One of the first questions that's worth asking is "Is anyone left?" It's hard to top the much-stated 5000+ characters contained in Marvel's IP, and it'd be a tough argument to suggest that there are any other comic publishers available who could offer anything even vaguely similar, especially considering that the larger companies that aren't DC or Marvel don't own the majority of their IP (Dark Horse, Image, and IDW all predominantly offer creator owned or licensed material); although purchasing one of those publishers may offer existing relationships with creators, it doesn't necessarily translate into anything that Disney (or any other company with large pockets) could immediately take advantage of.

(That said, if I were looking for a publisher purely for the IP rights and wasn't specifically looking for superheroes, I'd probably see if either Boom! Studios or Tokyopop were looking to be bought out; neither has an IP farm anywhere close to the size of Marvel's, but both have had some success coming up with new series and concepts that could easily be adapted into movies or television - at least, until Tokyopop's cutback "restructuring" last year, on their side. Or, of course, Rebellion, who own the 2000AD rights, which could definitely use some exploiting.)

If IP is really what's being looked for, Disney might want to follow Hollywood and go for toy and game companies; Hasbro has been positioning itself as more of a intellectual property generator than toy company since their deal with Universal Studios last year, after all, and with already successful properties like Transformers and GI Joe, they must be looking pretty tempting to any company wanting to buy an immediate in to existing markets right about now. Perhaps not as obvious, but arguably more worthwhile, a videogame publisher like Electronic Arts - owner of The Sims and Dead Space, amongst others - or Valve may not bring the instant brand awareness of Hasbro or Marvel, but unlike both, is currently creating new properties as successful as their Greatest Hits, which might be a better investment in the long run.

All of this conjecture, however, ignores the Bantha in the middle of the room: Lucasfilm.

The privately-owned Lucasfilm may not own have as many separate franchises as Marvel, but it has Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and there's definitely an argument to be made that Star Wars alone is worth as much as the entire Marvel Universe (Containing almost as many characters, and with the ability to spin out as many sub-franchises as it has, after all). More to the point, unlike Marvel, Lucasfilm is much more than an IP factory; alongside the movie studio, publishing arm, online division and animation department - all of which a self-respecting media juggernaut like Disney also has - it includes industry leaders Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light & Magic, making them almost unique in terms of value add (Yes, Marvel may be the industry leader in comic book publishing, but how important is that to Disney's core business?).

It's extremely unlikely that Lucas would sell Lucasfilm, especially as he seems to have become interested in the possibilities television offers to him and the company. But everyone has their price, as the saying goes. The question is just how high Lucas' price would be - and whether anyone could afford it.

Having his publisher cancel his book and refuse to give him the rights to take it to another publisher hasn't stopped cartoonist Brandon Graham from releasing the second book in his King City series. He's just decided to bootleg it online.

The sequel to KIng City, Graham's sexy and wonderful 2007 book about burglar Joe and his all-purpose cat/weapon Earthling, is currently lost in limbo following the recent near-collapse of its publisher, Tokyopop. Tokyopop has officially cancelled any English-language version of the book, either in print or online (A French-language version will eventually see print), but refuses to revert the copyright back to Graham for him to offer it to another publisher. In response, Graham has simply decided to post the book on his LiveJournal:

I'm thinking of throwing a chapter up here every week until It goes to print in english or until it doesn't. I try not to be snotty about all this. Right now this is what I can do.

You can find the first chapter at the link below; here's hoping that Tokyopop do the honorable thing and let Graham have his book back soon.

Deep dark secrets [RoyalBoiler]

Announced at last weekend's Anime Expo, Tokyopop will be publishing an anthology based around Battlestar Galactica called Echoes of New Caprica in March 2009, created in consultation with the writers of the TV show. Before that, this October will see the publication of Ghostbusters: Ghostbusted, another anthology title that ties in with the upcoming Ghostbusters: The Video Game revival of the franchise. Cold comfort for fans of now-cancelled original series like King City and My Dead Girlfriend, but good news for fans who've always wanted to see Edward James Olmos yell open-mouthed in horror on a regular basis.

Battlestar Galactica Manga [ICv2]

Tokyopop to Publish Ghostbusters Manga [Newsarama]

She writes:

I’m not sure that manga readers here are really manga readers and I would even go so far as to say that they’re not even comics readers. There’s a love for the medium, but only within the shojo or shonen genre... [T]he audience for manga is the anime audience, and they love the anime, but they’re young. And they’re not going to be loving this when they’re older. It really looks like this market is going to outgrow manga. That doesn’t mean that manga is some trend that will die, but that it’s going to take a lot longer for the market to mature than we’re anticipating. It’s not going to be within this generation. This generation is going to outgrow it and it’s the next generation going in that’s going to keep the current market as we know it alive.

The flipside of this fear - that the manga audience is not going to outgrow the material its currently reading - is what worries retailer Chris Butcher:

If you were the recommended age of 13 years old when Naruto Volume 1 dropped in August of 2003, you’re going to be coming up on your 19th birthday any day now. In Canada at least, that means booze, and College or University, and sex. Does it also mean Naruto Volume 30? Are childhood readers and watchers of the spunky young ninja going to become adult fans, emulating Japanese otaku in more than name? Is Naruto going to be one of those properties–entertainments–that cross age boundaries like South Park does, able to enjoyed all the way through your drunken frat/sorority years? Or is it a childish thing, and it’s time for you to put childish things away (except for getting drunk and joining a frat or sorority)? No one I’ve spoken to in the industry has been able to definitively answer that question ...I am outright terrified that the North American manga publishing industry is going to turn into a mirror of the superhero publishing industry; comprised of adult fans clamouring for vaguely more mature versions of children’s material, operating in a two-company system, growing steadily more insular and inaccessible to the world at large.

Both agree, however, that the successful manga titles in the US have been predominately based at a teenage audience, and that there hasn't been any sign that that audience is crossing over into more mature titles. A potentially greater worry is that any potential new audience for non-teen books seems to be staying away from the books because of the success of teen manga. Butcher again:

It’s a little bit like why I think the pleas for more josei and more seinen are misguided; there’s no market for these books. There isn’t even an effective delivery system for them, they aren’t even designed for their target audience. The [intended] audience for the books isn’t going to find them in the manga section, and the books don’t look like something that they’d like in the first place because they adhere so strongly to manga packaging conventions (likely in a bid to capture the existing market) that even if you put a josei title next to the women’s fiction (read: chick lit) most women would look at it like some child/freak/pervert dropped it on the wrong table.

While it's tempting to put this commentary next to news of manga publisher Tokyopop's dramatic downsizing (around 45% of the company was let go in June, and publishing plans were slashed) and run a "Manga is dying!" headline, the reality is less neat. Yes, manga sales are falling even in Japan and there may be widespread confusion over what will happen to the current audience when they discover girls/boys/drugs, but in addition to Kodansha's NY arrival, San Francisco's Viz Media are also an all-new line of original content in the near future. If these are the death-throes of the manga boom, it's clearly not the death of manga-based publishing in the US.

Manga: A Long And Winding Road [Genuine Article]
The Shape of The Manga Industry Part 1, Part 2 [Comics 212] (via The Beat)

Tokyopop's absence is just one in a long line of worries for the publisher, which has just been forced to pull back significantly on its publishing program, either releasing titles online only or cancelling them outright (One of the casualties of this decision is Brandon Graham's awesome King City), as well as having to make large-scale layoffs to its staff.

(One of the unexpected effects of Tokyopop pulling out? No Wil Wheaton at the con.)

Paramount's involvement, however, is slightly more in question. Initially, the studio had explained its absence by pointing out that their next big geek movies (including Transformers: Rise of The Fallen, the Star Trek remake and M. Night Shyamalan's live action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender) weren't coming out until next year, and that "the timing was off this year." But when Variety's Anne Thompson broke this story, she was contacted by a studio spokesman:

Paramount spokesman Mike Vollman just called me to say: "We have a vibrant and exciting schedule of activities planned for Comic-Con." The studio will be unveiling a number of marketing materials on these pics.

So, while they may not have a booth as such, apparently you'll still get fliers for all their products. It may not be as fun as a lifesize Iron Man armor, but I guess that it's something...?

(Flickr image by Karl Monaghan)

Comic-Con Update: Paramount Goes Viral [Variety]