Diamond, Hachette Launch New Comics Units
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on November 7, 2006 Sign up now!
by Calvin Reid, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 11/7/2006
In the span of two days, the dominant distributor in the comics market has launched a new division focused on comics in the book market, followed by a new comics imprint at yet another big New York trade book house. On Nov. 2, Diamond Book Distributors announced it had hired Scholastic editor-at-large Janna Morishima to run Diamond Kids Group, a new division focused on comics and prose kids' books. As if that isn't impressive enough, the very next day, the Hachette Book Group announced that Borders graphic novel buyer Kurt Hassler will move to the publishing side and team up with former DC Comics v-p Rich Johnson to run Yen Press, a new comics imprint aimed at adults and kids.
Last month Hachette announced it was "considering" launching a comics imprint, then hired Rich Johnson as a consultant. Now Hassler, one of the most influential comics retailers in the U.S., and Johnson have been named copublishing directors of Yen Press. While Yen Press will focus on publishing licensed manga—Hassler's specialty—it will also publish a wide variety of comics works. Borders says it has not made a decision about who will replace Hassler as the graphic novels buyer.
David Young, CEO of the Hachette Book Group USA, said the Yen Press list will be very broad and include everything from original manga, original American comics and graphic novels to Web comics, licensed adaptations and children's works. He also made it clear that Hachette is done pondering the potential of comics in the book market, emphasizing, "The graphic novel business is one of the fastest-growing fields in publishing. We are thrilled to have two of the most respected names in the graphic novel business."
Indeed, Hassler, a pioneer in selling manga who's credited with establishing the category at Borders and Waldenbooks, and Johnson, instrumental in building DC Comics' presence in the book market give the new imprint a leg up in knowledge of the marketplace. While there is some skepticism about Johnson's knowledge of literary comics, his hiring is almost universally praised. Hassler, who is also a manga author (he's the writer of the comic manga Sokora Refugees, published by Tokyopop), is a complex figure in the business. Reaction to Hassler's move was split between general praise for his role in establishing manga in the book market and pointed complaints that he can sometimes be a dismissive and difficult gatekeeper. "Kurt was right about a lot things," says one publisher, "but the buyer's job can make a person jaded. A buyer can create the context to be right by sheer dint of volume."
Kuo-Yu Liang, v-p of sales and marketing at Diamond Book Distributors, notes that Hassler "has done a lot more to grow the graphic novels and manga category than most people realize. He consistently made himself available to meet with publishers, no matter how small. People say he only supports manga, but actually he pushed everything from Marvel to Top Shelf to Bone." But other publishers believe that it is a conflict of interest to be a comics creator and the comics buyer at a major chain. "I was never comfortable with the idea that [Kurt] was a comics artist himself," says a publisher. "It's as if Target's apparel buyer became a fashion designer." Another publisher tells PWCW that Hassler's departure from Borders means the chain can "increase its graphic novel selection. Borders is very manga-oriented, there's very little indie art comics. B&N has much better selection of those kinds of comics. Borders has lost that audience to the competition."
Diamond wasn't able to bask in the media limelight very long before the Hachette announcement. But clearly the launch of Diamond Kids Group—and the hiring of Janna Morishima to run it—is equally significant. Kuo-Yu Liang says comics and conventional kids' books are "the next platform for major growth" at Diamond Book Distributors, which is the book trade division of Diamond Comics Distributors. Liang says that Morishima, who worked to adapt Jeff Smith's popular graphic novel Bone to the book trade for Scholastic's Graphix imprint, will help comics publishers reformat and relaunch comics in the book market and help trade book publishers understand and enter the graphic novel market.
Morishima will be based in New York and begin work in December. Liang says, "She'll work with publishers to acquire new properties, both comics and conventional kids' books,with store buyers, the media and organizations like the Children's Book Council." Morishima says she's "thrilled beyond measure" at the new opportunity. In an interview with PWCW, she explains that her primary focus will be "helping publishers address the comics and graphic novel market." She wants to expand initiatives like KidsLoveComics.com, a group of cartoonists that promotes comics for kids, and she cites the need for better cover design and more series publishing.
Morishima says her initial plans include "reaching out to retailers about increasing shelving, and more table and point-of-purchase displays for graphic novels." She also plans to "reach out to educators and librarians. Librarians have been great, but teachers need to understand that comics have literary value," with plans for presentations to organizations like the International Reading Association.
Both Diamond's and Hachette's new comics unit represent an embarrassment of riches in a category that essentially didn't exist in the book trade five years ago. And while comics professionals should be ecstatic about the continued maturation of the category in bookstores, the explosive growth in the number of titles aimed at the nascent graphic novel market means new and significant challenges for publishers and retailers. Can publishers find consumers ready to buy all these books?
Says one publisher on the new Hachette imprint. "It's an incredibly competitive market right now, with a serious glut of comics product, especially manga, on the way. Welcome to my world."
