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Dark Horse's Akira manga
Dark Horse's Akira manga
Keen-eyed reader paploo points to his new blog, complete with a post featuring some interesting findings on Amazon.ca: Akira and Ghost in the Shell, both volumes one.

“Big deal!” you might say. “Dark Horse has had those for ages.” Ahhh, but there you would be missing the key: both titles are listed as being due from Kodansha Comics on October 13, 2009.

I haven't found any such Kodansha titles on Amazon USA, but things have been known to appear on the Canadian site first in the past. Could it be that Dark Horse's licenses are expiring? I rushed to my phone to try and call my contacts there before the work day was over at 5.

Marketing Coordinator Aaron Colter informed that while he couldn't comment on any license expiration, he could confirm that Dark Horse wouldn't be publishing either of those titles in the future, so if Kodansha says they're reprinting them, then they probably are.

Of course, it's not anywhere near business hours for Kodansha's USA office in New York, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get any comment from them. If any is to be had.

Very interesting, my friends. Very interesting indeed. Guess we'll see if/when some press releases start floating about.
5 Comments
rocketbomber on May 5, 2009
DH licenses aren't expiring; in the case of Akira they're expired.  Akira vol 1 hasn't been available (new) for a year.  (some new copies of vol 2 still knocked around warehouses, but without an entry point they were effectively orphans.)

I've been following this Kodansha story longer (and more closely) than most -- nothing shows up on Google or the usual set of Kodansha links (I linked to a batch of them in my last update) but the official sites--ironically--are the last to update.

 if BigK is finally getting around to the NA market, then that can only be a good thing.
gia online on May 5, 2009
Are you basing the licenses expiring on their lack of recent printing? No offense; I just want to make sure I know whether you're offering the extremely likely conjecture or actual confirmation, for my edification :)
rocketbomber on May 6, 2009
No official word -- but as Christopher Butcher reported last June, Dark Horse announced a reprint of Akira and then quietly retracted it.
HSaabedra on May 6, 2009
If they're listing an October date for Akira and Ghost in the Shell, that means that Kodansha is quietly restarting North American operations after being initially postponed due to the financial crisis.  Hopefully this does pan out and we get to see those books in print again, but I'm left wondering about their plans to publish new manga as those are catalog titles.
Kuro on May 6, 2009
Well it gives me a chance to read akira anyway.
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