaboration yields. I truly feel that if it goes well, manga will reach a new audience of adults who may not have touched a comic book since they were kids.

Of course, the first products of this partnership will likely be young adult and children’s books being given the manga makeover. There’s already been talk of Meg Cabot’s successful novels being turned into manga. I wouldn’t be surprised if A Series of Unfortunate Events didn’t receive the same treatment. In fact, Harper’s children’s division has a ton of great books that would make for entertaining manga. Not only does Harper own the publishing rights to The Chronicles of Narnia, but they also have a lot of newer properties such as the successful Warriors series about clans of kitty cats that fight each other. Yeah, it’s kind of hilarious. But imagine it making the transformation into a Pom-Poko-esque manga. Sweet!

So there’s plenty of good stuff for the pickin’. (But let us not think of a manga based on The O’Reilly Factor for Kids.)

My hope is that the children’s book manga adaptations are successful because that could pave the way for adult literature making the manga transition as well, which would lead to an even broader readership of manga. I have to admit that I don’t usually like adaptations of, say, a movie into a comic. Or a movie into a novel. But, if done well, adult manga based off popular adult novels could be pretty cool.

Some titles would seem to lend themselves to the format more than others, such as the novels by Neil Gaiman or Michael Chabon—both comic book writers and fans themselves. Also, people have already been expressing interest in seeing Terry Pratchett’s books in a comic format. Or what about books Michael Crichton, Ursula K. LeGuin, or Ray Bradbury?

But if it should come to adapting adult books, I hope that they won’t just stick to the obvious titles. It would be neat to see more obscure books given a chance in the manga format. How about The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho or One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez? What if short stories and poetry were made into manga? Can you imagine a manga version of “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg? (Well, that may be a little too extreme!)

Anyway, I could speculate and daydream forever about what might be possible. The bottom line is that I hope both companies take full advantage of this collaboration and reach as many new readers as they can. Not only in what titles they choose to adapt, but in the quality of these works. If there is a dark side to this deal it’s the fear that the manga titles won’t live up to the material from which they’re based. Given that TOKYOPOP consistently puts out quality manga, I’m not too worried. But as I said before, adaptations of any kind usually make me a little nervous. The reason I usually dislike comics based on hit movies is because they often seem rushed and are rarely as enjoyable as watching the movie itself. Sometimes the same is true for the reverse. I appreciate a good novel and I hate seeing one get butchered into a lame TV series or film. Of course, if the adaptation is treated lovingly and stays true to the material, then I’m happy to have another way to enjoy a story I like, à la The Lord of the Rings.

So, with manga adaptations, there’s always a chance that it will offend the people who bought and loved the originals—either because they simply don’t like manga or, worse, the adaptation doesn’t stay true to the spirit of the book. (Speaking of which, did anyone read those manga adaptations of the Harlequin romances? Ugh. Of course, it’s not like the original material had much to offer.)

I won’t comment on the distribution agreement between TOKYOPOP and HarperCollins, since I’m not so knowledgeable about that sort of thing, but I can only hope it will bring manga out of the obscure sci-fi corner in the back of the store and into the front, with more visibility.

Maybe one day we’ll see business men and women, housewives and house-husbands reading manga based on their favorite novels while their kids do the same. If that happens, a big comic book barrier will have been smashed down by two publishing giants.

Now, I already mentioned Mangaka America, the book I’m publishing through HarperCollins. This full-color book will feature the art and tutorials of quite a few talented TOKYOPOP artists, such as Felipe Smith, Svetlana Chmakova, Rivkah, Christy Lijewsky, and more.

Despite what it may seem, Mangaka America actually has nothing to do with this recent TOKYOPOP/HarperCollins agreement—it’s purely serendipity. (But I can’t help but wonder if that impending deal is why TOKYOPOP was so nice about letting us use their artists’ images in our book.) Regardless, I would be foolish not to take advantage of this situation to promote Mangaka America a bit!

So here, for the first time ever, are a couple sneak-peeks at spreads of the book. Not only do we have never-before-seen art from talented folks such as Corey “Rey” Lewis of Sharknife fame, but the book will also feature some great tutorials on toning (by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges), coloring (by Amy Kim Ganter), and many other topics, such as character design, robot-drawing, and using Corel Painter to create beautiful manga-style art.

These images, from Mangaka America, to be published by Collins Design in November 2006, are shown here with the permission of HarperCollinsPublishers. (Click for full-size image)

Furthermore, the book will feature an introduction from American manga pioneer Adam Warren! We’re hoping to have samples of the book on view at the upcoming San Diego ComiCon, but the actual release date is in November. Mark your Fruits Basket calendars!