Archives for May 2008

Here are some links to more Tokyopop commentary, but before we get to that, I want to point something out: The Manga Pilot contract may be deeply flawed, but it only applies to the Manga Pilot. As people are starting to realize, Tokyopop isn’t taking all future development rights with this contract. All subsequent projects, such as a full-length manga series or a movie, are negotiated separately, presumably with your lawyer and agent looking over all the legalese. Also, at the end of the term, Tokyopop keeps non-exclusive rights to the manga pilot, meaning they can keep putting it on their website or whatever, but they can’t churn out their own manga based on your characters. (This last part was clarified in their press release but, admittedly, isn’t obvious from the contract itself.)

Brad Fox answers my question from a previous post and does a quick comparison of Tokyopop and Zuda. His answer may surprise you:

It’s way to late to do a point by point breakdown – but I did do a scan of the standard Zudacomics rights agreement, and for my money the TokyoPop one is far preferable.

The biggest benefit to the TokyoPop contract is that at the conclusion of the pilot either party can “walk away” with all the rights (except for publishing and exhibiting the pilot) reverting to the creator.

Whereas Zuda can keep the rights to your creation tied up for years. John Jakala of Sporadic Sequential also reads the contract and concludes that it’s not that terrible.

At The Beat, Heidi MacDonald takes a long look at the whole thing and concludes that it may not be the worst contract out there, although the possibility of exploiting the young and the enthusiastic is still troubling.

Other thoughts: ANN has an in-depth article, and I almost forgot the big ol’ forum thread at the Tokyopop site (mainly because I would never have found it if ANN hadn’t linked it).

Gia speaks to the evil-Tokyopop aspect:

Maybe it’s because I know some TOKYOPOP employees, but I don’t think they’re just out to ruin creators lives. I suspect that global manga doesn’t sell very well on average, and therefore I think they’re struggling, perhaps desperately, to find a way to make money on something that they’ve made a significant aspect of their business plan.

I agree with her. Lori Henderson, on the other hand, sees the pact as not only evil but of a piece with Tokyopop’s other practices. Lea Hernandez compares the Pilot contract to the Rising Stars of Manga contract.

Bill Randall points out that Japanese licenses are a risky foundation for a publishing business, and that Tokyopop has a deliberate strategy of developing global projects so they can exploit the rights, not just for comics but also for movies and other media.

Shutterbox creator Rikki Simons, who has a somewhat better contract with Tokyopop, gives his take on the whole thing.

At Icarus Comics (NSFW), Simon Jones concludes:

In all honesty, when broken down, the individual parts of the contract aren’t out of the ordinary, or even bad for the various media they cover (even the “publisher indemnity against infringement claims” clause is unfortunately industry standard). It’s the all-inclusiveness of this pact, the pre-emptive condensing of dozens of secondary uses/subsidiary rights to one single entity, that’s raising everyone’s alarms. If they would just take these things on as they come, there probably wouldn’t be a single objection to this program.

Actually, there would, because as we have learned over the past few days, lots of people don’t like Tokyopop for reasons of their own. Which is legitimate in its own way but doesn’t make them lawyers. Much of the commentary on this came from people who were getting things secondhand and didn’t actually read the contract. The advice to creators remains the same: Even for a short piece, read the contract, show it to a lawyer or agent if you can, and think very hard before signing about what the tradeoffs are.

A week or so ago, this forum comment from former Newtype USA editor Chris Johnston popped up at MangaCast.

I don’t think there’s been any announcement of the sort, but ADV Manga’s been shut down for months now even though they never removed the solicitations for 2008. Your best bet is to rally around someone else picking up the license [for Yotsuba&!].

I didn’t link to it at the time, but Johnston subsequently confirmed that the comment was his. Also, the ADV website seems to be perpetually down these days. Still, I wanted to write a real story, not rumors and speculation, so I e-mailed two ADV execs and asked them for comment. Neither one replied. (Actually, Chris Oarr did e-mail me to let me know he talked to someone else: Scott Green. I somehow missed it yesterday.)

So props to AICN’s Scott Green, who succeeded where I failed and got an interview with Chris Oarr.

It’s a rather peculiar interview, though. It reads like a transcript of a Turing test, in that Oarr picks up a few key words but his answers are almost content-free. Green asks if vol. 6 of Yotsuba&! has been printed, and here’s Oarr’s response in its entirety:

No, YOTSUBA&! v. 6 has not been printed, although it was scheduled and title information was presented to major retailers months in advance.

A lot of people would have thrown in some sort of explanation here, but apparently that’s not the ADV way. Then Green points out that Yotsuba&! was nominated for an Eisner award and wonders aloud if that might suggest to ADV that perhaps they should consider printing that sixth volume. Oarr:

YOTSUBA&! is the work of a world-class cartoonist at the height of its powers, and of course we’re pleased that YOTSUBA&! is being recognized in this way. CROMARTIE HIGH was the only manga nominated for “Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material” in 06. I hope that we can schedule new volumes of these series and GUNSLINGER GIRL soon.

The rest of the interview basically consists of Green approaching the question of “What’s going on with Yotsuba&!” from a variety of different angles and Oarr blandly saying nothing. So although Oarr states at the outset that “ADV Manga still exists,” he gives absolutely no evidence that that’s actually true. My own inference, after reading the entire interview, is that ADV is still having problems, presumably financial, and that in the end they care a lot more about anime than manga.

(Found via the always NSFW Icarus blog.)

I e-mailed Tokyopop PR Director Susan Hale today to ask if the company had any response to the online criticism of their project (including my own). Here’s their statement, from “the TOKYOPOP Pilot Program Team, Paul Morrissey & Hope Donovan!” I’ll add a few of my comments afterwards.

The Pilot Program represents an exciting new stage in the development of original manga for TOKYOPOP, and one of the things we’re most excited about is having a brief, accessible contract—and being able to post it online.

We’ve made the contracts generic, to include as many creators as possible, and what you see is the same deal extended to everyone. We’re proud to be able to present these contracts as they are, so that love it or hate it, we’ve empowered potential manga creators to understand then terms long before they propose a project.

Making the contracts available to all is just the first positive step for TOKYOPOP that the Pilot Program represents. Of course we want our Pilots to be successful, and we want to work with Pilot creators to develop their Pilots into other media. And if we do so, an entirely new contract is drafted for that particular project—whether it be a full-length book deal, a film/TV deal, etc. However, TOKYOPOP realizes that some Pilots will not develop beyond their initial stage. And that’s why the Pilot Program is also progressive in returning rights to creators. For any Pilot that doesn’t pan out, the rights to the project are returned to the creator after the one-year Exclusive Period ends. After that, the creator is free to take that exact chapter created for us as well as the property anywhere they like-whether that’s self-publishing, publishing with another company or putting it on the back burner. At this point, for example, if the creator were to land a film/TV deal based on their Pilot property, TOKYOPOP would have no stake in that venture.

We cannot dictate the future of your project after the Exclusive Period ends. We only retain rights to those pages that were created for us, and have the right to adapt those existing pages as cell phone manga, imanga or other print publications. We do not have the right to create more material. We can’t add to your story or create new chapters—it belongs to you. We can only reprint the material you created for us.

We hope that the discussion generated from putting the contracts online helps potential creators to understand the deals that we offer. We urge you to talk about them, that’s right there in the contract. The deals may not be for everyone, but we’re glad that everyone can read and consider for themselves.

OK, this is Brigid again. One thing that this statement clarifies is that while Tokyopop will keep the rights to the Pilot pages that were created specifically for them (and which, after all, they paid for), they don’t claim any right to reuse the characters or write new stories based on your creations.

Another thing that’s interesting is that Tokyopop named the people who are the Manga Pilot team, although most likely some of those pesky Hollywood lawyers actually wrote the contract.

Heidi MacDonald and Tom Spurgeon weighed in today, so comics world condemnation of the contract is almost universal. On the other hand, Brad Fox, a filmmaker who has seen a lot of contracts, has a totally different reading and thinks that Tokyopop’s contract is similar to or better than standard contracts in a lot of ways—read the followup post as well, in which he learns why a lot of people don’t like Tokyopop, and suggests a solution. (Found via the comments on this post at Comics Worth Reading.)

Let me clarify here that while I was a book editor, I never was an acquiring editor—I never negotiated or even saw contracts. My experience in this field is limited to working with writers who were already under contract, and seeing how many different ways there are for things to go wrong, plus my own experiences as a freelancer. So I’ll leave the real contract-wrangling to the experts.

But there are still a few things that are bugging me:

1. If I recall correctly, the Zuda contract allows DC to keep the trademark for the comics created for their site, while allowing the creator to keep the copyright. I’d love to hear someone more knowledgeable than me compare the two contracts, or perhaps even do a compare-and-contrast with Platinum.

2. Take a look at the comics on the Manga Pilot site. So far, it’s not teenagers, it’s people who have a project or two under their belt. I’m still trying to figure out what that means.

3. Finally, I’m not sure why everyone is so shocked that Tokyopop has a contract that favors the publisher. They’re a for-profit corporation, not a charity, and it’s not in their job description to look out for the little guy. That’s why, when it’s time to sign a book deal, you hire an agent, who is paid to stand up for your interests.

In the meantime, the internet will have to do. I think the many bloggers writing about this have done young creators a service by telling them what to watch out for. I still think there may be good reasons for someone to do a Tokyopop pilot—for the paycheck, the exposure, or simply the experience of completing a work and working with editors. But they should do it with full awareness of the possible downside.

UPDATE: Johanna Draper Carlson got the same e-mail I did, and Slave Labor editor-in-chief Jennifer de Guzman does a quick comparison with Zuda:

This means the Tokyopop Pilot Program a lot less exploitive than Zuda, I think — that contract takes all rights for not much more money, and I don’t recall a response as vehement.

Which is what I suspected but wasn’t confident enough to say outright. I’m still open to other interpretations, though.

First things first: Be sure to check out the June Shojo Beat, which in addition to the usual awesome lineup of manga includes an article on Aranzi Aronzo by yours truly.

Also, I talked to the Tokyopop folks about Hee Jung Park and the Del Rey folks about Faust for the latest PWCW.

Next: While I was off doing other things (dentist appointment, day job) yesterday, the entire blogosphere adminstered a beat-down on the Tokyopop Manga Pilot program. I gathered up quite a few links and added my own take over at Digital Strips, and Lea Hernandez, who was the first to comments, has more links today.

Kate Dacey has this week’s new manga and her recommendations in the latest Weekly Recon.

Danielle Leigh writes about fansubbing and scanlations in this week’s Manga Before Flowers column at CBR. It’s a good overview of all the arguments and justifications from scanlators and readers.

Over at the MangaCast, Ed Chavez has the Viz PR on Book Expo America, and he adds this:

I expect them to represent at the Graphic Novel Buzz panel as they now are in control of more than half of the US manga market (actually quite a bit more according to my source).

Can that be? If so, it’s impressive.

Uniqlo has a line of lovely manga T-shirts that have already attracted a bit of attention, and now they’re giving away seven limited-edition Ts that are not sold in stores as prizes in their trivia competition. I’m sure MangaBlog readers will have no trouble answering the questions, right?

SDCC update: Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima will be a guest at SDCC, courtesy of Del Rey.

News from Japan: Gia reports that the Japanese government is considering adopting a fair-use clause in its copyright law, but she cautions that won’t necessarily mean all doujinshi is legal. (Via About.com.)

Reviews: David Welsh has high praise for vol. 12 of Hikaru no Go at Precocious Curmudgeon. At PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog, Erin F. reviews Family Complex and Chloe Ferguson checks out vol. 1 of Cy-Believers. Dave Ferraro enjoys vol. 1 of Flower of Life at Comics-and-More.

Jason Thompson pens a delightful article for comiXology about the manga he has edited during his years at Viz.

Dave White analyzes Jiro Taniguchi’s choreography of panels and art in a story from The Ice Wanderer.

A UCLA professor discusses how the working-class heroes in two sports manga, Kyojin no Hoshi (Star of the Giants) and Ashita no Joe (Tomorrow’s Joe), dealt with their discomfort in a changing society. Accessible and interesting. (Via The Comics Reporter.)

Gia spent the weekend at Fanime, where she liveblogged the Broccoli and Dark Horse panels. There was lots of chat about current and upcoming titles, but no new title announcements.

And in case you missed it on Newsarama, Dark Horse reruns their conversation with Michael Gombos about Gantz.

Also: Dark Horse will be bringing Vampire Hunter D creator Hideyuki Kikuchi to the New York Anime Fest.

Newsarama talks to Udon’s Jim Zubkavich about upcoming books, including the Street Fighter series.

Erica Friedman looks at the week in yuri.

Articles about The Manga Bible are a dime a dozen, but this one is more interesting than most because the reporter talks to adult comics fans—one of whom started reading comics when his daughter was born, looking for strong female characters.

More Death Note madness in Gig Harbor, Washington. It’s easy to make fun of this, but one kid was expelled over this, and it sounds like at least one of the kids was being bullied and used the notebook as an outlet for his frustrations.

New blog find: Omari’s Sister’s Anime and Manga Blog, by a blogger who reads Japanese and is thus a little ahead of us on some favorite series. She posts chapter summaries, manga reviews, and bits of news on ongoing series.

John Jakala discovers a new manga, Chichonmanchi, at Sporadic Sequential. And no, it’s not licensed. Neither is Hajime no Ippo, but Tiamat’s Disciple gives an overview anyway.

Japanator celebrates the 500th chapter of One Piece (in Japan).

Manly Manga and More posts the June releases for Germany.

Here’s your daily dose of adorable: a cute comic from Queenie Chan.

Reviews: Jason Yadao and Wilma Jandoc of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin look at two one-volume manga, Dolis and Glass Wings. Trav Cleeman likes Color of Rage but is less impressed with vol. 1 of Kannazuke no Miko at TaCk’s Pop Culture. Mangamaniac Julie reviews vol. 2 of Don’t Blame Me at the MangaCast and she checks out vol. 4 of Death Note and vol. 4 of Alive at the Manga Maniac Cafe. At PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog, Phil Guie reviews vols. 3-6 of Junk: Record of the Last Hero and Ken Haley reads vol. 1 of Orfina. Connie gives her take on vol. 1 of Fairy Cube, vol. 4 of Le Chevalier d’Eon, vol. 19 of Astro Boy, and vol. 1 of Nephilim at Slightly Biased Manga. Marina Neira takes a look at vols. 1-3 of Guru Guru Pon-Chan. Ferdinand reads The Reformed at Prospero’s Manga. Over at Anime on DVD, Danielle Van Gorder reviews vol. 1 of CyBelievers, vol. 3 of Shugo Chara! and vol. 1 of Red Angel, and Matthew Alexander looks at vol. 7 of Oh My Goddess. Michelle reads vol. 1 of Dororo, her first Tezuka, at Soliloquy in Blue. Lissa Pattillo kicks of a week of ghost stories with a look at Beyond My Touch. David Welsh finds vol. 2 of Hell Girl to be somewhat better than vol. 1, if not a deathless classic, at Precocious Curmudgeon. Erica Friedman reviews vol. 5 of Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ at Okazu. Holly Ellingwood looks at vol. 2 of Love Recipe and Rachel Bentham checks out Like a Love Comedy and Sleeping with Money at Active Anime.

John Thomas talks to the folks at Dark Horse, including uber-editor Carl Horn and director of Asian marketing Michael Gombos, as they celebrate 20 years of publishing manga and muse over how far the American manga market has come. (Dark Horse poster by Yoshitaka Amano, and swiped from John T’s site. Isn’t it lovely?)

Good news for Fanfare fans: Fanfare/Ponent Mon publishes some awesome manga, including The Ice Wandere and the soon to be published Disappearance Diary, but good luck finding them in a bookstore—until now. PWCW reports that Fanfare has signed with the book distributor Atlas, which has the backlist now and will start with new titles in November. (Via ANN.)

The MangaCast team picks the best of this week’s new manga, and member PeaRea looks at a Japanese-Indonesian anthology.

Samantha, who writes as Chay!Aliza, lists the top ten yaoi and yuri manga, some of which are not yet licensed. (Via When Fangirls Attack.)

Erin Finnegan has a nice little meditation on youth and nostalgia, in manga and in real life.

Also from WFA: Ren, a Women’s Studies student, writes about gender roles in Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Going to Fanime? Deb Aoki lists the highlights at About.com.

Review: Tom Spurgeon reviews the latest Yoshihiro Tatsumi gekiga manga, Good-Bye, at The Comics Reporter. Becky reads Sonia Leong’s take on Romeo and Juliet at Becky’s Book Reviews (via When Fangirls Attack.) Lori Henderson’s daughter Jenny has a puppy-centric review of vol. 1 of Hell Girl at Manga Xanadu. Lissa Pattillo wraps up mystery week with a look at CLAMP School Detectives. Greg Hackmann reads vol. 1 of Metro Survive at Anime on DVD. Erin Finnegan enjoys vol. 1 of Fujoshi Rumi at PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog. Scott Campbell reviews Julius Caesar and vol. 1 of Hellgate: London, and Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 2 of Vampire Hunter D at Active Anime. Deb Aoki finds Haridama Magic Cram School to be a “fun read” at About.com. At Okazu, Erica Friedman presents part 2 of her review of Yuri Hime. Julie checks out vol. 2 of Love Recipe at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Leroy Douresseaux gets the quote of the week award for this passage in his review of vol. 1 of Heavenshield at The Comic Book Bin.

My main complaint is that subplots and characters gather like frenzied ants over a dead roach in a pool of syrup.

Despite that comment, he actually liked the book.