Ink Pop, a new line under Random House Graphic for five-year-olds through teens, aims to bring international flair to the kids’ graphic novel market with manga, manwha, and global webcomics aimed at younger readers. Executive editor Whitney Leopard, who will be heading the new line, has been a manga reader since she was 12 and has long hoped to delve into what she calls “global stories. When we were launching Random House Graphic, with the premise of ‘a graphic novel on every bookshelf,’ ” she says, “it was a space I felt we should be looking into.”
Japanese manga and Korean manhwa are enormously popular with young readers, but most series are aimed at teens, young adults, and adults, making it difficult for bookstores and libraries to curate selections for kids. Clare Doornbos, store manager and buyer for Mr. Mopps’ Children’s Books and Toys in Berkeley, Calif., told PW that children come into the store looking for teen-rated manga series like My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan, but she’s wary about stocking titles that might not be appropriate for the store’s young customers.
“I try to stay away from anything that’s marked T for teen because it’s usually off the deep end,” she said. “It’s too complicated for me to figure out if a manga series is actually kid-friendly or if it’s just been marked kid-friendly.”
Ink Pop aims to address this problem by approaching manga, manhwa, and webtoons from a children’s publishing perspective. Leopard said, “We’re applying our expertise in the children’s book world to find what books are appropriate for the picture book reader, the middle grade reader, the chapter book reader, and the YA space.”
Ink Pop’s launch titles next year include one manga series and one manhwa series. I Wanna Be Your Girl by Umi Takase follows a girl whose best friend—with whom she’s secretly in love—comes out as transgender. Volume 1 is scheduled for summer 2025. In My Life as an Internet Novel by Han Ryeo Yu and A Hyeon, a girl wakes up in a fictional love story where she’s the main character’s best friend. The first volume is planned to drop in fall 2025.
For future acquisitions, Ink Pop is looking for titles in a broad range of genres. Leopard said she hopes to find “stories that are universal and are something readers can connect to.” If she’s successful, more international comics may soon be filling kids’ shelves.
