DC Invests in Japanese Manga Startup

by Calvin Reid, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 6/18/2007

DC Comics has extended its role in manga publishing, announcing an investment in Flex Comics, a new Japanese manga production company that will create original manga for the Web, mobile phones and print collections for worldwide distribution. DC Comics' investment in Flex Comics will be managed by DC Comics Japan, a new company that DC established earlier this year.

Translated editions of Japanese manga dominate U.S. graphic novel sales, and the Flex Comics venture makes DC Comics one of the first English-language publishers with a significant investment in a Japanese manga producer. DC publishes licensed Japanese manga in the U.S. through its CMX imprint.

DC Comics president Paul Levitz described Flex Comics as an "innovative force." Flex Comics CEO Seiji Takakura said the new venture "will bring authentic Japanese manga to the worldwide English-language audience in new and exciting ways." Among other investors in Flex Comics are Softbank Technologies, Archetype Technologies and Movida Entertainment.

John Nee, DC Comics v-p of business development, will sit on the Flex Comics board. Nee said Flex Comics is a startup that has been publishing manga in Japan since last December. Under the company's new business model, Nee said its original manga will be serialized online to build an audience and then collected into print. The venture will also allow original manga from Flex Comics to be made into film, TV and interactive entertainment. "We want to bring as much of the material to the U.S. as possible," Nee noted.