Some of the bestselling graphic novels in America are actually Asian: Japanese manga and their close relations from Korea and Hong Kong. As young American readers grow accustomed to the storytelling conventions of Asian comics—and as American media outlets like Cartoon Network show Asian anime, or animated cartoon TV series, about the same characters—they've become dedicated fans (and repeat customers) of manga in English translation. Marvel is launching a "mangaverse" line of quasi-Japanese versions of its own comics, while DC Comics has a Batman manga adaptation coming in the fall.
The bestselling manga graphic novels in comics specialty stores (although bookstores are catching on, too) are consistently Dark Horse's pocket-sized Lone Wolf & Cub titles by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. According to Dark Horse's Tim Ervin-Gore, each one has a first printing of 15,000 copies, and keeps selling—the first one has sold 75,000 copies. The final volume will appear at the end of this year; in the meantime, the new sequel, Lone Wolf 2100, is in the works. Dark Horse is also continuing to publish trade paperback collections of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and the long-running Oh My Goddess! and Blade of the Immortal.
The most prolific American manga publisher, though, is Tokyopop, and the biggest thing on its docket right now is the "100% Authentic Manga" line—graphic novels meant to be read right to left and back to front, rather than photographically "flipped" to read left to right in English translation. Cowboy Bebop is the sales leader of the new titles (and no wonder—it's based on the anime series that Cartoon Network is airing), with Chobits not far behind. (The latter is by the all-female manga collective Clamp; starting in the fall, Tokyopop will also be publishing its Magic Night Rayearth series.) Ken Akamatsu's Love Hina is based on another anime series, and has been doing very well out of the box; released in May, its first volume is already in its third printing.
Steve Kleckner, Tokyopop's v-p of sales and marketing, said that the publisher has launched 18 new series this year, for a total of 33 active manga titles. Tokyopop is publishing just under 200 volumes in all this year, and hopes to ramp up to 400 next year. Despite that, he's not worried about a manga glut: "There's a lot of good and a lot of bad manga out there, but we've been very fortunate in that we're doing more and more series that've been accepted and are doing well." The company has been reaching into new markets, especially libraries, where its first-quarter 2002 business doubled what it did all of last year . Tokyopop is also planning some "as seen on TV" promotions with retailers, and is working on some new titles: Initial D is a car-racing series whose anime equivalent's final episode garnered a 47% market share on Japanese TV; Mars and Marmalade Boy are "shojo" comics, titles aimed specifically at preteen girls; and Tokyopop's first stab at non-Japanese manga, the Korean "manwha" series Priest, starts in July.
Another manga publisher, ComicsOne, is changing its focus. ComicsOne will still publish Asian comics in translation, but not necessarily Japanese manga. This fall, the company will launch seven series of paperback graphic novels, mostly kung fu comics from Hong Kong, like Wing Shing Ma's Storm Riders and Tony Wong's Weapons of the Gods, featuring exquisite color work. ComicsOne's reprints will be 120 pages in full color, at a $13.95 price point, and most of its series will be published monthly.
Finally, U.S. manga publisher Viz Communication is working on a series of color Spirited Away graphic novels that will coincide with Disney's September release of the film (by Hayao Miyazaki, creator of Nausicaa). They'll actually be "film comics," said Viz's Alvin Lu, which means the books collect color stills from the movie itself, with captions and word balloons added; they will be priced at $9.95 each.
