As Watchmen continues its leisurely drift down the USA Today bestseller list, the 31st volume of Naruto arrives at No. 24, which Anime News Network says is the highest-ever debut for a manga.

It’s also the third-highest spot held by Masashi Kishimoto’s popular fantasy-adventure series.

In its eighth week on the chart, the collection of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ 1986 miniseries slipped six places to No. 26. The trade paperback peaked at No. 13 last month.

But Naruto and Watchmen aren’t alone on this week’s chart. Matsuri Hino’s Vampire Knight, Vol. 5, debuts at No. 100, Tite Kubo’s Bleach, Vol. 22, at No. 105, and Warriors: Into the Woods at No. 135. Jeff Kinney’s hybrid Diary of a Wimpy Kid holds to No. 74 in its 59th week on the list.

USA Today’s chart tracks all genres and formats of books sold in some 4,700 brick-and-mortar and online stores.

On the Viz Media blog, Mike Montesa offers a tour of the company’s San Francisco offices, housed in the former Northpoint Theater.

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards capped off a busy second day of Comic-Con, one that included big announcements from Marvel, Viz Media and Image, plus a slew of new titles and creator exclusives.

The meaning behind the much-teased “Marvel to the Nth Degree” panel came to light Friday morning in The Wall Street Journal with word that Marvel is reteaming with Stephen King for a “motion comics”-style digital adaptation of his forthcoming short story “N.”

Image Comics revealed a team-up of its own: Six of the company’s founders — Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino, Rob Liefeld, Whilce Portacio and Todd McFarlane — and new partner Robert Kirkman will release Image United, a miniseries starring some of their best-known creations, plus “side characters.”

And after a lengthy delay at the creator’s request, Viz Media finally will release Naoki Urasawa’s science fiction/mystery series 20th Century Boys. The publisher also has licensed his latest work, Pluto. Both will debut in February.

The Vertigo panel unveiled new titles from Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, and Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel, and offered details on the Vertigo Crime imprint, Seaguy sequels, and a hardcover collection of Death miniseries called, naturally, The Complete Death.

Other convention-related announcements:

• Del Rey has acquired several titles, including Shaenon Garrity’s CLAMP in America, Harvey Pekar’s Huntington, W.V On The Fly, Paul Hornschemier’s Life With Dr. Dangerous, and Brenden Burford’s Syncopated.

• Farscape creator Rockne O’Bannon will write BOOM! Studios’ previously announced adaptation of the sci-fi TV show.

• IDW Publishing will release a prequel to next summer’s Transformers movie.

• Dabel Bros. Publishing is adapting The Warriors, just in time for the cult film’s 30th anniversary.

• Artists Khoi Pham and Paolo Rivera have signed exclusive agreements with Marvel.

You can follow our complete Comic-Con coverage here.

Viz Media announced today at Comic-Con that it has licensed 20th Century Boys and Pluto, by renowned creator Naoki Urasawa (Monster).

The two titles will be released bimonthly beginning in February.

The publisher initially licensed 20th Century Boys in 2005, but Urasawa reportedly requested it be delayed until after Monster finished its English serialization because his art style had progressed between the two works.

In the award-winning science fiction/mystery series, a man and his childhood friends are drawn into a conspiracy that could threaten the world.

Urasawa’s most recent project, Pluto is a murder mystery that reinterprets Tezuka’s Astro Boy, specifically “The Greatest Robot on Earth” story arc.

Between Slam Dunk, announced last year, Black Lagoon, revealed in January, and now 20th Century Boys, I’m very happy.

In a press release sent out late yesterday, Viz announced that they have created a new Hollywood-based company entitled Viz Productions that will “produce and license live-action theatrical film and TV projects based on animated and manga (graphic novel) series.” Here’s a sample from the pr:

“VIZ Productions will give Hollywood a unique conduit to some of the most innovative and unique entertainment properties from Japan. Hollywood has always looked to comic books and graphic novels and has recently discovered the untapped pool of Japanese manga for development into live action features. Worldwide, the creators of manga are viewed as artists, and the rich storylines are already a hit with the coveted 12-34 demographic,” says Jason Hoffs, Head of Production for VIZ Productions. “With our pool of resources of dramatic storylines and incredible characters coming from manga and animation, we are confident that the development of many new projects will attract the best talent, actors, directors, writers and bring a new array of films to domestic audiences.”

So beyond the announcement about the company’s creation, there’s not too many details about what they’ll be producing and their immediate plans are. Hopefully more news will be made available during Comic-Con.

Full press release after the jump. (more…)

Viz Media sent out a press release detailing their plans for San Diego, which include:

- Bleach creator Tite Kubo will be in the VIZ Media booth for two signings and will participate in the panel ‘Spotlight on Tite Kubo’ with his editor, Atsushi Nakasaki (on Saturday)

- NBA Star Greg Oden will be in the VIZ Media booth for a signing and to promote literacy with the new basketball manga Slam Dunk

- A screening of the Bleach Movie: Memories of Nobody at the Gaslamp theater in downtown San Diego. Tite Kubo will be in attendance to offer opening remarks.

- Lakers Girls!

The whole press release can be found after the jump …

(more…)

ICv2.com follows up on the announcement that Viz Media will be conducting portfolio reviews at Comic-Con with a look at the publisher’s plans to cultivate original content.

The website also talks with Marc Weidenbaum, vice president of original publishing, and Eric Searleman, senior editor, about the portfolio reviews and the push for new material.

In light of the current problems with competitor Tokyopop’s “OEL” titles, and even recent issues at Platinum Studios, some may find this exchange funny:

Are you looking for original IP, or for talent to work on U.S. versions of Shueisha or Shogakukan IP?

The former.  And around here we call them original comics.  We’re looking to tell new stories.

Weidenbaum and Searleman — it’s unclear who’s answering the questions — also underscore that Viz isn’t looking for “manga-style properties,” at least in the rather generic sense of the term. No, the publisher is looking for, “a broad range of comics that emphasize serial storytelling, cliffhangers, reader feedback, a supportive editorial process, and a rich creator voice.”

We’re just a little more than a week away from the San Diego Comic-Con. Last night the meters measuring how many badges they had left were getting dangerously close to being sold out, so I imagine they’ll be gone soon.

Also, the official signing schedule is up … these are the signings that the con arranges and puts in the special autograph area, so it doesn’t include all the signings they’ll be having at booths on the floor.

If you’re a creator, publisher, company or any other entity that’s exhibiting at the San Diego Comic-Con, there’s still time to send in your update. I’ll likely be doing these reports right up until the show starts. So send’em on over.

*****

Mattel will have several folks signing at their booth during the convention, including Keith Giffen, who will be signing the exclusive Lobo figure they’ll have at the show:

–Four Horsemen (Jim Preziosi, Eric “Cornboy” Mayse, Eric Treadaway and Chris Dahlberg) - Famous action figure sculptors, responsible for Mattel’s DC Universe Classics and Masters of the Universe action figures (Thursday – Saturday, 1 p.m.)
–Keith Giffen - Appearing courtesy of DC Comics, creator of “Lobo” (Thursday and Friday, 2 p.m.)
–Frank Varela – Mattel Graphic/Concept artist (Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m.)
–Emiliano Santalucia - Cover artist on the recent Masters of the Universe animated series (Thursday and Saturday, 3 p.m.)
–Brandt Peters and Kathie Olivias - Husband/Wife team, VW Bus Artists (Friday, 3 p.m.)
–Greg Smikins - VW Bus Artist (Saturday, 2 p.m.)
–Mattel Executives - Available for interviews regarding Hot Wheels® and much more (throughout show)

(more…)

• Viz Media sends word that Marc Weidenbaum, vice president of original publishing, and Eric Searleman, senior editor, will perform the publisher’s first Comic-Con portfolio reviews from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 27.

• The Venture Bros. creator Jackson Publick reveals that production has begun on the show’s fourth season. [Publick's blog]

• Apple profiles Dark Horse Comics, with a focus on the company’s network of 145 Macs. The feature includes a sidebar that details the production process for an issue of Hellboy – from initial discussions between Mike Mignola and editor Scott Allie to lettering to press — and a publisher timeline. [Apple.com]

• Speaking of Hellboy, Mignola talks about his collaboration with Guillermo del Toro on Hellboy II: The Golden Army: “It’s my job to take del Toro’s idea, which nobody else can make heads or tails of unless he’s drawn it in his sketchbook, and decipher it. Even though I don’t speak Spanish, we speak the language of monsters and we have very similar tastes in artists so I can usually understand what he’s going for.” [Underwire]

• The talented artist Kristian Donaldson updates his blog with news that the second edition of the Supermarket trade paperback from IDW will get a new format — 6″ x 9″ — and a new cover (above). Also, he’ll be reteaming with Supermarket writer Brian Wood for Issues 35 and 36 of DMZ, which sport covers by John Paul Leon. [Donaldson's blog]

• I’m enjoying Kyle Latino’s illustrated summaries of the comics he reads each week. [This Week in Comics, via Super Punch]

Over on his blog, Chris Butcher has posted a 1995 interview with the Blue Spring and TekkonKinkreet author:

TAKITA: Did you pick the setting for TEKKON KINKREET as the near-future because you had action comics in mind for this particular work?

MATSUMOTO: It would have been more effective to see a boy running down a building wall in animation, I couldn’t achieve the effect I had envisioned in a single drawing.

TAKITA: Even though it’s a single drawing, your expression of movement is so rich. You use techniques like abbreviating dialogue and very specific framing and composition in TEKKON KINKREET, did you do that all on instinct?

MATSUMOTO: If I try to write all of the dialogue, the story would be too long. Even when I read other people’s comics, I’m inclined to skip some of lines of dialogue. So I abbreviate it as much as possible in my work.

Butcher also has a valuable and comprehensive bibliography of the artist’s work over at the link.

– The Chicago Tribune’s Red Eye blog is hosting one of those “Which hero is better?” tournaments you’ve probably seen on message boards. Not that there’s anything wrong with pondering if Iron Man is better than Elektra or if Thor can beat Buffy, mind you; I’ve done it many times. But I’m looking forward more to the New York Times’ “Who should be in the JLA?” quiz or the Wall Street Journal’s “Which super heroine is hottest?” poll.

– Can Swamp Thing fill the Martian Manhunter’s shoes in the JLA?

– “Make some comic books like you fucking mean it.”

– Calvin Reid profiles Keith Knight.

– Grant Morrison has updated his Web site.

– Here’s some good news: IDW is going to reprint Bill Messner-Loebs’ Journey.

– Yet another New Yorker caption contest cartoon is being accused of plagiarism.

– Viz has acquired four new manga.

– Mike Sterling collects stories about the fates of the Peanuts characters.

Compiled by JK and Chris

Chris Butcher talks to Viz’s Marc Weidenbaum about the company’s plans to publish original content and reports back on what he’s learned:

Now, you have to understand, all the while I’m having this conversation with Marc… I’m feeling pretty good about all of this actually, but this nagging phrase wouldn’t stop repeating itself in the back of my mind: “THE TOKYOPOP DEAL”. I f****** hate The Tokyopop deal, flat out. It’s awful and abusive of young creators, and while I haven’t gotten up and shouted I TOLD YOU SO at anyone two years later, the number of disenfranchised and angry Tokyopop creators has more-or-less done the work for me. I’m not particularly happy about being right of course; it is, at best, a pyrrhic victory.
“Marc,” I said. “Who owns it?” I was honestly not anticipating the response.

“The creators do. It’s going to be a standard book-industry type contract, although even there we’re doing a bit of tweaking. I believe in that, and we wanted a fair deal.”

Don’t send your work in yet thought folks. They’re not ready to accept submissions.

Saturday at the New York Comic Con brought the people out in droves, and a lot of big panels — Venture Bros., Robot Chicken, Cup O’ Joe, just to name a few — in the late afternoon caused crowd control issues that caused staff to close down the entrance to the panels area. Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers spoke to Sandy Bouchahine, a New York Comic Con staff member, about the overcrowding.

“We’re just letting people in in waves and shifts so we don’t surpass our capacity,” Bouchahine explained, adding that it had nothing to do with one particular panel, but was instead a problem of several very popular panels happening at the same time. “It was just a crowd control issue. There were just a lot of panels that everyone wanted to see. We’re just having loads of crowds that wanted to see things like the Venture Brothers.”

Ah, of course … if I were there, I’d be rushing to the Venture Bros. panel as well, where a teaser video for season three was shown. Someone in the crowd taped it, and you can watch it here until Cartoon Network’s lawyers find out about it.

Other teasers, previews and trailers were shown Saturday afternoon, for films like The Spirit, Incredible Hulk (which also included footage of Robert Downey Jr. guest-starring as Tony Stark) and an early release of the next Dark Knight trailer. Unfortunately that video hasn’t hit the web yet (or I haven’t found it yet, anyway) but I’m sure it will soon.

Besides the Hollywood stuff, two other stories popped up about companies looking for new graphic novels. First, Vertigo is looking to “acquire” some original graphic novels, and has two editors on the hunt. And bloggers Chris Butcher and Brigid Alverson reported Viz was also accepting submissions. Creators, get those pitches ready.

And finally, as the artwork below proves, Joe Quesada wasn’t kidding about Marvel Apes.

More coverage of New York Comic Con:

(more…)

Chris Butcher and Brigid Alverson report from New York Comic Con that Viz Media will begin accepting submissions for original graphic novels.

The word comes from Marc Weidenbaum, Viz’s vice president of magazines and editor-in-chief of Shonen Jump.

Brigid writes: “This is actually rather remarkable, since Viz is the American subsidiary of the Japanese publishers Shueisha and Shogakukan, but I guess it shows where the market is going.”

Expect more details later in the weekend.

Who could’ve guessed that retailer Gordon Lee, comics legend Stan Lee, DC’s Wildstorm imprint and Virgin Comics would be the big newsmakers on the first day of New York Comic Con?

The big story, without a doubt, was the announcement Friday evening by Neil Gaiman that charges against Rome, Ga., retailer Gordon Lee have been dropped.

Lee’s legal battle stemmed from a Halloween 2004 giveaway during which one of his employees mistakenly handed a copy of the Alternative Comics #2 Free Comic Book Day sampler to a boy. The issue depicts a naked Pablo Picasso. After several false starts, the case finally went to court in October, only to end in mistrial during the prosecutor’s opening statement.

Gaiman said Friday the case has cost the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which represented Lee, more than $100,000.

But Gordon wasn’t the only Lee in the spotlight: Stan Lee (no relation) kicked off the convention in fine form Thursday night when he was presented with the inaugural New York Comics Legend award. The event, held at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, drew countless creators and media-types, including Comic Foundry’s Laura Hudson, who had an interesting encounter with the folks from Virgin Comics.

The Stan Lee juggernaut continued on Friday during the invitation-only event for Ultimo, his collaboration with Shaman King creator Hiroyuki Takei for Shueisha’s Jump SQ.II spin-off magazine. As expected, Viz Media’s “exciting news” is that Ultimo will be released in North America shortly.

But wait! The Man isn’t finished: He’ll oversee a line of superhero comics for Virgin Comics, which also announced that writer Grant Morrison and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur are collaborating on an animated series to be delivered via the Internet and mobile phone. The series, titled MBX, is a futuristic retelling of the Mahabharata epic poem.

DC’s Wildstorm imprint, meanwhile, continued efforts to rebrand itself — or, perhaps, simply brand – with the announcement of three license acquisitions: Prototype, Gears of War, and The X-Files. That last property is expected to be officially announced today. However, X-Files creator Chris Carter let the information slip last night.

More coverage of New York Comic Con:

(more…)

Viz has a sneek peek at the first volume of Takehiko Inoue’s influential basketball manga. John Jakala offers some commentary:

It was interesting to read this first chapter and compare how Viz’s translation differs from Gutsoon’s. Both translations are perfectly readable, but there were some spots where I preferred Gutsoon’s phrasing over Viz’s. Still, even Gutsoon tweaked its translation between serialization in its weekly anthology and the eventual collection, so for me it just highlights how tricky translating can be.